what if autism is what it takes to succeed?

[Stratego]

A few years ago I read an article complaining about Gen Y and millenials entering the work force. In the article we're pretty much painted as lazy, self-centered kids who are not willing to sacrifice for our careers. They describe the mentality almost as a disease that is poisoning the work place. But are generation has proven to be way more productive than before even though we are not going to sacrifice as much of our personal lives for work.

Could this be the same mentality that cause us to treat autism as a disorder? Kids with autism are less social than the average. They take longer before they speak. But in a digital world these traits may prevent them from getting depression due to not taking to people. Their apparently slow learning could mean that their minds are developing to be more complex. Human are slow to develop compared to animals, but we're not dumber, we're smarter.

What do you think? And before we're certain, is it ethical to deny a child "treatment" to test the theory?

[Dylan]

Pretty unlikely. Savants with useful obsessions are not particularly common among the autistic community. Most are very low-functioning and require assistance to perform basic tasks.

[eric]

I like how we give so much attention to people with disabilities that it's got to the point that some of them are revered in society.

Being autistic would blow. Being able to stare at a city or something and then paint it from memory is a cool trick, but having to sacrifice parts of my life to have that wouldn't be worth it.

[Dylan]

How societies treat their weakest members is a good measure of a society's health, IMO.

I recall an autistic kid I worked with who memorized calendars. Tell him a date and he would tell you what day it was. It was all he cared about and all he knew.

[eynon81]

I've had a bunch of autistic clients, none have been geniuses, just very-very low functioning socially.

[eric]

[Stratego]

[Dylan]

By talking to people?

[eric]

This is another one of those "Stratego's trying to be philosophical" threads.