The Autism Spectrum and the Paranormal
Autism is a developmental disability that affects the lives of millions of people every day. Autism is a disorder with which the individual is born, and will continue to live. Autism Disorder is placed on a spectrum chart, because of its’ various levels and symptoms. All peoples with Autism Spectrum Disorder will suffer difficulties in social communication, social interaction, and social imagination; however, there is an array of other issues and symptoms that can manifest through this disorder.
Because of the widely vast spectrum of Autism Disorder, it is difficult to say that any one thing is specifically associated with the disorder. For instance, to say that Autistic people are obsessed with TV would be inappropriate considering the many differences between each level of Autism. With that being said, reputable studies seem to consistently claim that autistic individuals are more likely than the rest of us to see ghosts or experience other supernatural phenomena.
Whether or not ghosts are real, and whether or not autistic people see them is still up for debate. However, it is evident that an individual with autism is acutely more sensitive to any experience, including those of paranormal events.
The primary basis of this autism and paranormal claim is the fact that many autistic people have claimed to witness supernatural phenomena. At the same time, autistic people are generally open books, and pretty well unable to lie. Autistic people are incredibly literal thinkers. They lack the ability to imagine abstract concepts, or anything else outside of the realm of logic. This is why it is rare to find an autistic individual who will partake in or even laugh at a joke.
At the end of the day, there are only two feasible possibilities for the paranormal claim on autism. Since the autistic individual is incapable of lying about the experience, then either they are actually witnessing a paranormal being, or they are literally hallucinating.
Autistic people are very visual and perceptive individuals; therefore rushing sounds, allergies, and simply the fear of something can trigger the person to see and hear the vision everywhere around them. Anything is possible in the realms of both our reality and that of the autistic.
More Curiosities:
1). Do autistic people talk to themselves?
2). Can autistic people compete in sports, Special Olympics or Paralympics?
Just a quick note here as I addressed the issues with propensity toward Psychosis and Schizotypal PD, in the my comment below on Androgens.
There is actually a strength in Abstract reasoning measured in Abstract reasoning per visual concept reasoning in some subgroups of Autistic Disorder, and obviously high levels of abilities in Abstract reasoning in the STEM areas where about a third of individuals, who attend college, often excel in, with Asperger’s Syndrome.
It is a deficit in connecting the language with emotion per figurative language concepts such as sarcasm, HaHa type humor, and metaphors for complex emotion.
There is often a type of gift though in wit of humor that involves mechanical instead of social cognition in abstract reasoning. For example, connecting patterns for inference rather than emotion.
Sometimes the “little incongruencies” in life noticed in pattern thinking and inference, can be quite humorous in a wit of humor type, rather than “HaHa” way. 🙂
Abstract reasoning, likely though, is a difficulty, overall, per visual, pattern, and figurative (language) abstract reasoning for some people on the spectrum, who have co-morbid conditions associated with intellectual disability.
It is a common myth, generated, now, that all children diagnosed with Autistic Disorder do well on Raven Progressive Matrices tests of fluid intelligence, because the “outliers” in the studies bring up the averages as compared to standard measures, “incredibly”.
Some of them are also likely diagnosed with Autistic Disorder, as they may only be missing the Asperger’s diagnosis per Gillberg’s allowance for language developmental delay in Hyperlexia, and Pragmatic Language Impairment, which is not allowed per DSM10 or DSMIV diagnosis.
In Michelle Dawson’s research on fluid intelligence, measured by RPM, the individuals, overall, with Autistic Disorder, actually excelled over the individuals with Aperger’s syndrome along with non-autistic control groups. That is on average for the entire group studied where some still fell well under the intellectual disability range with RPM.
More than likely some of these individuals had the Hyperlexic type of language development delays and impairment, where decoding patterns in visual recognition is a type of “splinter” skill rather than challenge. Some of these individuals would likely fall under Asperger’s Syndrome in Gillberg Criteria.
I invite you to read my latest post, “Oh! the path words take us”, in what it is like to be “mired” in a life of pattern recognition.
I have the Hyperlexic version of Autism with a language development delay until 4. It is common among people on the spectrum with this “flavor” of Autism to be absorbed in decoding all types of symbols in the environment without good comprehension of meaning until after the fact of communication, if at all, in what might be described as an “advanced” form of “echolalia”.
Most ironically, I was awarded most witty child in my second grade class at a Catholic Private school, after first grade in a “country” school. I did not catch up until the end of the year, and thought that meant I was smart, instead of funny, which confused me because my grades were not nearly as good as in 1st grade.
I did not understand what the word “witty” meant per figurative aspect and humor until after 4 decades of life. It was quite ‘humorous’ for me to finally understand I was viewed as funny instead of smart in the 2nd grade. 🙂
I had no idea that people viewed me that way. My uncommon adaptation to language minus the emotional connect was what provided the amusing patterns of my language per “advanced echolalia” type communication, in copying segments of what “sounded” right from all aspects of my environmental “input”, in information of decoded symbol.
A little of that and a little of this, derived for ‘interesting” and incongruent communication, in humor, for a second grader. It was awarded by the teachers, so I am not even sure that the other second graders understood the incongruent nature of my communication in connecting unusual pattern of effect in speech.
I am still doing it now, but Google provides even more unusual results in effect of communication, as an unlimited supply of connections in pattern, to “invade” my mind. 🙂
When the after “effect” of my own communication fits together in a tapestry of effect instead of “incoherent babble”, I am most pleased and often pleasantly surprised, as my speech was often described as such later in middle school when puberty hit, and unusual energy set in per “Hyper” effect of language, that I can slow down now with keyboard and screen, by reviewing the construct of language “after effect” on screen.
Sorry again, that wasn’t a quick note was it? 🙂 But I guess 740, is more “concise” than the 1300 words in my last comment. 🙂
I have a 13 year old son who has Autism. Since he could walk he jabbered at the ceiling and sometimes he would smile or laugh as if told a funny joke. I recently put an old picture of him and his brother up on facebook. With the picture enlarged I could see the outline of what looks like two different ghosts a woman and a boy. I am a believer.
Aha. I guess that’s why most people with Autistic spectrum disorders are atheists? Because they see the paranormal? Looks like magz has one of the “rare” autistic children who laugh at things, huh? You’re an idiot. The people you listen to are idiots, and the “autistic” people whom you speak of are probably not even autistic. They are, probably, however, idiots.
And you buddy are a jack butt!
SHUT UP!!!
Ghosts are real and can be proven, they are not hallucinations and i hate people who disagree with me when i am right and you all are wrong! why not poll people who are normal and aspies together?!? aspies are not effing autistic tards (not retard, tard!) so you all are stupid for mistaking aspies for auts who cannot socialize like a normalish aspie can! too many idiots getting the 2 labels mixed up. they were put ona spectrum by bigoted immature young idiots! just ask my 65 yr old 150 iq dad! who knows all about aspergers and how it is different and not the effing same bs! auts are tards! i hate mentally tardy people! i am not talking about retard, i am using tard correctly thank you!
I am autistic and I see angels, demons, and sometimes what seem like spirits. They have talked to me before and I seem to be a magnet to them no matter where I am. I attract them more when I am alone and I do not know why. I do beleive that autistics are magnets to the paranormal world.
This sounds just like my daughter. Sometimes it gets so horrible that it causes her to be frightened and at times confused. She’s 25 years old with high functioning autism
I’m high functioning autistic, and so is my child. I assure you we laugh at all types of jokes and are absolutely capable of lying. I dislike lying and feel very uncomfortable doing it, but I have successfully lied. Please do not continue to spread the misconception about our abilities to deceive and enjoy humor.
I’m high functioning Autistic and have seen things that other people cannot see. My guess is some of these things are ghosts or elementals. The scariest sighting occurred when I was in Navy bootcamp and was doing a midnight watch in the darker section of the barracks. I saw something that absolutely terrified me. It had the body of a human and the face of a dog. I was relieved of my watch when my fellow watchstander saw my facial expression of horror and me staring at something she was unable to see. All my life I’ve seen things at times that those around me could not see. As a child at my grandma’s house I would see a small boy in an old fashioned nightshirt and no one else could see him. A few years ago I was scared silly at a hotel in Carnarvon, Wales. A man woke me up screaming at me in Welsh and I saw him as a misty form who vanished as soon as I was fully awake.
The interesting thing about seeing a ghost would be thinking what you’re seeing would be a ghost. Like you would know that anyways.
Much would be sleep paralysis & projection. Especially the dark ones.
The internal universe plays out.
Ghosts don’t actually exist. Because there’s no coming back from the grave. It’s something internal from the mindscape projected outward to an individual’s visual perception that they tend to relate to inorder to be able to identify a ghost. As proven by the fact nobody else would see the same to be able to confirm otherwise.
However, that wouldn’t discredit the senso percepive abilities of the collective consciousness that some people just have inate access to. This would explain how similar or the same idea can be shared amongst select groups of people.
Autism is fascinating but it’s not magic.
Aspergers Disease is a made up UK social development so it’s not regarded as worthy to the DSM5. So many imaginary diseases simply cannot be proven and so the ghosts of illusion pass away.
As an Autistic person I have no trouble seeing, understand, even expanding on and developing abstract concepts. In fact I think I developed them complexly from a young age and may even be better at them. But to us things like “justice” or whatever else are not emotional things but logical conclusions. We are able to build emotion out of logic but it sometimes seems like neurotypicals aren’t able to do the same possibly because autistic people are detail oriented bottom up thinkers and create the concepts, and neurotypicals are top-down thinkers which allows them to be very good at applying the concepts and also makes them be better at “common sense”.