The Autism Spectrum

This episode is where I open up Part One of the book, The Social Continuum: Autism in Culture and Ego in Subconscious. This becomes the central focus of the first few minutes of the episode, trying to describe what I mean by the opening title. Then I segway into the relevance of why it’s important to relate to autism spectrum disorder (ASD), which happens to be the title of chapter 1 of the book: Relating to Autism. In terms of being more aware of our human nature, I wanted to reflect on what ASD says about our humanity and, in doing so, dissect the diagnostic criteria for ASD in order to introduce it through a clinical lens. This is where the reading becomes super dry (and I apologize in advance for that), but that’s only because it’s a necessary component to understanding what we know about ASD. But I promise, it gets better. I don’t want our understanding of ASD to solely hinge on the clinical criteria from the DSM. In order to fully appreciate how far we’ve come regarding our diagnostic tools, we need to recognize that our understanding of mental health and ASD continues to evolve whether we like it or not. This section is meant to get the basic, conventional definitions of ASD out of the way so we can move on to applying them in real-life scenarios. ASD is not only a continuum or a spectrum – It’s also a pie chart with co-occurring syndromes within it. In the next episode, I plan to share some key points about autism based on what I’ve personally discovered. Feel free to comment on what you think and if you have anything to add regarding the exploration of ASD. I understand that if you have a friend or a loved one with ASD, any of their symptoms may or may not be what I discussed in the book. Feel free to DM me, and follow me on Instagram @harmonic_homesteading Twitter @Chrispyounceman LinkedIn @Chris Younce Also, feel free to get a copy of the book so you can read along https://pagepublishing.com/books/?book=cognitive-liberty-younce Thanks for listening and for all your support! Chris P.