I haven’t thought long on this, so maybe I’m writing prematurely about it. If so, I’ll come back and edit this post. Anyhow, I have another example of what appears contradicting to me when reading Olga Bogdashina’s book Theory of Mind and the Triad of Perspectives on Autism and Asperger Syndrome.

On page 106 she says, “On the conceptual level, gestalt perception leads to rigidity of thinking and lack of generalization.” I understand and agree with her general concept about fragmented perception she is explaining. She also writes on that page, “When too much information needs to be processed simultaneously, very often people with autism are not able to break down the whole picture into meaningful units and so they process only those bits which happen to get their attention.” I’m glad she follows that statement by using VanDalen’s words, “It seems as though autistic people react to parts of the objects as being complete entities in themselves.”¹

I confess I displayed a poor ability to generalize things like plot summaries for book reports when I was in school. This is probably why there is a lot of confusion about this topic. It has to do with the concept of executive function. Tony Attwood’s definition of this in his book The Complete Guide to Asperger’s Syndrome from page 323 states a critical factor that’s ignored too much. It has to do with the time element:

“. . . think of a chief executive of a large company, who has the ability to perceive the ‘big picture’, can consider the potential outcomes of various decisions, is able to organize resources and knowledge, plan and prioritize within the required time frame, and modify decisions based on results.”

I’m sure if Einstein was placed under time deadlines for his theories, he would not have been able to satisfy those who were in a hurry. Yes, corporate executives can build huge companies and they do seem to do well financially . . . BUT who is going to disagree that their decisions to rush out products for profit are beginning to show signs of creating problems in the long run that are not good. I don’t enjoy adding this, but must → Most likely those people who can’t perceive this are unable to do so either because they are not spatial thinkers, don’t care enough to work at thinking this through, or both.

I’d like to speak for myself by saying I am (and always have been) fully aware of the fact that parts of objects are not complete entities in themselves (at least in the sense I’m gathering what she means). I’m now convinced (but did not confidently know this about myself before this year) I’m more aware of the whole picture (the gestalt perception) than most neurotypical people could image.² When a person sees the ‘package’ so exceptionally well, it appears to those who are less able at knowing how things ‘fit’ together that we autistics are viewing parts of objects as being complete entities in themselves.

When you add what Bogdashina writes about “autistics being concrete thinkers who need to understand associative and spatial thought patterns” on page 119:

“Being a spatial thinker means that a person represents things in the mind with a multidimensional model. This way of thinking brings both advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand, it is easier to see certain patterns of the world and infer things from those patterns. On the other hand, it is more difficult to do things that are more sequential (one-dimensional and in a line), especially when such a task involves picking a one-dimensional line out of multidimensional possibilities.³“

. . . she seems to be saying there is no lack of generalization after all. If there was a true inability to ’see the forest through the trees,’ then why the heck are autistic people (generally speaking) much better at discerning patterns and knowing what function parts perform in the whole scenario?

One last note, probably the most important factor missing in all this is integrity. When people are too full of self-centered priorities, they decide what they do because they don’t care about others since they feel protected from the consequences of their bad decisions due to the financial wealth they gain from them. As for ’social’ decisions in regards to this same concept, people feel protected if they are a member of a powerful gang, pack, organization, clique, government, cult, etc. It is the lone traveler, who doesn’t conform and is misunderstood, that needs to be confident and courageous. The Protestant reformer, Martin Luther, is a great example of a person without self-centered priorities, financial wealth, and who had to begin alone in his quest to change what he could see was wrong about how the Catholic church was using the bible and people to get wealthy and powerful.

¹This ‘it seems as though statement’ is the aspie myth part of the post. I bring to attention as a reminder for all people to exercise caution when making assumptions.

²As I’ve already footnoted in my I’ve just got to do it! post, “I had no idea that when I applied for a job as a locksmith in 1980, I was doing anything exceptional by being able to take a lock apart and reassemble it. I was told, out of about 100 applicants, only one other person besides me could put the lock back together again.”

³This is why multiple choice tests are so irritating to most Asperger people.