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Corky's avatar

This is the most insightful pod cast I have ever watched. My grandson has just been tested in order to see a diagnosis for him. At 19 he finally wants to know if they have some answers for him. He has spent his life being

bullied, no friends, depression. He is talented, smart but just never fit in and has struggled for many years starting middle school and onwards.

In the family our hearts have been torn out. Doctor after doctor, changing meds. Visits to psychiatrist. On Wednesday he will have an appointment with the psychiatrist who did the testing. Let’s pray this will help him.

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J Davis's avatar

I hope he finds the answers he needs. Please keep us posted.

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Corky's avatar

Thank you so very much. My grandson just received the results of his testing. Autism 1. Now he has many options. His therapist can do more to help him now that we have a diagnosis. We are in hopes meds can now be adjusted to help with his depression. He is really happy tonight. I have not seen him smile like that for a long time.

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J Davis's avatar

This is great news. It must feel like such a relief to get some answers and to finally have a clear path forward. I wish your grandson all the success in the world. I hope this day is one he looks back on as a pivot point where things started falling into place for him 😊

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Corky's avatar

Thank you so much for the kind comments. He is a bright, artistic and kind person. He shows this daily in his job as a teachers helper for 2 year olds. The school is the same school where he graduated last summer.

It appears there are many helpful programs he can investigate.

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J Davis's avatar

That's so nice to hear. He sounds like a really great young man. 🙂

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SJM's avatar

Wonderful way to spend these minutes ....The "empathy-gap" is not a problem of people with an autism diagnosis in our social order overall...it is a problem of our social systems writ large. Yes indeed, just imagine if the last 70 years in the Israel/Palestine relationship had been spent with the emphasis on empathy rather than military tactics. Multiply that enlightened approach over all the human conflicts world wide and we would have indeed created a world of peace and prosperity for all. So simple to imagine..... and yet so unattainable.

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Democracycbm's avatar

it's so maddening that this is actually going on and in the end, it's going to hurt poor people, cause confusion, illness and possibly death. That's what they're trying to do, is what I believe to the vulnerable population. Meanwhile you've got a company that's trying to get the word out that this is absolute nonsense. I just believe they are trying to do whatever they can to destroy everything that is normal so to speak. They're causing chaos in the broader sense of taking control. They don't care who dies, they don't care who gets sick and as long as it's not rich people they don't care.

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Sandy W's avatar

I heard this speaker before when Musk was doing his DOGE behavior and found it fascinating. We live in Silicon Valley and the incidence of neurodivergence — ADHD, dyslexia and autistic spectrum are very prevalent. They are very innovative thinkers and have asynchronous learning - children can be advanced as a 6 year old in mathematics but hardly know how to navigate social dynamics of kindergarten or first grade and struggle with social interactions. They need a kind of education that can meet the diverse needs.

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J E Ross's avatar

Glad to run across this interview- interesting questions. I was diagnosed with autism in my 50s after my child was diagnosed--so many people in this situation.

1. The examples given of people with autism were men. Some outrageous percent of the research on autism has studied boys only. Girls and women do not present in the same ways, possibly due to societal pressures. So girls have gone undiagnosed for decades & that male bias has crushed people silently over generations bc we had to learn masking behaviors that are exhausting. Retired 8th & 9th grade English teacher here. My husband says I am "more autistic" now than when I was teaching bc I don't have to mask. Woohoo! Sucks for him, though.

Thought: Maybe we need more female autistic leaders!

2. The spectrum is both broad and deep. It's not all STEM all the time, although the undue influence of autistic tech bros was the topic. But there are different kinds of patterns in different industries, even in liberal arts where there is a place for autistic people. STEM may make the world work, but art gives meaning. Art saves civilizations. And there are amazing autistic artists out there.

3. EMPATHY. Autistic people have empathy! Or at least if they don't, it's not necessarily a function of their autism but perhaps another neurodivergence, like sociopathy! What many autistic people can't do is communicate their empathy (Why I Jump). Autistic people can be distraught when we realize we hurt someone. Other things impacting empathy: obscene WEALTH! The people cited are all stupidly rich men.

Watch Temple Grandin explain why cows are anxious, spiking cortisol levels & making beef tough. She figured out how to alleviate the anxiety and then re-designed the whole process to be much less stressful. She was able to do the work bc of both empathy and meticulous analysis and design. Emotional *regulation* is what we struggle with. Doesn't mean we don't have emotions or empathy for both humans and animals.

4. One huge factor for autistic people is sensory processing, which leads to a percentage of that unemployment that was mentioned. Some simply can't work in an environment that gives rise to sensory overstimulation, again spiking cortisol levels.

5. Autistic people are more likely to have depression/anxiety & to be neurodivergent in other ways (ADHD, gender dysphoria and dysmorphia). Also, there's a strong correlation between. autistic people who use cannabis and psychosis (Musk?? Not clear if there's a ketamine study)

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Valerie Fogel Inforzato's avatar

Fantastic interview that deserves millions of views!

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LindyLoo's avatar

Remember the important work of Marshal Rosenberg and Nonviolent Communication. It's not an easy process but if we all practiced, we would have a better world.

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Audrey Williams's avatar

Weaponizing people with autistic-like symptoms?

This is irrelevant and low. Yikes.

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Kathleen M Kendrick's avatar

Wow! This is a wonderful interview! Thank you so much for this!

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LM's avatar

Wonderful interview.

Great points delivered and answered. Thank you

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Pamela Beckford's avatar

This was a very eye opening interview. Thank you for putting this out there.

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Madeleine Biondolillo's avatar

Wonderful discussion. Thank you.

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Paula Dunn's avatar

❣️ Great interview & Thanks Anand Giridharadas

❣️”Simon Baron-Cohen, who is, unlike Trump and Kennedy, an autism expert.

He spoke to us about our changing understanding of autism”

https://bsky.app/profile/kenaiseasky.bsky.social/post/3lzhkxpfjsc2x

https://a.co/e1qGHFS

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Cinne Worthington's avatar

Thank you for this fantastic discussion.

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Becca's avatar

Very interesting!

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Danielle Masursky's avatar

After saying autistic people do not have a disproportionate influence these days, Dr Cohen then goes on to make the case that they do, by pointing out how over-represented they are in STEM fields (which form the basis of these companies deciding the fate of all of us; whether Zuckerberg or Gates or Musk are actually autistic themselves is irrelevant imo). He then talks about the impact of social media on mental health - the people designing these platforms are these very same (autism prone) STEM people. Dr Cohen consistently defends autistic people (who he fairly notes are often struggling) but cannot admit their role in the problems we are currently facing. #troubling

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