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For two years I have been researching how neurodiverse (ASD, ADHD, gifted, etc.) people are like ancient hunter-gatherers. It hasn't been an easy enterprise, as the only work that has ever pointed to an origin of neurodiverse minds in ancient hunter-gatherer minds has been Thom Hartmann's "Hunter-Hypothesis" of ADHD. Personally, I am somewhat in between neurotypical and neurodiverse, testing around 50% on online autism tests and 75% on ADHD tests. Like most neurodiverse people I have always had a hard time fitting in and I have a gifted son who learned to read by age two (hyperlexia) and who gets similar test results as I do. I generally do include the gifted label in my use of the word "neurodiverse", to make it clear that not only people who are considered "having disabilities" belong to this group. Here is a preliminary list: Cognitive • Distractibility and hyperfocus • Field-independent learners • Pattern-recognizers • Wider field of vision Social: • Less politeness/socially awkward (learn few social rules) • Egalitarian • Distrust of authoritarian behaviour • High sense of justice • Support the underdog • Exceptional honesty • No-ingroupism/nepotism • Less gender dimorphism
The starting point for this model is the resemblance and overlap of many mental problems ranging from ADHD to ASD as well as their frequent comorbidities, such as social anxiety, sensory processing disorder and depression. The objective is to unify different models of neurodiversity. Thom Hartmann's hunter-hypothesis for ADHD is widely known. Its core idea is that people with ADHD have a different type of cognition, in particular attention focus. While early farmers had to be able to focus on long routine work, hunter-gatherers were better off with a "radar mind", that hyperfocused when, say, a deer was spotted. The difference is, therefore, bouts of hyperfocus on high-interest objects vs constant focus on boring routine work. This hyperfocus can also be observed in people with ASD when they engage with their special interest, as well as in gifted and highly intelligent people, who tend to reflect much longer on unexplainable phenomena than neurotypicals.
SVOA Paediatrics
Accepting Autism and Neurodiversity2022 •
Dear Editor, I’d like to share with you an interview I recently had with a neurodiverse individual with Autism and ADHD. As an allistic myself, we seldom get the experience of talking to people who think differently than us. I personally feel a lot of residents and physicians seem to miss an understanding of the individual and their lives, focusing more on the “technical” aspects of our craft- the diagnosis and the treatment. But to be a holistic practitioner, it is of utmost importance that we understand the people we treat, and how they experience their lives, and how our “interventions” may affect them and their personal needs. As paediatricians we sometimes forget that the children we treat and inspire, will one day be members of our society as adults. With this write-up, I hope the readers can delve into the world of a neurodiverse individual, and build an understanding and acceptance for the same. The interviewee is someone with diagnosed Autism level 1, and ADHD. I’ve tried my best to keep the interview as pristine as can be, so as to not taint the mind and thoughts of someone with ADHD(and Autism) which I personally feel would give the best insight for the reader. My sole purpose with sharing this is for the reader to grasp a renewed appreciation and acceptance of a world of thought processes alternate to what we’re normally used to.
Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture
Note from the Editors: Autism and Neurodiversity2020 •
Health Care Analysis
Autism as a Natural Human Variation: Reflections on the Claims of the Neurodiversity Movement2012 •
The aim of this study was to define neurodiversity in a scientific manner so it can be researched in further studies without involving disorders defined by psychiatry or popular beliefs about neurodiversity in the autistic community. Neurodiversity was defined as the primary factor output by factor analysis of a data set of human behaviors which contains evenly distributed traits of all sorts that cover all of human diversity. Neurotypical function was defined as the second factor. The study used many different traits and a large sample to find the full extent of neurodiversity, and to provide evenly distributed traits. The result was a test with 145 scoring items and 5 control items that could give participants a neurodiverse and a neurotypical score, and an indication that the participant was neurodiverse, neurotypical, or mixed. It was found that the neurodiversity score was independent of gender and age, and that the prevalence appears to have remained unchanged. There were possible differences in racial prevalence that need further research. The results correlated to many disorders defined by psychiatry, and also with several factors in personality tests. People who had been diagnosed with these disorders had considerably higher neurodiversity scores. The idea that neurodiversity was at the extreme end of a normal distribution was not supported, rather it was found that neurodiversity had its own normal distribution overlapping typical traits.
Autistic Community and the Neurodiversity Movement
Critiques of the Neurodiversity MovementIndividuals with ‘extraordinary’ or ‘different’ minds have been suggested to be central to invention and the spread of new ideas in prehistory, shaping modern human behaviour and conferring an evolutionary advantage at population level. In this article the potential for neuropsychiatric conditions such as autistic spectrum disorders to provide this difference is explored, and the ability of the archaeological record to provide evidence of human behaviour is discussed. Specific reference is made to recent advances in the genetics of these conditions, which suggest that neuropsychiatric disorders represent a non-advantageous, pathological extreme of the human mind and are likely a by-product rather than a cause of human cognitive evolution.
International Journal of Learning and Development
Giftedness as Disorder: Examining the Dimensionality of the Debate2023 •
Journal of Ancient Near Eastern History
A New Reconstruction of the Reigns of Adad-nārārī II and Tukultī-Ninurta II in Light of Five Unattributed Royal Inscriptions2023 •
2010 •
2019 •
TURKISH JOURNAL of CLINICS and LABORATORY
Dokuzuncu gebelikte siyam ikizi: Genel anestezi altında sezaryenle doğum2018 •
Revista Agrária Acadêmica
Produção de carne em sistemas a pasto como estratégia para mitigação das mudanças climáticas2023 •
Journal of Evolution of Medical and Dental Sciences
Gender and Age Impact on Anatomical Variations of Paranasal Sinuses2022 •
Physis
Saúde no cárcere: análise das políticas sociais de saúde voltadas à população prisional brasileira2015 •
2000 •