I'm autistic. So what?

Disclaimer: this paper is written with autism. Thus with its little length. ;-)

Yes. I’m autistic. More specifically ‘Asperger’s” autist[1]. So what?

Truthfully, I already hear three main types of reactions, of course not thorough:

 ? It’s bloody brave to show off like this ?.

In reality I do not have any feeling to show off anything. I just am. Shall we also refrain from being?

I almost believe that there is no courage, no pride, no shame to tell what we are, moreover what we have always been since the very first seconds of one’s biological existence. If we can be proud or shameful of something we have accomplished, what would be the reasons about what we are by the only circumstances of genetics? And, if it needs courage to tell this, then should not we rather wonder about our relation to deviations from the “norm”?

“Fabrice autistic? It’s impossible. Autism isn’t this. By the way I know somebody who…etc. ?.

Well, yes. Being with autism is also this. It is even often this. I will not elaborate here because I will do so in future posts, nevertheless autism is often far apart the depicting that we can have of it. ‘Asperger’ profiles, more particularly, are often depicted in a caricatural manner in the mainstream culture, in the personas of little genius with a very atypical – but so amusing – behavior (Rain Man, Good Doctor and so on).

“Indeed, but this is not a reason for this or that.”.

This is sad, but this reaction will also exist and I am not imputing motives here as I already experienced this in “real life”. To tell you the truth, I do not care and I will not waste energy or time in countering this.

Not a sickness, not a disability

I am simply with a difference that is not a sickness, not a disability (or which at least, should not be a disability in my case.). I attended school with excellent results, graduated as an engineer. I am a father, author of a novel and other various manuscripts, I tinker with playing the piano, I am a scuba diving and first-aid instructor, I honorably run half marathons. I am recognized for the quality of my public speaking as well of my written creations, my ability to popularize or teach, my ease in analyzing and extracting from complexity, or also my unusual approaches. I am very autonomous in my work and in my life, sometimes too much apparently. I walked treks amongst the most beautiful in the world, I traveled to nearly all continents for personal or professional purposes, I have never been in any physical or psychological inability to do whatever I wished. And so more.

If despite all this I am disabled, well, I guess that many “able-bodied” persons wish they were.

My specificity is anatomical as well as non-reducible, because it is a cognitive one, and even a neuronal one. My brain is not built up, “wired”, and thus does not run exactly like a “typical” brain. Imagery now enables to observe that.

simply another way to perceive, think and brainstorm...

Incidentally, this specificity offers me a way of perceiving, analyzing and understanding the world that is different, by construction. Not only are my “sensors” different, but also my “processor”. This means that I feel, think and brainstorm differently and, more specifically, that I solve problems in a quirky or original manner. Disconcerting also sometimes. Often without caring about usual clues.

So what?

In a business world where ? innovation ?, ? disruption ? or “out of the box” have become refrains, should not my atypicity, in all logic, be perceived and identified as a chance and an asset to lever (I already addressed the topic of the unexploited richness of neurodiversity in a previous post a few years ago.)

If Silicon Valley and a few others seem to have understand this - which would also put into light a few things -, is it really the case here? I think I can say no and, without taking many risks, that this observation applies to most of my Asperger peers.

another way of being, ... also.

So why this? The reason is simple. This specificity, because it is still anatomical and unreducible, and because it is still of cognitive and neuronal order, also originates another way of being to the world, a way with autism, sincere but different, which, unfortunately, is not the one commonly expected in the field of the famous “soft skills”.

Misunderstood, above all, because it brings into play a gap between two cognitive referentials, so unconscious: the one of people with autism, and the one of people without autism. A gap between two social languages, a gap between a person's intent, issued in her referential, and the perception that others have of it, in their own referential.

This gap results from, for example, to different communication patterns, especially in non-verbal interactions and sending or receiving of emotions. However, albeit this gap exists both ways, it is always, in its perception, to the disadvantage of the people with autism, whose referential is badly known, thus not understood. This is a huge stake.

People with ‘Asperger’, are like a coin which comes with its two sides. To benefit from one it is necessary to understand the other one and, by not embracing the other one, one inevitably deprives oneself from the one. None of those two options is bad by itself, it is better nevertheless, as in any choice, to make it in full knowledge.

 If it is welcome to "think out of the box", is-it still unwelcome to "be out of the box"?

So how to manage this ? The answer stands in three words: inform, inform, inform.

• Inform to overcome stereotypes,
• Inform to enable understanding and prevent misinterpreting,
• Inform to unveil the value that hides behing a veil sometimes felt as too obscure,

This is why I will henceforth join those who, for already long, have carried high the torch of cognitive diversity in general, and of Asperger's atypicities in particular. I will do it my way, and based on my personal experience, here and on other medias.

This is also why I have contributed to creating, launching and livening up, within Thales Group, a network that aims at raising awareness about the richness of cognitive diversity (including ‘Asperger’ autism, DYS, giftedness and high sensitivity), called 'mind'.

About this I can only encourage the Thales employees who feel concerned or interested to join us. As well, people holding such projects in other organizations can get in touch with us in order that we irrigate together the whole economic structure.

talk, not judge

I will simply end with this : when somebody "is" different - in the fundamental meaning of essence -, the best is for sure to share your feelings with her or him. You will then often discover that her/his intent is not what you feel, an unsuspected reality, a complementarity to exploit. Different cognitive referentials can understand and enrich each other. At the condition of talking, not judging, and even less facing off.

Because one thing is sure: people with Asperger's are numerous and many of them are well inserted in social life, which means that they are all around us. Nevertheless, and it's worth knowing it, most of them ignore themselves and cannot be proactive. Take the "risk" of a good surprise with an atypical person, the one that hides behind the too opaque veil at which we often stop, is not a risk. It's chance that we offer. To oneself as much as to the other.

It can take time and that needs confidence, nevertheless this is this way, and no other, that everything will end working out at best and for the benefit of all.

Yes, one more thing : if we could stop, whenever somebody’s behavior unpleases us, to call him or her an ? autist ?. It’s not pleasant at all to be an invective, I can assure you.

I’m autistic. ‘Apserger's’ autist. Objectively, what is the point ?

[1] I will not here enter the discussion about the different types of autistic spectrum troubles and their supposed or disputed links. I’ve been diagnosed “Asperger “ and I will stick to this. Furthermore the existence of “Asperger” particularities has now well penetrated the public field it seems simpler to me to leverage this in order to address the topic.