Welcome back to Reading the Research, where I trawl
the Internet to find noteworthy research on autism and related subjects,
then discuss it in brief with bits from my own life, research, and
observations.
Today's article stuck out at me for various reasons, not the least of which includes that I was bullied as a child. But more because it made me chuckle sadly, I imagine. They played a pair of trading games with children. The games were one-on-one, a puppet and one child. Some of the children were autistic, some weren't, and so they compared the results of the games. While both autistic and NT children showed a willingness to share equally and didn't prioritize self-interest, the autistic children were three times as likely to accept unfair offers, and less likely to reciprocate (give as they got) a fair trade after one was offered.
The researchers suggested the differences were due to "deficits in social and cognitive development," and suggested improvements in anti-bullying programs and interventions, including teaching things like reciprocity and fairness of exchange pointedly.
While this isn't... exactly... a bad plan... It kind of misses the obvious reason this is a thing.
I don't know how to put this tactfully, so: YOUR ENTIRE WORLD IS UNFAIR TO AUTISTIC PEOPLE.
Seriously. While everyone else gets to (mostly) be themselves, with minimal guidance, we're expected to change and change and change until we don't "look autistic." No hand-flapping, no spinning, no repeating comforting phrases aloud, no being directly honest rather than misleading (because white lies are expected!), no giving your direct opinion on something instead of moderating your response based on what everyone else thinks...
Never mind the sensory and digestive issues, which most NT people don't recognize as legitimate, let alone accommodate for. So bring your earplugs, your sunglasses, your support device, and your special diet foods, because you can darned well bet nobody's going to care that it's too loud, too bright, too hectic, and there's nothing for you to eat. Fair? Hell no.
We are trained not to be ourselves, for the sake of everyone around us. For the sake of seeming "normal." Does that strike you as fair? It certainly doesn't to me. But we're told to accept it and "get with the program" already. What we want doesn't matter. That's ingrained into us.
And these adorably blind researchers have the gall to think it's because our brains don't always develop at the same rate as NT children.
No. I'm sure that factor doesn't help. But no, that isn't it. It's that our entire world is already unfair. The study chose autistic people at an average range of 9 years old. They're definitely old enough to know how this works. Why should some weird game with stickers and a puppet be any different to them? If every day you were subjected to systemic unfairness, you'd be more likely to not care about fairness in a few stickers in a weird game, too.
Ultimately, the researchers' suggestions won't hurt. Telling autistic people how reciprocity works, directly, is a good plan, and teaching how to recognize fair trades probably won't hurt, if they don't already know. But honestly, if you really want bullying rates to go down... teach your freakin' kids that autism just makes some kids different, and that's okay. When bullies come a'calling, some of those children accustomed to autistic kids will say, "hey, no, not okay, they're just different and we like them that way." End result: less bullying, and a less unfair world.
Today's article stuck out at me for various reasons, not the least of which includes that I was bullied as a child. But more because it made me chuckle sadly, I imagine. They played a pair of trading games with children. The games were one-on-one, a puppet and one child. Some of the children were autistic, some weren't, and so they compared the results of the games. While both autistic and NT children showed a willingness to share equally and didn't prioritize self-interest, the autistic children were three times as likely to accept unfair offers, and less likely to reciprocate (give as they got) a fair trade after one was offered.
The researchers suggested the differences were due to "deficits in social and cognitive development," and suggested improvements in anti-bullying programs and interventions, including teaching things like reciprocity and fairness of exchange pointedly.
While this isn't... exactly... a bad plan... It kind of misses the obvious reason this is a thing.
I don't know how to put this tactfully, so: YOUR ENTIRE WORLD IS UNFAIR TO AUTISTIC PEOPLE.
Seriously. While everyone else gets to (mostly) be themselves, with minimal guidance, we're expected to change and change and change until we don't "look autistic." No hand-flapping, no spinning, no repeating comforting phrases aloud, no being directly honest rather than misleading (because white lies are expected!), no giving your direct opinion on something instead of moderating your response based on what everyone else thinks...
Never mind the sensory and digestive issues, which most NT people don't recognize as legitimate, let alone accommodate for. So bring your earplugs, your sunglasses, your support device, and your special diet foods, because you can darned well bet nobody's going to care that it's too loud, too bright, too hectic, and there's nothing for you to eat. Fair? Hell no.
We are trained not to be ourselves, for the sake of everyone around us. For the sake of seeming "normal." Does that strike you as fair? It certainly doesn't to me. But we're told to accept it and "get with the program" already. What we want doesn't matter. That's ingrained into us.
And these adorably blind researchers have the gall to think it's because our brains don't always develop at the same rate as NT children.
No. I'm sure that factor doesn't help. But no, that isn't it. It's that our entire world is already unfair. The study chose autistic people at an average range of 9 years old. They're definitely old enough to know how this works. Why should some weird game with stickers and a puppet be any different to them? If every day you were subjected to systemic unfairness, you'd be more likely to not care about fairness in a few stickers in a weird game, too.
Ultimately, the researchers' suggestions won't hurt. Telling autistic people how reciprocity works, directly, is a good plan, and teaching how to recognize fair trades probably won't hurt, if they don't already know. But honestly, if you really want bullying rates to go down... teach your freakin' kids that autism just makes some kids different, and that's okay. When bullies come a'calling, some of those children accustomed to autistic kids will say, "hey, no, not okay, they're just different and we like them that way." End result: less bullying, and a less unfair world.
No comments:
Post a Comment