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
I don’t think any of us would call it a game, but I’ve noticed a number of people who write or comment on autism sites seem to approach the issue of defining autism as a “zero-sum game,” in th...[Read More]
Mark Stairwalt on 07/30/10 | 11 Comments | Read More
As we transition from a manufacturing economy to a service economy, those who find themselves out of work are disproportionately men. The historical male advantage of physical strength has become al...[Read More]
Gwen McKay on 07/28/10 | No Comments | Read More
The Value of Ideas and the Willingness to Let Go of Certainty
I've been thinking about the value of ideas today. I've been thinking about how we parse language, how we see the world in ways that confirm our belief systems. We look for connections, for exp...[Read More]
KWombles on 07/27/10 | No Comments | Read More
Exploring The Social Model: Introduction & Groundwork
The biggest problem I can identify in the conversation about autism today, the issue to which everything seems to boil down to, is the seeming refusal to acknowledge autism as a dis/ability—not a di...[Read More]
Julia Bascom on 07/26/10 | 2 Comments | Read More
One of the struggles autistic people have begun to join over the last decade or so is over who is to be allowed to define autism, and on what terms. Is it to be defined from the outside, by those wh...[Read More]
Mark Stairwalt on 07/23/10 | 8 Comments | Read More
Embracing the Social Model of Disability
In my last article for The Commons, I wrote about the distance I often feel from the non-autistic world, saying “[I]f you are a typically abled person, we live worlds apart. You see, I am auti...[Read More]
Rachel Cohen-Rottenberg on 07/22/10 | No Comments | Read More
Autistic Imagination: Nothing Is Impossible
Research on creativity has shown that autistic children, when asked to draw a person or thing that could not exist, find it very difficult to do so. Creating more realistic images, however, does not...[Read More]
Gwen McKay on 07/21/10 | 2 Comments | Read More
Working, Working … In Which I Make Progress
See that gap between the second and third mulberries? That right there, my friends, is progress. It better be progress as it took a couple hours yesterday to do. I am currently fortifying mys...[Read More]
KWombles on 07/20/10 | No Comments | Read More
So let's talk about the two, interconnected, obligatory buzzwords in the “autistic community” today: “neurodiversity,” and “cure”--specifically, a “cure” for autism. Also addressed w...[Read More]
Julia Bascom on 07/19/10 | 3 Comments | Read More
First, obsessions. Dr. Michael Burry, according to the profile of him woven into Michael Lewis’ The Big Short, is a man of serial obsessions. His Aspergers diagnosis was arrived at during the cour...[Read More]
Mark Stairwalt on 07/16/10 | 5 Comments | Read More
Differences (moving past a deficit-based model of Autism)
I’ve been doing some reading, on Amanda Baggs’ site, various articles linked to from Neurodiversity, and other random internet ramblings. I’ve been trying to give my internet explorations some...[Read More]
Julia Bascom on 07/15/10 | No Comments | Read More
The vertical blinds that cover my kitchen's sliding glass door are closed against the glare to the east. On this clear July morning, the heat already has started to build. The air conditioner thru...[Read More]
Gwen McKay on 07/14/10 | 2 Comments | Read More
When Lili Marlene finds time to watch the tube in the daytime, she doesn’t waste a moment on tripe like Oprah or Dr. Phil or that other rot on the commercial stations. I tuned in to the National P...[Read More]
Lili Marlene on 07/13/10 | 1 Comment | Read More
No More Disorders: Debriefing from DSM Diagnoses
Over the past few months, I’ve found myself moving further and further away from the mental health profession and its view of the world. It’s always difficult to know how these things begin, esp...[Read More]
Rachel Cohen-Rottenberg on 07/12/10 | 1 Comment | Read More
Big Trucks and the Work that Needs Doing
Years ago, before the coming of the cell phone, I was the driver of a Freightliner FLD 120, an imposing, long-nosed boat of a semi tractor that crisscrossed the United States and parts of Canada with ...[Read More]
Mark Stairwalt on 07/9/10 | 2 Comments | Read More
Alexithymia, Autism, and the Many Pagan Deities in the Details
One trait commonly associated with autism in the research literature is alexithymia, which refers to difficulty expressing feelings in words. Although many people have had occasional experiences of ...[Read More]
Gwen McKay on 07/7/10 | 4 Comments | Read More
If there’s one statement that makes my head hurt and my skin feel weird, it’s this: I say something along the lines of, “By the way, I have Asperger’s Syndrome.” They say, “Really? I can...[Read More]
Julia Bascom on 07/5/10 | No Comments | Read More
The ridiculously named and sublimely informative BoingBoing last Sunday posted an article about the interplay of language and visual perception as it affects how we see and speak about color and space...[Read More]
Mark Stairwalt on 07/2/10 | No Comments | 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