Firstly, let me define our concept of 'Disablement': It is the 'social' effect of impeding the rights, liberties and mobility and intellectual freedom of anyone, with any kind of 'difference'. These impediments can be in any form and arise from many different intentions, good & bad, 'prejudiced' & '(un-)justified'. Mostly it arises from selfish, self seeking behaviours. It is a case of 'One Size Fits All' and it affects Health Care, Social Care, Education Services, Housing, Community and Legal Services. This is sometimes: Maliciously deliberate, perpetuated by those who have a vested interest, power and financial benefit (Fascism is a good historical example - Monetarism is a more recent case). Academically & Intellectually rationalised, justified and perpetuated through lack of rigorous thinking, poor research methods and even highly prejudiced, perpetuated assumption in academia. Due to ignorance and lack of forethought of people who believe they are the perfect example of humanity; or that their God created them in his (or her) perfect image and all else is due to 'sin'.
Whichever causes, these are unacceptable and unlawful. These descriptions are not extreme. They are commonplace, so commonplace we never think about it, unless we suffer the consequences directly, or through our experiences of trying to help others in the terms that they request. We need to step outside our nice comfortable boxes, before we are tipped out it the rush of necessary change. We are raising the issue of 'Dignity' on this Website and promoting Disability Rights here and in our work, at every opportunity. Learning Styles, Autism, ADHD and Reactive Distresses are not the ‘problem’; How we understand the underlying positive contribution of these alternative ways of experiencing and operating in the world is the problem. We are redefining what Mental Health and Social health is, based upon proactive, successful alternative, social therapeutic working. We live in increasingly abusive cultures and this is no accident. It is because of professional's and ordinary people's refusal to see the other's points of view, or appreciate it is they who may be wrong and thereby significantly contributing to the distress of others. Sometime both sides are wrong. My theme is "Little Geniuses & Heroes". It is ‘normals’ that have the problem of understanding. People with Autistic Features are able to understand very complex systems in very profound ways, often simpler ways. We are limited by our linear language and serial thinking. We have to go at least half way to meet them and ‘put ourselves out’ to understand in the person’s frame of reference Anecdotal Evidence that Supports Radical {Psycho-Social Perspectives and Relativistic Theory: I am currently using the example of Helen Keller to show how, with dedication, positive expectations, a will to understand and ability to take ‘alternative perspectives’, it is possible for communication to blossom, even under the severest sensory and linguistic difficulties. There is far too much professional negativity (ignorance) and this has been passed on to families and communities. The Modern scientific and technological revolution relies on these advanced, so called ‘Autistic’ features. We too often dismiss what we do not immediately understand as a clinical problem. This is a social and communication problem – and it is ‘ours’. Can you imagine how it can feel to listen to someone spouting on in expert ways and thinking ‘This person is making no sense, why can they not see what is so plainly obvious? Why can they not understand what I am trying to show them?’ We too often look for the problem in the individual person, or group, when it is our own limiting perspectives that create all the problems we experience in our culture. Our conventions too frequently ‘exclude’ others and we do not ‘actively’ listen, with all our senses, channels of communication and, most importantly, with an ‘open’ perspective. Some professionals cannot even understand what this means! All actions are communication. Look for the problems solving skills! Give people the basic resources, let them be creative and watch the difference. Stop spoon feeding and constraining intelligent, creative people, with conventional wisdoms. Effective communication is not just about the words. Words are often the least competent way of communicating new ideas. We are over-reliant upon ‘intellectual’ pursuits and miss the real genius of human communication. We have seen how these mistakes have produced Racism, Sexism, Ageism, Nationalism and Bigotry generally. Now, more than ever in history, we have ‘Mentalism’, portrayed as a ‘scientific’ understanding of human mental functioning. It has advanced very little over the ‘bump on the head’ diagnosis & ‘electric shock’ therapies. Thank goodness there are a few who have open minds and are willing to step Outside the Box of their intellectual constraints and absurd reliance upon ‘empirical science’. How many times do we need to put acid in a rabbits eyes before we are convinced that this makes them blind? What happened to ‘real’ intelligence? I can tell you! It was suppressed by those who felt threatened by it and preferred to return to the quasi science of pre-Newtonian thinking. Keep trying until we get the answer we want, the one that fits our limited and limiting expectations. There are too many vested interests in the game of Quasi-Human science. It is time to challenge the status quo and look down the other available intelligent channels. It is time to bring back (realistic) ‘expectation’, ‘excitement’ and ‘hope’. These are the elements which have produced all the important advances we have made. This is the foundation of real science. Let others collect the evidence, as they usually do, from observing the rest of us getting the job done successfully. A Consultant once told me ‘you are the expert in the matters affecting you, I am here to help you find the means to solve problems’. What a wonderful person. A real ‘empowering’ expert. His skills were in ‘enabling’ the solutions, providing effective communication, answering questions and accompanying me (and others) on a journey of discovery and resolution. There was no ‘cure’, but we survived and flourished. Most good professional practice, like good science, is based on temporary hypotheses, tested out, revised and tried again. REAL SCIENCE, the kind that Autism understands; Problem solving. I once taught people with severe learning difficulties and autism to undertake complex binary and decimal conversions, using simple graphical ‘models’, which they were each able to understand. All managed it with high accuracy. It was fun and proved an important point. Staff couldn’t do it. Sometimes we get caught up in our lazy world of language, which often creates as many problems as it solves. Real communication uses all and any channels. It is us who have limited ourselves and in doing so are limiting our children and those we have professional responsibility for. It is time to step outside the box and challenge all the restricting behaviours of those who have the power over life, or mere existence. Einstein loved these simple models and problems. Friends used to invent them and bring them to him to solve. He was no ‘natural’ academic, he looked for the simple explanations, even ones that defied our natural logic. That’s how he did so well – in the end. So, who had the real ‘limiting’ problem here? Helen Keller, Florence Nightingale and many others had similar difficulties with established ‘conventions’. His problem was not with understanding and solving scientific riddles, he was a natural at these. It was extracting himself from the limitations placed upon him and getting the resources he needed to advance his talents. Mostly, it was the difficulty in getting the bulk of his scientific colleagues to step outside their limiting boxes of complex, linear thinking. It was getting past the limiting words and the ‘conventions’. “So, step out of the new road if you can’t understand, because the time they are changing”. I have seen too many examples of ‘suppressed’ intelligence over my 35 years of practice. I am now very impatient and frustrated. I have also seen too many good, insightful and parents and professionals constrained and frustrated by limited institutional thinking. I mean to make a stand. Join me. Don’t be embarrassed at being criticised for being idealistic, or over simplistic. You are right in your frustrated stand, the established conventions are failing everyone. Let’s now get together and make this work for us and those with ‘Autism’. There is hope, but it is not down the standard clinical routes. What people need is individualised ‘opportunity’ and ‘permission’ to do what works for them. They know what this is, given the opportunities. Watch for negative outcomes and learn from these. Provide resources and opportunity for choice, not prescriptions based upon our preferred choices. Like in the relativistic universe, normal, standard rules do not apply. We need to apply relativistic thinking. Terry Couchman – Relativistic Psychologist © Terry Couchman; Visitweb / Your Choice; December, 2009. | 
