Neurodiversity and social change
your dreams will be reduced down to breathing, and you will be grateful
The thing about not-being-a-person is: They will say those people and the price of being a person is to nod and agree that yes, those people aren’t people at all. They will have no idea who they are talking to. You yourself will start to forget, too. They will say a million small things that sow the seeds for violence done against you, and you will smile and let them. You will do math, constantly. How much do I want to be a person today? How much do I want this project to succeed? How much honesty can I afford? How much dishonesty will kill me? What is the cost of coming out? Is there a way to delay, soften, transmute? How long can I survive as half a person? Ever since the world ended ... I don't go out as much. People that I once befriended, just don't bother to stay in touch. Things that used to seem so splendid, don't really matter today. It's just as well the world ended -- it wasn't working anyway. Your dreams will be reduced down to breathing. [Read More]
Julia Bascom on 03/5/12 | 2 Comments | Read More
Fellow contributor Clay is happily bemused this week over at Comet’s Corner, reflecting on his recent release from some of the lifelong difficulties that finally led to his late-life diagnosis of au...[Read More]
Mark Stairwalt on 02/26/10 | 7 Comments | Read More
We all do it, to some extent anyway. Whether we're neurotypical or neurodiverse, we find it easier to say things that we've already said. When President Obama gives a speech, I'm sure that he prac...[Read More]
Light moves at a speed of 186,000 miles per second. Speed as a concept is also integral to biology. I hypothesize that the speed with which information passes between the two cerebral hemisphe...[Read More]
Andrew Lehman on 02/24/10 | 3 Comments | Read More
There is this thesis that I’ve been playing with. Like the experience physics theorists have described, it seems too beautiful to not be true. Nevertheless, Stephen J. Gould has described th...[Read More]
Andrew Lehman on 02/22/10 | No Comments | Read More
Covert Ops in Autistic Self-Advocacy
Pandemic autism that’s hidden in plain sight, an autistic spectrum populated overwhelmingly by undiagnosed fellow travelers and autistics-in-hiding—if this is an accurate description of autism’s...[Read More]
Mark Stairwalt on 02/19/10 | 5 Comments | Read More
Autism, Diet and Sexual Hormones
I’m still trying to grasp the concept that testosterone and estrogen and their associated hormones are together managing ontological, social and biological evolution by adjusting to changes in t...[Read More]
Andrew Lehman on 02/18/10 | No Comments | Read More
Autism and Societal Individualism
"The highest concern of all the mythologies, ceremonials, ethical systems, and social organizations of the agriculturally based societies has been that of suppressing the manifestations of individuali...[Read More]
Andrew Lehman on 02/17/10 | No Comments | Read More
Here's a link to an excellent PBS Nova show I saw the other night. It's nearly 2 hours long, 1 hr 51 min, but I hope those who are interested will find time today or over the long weekend to watch i...[Read More]
Clay on 02/15/10 | No Comments | Read More
I’ve never been able to take in the big picture at family reunions. Between the carnival of overstimulation that comes with all that social interaction, and being the unacknowledged odd neurol...[Read More]
Mark Stairwalt on 02/12/10 | 1 Comment | Read More
Creoles, Aboriginal Identity and Autism
“We have now surveyed a wide range of creole structures across a number of unrelated creole languages. We have seen that even taking into account the, in some cases, several centuries of time th...[Read More]
Andrew Lehman on 02/11/10 | No Comments | Read More
On page 575 of the May 1 issue of Science there is an article, “Africans’ Deep Genetic roots Reveal Their Evolutionary Story.” Examining the blood of 3,194 Africans from 113 populations, res...[Read More]
Andrew Lehman on 02/9/10 | 2 Comments | Read More
Open Letter to Joel Johnson (Gizmodo)
Hi Joel – I’ve waited twelve years now to see the word “autistic” begin to come out of the closet in the tech world, but your otherwise dead-on post the other day about “iPad Snivelers”...[Read More]
Mark Stairwalt on 02/6/10 | No Comments | Read More
Rich Shull: HBO Temple Grandin Special
Rich Shull writes with an intensity that befits a man struggling to whittle a rapid-fire slide show of thousand-word pictures down to a sentence or two at a time. Mr. Shull is part of a longstanding o...[Read More]
Mark Stairwalt on 02/5/10 | 3 Comments | Read More
Corpus Callosums, Autism & Aboriginals
“I have found the midsagittal area of the corpus callosum to be larger in mixed and left handers, referred to as non-consistent-right-handers (nonCRH), than among CRH subjects (Witelson, 1985). ...[Read More]
Andrew Lehman on 02/3/10 | No Comments | Read More
Autism, Asperger’s, and Chicken Broth
Anyone who has been in the online "autism community" for any length of time, whether they're autistics or parents, knows that there is a sort of person who trolls autistic advocates' blogs, and gives ...[Read More]
Clay on 02/2/10 | No Comments | Read More
Emergence of a Universal Language
There is a phenomenon in linguistics where language complexity is directly related to how isolated a particular language is from its neighbors. A new language is difficult to learn for adults. ...[Read More]
Andrew Lehman on 02/1/10 | 1 Comment | Read More
Autism has been here all along.
Considered as an evolutionary condition with far-reaching social implications, its full presence and impact remain hidden in plain sight, unrecognized and uncredited.
Part neurological mystery, part social construct, and part secret society unbeknownst even to its own members, autism does not lend itself to explanation by those who hold it apart from society, from themselves, or from consciousness itself. Definitions are revised, overhauled, and abandoned all while efforts to explore and examine this condition on its own terms are only now gaining momentum.
Shift Journal aims to showcase and encourage such efforts. Entertaining the notion of autistic as a legitimate way to be in the world, from the crossroads of theory, society, and personal experience, Shift welcomes relevant contributions from all comers.
Mark Stairwalt
Editor and Publisher
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Shift Journal founder Andrew Lehman's groundbreaking cross-disciplinary work Evolution, Autism, and Social Change draws from evolutionary biology, neuro-psychology and related fields to outline an evolutionary process complementary to natural selection that may explain some forms of autism as well as -- and perhaps more importantly -- long-term shifts in large-scale social structure. Download or purchase Evolution, Autism, and Social Change here.
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In a world which relentlessly demands practical advice for day-to-day, Shift Journal remains focused on promoting reflection and discovery. Readers however who are seeking useful information and how-to guidance assembled by a down-to-earth, conscientious and scientifically literate crew who once sought such information themselves and found it difficult to come by may find The Thinking Person's Guide to Autism to be just what they are looking for:
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New or established writers wishing to contribute original or previously published posts may use the submissions page or contact us directly.
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Autism and Empathy Thinking Person’s Guide to Autism Neurodivergent Sexuality Just Stimming Autistic Passing Project