Autism: Not a Mental Disorder, But a Survival Leftover from Our Ancestors

[front2back]

Modern day humans live a completely different life compared to our ancestors. Thousands upon thousands of years ago, we lived a hunter-gatherer lifestyle in small tribes. Our forefathers weren't dumber than us or complete savages, they just didn't have the same amount of knowledge, time, or resources that we do today to build gigantic metropolises and fly away from the planet. Ancient humans were at the mercy of their environment, while modern humans have conquered the environment and built the world to suit our needs and be at the mercy of us.

The advent of agriculture and civilization didn't benefit everyone, however. While more and more humans began to settle down and build villages, others prefered to stick it out on their own and survive the world as it traditionally had been. Unfortunately, these people have been sucked into our modern world and they don't fit in. These people are autistic.

What even is Autism?

The CDC continues to find that Autism is spiking all over the US. Year by year, a greater percentage of the population is diagnosed. Why is Autism just spreading like an epidemic when it's merely a mental disorder? No, it's not because of vaccines Jenny McCarthy. Many think it's better diagnosis methods, others just think it's because we're turning normal behaviors into an illness (more on that later).

Autism is mainly characterized as a lack of proper social interaction and development. Those who are Autistic have difficulty communicating and interacting with others, such as avoiding eye contact or having trouble speaking. They are obsessed with a limited number of things, and practice repetitive/compulsive behaviors. They often experience anxiety with sensitivity to sounds and other things. Lastly, they also have trouble recognizing other people's emotions.

Basically, they don't fit in. Our modern world is all about communicating and social interaction, and Autistic people are the complete opposite about that, preferring to be alone. To us, they're "disabled".

Why Autism might have been an awesome survival "programming".

Back before agriculture, humans hunted and gathered food to survive. These past humans actually were smart and talented, but in completely different ways than today. They were much more in tune with the environment. They could memorize terrain, which plants and animals made good food, how to get them, and were much more sensitive with their senses. They made tools to help them hunt and build shelter, and our athletes today are physically what your average human was back then due to this lifestyle. Most people worked together to accomplish getting food, building tools, raising young, and creating shelter.

All the characteristics I mentioned about Autism above were helpful back in this era. Sure, good communication skills and teamwork is important if you live in a tribe who works together to gather food, but if you're already skilled enough to gather your own food do you really need a tribe? Nope. So communication skills are just another unnecessary worry you don't need. Plus, there's a good chance other people might have bad intentions, wanting your food and will kill you for it. So it's probably best just to ignore them and stay away.

What about all of those repetitive, compulsive, and obsessive behaviors? Well, if we apply those compulsions and repetitive actions to gathering and stockpiling food? Now we have an automatic survival talent. There is no thinking about when you should get food and how to organize it, you wake up in the morning and just do. After all, your only real goal is to survive, so you don't need to be distracted by things such as drawing on cave walls or doing rain dances.

That anxiety to loud noises and the sensitivity to the environment is important when you could have predators sneaking all around wanting to make you their next meal. You shouldn't have to think if that twig snapping 30 meters behind you was a mountain lion or not, you should instantly kick in the "flight or fight" response and prepare for danger.

And one last small point, those who are Autistic enjoy being in the company of dogs. Most people do of course, but since dogs have been so critical to humanity's survival for thousands of years with hunting and companionship it makes sense why those with Autism would cherish them, even when they normally don't get along with other people.

Basically, Autistic people were just humans who are specially "programmed" to do one thing: Survive. They don't care about culture and human interaction and such because they don't need to. They just need to make sure they have enough food to get through winter and a sharp enough spear for protection.

Autism in the Modern world.

Autism doesn't take on just one form or severity. It can range from mild social awkwardness to severe retardation, and it spans across all different intelligence levels and types of people. It also has a strong genetic tie, meaning that Autism has been passed down for generations. This makes sense because as I've already pointed out:

Autism has several survival benefits, and those affected not only were able to survive but were also perfectly capable of finding sexual partners to procreate with, despite the lack of social interaction. Autism wouldn't be so common or have made it this far if it were really that bad of a "disorder", social darwinism would have phased it out long ago.

What makes Autism so "bad" today is that our world forces them into an environment they can't live well in. Food, water, and shelter are already provided by parents. Instead of teaching them to create bows & arrows or stockpile, we try to teach them language and being around others, something they don't really like or excel at. Instead their lack of interaction with others is seen as rude and wrong, and today even people who are introverted are also treated this way. With the need to stockpile and hunt removed from their lives, they've become bored now and stack blocks, flip light switches, or collect meaningless items to keep themselves busy.

All in all, Autism is not a "disease" nor something "bad". It's a very special way that humans have developed over time, but with our relatively quick advances in civilization and technology their unique skills are no longer necessary. It saddens me when I see people asking if we should abort Autistic children or parents disowning their Autistic children, because in reality their child has received a very special gift that they are unable to reach potential with.

So overall, please respect and help those with Autism. They're normal people like you and me, just their minds see the world differently.

[Phoenix98]

I wouldn't really classify Autism as a survival trait since in the ancient world a lot of tribes and some cultures were actually very social and communication was quite important both in hunting and gathering, leadership positions and especially war among other things. And some cultures and tribes were just in general a social people. And not having that ability to interact and communicate was a liability where a lot of things depended on how well people did the above.

And also regarding your part about dogs, what about in many of the cultures in Asia were dogs are a regularly part of their diet?

Also Autism and that anxiety to loud noises and the sensitivity to the environment it gives would actually be a hindered in the wilderness due to the fact that the anxiety could and would make them restless, more easily startled, scared and could trigger panic attacks in a variety of situations. Which I've seen first hand. Also that "flight or fight" response to danger is something that every human being ever born has, it has nothing to do with Autsim in the least it's just instinct

And these repetitive, compulsive, and obsessive behaviors, like gathering and stockpiling food were something that was trained and taught to everyone, from childhood, people weren't born with that mindset. It was taught to them that if you didn't do these things you would die, starve or be killed. And they learned these things through trial and error and a lot of people died before they got it right.

I get what your trying to do I do, but you talk about it like you have no experience actually hunting, fishing or anything like that. And I could be wrong about that but I can tell you that it's just a theory there is no evidence to support what your saying at all, and Autism isn't an advantage in that kind of harsh life people lived back then it was a hindrance all of the things that it makes you do or gives you make you unreliable, weak etc in a lot of the things they did. And there is nothing that can actually link Autism to being a survival trait of ancient people and they had a sensitivity to the sounds of nature and animals because they lived in their environment and with them they were in tune with nature.

It's a good mytake but your theory can't be proven, there' no evidence to support it but plenty to show that it probably wasn't true.

[Venera314]

In other words, it's absolute nonsense, and I agree; he has no evidence for any of the claims he makes, and he makes it sound as though having a handicap like autism isn't so bad, and that it's all society's fault if they don't fit in.

[Phoenix98]

@Venera314 Yeah it wouldn't be a survival trait if anything it'd be a major liability.

[kaylaS91]

Nice take!
As someone who works with children and adolescents who fall in different places on the Autism spectrum, I fully agree with what you've written here. From how much variance their is within this disorder, as well as that those who are afflicted by it are in no way 'retarded'. (Though I hate to say that anyone, whether with ASD or any disorder, for that matter, are 'retarded' in the first place.)

Some people could have an official diagnosis with ASD and be pretty much 'normal', aside from some delays in terms of language development. Whereas others will have episodes and huge difficulties in terms of handling situations involving many people or a cacophony of louder noises. Neither of those things are 'bad', in my opinion. What's bad is how much ignorance remains to this very day, and as soon as people who are not aware of what a disorder actually entails learn that someone is affected by it, right away classify them as an outcast. That if you're not perfectly 'normal', though that's more of a subjective term than anything else, you're either someone who will be feared or pitied.

In my experience working with individuals with ASD, it's not necessarily all that different than from how you change your approach with different friends. With some friends, you may be a bit more outgoing and feisty, while with others, you'll be more reserved. Likewise, if you're around someone with ASD, everyone will get along relatively well if the sounds are kept relatively quiet/non-sporadic, and general chit-chat is kept to a minimum.

[Aqualung]

Autism has been turned into a broad spectrum disorder that encompasses dyslexia to being introverted. Aspbergers was recently declassified as its own condition to a "spectrum disorder". The political interpretation of Autisim does an inexcusable dis-service to those who suffer the disorders included in the "spectrum". E. g. ; It's now a convienent way to classify mental retardation without the stigma that accompanies that condition. Check out this blurb from Wiki:
"Of the five PDD forms, Asperger syndrome is closest to autism in signs and likely causes; Rett syndrome and childhood disintegrative disorder share several signs with autism, but may have unrelated causes; PDD not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS; also called atypical autism) is diagnosed when the criteria are not met for a more specific disorder.[124] Unlike with autism, people with Asperger syndrome have no substantial delay in language development.[125] The terminology of autism can be bewildering, with autism, Asperger syndrome and PDD-NOS often called the autism spectrum disorders (ASD)[2] or sometimes the autistic disorders,[126] whereas autism itself is often called autistic disorder, childhood autism, or infantile autism. In this article, autism refers to the classic autistic disorder; in clinical practice, though, autism, ASD, and PDD are often used interchangeably.[1] ASD, in turn, is a subset of the broader autism phenotype, which describes individuals who may not have ASD but do have autistic-like traits, such as avoiding eye contact.[127]

The manifestations of autism cover a wide spectrum, ranging from individuals with severe impairments—who may be silent, developmentally disabled, and locked into hand flapping and rocking—to high functioning individuals who may have active but distinctly odd social approaches, narrowly focused interests, and verbose, pedantic communication.[128] Because the behavior spectrum is continuous, boundaries between diagnostic categories are necessarily somewhat arbitrary.[43] Sometimes the syndrome is divided into low-, medium- or high-functioning autism (LFA, MFA, and HFA), based on IQ thresholds,[129] or on how much support the individual requires in daily life; these subdivisions are not standardized and are controversial. Autism can also be divided into syndromal and non-syndromal autism; the syndromal autism is associated with severe or profound intellectual disability or a congenital syndrome with physical symptoms. . ."

WTF?
They really don't know

[Anonymous]

Are you guys sure we are talking about real autism here as an actual disease? Or just a social label people give each other when they want to be nasty? Something like "retarded". Because I've seen some real autistic children, and they are not able to take care of themselves at all. They can't talk at all, let alone reading and writing. They can't eat their own food, go to the bathroom, ... They don't recognize their own mother. They hurt themselves without feeling anything... In short they need care 24/7.
Maybe you got the name wrong?
I knew one who was able to sing nursery rhymes at age 2, but it all disappeared as his condition progressed.

[front2back]

As I said near the end, the Autism spectrum encompasses many different types of disprders and different levels of severity. Sometimes someone is slightly autistic and can still read a little and take care of themselves, sometimes they disabled like you said. There is no "real" autism or "fake" autism with the disorder, just different levels of how bad it is. Like mild depression vs severe depression.

[0112358]

Autism is not exactly the same as 'autism spectrum disorder', which is the current diagnosis, and includes everything that was under autism, aspergers and 'PDD NOS' (persistent developmental delay not otherwise specifed' in the past.

The sort of kids you're talking about would have received a diagnosis of 'autism', and been low functioning even within that 'autism' range.

WIth the autism spectrum disorder diagnosis, the majority of people 'on the spectrum' are not actually in the traditional autism range. And this does cause some confusion and arguments.

[CityBoy773]

Very interesting take.

My brother has autism and needs someone 24/7. While the dog thing really doesn't apply to him, as he is not comfortable with any dogs besides my granmas dog, he's a bright boy. Strong as hell too. Just can't talk well and do things on his own. But he's my brother and basically my kid sort of. I'm very protective of the boys. (other brother has ADHD)

[Words_and_Wisdom]

I was diagnosed with autism, and didn't find out until a year ago when my parents told me. It's really hindering. I've been lonely for all my life and depressed just as much. I fear of being socially outcasted, fear of putting myself fully out there. None of these fears shouldn't even exist.

[Anonymous]

My son has autism. He is not high functioning. I love him like crazy.

For him, it's not just a difference, it is a disability. He cannot do things other children his age can do. It is possible, but perhaps unlikely, that he will ever be able to live independently. Perhaps hundreds of years ago, he would have simply worked on a farm or something like that. He's a big strong, with great energy, and an amazing upbeat attitude.

[PenguinApricot65]

Autism is 10 x more prevalent in men.
And people with it don't 'Prefer to be alone'.
Some are desperately Lonely,
They avoid eye contact, because it's too intense

[Mustachekitteh]

Interesting take but sadly the world is still what it is and won't make it easier. So either force yourself to fit in or be alone and homeless.

[bobbyxx]

Nasty ignorant troll.

[Mustachekitteh]

@bobbyxx who?

[bobbyxx]

You are, no people should have to accommodate the disability. It is a spiteful and out-dated thing for you to say.

[Mustachekitteh]

@bobbyxx I have adhd and asd so i already know how the world doesn't care if you have that kind of issue or not. Normally they will just not want you around to begin with.

[Luminifera]

Um... a nice take on autism, but I'm a bit skeptical? Anyway, thanks for reminding people that us aspies can be awesome too ^-^

[Anonymous]

Autistic people are not "retarded", some people are mistaking them for people with Down syndrome. Nice mytake by the way.

[front2back]

Just to be clear I didn't say they were, just that some autism is severe enough to result in mental retardation (or challenge, whichever is preferred), where they might be years behind.

[anonman32]

this is pretty cool. i wonder where ADHD comes from. as for the people with autism adapt and evolve i would say. but they are doing fine, if autism was a bad thing they would have been bred out of existence thousands of years ago.

[howzit2015]

not necessarily.

[anonman32]

@howzit2015 they will adapt and evolve, social and cultural pressure are not enough to force them out of existence, there are many successful people in life with autism and plenty of kids.

[666threesixes666]

""programmed" to do one thing: Survive. They don't care about culture and human interaction" back in the day they used a club to whack chicks with, now they use a club to get chicks drunk. either way they're getting dragged back to the cave. breeding isn't "man got wedding permission so he wins" rules for the entirety of time and reality.

[anonman32]

@666threesixes666 lol you have no idea of their learning and observational capabilities they learn fast, lets see if they learn fast enough not to become irrelevant. autism was never a problem until recently some doctors decided it was. its not like if you deviate from the norm that you will not be able to reproduce.

[howzit2015]

you said " if autism was a bad thing they would have been bred out of existence thousands of years ago." That is not the case. People with blue eyes exist in this world, and there is no advantage to it. Palmaris longs muscle exists in 1/10 people in the world there is NO advantage for it, and no disadvantage. It just exists. Somethings just continue from our primal relatives, which possess no benefit. Next you're assuming autism is genetic when people are unclear on the extent of how much genetics contributes to it. We don't know if it is on a single locus of a chromosome, if it is a multifactorial trait, or if epigenetic aspects play an important role. Some think that there are genes which are indicators, but only a small percentage of individuals who possess these gene produce children who fall under the category of suffering from autism. Next, austim is an ambiguous disease, and is continuously updated and revised. So how much is societal perception, and how much is biological?

[howzit2015]

next, with "how fast they learn" you're probably biased, and have run into very talented and gifted children who can perform the most amazing feats, but unfortunately this is not the case the majority of times. Children who suffer from austin more often than not suffer from an intellectual disability. These have a tendency to co-occur. Second, a trait of people with autism is high amounts of obsession, which have been known to impair their abilities to do various tasks. Lastly, the severity will play an important role as well there are some people who suffer from autism, who require 24hr supervision and care.
www.autismspeaks.org/.../dsm-5-diagnostic-criteria

[anonman32]

@howzit2015 I was probably biased because i have ADHD and i learn fast, but only what i am interested in. some see that as a disability, i dont.

[howzit2015]

Cocaine and ritalin affect the brains of person with ADHD differently than those who don't suffer from ADHD. So people with ADHD need more cocaine and ritalin to get the same level of high as someone without it. So your brain has a natural resistance to it, but that is due to ritalin and cocaine affecting dopamine levels in the brain. Since people ADHD have lower amounts of dopamine in the brain they have to take MORE cocaine to produce the similar affect. Cocaine also will make you feel different than how it would make me feel. That is until you took enough to force your brain to produce enough dopamine. But you would still have to take more to get high. So that's pretty cool!

[anonman32]

@howzit2015 yeah but here is the paradox. people with ADHD get addicted faster to stuff like that. and here is the next thing to make it even weirder. caffeine and sugary foods are not for me i can tell you that, they give me panic attacks.

[howzit2015]

Well we don't know if they get addicted faster, but we see that they people who are addicted to cocaine are more likely to have ADD/ADHD. Some argue it's due to damage to the hippocampus, and others argue it's because we get kids addicted to ritalin. the kids then turn to cocaine because it has a similar chemical structure and affect as ritalin does.

[anonman32]

@howzit2015 that could be, i have not used rilatin 10 years and im fine.

[666threesixes666]

i'm fully retarded with autism, i mean look at my profile on here.

[SlightlyCrazy]

Yea this is wishful thinking
I commend on drawing those connections as its a dank good theory
But you have no imperial evidence
So it must remain a theory

[Pinkbeauty]

Iv been asked one time if I was autistic and I'm not autistic I can make eye contact and I can speak clearly i just get shy when I'm around people and I get angzity

[EllieLexis513]

You can be autistic and do everything you just stated.

[Pinkbeauty]

@EllieLexis513 well I would never rafer to myself and I would never tell people I'm autistic I just don't think of my in that way

[EllieLexis513]

Technically, if a person hasn't been tested for it, then there's no way of knowing if someone is autistic. A lot of people show zero signs of being autistic in social situations and they may actually be.

[sedrftvgyhujik]

It could be asperges or traits of it even if they aren't severe enough for a diagnosis.

I have asperges I can make eye contact and I can speak clearly but I still get anxious making phone calls if im unsure what I need to say. I also struggle to keep in contact with people after what ever connected us has finished and things like how much eye contact to me often feel rehearsed. I'm ok to and do go out and do things though join clubs, gym classes the nerves go after Iv been a few times and it becomes more routine.
It's a pain and i'd rather not have it but It could be a lot more sever and I think the easily triggered flight or fight response helps keep me in shape
and in the tech industry it's actually fairly common.

[Anonymous]

Very intruigig take, its unlike anything I've ever read to be quite honest with you. I did enjoy it and it was such a unique ttopic

[Anonymous]

It is not that we don't want to fit in, we are not allowed to. We get excluded.

[front2back]

And it's awful. Humans have always treated those differently from them like shit.

[Opinion Owner]

What is happening in my home town is awful, there are a couple of guys with Autism and they are getting persecuted for it.

[danLUNNUX]

so they lack friends and associates, and feel sad... wow... who cares?

[spurrnned]

a bit PC/liberal... asperger's is inherelty inferior.

[Venera314]

Says the troll who can't even spell the word "inherently". :D

[captainstixx]

i don't want to. aspie people are robots in human form... like Data from Star trek TNG.

[Venera314]

Don't be so bloody stupid!

[Anonymous]

That may be true, but having autism won't help you win Big Brother!

[Rissyanne]

My son has aspergers. This was a great Take.

[John_Doesnt]

Too many people are self diagnosing.