About Autism and Diversity

Autism is a a neurological difference that some people have. This means we experience the world differently. Here we will dive into some detail on the current understanding of Autism, what it is to be Autistic, and how our personal and work environments could be changed with a positive impact for all.

Physiological Difference

Differences in how the brain develops lead to people experiencing the world in different ways. Assessments of these differences lead to medical diagnoses such as autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), dyslexia, and many, many more.

A primary point to understand first is that in medicine, anything that does not match a defined 'correct' version of the human form and function, is by default a disorder.

In the autistic brain there has been observed such differences as a larger or smaller amygdala (the area believed to control behaviour, emotion, and learning), and a much higher number of synapses (that transfer information between neurons). This can be tens of trillions greater.

This leads to sensory and communication differences.

Our Senses

Humans have the five base senses: touch, smell, sight, hearing, and taste. We also have senses such as:

balance, motion, and spatial awareness - the ability to co-ordinate movement.
external body awareness - the ability to sense your own position, force, and self-movement.
internal body awareness - ability to respond to our own body signals such as hunger, thirst, pain, exhaustion, the need to go to the bathroom.

The differences in how we detect and respond to sensory input can be be covered by three areas:

Hyper-sensitive - we are more sensitive than others, hearing sounds others cannot, being unable to differentiate when there are a lot of sound sources, light sensitivity, and so on.
Hypo-sensitive - we are less sensitive than others, not realising that we are thirsty, needing more light, being too late to the bathroom.
Sensory Seeking - some senses give comfort and help regulate against others. This means we might carry something that provides the right texture, sound, smell etc.

Emotion and Communication

The amygdala is small yet mighty in what it is responsible for:

Detecting danger e.g., fight or flight responses.
Social behaviour e.g., interpreting facial expressions, understanding social cues.
Emotional processing and control e.g., what is the appropriate response to emotional stimuli, emotion related to memory.
Learning e.g., ability to do certain things without remembering how you learned it, learning through reward and punishment.

Structural differences and functional variations lead to the differences we see in the way autists interact with others, and also increases the likelihood of anxiety disorders.