Positivity and benefits of autism!
It is common enough for caregivers, family members, and friends of children and young adults with autism to emphasize only the “less positive aspects” of it. Or identify what is not going well and why children or young adults get stuck. Because of these reactions, children and young adults actually get stuck in their development. And can also stagnate functioning. Children and young adults with autism have plenty of positive attributes that make them actually very valuable to society and in their own environment. By “thinking around” and taking a different approach, we can work precisely from those positive attributes. And by enhancing those talents, go on to commit to a full and happy existence in society.
Some advantages of people with autism listed;
- They are always sincere;
- Can concentrate well;
- Have a lot of knowledge about certain issues and topics;
- Often dare to do a lot;
- Often have exceptionally good organizational skills;
- Have an excellent visual memory;
- Are very eager to learn;
- Are Reliable and Loyal;
- Are very observant;
- Are good with problem analysis;
- Have an eye for detail and are precise;
- Are good at working in a planned and incremental way.
Of course, every person is unique, including every person with autism. You see the above traits more often than average in people with autism. But of course your child may (also) have other qualities!
Doomsday scenario, or positive thinking?
As a parent, you are often presented with a doomsday scenario from the time of diagnosis. With that, as a parent, you often enter the process of “Mourning and Living Loss” as well. But because everyone is unique, and circumstances are also different during development, you can’t paint a ready-made picture of the future. It is important to offer the right support in terms of care and education in time. So that all potential aspects can fully flourish. It also often remains a process with many ups and downs, but can actually make you more resilient as a parent! If your child is possibly stuck in education, be sure to work with your child, the school and/or practitioner to look at tailored educational pathways. To continue to develop and stimulate development and motivation. More is possible than you think!
Interview with clinical psychologist Annelies Spek
Reading the interview below by clinical psychologist and expert on ASD, Annelies Spek, will give everyone a whole new and positive perspective on the qualities of people with autism!
” The list of strengths of people with autism is long, according to the research of Annelies Spek, clinical psychologist and researcher at the Centrum Autisme Volwassenen of the ggz Eindhoven: ‘If they’re good at anything, it’s noticing details. They are much better at that than most people will ever be.’
‘That’s because of their way of processing information: they see information as separate chunks, while we immediately make connections between them. But it is precisely because we are so focused on the big picture that we overlook most of all the information that comes in.’
Just right
Because people with autism do notice all those details, they are meticulous, perfectionist and make few mistakes. Also analyze This is one of the strengths of autism, discovered Bacon: ‘They have a tendency to organize all the separate pieces of detailed information, perhaps in order to achieve an overview. This makes them good at understanding systems. These characteristics make them very suitable for jobs such as software tester or archivist. But Bacon also knows an example of a medical assistant with autism who was able to detect twice as many cases of prostate cancer in photographs as an average colleague. It’s not said that autism makes a difference, but it could well.
Because they are so meticulous, they do tend to spend longer on a task. But on the other hand, according to Spek, they have tasks that are very careful need to be done, such as checking tax returns, can last a very long time. Others have had enough of this at some point and start making mistakes. But people with autisme see not one tax return, but a hundred thousand details. And that already makes it much more interesting.’ The fact that people with autism are not guided by context is also one of their strengths. As a result, many of them are also very creative. They often have unexpected associations and therefore know how to come up with surprising solutions.
Because of all these strengths, for certain jobs employers may very well, or even better, employ someone with autisme hire. Something that some companies already know. For this reason, Bacon also recommends that autisme on your resume. At Philips, for example, such workers are trained for specific jobs. They excel at writing manuals for devices, for example, Spek knows: ‘They can describe processes very accurately, without skipping any steps.’ There are even companies that only work with such people, such as software testing agency Specialisterren. Or Autitalent, which specializes in digitizing files.
Annelies Spek: ‘Research shows that people with autisme are twice as likely as others to end up in technical jobs. And that that has more to do with their detailgerichtheid, than with their social inability. I like that: they end up in that workplace because of what they are good at.”
*This interview is from the website Psychologiemagazine.
Also check out the website van Annelies Spek, for information, among others over ASS in girls and women, studies and articles.
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