https://theaspergian.com/2019/07/05/autistic-skill-sets/
Let's talk about expectations for a bit. Humans have this tendency to assume that if someone's really smart, they'll be good at almost anything you put in front of them. Even though this is demonstrably untrue, this is the assumption.
For example, I love my father, and he is utterly brilliant in the chemistry lab. Seriously, if it's in his area of expertise, there's no one better in the world you can ask to solve a problem. But if you gave him a pile of raw chicken, grains, spices, produce, and other ingredients, took his phone away, and told him to have a dinner with side dishes and salad all ready to go at a certain time, he would likely not manage that deadline. My mother, on the other hand, accomplished that every evening for like 20 years when my brother and I were growing up. This is an example of skill sets.
Now, most peoples' skillsets are at least reasonably well-rounded. Because of the educational system, you can generally assume any given person you run into can do basic arithmetic, read, write, make small talk, and understand the basics of science, history, and computers. Oddly enough, I live in an area where the census of 1990 told us that 19,000 local adults are functionally illiterate, and can't read menus, medicine bottles, and children's books.
If you're lacking in any of those categories above, you would be considered disabled, especially if your level of proficiency was nonexistent. In today's world, it's simply expected that you know these things and can perform them. If you're unable to meet these expectations, your opportunities are far fewer.
Now add a diagnosis into the picture. Autism spans a particularly wide spectrum of difficulties, differences, and oddities. Any given autistic person will have different challenges, so the word itself is almost meaningless. The thing is, autism lends itself to even more weirdness in expectations.
You can have highly intelligent people succeeding brilliantly in academia, but the instant they leave, they find out they can't hold a regular 40 hour a week job. Because for all their brilliance in research or writing papers, they can't handle networking, juggling others' feelings, social dynamics, or personal care skills. This is an example of a person with a spiky skillset. Highly skilled in some areas, painfully poor in others. Yet when the average person looks at them, they'll make an assumption about the rest of the person's skills by whatever skill is on display.
If what's on display is "mediocre conversational and self-care skills" this example intelligent person will be considered disabled, and concern may be expressed about whether they have sufficient supports, or whether they should hold any kind of job at all. If their favored research subject is being discussed, the autistic person will seem like a genius, a person going places in the world, and it will be assumed they have self-care skills to match their intelligence and devotion to their favored subject.
Both assumptions are wrong, and the truth is somewhere in between. The example brilliant-researcher-autistic person may well be going places, but their lack of self-care and conversational skills does disable them and will hamper their ability to succeed. This is the spiky skills this article talks about, and it's a common experience for many autistic people.
Here's a poem about exactly this phenomenon, and a comic that includes several panels on the subject.
All this isn't to say that autistic skillsets have to be spiky. Just because a person's skillset developed that way doesn't mean they can't improve and grow their skillset. An autistic person can learn various personal care skills, and with time, learn conversational skills as well (case in point, me). A supportive environment, thoughtful help, and plenty of patience are instrumental in making this possible.
A final note: the focus can't all be on autistic people changing to suit others, though. Others need to adapt to help us, too.
Let's talk about expectations for a bit. Humans have this tendency to assume that if someone's really smart, they'll be good at almost anything you put in front of them. Even though this is demonstrably untrue, this is the assumption.
For example, I love my father, and he is utterly brilliant in the chemistry lab. Seriously, if it's in his area of expertise, there's no one better in the world you can ask to solve a problem. But if you gave him a pile of raw chicken, grains, spices, produce, and other ingredients, took his phone away, and told him to have a dinner with side dishes and salad all ready to go at a certain time, he would likely not manage that deadline. My mother, on the other hand, accomplished that every evening for like 20 years when my brother and I were growing up. This is an example of skill sets.
Now, most peoples' skillsets are at least reasonably well-rounded. Because of the educational system, you can generally assume any given person you run into can do basic arithmetic, read, write, make small talk, and understand the basics of science, history, and computers. Oddly enough, I live in an area where the census of 1990 told us that 19,000 local adults are functionally illiterate, and can't read menus, medicine bottles, and children's books.
If you're lacking in any of those categories above, you would be considered disabled, especially if your level of proficiency was nonexistent. In today's world, it's simply expected that you know these things and can perform them. If you're unable to meet these expectations, your opportunities are far fewer.
Now add a diagnosis into the picture. Autism spans a particularly wide spectrum of difficulties, differences, and oddities. Any given autistic person will have different challenges, so the word itself is almost meaningless. The thing is, autism lends itself to even more weirdness in expectations.
You can have highly intelligent people succeeding brilliantly in academia, but the instant they leave, they find out they can't hold a regular 40 hour a week job. Because for all their brilliance in research or writing papers, they can't handle networking, juggling others' feelings, social dynamics, or personal care skills. This is an example of a person with a spiky skillset. Highly skilled in some areas, painfully poor in others. Yet when the average person looks at them, they'll make an assumption about the rest of the person's skills by whatever skill is on display.
If what's on display is "mediocre conversational and self-care skills" this example intelligent person will be considered disabled, and concern may be expressed about whether they have sufficient supports, or whether they should hold any kind of job at all. If their favored research subject is being discussed, the autistic person will seem like a genius, a person going places in the world, and it will be assumed they have self-care skills to match their intelligence and devotion to their favored subject.
Both assumptions are wrong, and the truth is somewhere in between. The example brilliant-researcher-autistic person may well be going places, but their lack of self-care and conversational skills does disable them and will hamper their ability to succeed. This is the spiky skills this article talks about, and it's a common experience for many autistic people.
Here's a poem about exactly this phenomenon, and a comic that includes several panels on the subject.
All this isn't to say that autistic skillsets have to be spiky. Just because a person's skillset developed that way doesn't mean they can't improve and grow their skillset. An autistic person can learn various personal care skills, and with time, learn conversational skills as well (case in point, me). A supportive environment, thoughtful help, and plenty of patience are instrumental in making this possible.
A final note: the focus can't all be on autistic people changing to suit others, though. Others need to adapt to help us, too.
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