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
In the previous post ‘Rulers of Celephais,’ a Ms. Hanna J. has asked me some questions about this blog which I will address in post length for the benefit of all readers. Here is her original...[Read More]
Zygmunt on 02/28/11 | No Comments | Read More
Call for Submissions: An Anthology of Poetry and Prose by Autistics in Mid-Life (final call)
Statement of Purpose I plan to publish an anthology of poetry and prose by people on the autism spectrum, aged 35 and over. I welcome all pieces of writing about your feelings about being aut...[Read More]
Rachel Cohen-Rottenberg on 02/28/11 | No Comments | Read More
From the Link Cellar This Week (plenty)
Fresh, resurrected, or newly discovered links from across the internet and the dusty reaches of Shift Journal's archives. • • • • • • • via Steve Silberman on Twi...[Read More]
Mark Stairwalt on 02/28/11 | No Comments | Read More
The Ghosts That Haunt the Human Mind
It is, I think, a pretty standard practice among those who take the social model of disability seriously to evaluate observations about autism against the background of our own “real” experience w...[Read More]
Mark Stairwalt on 02/25/11 | 2 Comments | Read More
The Autism Gene: Maybe Not So Scary
The eugenic annihilation scenario has been giving the autistic community nightmares for the past six years, ever since Dr. Joseph Buxbaum predicted in a notorious article that genetic research would l...[Read More]
Gwen McKay on 02/23/11 | 4 Comments | Read More
From the Link Cellar This Week
Fresh, resurrected, or newly discovered links from across the internet and the dusty reaches of Shift Journal's archives. • • • • • • • From Time Magazine's Healt...[Read More]
Mark Stairwalt on 02/21/11 | 1 Comment | Read More
It is with some relief that I remind myself it is not my job to convince others that I am right. If I've not changed any minds though, this past couple weeks on the site have been rewarding in othe...[Read More]
Mark Stairwalt on 02/18/11 | 9 Comments | Read More
As Shift Journal’s sidebar indicates, we spend a lot of time around here discussing alternative ways of defining autism. That discussion got particularly lively over the past two weeks, with mu...[Read More]
Gwen McKay on 02/16/11 | 5 Comments | Read More
New Thread (If Not Us, Then Who?)
[continued from previous] I've said that I see a lot of thoughtful attention here; I'd like to also say that everyone (hi Diane, welcome; thanks for coming by) seems to be making sound arguments, o...[Read More]
Mark Stairwalt on 02/15/11 | 6 Comments | Read More
From the Link Cellar This Week
Fresh, resurrected, or newly discovered links from across the internet and the dusty reaches of Shift Journal's archives. • • • • • • • via Steve Silberman's Twit...[Read More]
Mark Stairwalt on 02/14/11 | No Comments | Read More
Lots of nutritious back and forth in comments this week, with Rachel and Stephanie each taking exception to my post last Friday. Before diving back in to the fray, I'd like to lay out one context in...[Read More]
Mark Stairwalt on 02/11/11 | 10 Comments | Read More
One of the enduring patterns of my life is my on-again, off-again relationship with large, conventionally structured organizations of all kinds: corporate, political, and religious. In the on-again...[Read More]
Rachel Cohen-Rottenberg on 02/10/11 | 1 Comment | Read More
Among the many ideas that have been put forward in recent years to explain an apparent increase in the autistic population is the concept of assortative mating. According to this hypothesis, today�...[Read More]
Gwen McKay on 02/9/11 | No Comments | Read More
When I first started studying how to be a parent, I read a lot of claims regarding the importance of monitoring, limiting, or disallowing television and video watching. However, when Willy first sta...[Read More]
Stephanie Allen Crist on 02/8/11 | 3 Comments | Read More
Introverts, Extroverts, and Exercise
As one who habitually works out, I am constantly asked. “Isn’t it boring?” “Where do you get the willpower from?” I try to explain that I enjoy it for its own sake. But the response is ...[Read More]
Zygmunt on 02/7/11 | 2 Comments | Read More
From the Link Cellar This Week
Fresh, resurrected, or newly discovered links from across the internet and the dusty reaches of Shift Journal's archives. • • • • • • • • Tyler Cowen • ...[Read More]
Mark Stairwalt on 02/7/11 | No Comments | Read More
I'm usually content to allow Gwen McKay's light touch and considerable gift for understatement work their magic on their own but her most recent post titled Fault Lines touched a nerve for me, and I w...[Read More]
Mark Stairwalt on 02/4/11 | 15 Comments | Read More
Those of us who have raised children know what often happens after pointing out muddy footprints on the floor, dishes left on the table from an afternoon snack, or some other dereliction of duty. Wi...[Read More]
Gwen McKay on 02/2/11 | 5 Comments | Read More
WARNING! Oxytocin the xenophobia drug!
The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has published online ahead of full publication a science journal paper with the title Oxytocin promotes human ethnocentrism See the abstract ...[Read More]
Lili Marlene on 02/1/11 | 2 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