Autism-evolution or a new species or just diversity ?

If you watched the David Attenborough series Planet Earth 2 you will have perhaps marvelled, like me, at the story of the long-tubed passionflower and the sword- billed hummingbird.

  The most striking observation is the close relationship that exists between the shape and length of the hummingbird beak and the morphology of the flowers from which they feed. This evolutionary adaptation is a good example of mutualism. Scientists from the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich found that the evolution toward longer nectar-tubes had happened very rapidly and more than once, too, ensuring their survival.

This forces us to think of evolution as a more complex negotiation between animals, plants and their changing surroundings. Mutation and genetic drift are both important forces of evolution.

There are many substances in our industrialized world that change a fundamental evolutionary parameter, the mutation rate. This can have grave consequences on the long term. Some techniques that are used to grow crops that the world relies on for food have problematic evolutionary side-effects. We need to understand these issues better to fully grasp what our mutagenic life-styles really do to the world that ALL our children live in. 

The term ‘mutation’ applies both to heritable genetic changes that may be manifested at the phenotypic level and to the underlying DNA modifications when known. Research continues into exonic somatic mutations thought by some to contribute to those born with autism spectrum.(1)

Possible approaches to primary prevention of the ‘disorder’ have been suggested such as addressing widespread vitamin D deficiency and exposure to known mutagens. The paternal de novo mutation caused by mercury exposure has been researched by Mark Blaxill and Dan Olmsted(2)

Some people believe that for each individual susceptible to developing autism a trigger can be found. These include being born prematurely, or being exposed in the womb to alcohol or to certain medication, or being given a vaccine. James Schlarmann claims that “ anti-vaxxers are not “anti-vaccine” they are “pro-plague” because that, to them, is preferable to the idea of their kid “catching” autism.”(3).

Some researchers believe that certain genes a child inherits from their parents could make them more vulnerable to developing ASD. In support of this theory ASD has been known to run in families. In our school alone we have younger siblings of children with ASD also with the condition, and we have had sets of identical twins with ASD. However, no specific genes linked to autism have been identified.

The term autism was first used by a psychiatrist called Bleuler in 1911 to try and describe a type of what was then called ‘childhood schizophrenia’.

 I n the 1940’s two psychiatrists called Kanner, and working separately Asperger, found that with the groups of children they were working with a set of distinct symptoms were being identified that were markedly different from schizophrenia as it was conceived of at the time.

Kanner’s work laid the foundation for early accounts of autism, whilst the work of Asperger was left largely undiscovered until the 1970s. Does this just mean that autism has always been with us? Or, as Dr Rajalakshmi Kandaswamy would have it, ‘autistic beings are a new species on this planet’(4).

The characteristics of autism can present themselves in a wide variety of combinations. Two people with the same diagnosis can have a very different profile of needs and skills.

There is a growing movement among activist adults who are on the autism spectrum who don't think in terms of 'curing' a disorder but instead of celebrating diversity. 

Downs syndrome is named after the British doctor, John Langdon Down, who fully described the syndrome in 1866. Two people with the syndrome can have a very different profile of needs and skills. Has anyone ever claimed that children with Downs syndrome are a new species on the planet?

Would we dare to say that those who are transgender could be a new species on the planet?

 Or is this merely a time of better understanding? A time when modern society has evolved in its understanding of humankind in all its diversity.

Educational leaders today are echoing Piaget’s call in the 1970s to change the way we teach all of our children. At long last many countries today are attempting to change the way we educate our children. Changes to the education system takes a long time.

Perhaps those diagnosed with autism are demonstrating the fact that those changes are long overdue.

Working with pupils with autism it has become obvious that they have a talent for technology. Does this mean that those born with autism have evolved, like the humming bird, to take advantage of the way that society has evolved with technology? Could this be termed human mutualism?

Technology can be empowering. It allows everyone with an ability in technology to be active and constructive. It allows voices to be heard, and serves as a mechanism for the consideration of anyone’s ideas and insights.  In a world enabled by technology, pupils are not limited by their diagnosis; they can recreate themselves.

The assumption of alternate online persona can serve as an outlet for feelings that the person with autism cannot express with real people around him or her. But technology is not the only answer.

 A complete revision of the way student teachers learn to teach seems to be underway around forward-thinking countries in the world today. In those countries a teacher’s role has shifted from content instructor to learning facilitator.

In those countries it will seem laughable in the near future, that teachers in the past, expected their pupils to be passive recipients of information. Information that teachers had to research before churning it out at the front of the class.

 Because teachers in the near future will be there to ensure that each pupil has the optimum learning experience. They will help pupils to identify and cultivate their strengths, interests and values. For all pupils this can’t come soon enough.

References

1 https://biorxiv.org/content/early/2016/10/26/083428

 2 The Age of Autism: Mercury, Medicine, and a Man-Made Epidemic: Mark Blaxill and Dan Olmsted

3 https://modernliberals.com/fear-anti-vaxxers-al-qaeda-isis-combined

4 https://authenticautismsolutions.com/2017-welcoming-a-new-species-of-humans-on-earth-the-autistic-beings/

5. To Understand is to invent: The future of Education : Jean Piaget 1973