Autism Matrix book

Bill Wong — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 00:48:00 GMT

The type of non-fiction books I typically read for fun are Christian religious text. So, reading a book like this is a little "out of the norm" for me. The reason that intrigued me in the first place was the fact that I have participated in a discussion on here and offer my preliminary takes before actually reading book regarding what the future might mean in regards to autism under DSM V that will be released in the near future. As a whole, I liked the book. However, the book had a crucial element that isn't mentioned enough, which is in terms of adults, especially with lower functioning autism and the resources that are available to them.

That said, maybe because I came to OT with a Statistics background, I wasn't too aware of the history of the current definition of Asperger's Syndrome came about, as all I knew that it was "newly added" to the current DSM. So, when I read the history portion of it, which is a good portion of the book. I kept on thinking these couple questions-

1. Will my occupational history be different? If so, how?

2. Do I think I was diagnosed for the sake of accommodation purposes? Why?

For the first question, I definitely think that my occupational history will have been completely different. In fact, I see myself in one of two possible scenarios.

A. I could very well be institutionalized for pretty much all my life under the earlier versions of the DSM, with the possibility that a fellow reader could be my OT. After all, if my parents' accounts were correct, there were few, but noticable signs I exhibited when I was around age 2, which I mentioned in earlier blogs. In terms of education goes, the odds of me going to college would have been much lower because of the fact that I would had been in special education classrooms. Meanwhile, I might very well been subjected to labels that are associated with individuals with autism. Even if I "beat the odds" (like what I have done in getting into an OT school) and get into a college, a lot of people most likely will have their stigma against me. My self-esteem would have been a lot lower due to the fact that I would have faced stigma day in and day out... even if my parents were aware of that and tried to protect me from it. Lastly, my social circle will either be one of the following- a fair bit of clients who are on the same boat (perhaps with much worse symptoms than mine), or having virtually no friends at all. This would have been a far cry from the pleasant experiences I had in my OT journey!

B. I will be a person still looking for answers. According to my neuropsych report, my IQ is in the 110-120 range. Moreover, as I mentioned before, a fair bit of OT students I talked to told me that they wouldn't be able to tell that I have Asperger's had I not told them so- especially since I can hold a decent conversation when approached, even though I am pretty passive socially a lot of times. Thus, if IQ and conversational skills (when approached by a person) were the main factors in determining whether someone has the autism diagnosis, I might not fit. However, the mystery about myself will still be unsolved- such as bad eye contact, unlikelihood of initiating a conversation, horrible at picking up people's social cues, slight tendency of being defensive/stubborn, etc. Moreover, I might be aware of some of them, but not all of them. In this situation, I would have a better chance in getting an education, and even OT school. However, clinicians in the field may find that I am unfit for practice due to the problems I mentioned, as all they might do is to try to tell me to "fix" the problem before I head out to practice for real. Again, I could improve on some. But, it would have been pretty hard to improve on all of them in such a short time. Moreover, I definitely won't have gotten accommodations. In other words, I might have got education through OT school. But (and a big but), I might very well not know what I will do with it.

Basically, you can say that I would have been worst off in different ways than I am now.

As for the second question, I think this depends on a case to case basis. Some people might be hesitant to acknowledge the fact that they have autism. Some people might be relieved. Personally, I have been on both sides, as my change of heart came from the fact that the consequences of not trying to find out once and for all became way greater than the benefits of the "pretense" in being normal. Of course, then there are some folks who might be in the same situation I am in, but still persist to believe that they are normal. I do not blame these folks, however... since even though the world society as a whole has accepted autism better than several decades ago, there are still cases of stigma and discrimination- especially when not all members of society are knowledgable of the "signs" of autism and/or willing to acknowledge their erroneous ways when they are told about the fact that they just have encountered someone with autism.

Switching gears a little bit, while self-advocacy is important, I felt that the author neglected about adults who are on the autism spectrum or might still not fit the diagnostic criteria under DSM IV. To tell the truth, self advocacy is not an easy thing to do. From time to time, I have to tell some of my OT friends who might not know me too well about the fact (which I consider this as part of self-advocacy). After all, if all of my former CI's missed that, it might even be more likely when it comes to students!

In terms of how it might apply in the OT context (which I am sure it does), I think it might not be a bad idea for OT's to assign the book for teenagers and/or adults with high functioning autism to read in educating them the fact about that they need to be their own advocates! Sure, their parents as well as communities (both brick and mortar and online) could help. But, it's ultimately up to them in terms of advocating for what they individually want! Otherwise, the teens in the autism spectrum right now could very well follow the footsteps of most of the adults who are there now- neither knowing much about what OT is nor the possibilities that OT could bring, thus not necessarily knowing there is help available to them. After all, autism is a chronic condition and I believe that services should be available for the consumers across the lifespan because of it.

As for in terms of OT, I think it could be added to one of the growing list of textbooks for OT students to read... especially if the author can spend some time some research online to see what problems in terms of what the adults in the autism population are facing now. Otherwise, as it is with AOTA's centennial vision regarding autism, there will be a relative overemphasis on children with little or no attention to teens and adults.

Human Calculator OT : OT, DSM

Autism Matrix book