In our world today -> The amazing Boing Boing
I am really starting to love boingboing.net. ^_^ I know I may have gone slightly over board on sharing the articles. My only request is that if you look at this at all, please at the very least, watch the very last video that links over to youtube. It may appear at first as though it is going on forever and your attention may waver. Stick with it.
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First i'd like to say; wow, i'm amazed at how well she communicates in printed words! Its not so much that she cannot speak about whats going on in her head that fascinates me, its that she is so gifted that she managed to learn to communicate in written form regardless of her own cognative challenges.
Recently i found out my little brother has Asbergers Syndrome- which is very similar to autism however less severe. I have noticed that many people who are diagnosed with one of them have very peculiar tics--- My brother rubs his nose, and locks and unlocks things... and when he's doing his homework, he taps his pen on the paper he's writing on (There are little dots all over everything he does).
Many would say that these people 'suffer' from Autism/Asbergers... but it seems as if its almost a gift in a way... My brother is one of the Smartest most talented people i've ever known... which reminds me of this quote:
"Lisa says its a gift- That we can see things that no one else does." - Girl Interrupted
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With regards to this video I agree with you, it really may be a gift to be able to see things differently than the rest of us. Some people need drugs, some people get it naturally. (jk) We tend to base a certain amount of a person's "intelligence" on how well they communicate with the rest of society.
In the video (I can't remember if it's this one or another one she made. I've watched several of them now.) she talks about how when she would talk to people she would appear to not be listening because she'd be running around or waving her hand quickly in front of her own face. The only way we know how to assess others is by comparing it to what we know. I "know" that if I was to start doing things like that I would be unable to fully listen to whatever someone else was saying. If I judge other things based on that observation, then I would come to the conclusion that she wasn't listening to me. Hence the problem in judging things based solely on your own observation of reality.
In the same sense, we therefore assume that if the person we are speaking to does not sit still and listen, (with appropriate replies and such) then they must not be comprehending, and there is a "problem". It is impossible for us to say if she is really listening to us because we can't get inside her head. It would also be very difficult, if not impossible, for her to explain if she is understanding in the conventional sense of the word, because she doesn't function like me, or you, or anyone else, so she can't make a true comparison.
I guess this gets into other, more philosophical, points. Really, maybe we all think extremely differently from one another the way she does? Perhaps she is just an example of a case where the part of the brain that teaches you to develop communication around it is not functioning properly. Or perhaps her brain just took a different route and has the potential to do it just doesn't, like the way that her friend (Laura?) taught herself to communicate.
Either way it's impossible to know for sure. It is however, fun to speculate what may be true.
Thanks again Mer, for watching the video and responding. I really do sincerely appreciate it.
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