Autistic Intuition

by Dora Raymaker · 2009-05-25 16:00:00 UTC
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two people in silhouette sit at a round table facing each other. the wall behind them is made of circles. two large orange circles are on the wall over the people's heads. it is very symmetrical and also strangeIn California, Adults with autism run Camarillo school for kids with autism.

The national chairwoman of the Autism Society of America, Dr. Cathy Pratt, said she has heard of it, but it is still fairly rare in America. Pratt thinks it makes perfect sense.

"They have an intuitive understanding of the behavior. They can interpret the signs," said Pratt, who is based out of the University of Indiana.

So often autistic people are sold short, accused of having no intuitive understanding of behavior in a generalized sense. So it's nice to hear someone give us a bit more credit for a change--that we may well have perfectly good intuition for understanding autistic behavior. An idea that definitely gets no argument from me (especially as someone who has been, at times, asked to "interpret the signs" for non-auties).

It's hard for anyone to understand a perspective that is radically different from their own. For those without a DSM diagnosis, the phenomena is called cognitive bias. I've read books with entire chapters devoted to strategies for how to help non-autistic people learn better how to see past their own perspective, and how to demolish cognitive biases. It's also the issue behind cultural competence.

Perhaps it's time to re-think stereotypes about autistics' ability to understand the behavior of others.

Dora Raymaker
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