Autism Explained

Fischer was highly sensitive to environmental factors, such as lighting, noise and crowds. He often complained and demanded alternate conditions that inluded soft, indirect lighting, low noise and more space from spectators.

Autism is an evolutionary adaptation to living alone in the wild. How long the autisitc genetic profile has been around I don’t know. It still exists in humans today at a frequency of around 0.5%. It still exists because it provides a benefit that is different from its original advantage. Having some people in the population with a very high “hunter-gatherer fitness level” and self-sufficiency, and a very low dependence on the group and thus a low level of social conformism, allows a lot of thinking, saying and doing things that are outside the box, against social norms and are highly creative. This can lead to revolutions, inventions and system improvements.

While it can be beneficial for the group (society), it is quite difficult for the person himself. They are born into a very different world than their brain is expecting, and adaptation is very challenging. Of all the disorders known such as schizophrenia, adhd, bipolar, psychopathy, personality disorder etc. Autism is known as the most debilitating. Humans are the most social creature on earth, more so even than ants, and living among them when you are designed to live alone makes life a constant experience of confusion, stress, embarrassment and depression.

Symptoms of autism include:

• Strong vision and sensitivity to light

• Strong hearing and sensitivity to sound

• Sensitivity to touch

• Sensitivty to taste

• Sensitivity to heat

• Sensitivity to movement (vestibular system)

• Sensitivtity to smell

These traits assist with hunting and general survival. A sensitive vestibular system provides good aim in tracking, throwing or shooting, but causes motion sickness during high degrees of unpredictable movement, such as a bus or boat ride. Problems with heat may be due to sensitivity to the touch of the sun, as well as a high body heat generation from overprocessing of stimuli by the brain. Some sensitivities like smell, touch, taste and movement are typically experienced more by females, while vision, hearing and heat are more of a male trait.

Further symptoms include:

• Muscular differences such as Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome

• Early maturation as a toddler and during puberty

Muscular differences may provide benefits such as injury prevention, but in low functioning cases can be expressed as disorders like fibromyalgia and cerebral palsy. These conditions may be accompanied by iron deficiency or POTS. Early maturation helps to establish independence from parents and self-sufficiency at a younger age.

Further symptoms include;

• Agression or territoriality

• Increased size or testosterone

• Difficulty socialising

• Difficulty with the presence of other males

Solitary animals need to control a certain amount of territory in order to gather enough resources to feed themselves. Solitary male animals will therefore often fight other males to the death if they encounter them. Autistic people however are forced to live amongst them non-violently. Aside from the difficulty with permanently suppressing their instincts, autisitic people are likely to be bored from the passivity of the modern liberal world. Difficulties with accepting other people’s decisions arises from the genetic predisposition towards living alone and dominating your own territory and being utterly self-reliant.

Autisitic females will more often than not be attracted to other females, and experience other typical male traits such as high sex drive, bluntness and low novelty seeking.

Autistic people have intense emotions, and this can extend to emotions they are typically low in, such as empathy, leading to some high functioning individuals being highly empathic.

Autisitc people have infrequent synaptic pruning and a preference for samness or familiarity, reflecting a world that doesn’t change often. This is also the reason for strong focus, hyperfixtations and special interests. A social world features more variation and novelty than a non-social world. Women are more social than men, and they also prefer more variety and are more novelty-seeking than men, with the exception of those with adhd.

Specific traits regarding asocial tendencies include:

• Poor eye contact (regarded as a challenge in solitary animals)

• Low facial expressiveness (smiling, reacting)

• Low physical expressiveness (dancing, celebrating)

Lower functioning individuals may have traits such as not responding to their name and becoming completely “non-verbal” in times of stress.

People with autism develop addictions due to their higher impulsivity (a male trait), but also as a way of coping with their situation.

Poor money management can be seen as a symptom of autism, as money is a social tool. Autistic people have a high “hunter-gatherer fitness level” and are evolved to live off the land, thus having no need for money.

There has been an increase in the number of autism diagnoses in recent years due to a relaxing of the criteria, leading to many mild cases being diagnosed as fully autistic.

Approaching autism diagnosis with the understanding that autism is an evolutionary adaptation as per the Solitary Forager Hypothesis, allows us to measure the severity of autism without being affected by IQ, as those with high IQ often slip under the radar, or are considered ‘less severe cases’.

”Lower functioning” autistic people are not necessarily “more autistic”, since low IQ neurotypical people are also lower functioning than their high IQ counterparts.

Just as males show greater genetic variation than females, so too do autistic people show greater genetic variation than neurotypical people. People with autism can have a great range of all sorts of different traits, which is why it is important to have a good number of symptoms that can be checked off to ensure a reliable measurement is made.

Currently there is some attempt to decouple autisim symptoms and IQ, as a diagnosis will be made “with accompanying intellectual impairment” and “with accompanying language impairment”, or without. There is also levels of autism given:
Autism level 1: requiring support
Autism level 2: requiring substantial support
Autism level 3: requiring very substantial support

The only criteria between the levels is how much support is needed, meaning if someone is simply lower IQ, or has a very difficult time due to circumstance, they can be a higher level without technically having greater severity of autism.