Novel concept of the week
Autistic traits can provide difficulty and benefit at the same time.
There are about six main categories of neurodiversity in the autistic brain (some say five, some say up to eight and there might be different names for them).
•Sensory
•Executive Function
•Perception
•Motor Skills
•Verbal language*
•Nonverbal language*
*I split verbal and nonverbal for a reason. Some people will have these together as one category.
Let’s give an example in verbal language skills:
I am total crap when presenting in front of adults (even just talking to more than two at a time). My brain locks up and I either physically and/or mentally can’t get the words out. But my autistic brain has given me a way of explaining things that no neurotypical can replicate. My speech therapist has been incredibly careful in how she helps improve clarity without actually changing how I say things.
Sensory:
My hearing is so sensitive that I can hear electricity flow through the walls. I can hear where pretty much any noise is coming from as it starts bothering me long before the neurotypicals. This is a major benefit when working around horses, who weigh up to 2000 pounds at the barn, and are ingrained to react to sound as they are prey animals and flight is their instinct. We have some that are really sensitive to the electricity that the indoor heater puts off. The instructors all know I can hear it so if a horse starts reacting and I’m around, they ask me to pinpoint the sound for them. I also let them know if the electric fencing doesn’t sound right.
Yes, loud environments cause overload and make me utterly miserable. But I wouldn’t want to try to desensitize myself to make coping with loud environments easier (if it was even possible) and risk losing the ability to detect electrical and other subtle sounds much earlier than neurotypicals.
Then there’s the fact that cold is a sensory issue for me and puts me in more pain than I’m normally in. While heat numbs my pain to the point where I can’t feel it.
I could keep going with this but I think most get my point. I think if this entire concept was framed in a strengths/difficulties mindset vs a deficit mindset, it would be a lot less frustrating for autistics to cope with and easier for those who are genuinely trying to help us to effectively help us.
I’m actually considering making a plain language ebook explaining this framework and examples of how they can actually be strengths.









