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12:40am January 24, 2012
From the inside cover of Movement Differences and Diversity in Autism/Mental Retardation by Martha Leary and Anne Donnellan. [Image description. A chart listing two columns of words with symbols in the middle that imply that any one word in the first column can be applied to any word in the second column, in the form, “Marked difficulties in X, may impede Y.” The first column’s words are Starting, Stopping, Executing, Continuing, Combining, Switching. The second column’s words are Postures, Actions, Speech, Thoughts, Perceptions, Emotions, Memories.] This is the very broad sense I talked about in my last post, that some people, including the authors of the article I was talking about, use the word “movement”. I have found this the single most concise way of telling people about the way my brain functions on a very practical sort of level. There’s a lot more to this of course, and not all of it is as negative as some people may read the chart. So when people use the term “movement differences” as applied to autism, it can really apply to all kinds of things about thought, emotion, etc. as well. Not that this chart captures what autism is, but it’s a very good attempt – better than I could do – at explaining many ways that autistic people function. (I’d also add language to the column on the right, not just speech.) Interestingly, many conditions that most people think of as entirely movement-based, have cognitive and emotional components as well. Including things like Tourette syndrome and Parkinson’s. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to read a lot about it because the person who talks about this the most is Oliver Sacks and sometimes I just can’t stomach a certain view-from-above tone his writing takes towards disabled people at times. I think someday I’m going to have to slog through Awakenings though, because I’m told it has an entire chapter on ways to accommodate trouble moving. (In fact the thing his patients had in that book is yet another thing this movement disorder has been compared to at times.)

From the inside cover of Movement Differences and Diversity in Autism/Mental Retardation by Martha Leary and Anne Donnellan.

[Image description. A chart listing two columns of words with symbols in the middle that imply that any one word in the first column can be applied to any word in the second column, in the form, “Marked difficulties in X, may impede Y.” The first column’s words are Starting, Stopping, Executing, Continuing, Combining, Switching. The second column’s words are Postures, Actions, Speech, Thoughts, Perceptions, Emotions, Memories.]

This is the very broad sense I talked about in my last post, that some people, including the authors of the article I was talking about, use the word “movement”. I have found this the single most concise way of telling people about the way my brain functions on a very practical sort of level. There’s a lot more to this of course, and not all of it is as negative as some people may read the chart. So when people use the term “movement differences” as applied to autism, it can really apply to all kinds of things about thought, emotion, etc. as well. Not that this chart captures what autism is, but it’s a very good attempt – better than I could do – at explaining many ways that autistic people function. (I’d also add language to the column on the right, not just speech.)

Interestingly, many conditions that most people think of as entirely movement-based, have cognitive and emotional components as well. Including things like Tourette syndrome and Parkinson’s. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to read a lot about it because the person who talks about this the most is Oliver Sacks and sometimes I just can’t stomach a certain view-from-above tone his writing takes towards disabled people at times. I think someday I’m going to have to slog through Awakenings though, because I’m told it has an entire chapter on ways to accommodate trouble moving. (In fact the thing his patients had in that book is yet another thing this movement disorder has been compared to at times.)