How fascinating.
Apr. 8th, 2011 10:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kd7sovI just watched Temple Grandin, and it was... very interesting.
I was, I believe, completely unaware of autism until sometime around 2005, when I first read A Wizard Alone, the sixth Young Wizards book. (I don't remember exactly when I read which, but I'm pretty sure I hadn't read that one until well after the first time I read Wizard's Holiday, the seventh in the series.) As such, I was not exactly clear on what was happening at first, although context is a wonderful thing. I have since come to the conclusion, influenced by a variety of other people, that it's not a very balanced or useful way of looking at the issue.
I don't remember what happened, but by the time I read The Speed of Dark, I suspect in 2008, I had a much better grasp of the concept. I suspect![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kippurbird may have been involved. Somewhere around that point I began to wonder if I was somewhere on the spectrum - very high-functioning, of course, but I could see points of similarity. What was most interesting was that, as I read the book, I started feeling resonances from all points - the autistic main viewpoint character, the sympathetic neurotypical friend/teacher, and the antagonistic neurotypical fellow-student. I saw bits of myself in each of them. I don't know how much of that was characterization tricks and how much was actual similarity to the types, but it was quite interesting.
Then, tonight, I watched Temple Grandin. It was... unexpected. There was resonance, yes, but especially at the beginning it was mixed almost evenly with a sense of incredible difference. The word that came to mind, at the time, was "alien" - lots of it, I just couldn't comprehend thinking that way. But as the movie went on there was less and less of it. Still parts where she was acting in ways I consider abnormal, but not so much completely different way of thinking.
I don't remember if I was wanting to go anywhere in particular with this, but. Interesting.
Also, I don't recall having ever heard of Temple Grandin before tonight, although it seems like I should have.
I was, I believe, completely unaware of autism until sometime around 2005, when I first read A Wizard Alone, the sixth Young Wizards book. (I don't remember exactly when I read which, but I'm pretty sure I hadn't read that one until well after the first time I read Wizard's Holiday, the seventh in the series.) As such, I was not exactly clear on what was happening at first, although context is a wonderful thing. I have since come to the conclusion, influenced by a variety of other people, that it's not a very balanced or useful way of looking at the issue.
I don't remember what happened, but by the time I read The Speed of Dark, I suspect in 2008, I had a much better grasp of the concept. I suspect
kippurbird may have been involved. Somewhere around that point I began to wonder if I was somewhere on the spectrum - very high-functioning, of course, but I could see points of similarity. What was most interesting was that, as I read the book, I started feeling resonances from all points - the autistic main viewpoint character, the sympathetic neurotypical friend/teacher, and the antagonistic neurotypical fellow-student. I saw bits of myself in each of them. I don't know how much of that was characterization tricks and how much was actual similarity to the types, but it was quite interesting.Then, tonight, I watched Temple Grandin. It was... unexpected. There was resonance, yes, but especially at the beginning it was mixed almost evenly with a sense of incredible difference. The word that came to mind, at the time, was "alien" - lots of it, I just couldn't comprehend thinking that way. But as the movie went on there was less and less of it. Still parts where she was acting in ways I consider abnormal, but not so much completely different way of thinking.
I don't remember if I was wanting to go anywhere in particular with this, but. Interesting.
Also, I don't recall having ever heard of Temple Grandin before tonight, although it seems like I should have.
