Contrasting Autism Personalities
By LisaAKAmom
07-17-08
Abilities vary widely on the autism spectrum
Students with autism may have widely divergent abilities and although all start out with the characteristic emotional disabilities, some are able to overcome. "At its core, the autism spectrum is a problem with perceiving feeling, understanding social relations," said Bryna Siegel, director of the University of California at San Francisco's Autism Clinic. "They don't know how other people think and feel -- and they're not very motivated to try to figure it out." San Francisco Chronicle (7/13)
Along autism spectrum, personalities contrast
It happened without warning: a thud, then blood.
Arnold, 14, was struggling to read aloud at his Oakland school for students with disabilities last winter when a classmate slipped behind him and cracked a green ceramic bowl on his head. Arnold rose slowly, blood streaming down the right side of his face.
"Hurts," he stated. "Hurts."
At the same time, at another school over in Kentfield, Davis Finch, 19, had just begun studying political science and meteorology at the College of Marin.
"I like classes that are intellectually challenging," he said.
The two teenagers are polar opposites, one bright and aiming for a career in the wide world, the other navigating a smaller world of cognitive dysfunction.
Yet they are connected in a fundamental way: Both are diagnosed on the autism spectrum, where emotions are often elusive.
"They don't know how other people think and feel - and they're not very motivated to try to figure it out," said Bryna Siegel, director of the Autism Clinic at UCSF. "They march to the beat of their own drummer."
Siegel doesn't know Arnold or Finch. But she's written authoritative books about autism and spends much of her working life with families affected by the condition.
Those with autism may have extensive cognitive problems, like Arnold, or milder learning disabilities that can be tackled with help, like Finch. But autism has less to do with intellectual intelligence than emotional intelligence.
"At its core, the autism spectrum is a problem with perceiving feeling, understanding social relations," Siegel said.
The word "autism" comes from the Greek word "autos," meaning "self."
But although people with autism generally lack the ability to read unspoken cues, such as facial expressions or signs of emotion, the condition doesn't always prevent people from connecting with others in a meaningful way.
Andrew Van Etten, 26, knows this well.
Growing up in Lafayette and going through the public schools there, Van Etten encountered the usual lunchtime bullies and people who didn't understand him. But he found that joining clubs and participating in activities - from drama and school dances to creating Japanese animation called anime - allowed him to socialize and make friends, even though such skills didn't come naturally.
Today, the theology major at St. Mary's College in Moraga practices swing dancing and comedy improv.
"They are ways to show myself that I can be beyond this diagnosis," he said. "I can choose a life path that says I've defeated it. Or I'm better than it."
Students with autism may have widely divergent abilities and although all start out with the characteristic emotional disabilities, some are able to overcome. "At its core, the autism spectrum is a problem with perceiving feeling, understanding social relations," said Bryna Siegel, director of the University of California at San Francisco's Autism Clinic. "They don't know how other people think and feel -- and they're not very motivated to try to figure it out." San Francisco Chronicle (7/13)
Along autism spectrum, personalities contrast
It happened without warning: a thud, then blood.
Arnold, 14, was struggling to read aloud at his Oakland school for students with disabilities last winter when a classmate slipped behind him and cracked a green ceramic bowl on his head. Arnold rose slowly, blood streaming down the right side of his face.
"Hurts," he stated. "Hurts."
At the same time, at another school over in Kentfield, Davis Finch, 19, had just begun studying political science and meteorology at the College of Marin.
"I like classes that are intellectually challenging," he said.
The two teenagers are polar opposites, one bright and aiming for a career in the wide world, the other navigating a smaller world of cognitive dysfunction.
Yet they are connected in a fundamental way: Both are diagnosed on the autism spectrum, where emotions are often elusive.
"They don't know how other people think and feel - and they're not very motivated to try to figure it out," said Bryna Siegel, director of the Autism Clinic at UCSF. "They march to the beat of their own drummer."
Siegel doesn't know Arnold or Finch. But she's written authoritative books about autism and spends much of her working life with families affected by the condition.
Those with autism may have extensive cognitive problems, like Arnold, or milder learning disabilities that can be tackled with help, like Finch. But autism has less to do with intellectual intelligence than emotional intelligence.
"At its core, the autism spectrum is a problem with perceiving feeling, understanding social relations," Siegel said.
The word "autism" comes from the Greek word "autos," meaning "self."
But although people with autism generally lack the ability to read unspoken cues, such as facial expressions or signs of emotion, the condition doesn't always prevent people from connecting with others in a meaningful way.
Andrew Van Etten, 26, knows this well.
Growing up in Lafayette and going through the public schools there, Van Etten encountered the usual lunchtime bullies and people who didn't understand him. But he found that joining clubs and participating in activities - from drama and school dances to creating Japanese animation called anime - allowed him to socialize and make friends, even though such skills didn't come naturally.
Today, the theology major at St. Mary's College in Moraga practices swing dancing and comedy improv.
"They are ways to show myself that I can be beyond this diagnosis," he said. "I can choose a life path that says I've defeated it. Or I'm better than it."
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