Opinion – Suzana Herculano-Houzel: Observations of an autistic neuroscientist on Twitter

Bombshell news to start the new year: it’s been four years since I found out I’m autistic. Spare me, please, the “nice” or “complimentary” comments like “wow, it doesn’t look like it”, or “but you look so normal”.

Functioning in the world of normals, or “neurotypicals,” takes a lot of work. Aside from the idiosyncratic quirks of every autistic individual, not understanding the intent of others turns children on the autism spectrum into lightning rods for bullies, which explains why my childhood was hell in that regard (otherwise my parents were wonderful and, unknowingly , did everything right to help an autistic child; I’ll tell you later).

But now, as an adult, I’ve discovered that not having the slightest inkling that people are trying to be mean to me has its advantages. In fact, it borders on a superpower: it’s almost impossible to insult me. And I’ve unwittingly discovered that being “insulting” (word making is also an autistic trait) is a wonderful way to combat trolls on social media.

A video that’s been circulating around illustrates this superpower masterfully: it’s a duck, on its own, on the ground, surrounded by cows that advance, threatening, trying to intimidate it… and fail, one after the other, because the duck doesn’t give a damn. minimum for threats.

I don’t know what the duck was thinking, but I know what it was doing (another autistic trait; we focus on facts, not interpretation): the duck acted as if it didn’t understand that the cows approaching it were trying to do so. beat a retreat. Where the duck was still on his, right where it was. Sensational. Problem of others, who want to be cretins.

I realized that this duck is me and others like me, whose brains don’t automatically infer the intentions of others. I got back on Twitter recently, for professional reasons, and I’ve been amusing myself the last few days with a post about my discovery that tyrannosaurs they were the baboons of their day, in terms of neuron numbers. The post went viral, which of course means the trolls showed up—in this case, “explaining” to me that I was obviously wrong about this and that.

The problem is that I stick to the facts and respond naturally, agreeing with what is right, pointing out what is wrong, and showing why it is wrong and what the correct version is. Like the duck who doesn’t know he’s being bullied (also on my Twitter), not understanding that I’m being insulted keeps me from feeling insulted, which is a wonderful thing on social media. Trolls tame. There are trolls who apologize, imagine!, and come back calmly, explaining themselves and even praising them, saying it was just a joke, sorry.

I don’t recommend wanting to be autistic because of it, but my recommendation would be irrelevant, because autism is not chosen or “taken”. We are born with a different brain and that’s it: like everyone else, we learn to function with what we have.

The difference, in this case, is that I respond literally to what was said, as I don’t think I read other people’s minds; and being literal is something “normals” can experience too. Just try a little harder — like I do all the time, in reverse, to remember that people aren’t literal…