The existence of an "autistic perspective" could be argued for and described.

A pattern can be harder to identify if the observer is right in the midst of it rather than at some distance. What seems like chaos - say, the activity of an anthill - can take on meaning, can be seen as a process, when examined from a different “place”. As Godfrey Reggio showed in his remarkable film "Koyaanisqatsi", matters of structure and flow may become more apparent with the compression of “telephoto lens from a distance”, as with traffic flow in New York City. I would suggest that time may be experienced differently by an autistic person as well... one song by musician Steve Roach is titled "Reflections in Suspension" (the first song in this medley of excerpts) and seems descriptive of the way I sometimes pass time.

It might be the “unflavored yogurt” starting point upon which so much other stuff is layered that the conscious awareness of that state of being is squeezed right out of nearly everyone. Are we autism-spectrum folk immune to the social conditioning? Is this how we seem to slough it right back off us despite how desperately it is piled onto us?

Last revised: June 17, 2007
(c)2007 Dave Spicer
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