Maladaptive vs. Adaptive and "Insistence on Sameness"

Chicago Tribune has published a pop science piece on UIC study hopes to shed light on autism, 'insistence on sameness'. The assumption that is made is that some chemical or brain anomaly causes "insistence on sameness." In other words, that "insistence on sameness" is a maladaptive behavior that may be correctable. The casual qualitative research that happens in one's head simply from communicating with hundreds of people who share the same experience (i.e. are all on the spectrum) makes me question this assumption, at least for some of us.

The experience of many of us is not that "insistence on sameness" jumps out unbidden and unwanted and makes our lives hard, but that "insistence on sameness" is actually a way of adapting to a confusing and chaotic environment, cueing into volitional action, or compensating for "executive function" difficulties. Routines for some of us are the opposite of unbidden, unwanted, or difficulty-making: they are deliberate, desired, and adaptive. (Which may explain in turn why some of us become unable to function well, or become extremely upset, when our routines are broken.)

Anecdotal stories are not, in themselves, science. They do not "prove" anything other than that a particular person has had a specific experience. However, the starting assumptions or hypothesis that are used in science frequently do come from observation, including observation of people's first hand accounts of their experiences. If you hear enough autistic adults talking, typing, signing, drawing about how frustrated they are about not being able to get quality health care, then you may develop a more testable hypothesis or assumption for use in a study, like "autistic adults often do not receive quality health care."

When reading about these studies that assume autistic behavior is maladaptive, I always wonder if the investigators have spent much time asking autistic people about our experiences or why we may have the behavior they are interested in studying.

Understanding our personal reasons for doing things is really important as it filters down to a practical day-to-day level because a therapy or medication that eliminates or suppresses an adaptive behavior could potentially be harmful, not beneficial, to a person (any person!) in the long run.