There is some kind of late-stage filter in the brain's perception system, between the understanding of a perception, and its emotional impact on the witness.

I think #monotropism could be described as the absence of such a filter.

Without ability to emotionally distance oneself from a thought of any kind, one would be consumed by it.

#actuallyAutistic

I was invited to give the closing keynote at the Scottish Autism Research Group conference yesterday #SARG2023, on the theme of autistic wellbeing.

I talked for 45 minutes (plus Q&A) about #monotropism, and all of the ways that it should inform how we think about autistic wellbeing.

The text is here:
https://monotropism.org/wellbeing/

@alexisbushnell @chief you might like to visit https://monotropism.org to learn more about #monotropism?

So I just heard about and took the #monotropism assessment and:
"Monotropism Score: 192 / 235
Your Average: 4.09

This score suggests that you are more Monotropic than about 44% of autistic people and about 95% of allistic people based on data from the initial validation study."

#ActuallyAutistic

I found the assessment here: https://dlcincluded.github.io/MQ/

#Monotropism

"I believe that the best way to understand autistic minds is in terms of a thinking style which tends to concentrate resources in a few interests and concerns at any time, rather than distributing them widely."

I'm not sure I agree with this. As a software designer, the most important skill I brought to bear was the ability to see the global picture, *and* the details, and *everything* in between, pretty much all at the same time.

🤔🤔🤔 @actuallyautistic #AuDHD #actuallyautistic

@autism101 @actuallyautistic@a.gup.pe

"Monotropism Score: 195 / 235

Average: 4.15

This score means that you are more Monotropic than about 50% of autistic people and about 96% of allistic people."

What I'd like to know is if this score claims to measure, er, how *autistic* I am...? 🤔

If not, then what? 🤔 What's the POINT of this #Monotropism to *me* or *you*?

#AuDHD #ActuallyAutistic @ActuallyAutistic

A curious thing has happened, where the #Monotropism Questionnaire that @scrappapertiger and I worked on (with a bunch of other people) has gone viral, with millions of people hearing about it while the validation study on the measure is still waiting for peer review.

I wrote about it for the Monotropism site, and made a #TikTok video, since that's where it's mostly exploded.

What's frustrating is that all the videos that have been watched by hundreds of thousands of people have called it an "autism assessment". That's not what it is! But it should be of interest to everyone who's interested in #autism assessments...

@actuallyautistic
https://monotropism.org/2023/mq/

210/235

#Monotropism

New webpage #Monotropism #autism #Autistic #MentalHealth
https://www.autisticrealms.com/monotropism

A quick roundup of recent writing on #monotropism.

More and more #ActuallyAutistic people are applying these ideas to make ever more sense of their (our) experiences. It's great to see.

https://monotropism.org/2023/recent-writing/

The team at Spectrum Gaming have put together this fantastic child-friendly web site to help people understand what #autism is, and what it means for all of us.

I contributed a couple of bits to this myself, on #monotropism and spiky profiles. I'm one of a large number of contributors, whose work had to pass by an editorial panel of young autistic people.

I really, really hope that before too long, this is the kind of thing that young people will come across first when they look up autism. There's so much work to be done to push aside the unhelpful narratives of autism that have dominated for so long.
https://autismunderstood.co.uk/

Mike Lesser died eight years ago today.

He played a major role in the development of #Monotropism as a theory of #autism, and worked with my mother for many years, including founding and running Autism & Computing together, at a time when not that many people had recognised the value of computers for autistic people.

He was a friend and mentor, who taught me a huge amount about science, although we had our differences over the years. I put up this page about him today:
https://monotropism.org/mike-lesser/

I'm really enjoying the #Monotropism Discord server so far. We already have about eighty members, and some really interesting discussions going on about the nature of #autism, the connection with #adhd, #education and other things.

Here's an invitation link that's valid for one week, if that sounds like the kind of thing you'd be into:
https://discord.gg/SANskhfc

And here's the Monotropism site, in case you're not familiar:
https://monotropism.org

I'm really enjoying the #Monotropism Discord server so far. We already have about eighty members, and some really interesting discussions going on about the nature of #autism, the connection with #adhd, #education and other things.

Here's an invitation link that's valid for one week, if that sounds like the kind of thing you'd be into:
https://discord.gg/SANskhfc

And here's the Monotropism site, in case you're not familiar:
https://monotropism.org

For anyone interested in #monotropism, I've just set up a dedicated #Discord server for it. Please msg me for an invitation!

For anyone who doesn't know what I'm talking about, please go to monotropism.org instead :)
@actuallyautistic #autism #adhd #neurodiversity #attention #psychology #ActuallyAutistic

I'm trying to put together a short list of the basic concepts that are essential to understanding the #ActuallyAutistic experience of life. These can be helpful for explaining things to allistics/neurotypicals, but also for seeing ourselves from our own perspective instead of how we are failed NTs. I think it's just a few (albeit big) concepts. Here's my basic list:

- #DoubleEmpathyProblem
- #SocialModelOfDisability
- #Monotropism
- #VariableCompetency
- #CPTSD

#AskingAutistics Do you have your own short list of concepts for understanding or explaining #autism? What are the big ideas that shape your experience of #autistic life?

The legendary Wenn Lawson worked on this new free online course on autism and mental health from Curtin University in Perth, Western Australia.

According to the description:
"This course has been developed in response to the growing need to provide autistic people and those around us with the knowledge, skills, and understanding to feel good about autism and celebrate individuality, strengths and skills, as well as being pro-active about our mental fitness and identifying when we need support.

The course aims to provide learners with the knowledge and skills to:

• Explore monotropism as a theory of autism, and how being monotropic (single-focused) impacts autistic people
• Understand interoception and how your internal sensing system impacts your life, as well as ways to recognise signals from this system
• Learn about the impact of sensory overload on mental health
• Explore what mental fitness looks like and learn strategies for good mental health
• Understand and identify risk factors for autistic burnout
• Recognise and implement strategies for self-care and self-advocacy"

@actuallyautistic #ActuallyAutistic #monotropism #MentalHealth #interoception #autisticBurnout #autism #neurodiversity
https://www.edx.org/course/autism-and-mental-health

How do you divide up and "pay" attention?

Is your attention like a general light, or a spotlight (i.e. taking in lots, or focused on one thing)?

How do you know? Have you ever thought about this before? And what would it do for you to know how and be able to explain how you relate to attention?

When you begin coaching with me, it's normal for us to go through a process of checking-in and almost mapping and profiling how aspects of your neurodivergence show up.

This is useful for the coaching to work, for meeting your needs, and for helping you to know yourself and - if necessary, in time - to accept yourself more.

One thing I often ask clients about is their attentional style. Are you monotropic or are you polytropic? Or, even better, when are you more monotropic or more polytropic?

If you'd like to learn more about what these attention terms mean, I can heartily recommend this article by Fergus Murray https://www.bps.org.uk/psychologist/me-and-monotropism-unified-theory-autism

If you'd like to discover more about your attention style as well as a whole bunch of other things (energy profile, sensory profile, emotional and arousal profile), get in touch to see how this fits into a programme of coaching with me.

#Autism #ADHD #AuDHD #Monotropism #Autistic #Neurodivergent #Neurodiversity #Coaching

for me (from observing my #ActuallyAutistic #AuDHD self and my various ND friends and family)

#Autism is #ADHD plus:

* low awareness/control/respect of nonverbal social/emotional/timing signals (incoming and outgoing)

* emphasis on rational/logical explanations for events and behaviors over emotional/social explanations

* avoid eye contact, retreat from social encounters during stress

* high empathy, concerned about fairness and diversity vs arbitrary rules esp. around social hierarchy and manners

* difficulty telling lies or going along with unfair/imperfect directions

* inclined to follow rules (as long as they're fair and clear), difficulty recognizing sarcasm

* sensory sensitivity (sometimes / specific stimuli)

Both have:

* impulsiveness, distraction, low boredom tolerance

* hyperfocus

* sensory processing delay (sometimes)

* creativity and lateral thinking

* comorbid anxiety and depression and sleep problems

The relatively new term #Monotropism is probably a real thing and embraces both.

I was interviewed for Noncompliant, a Canadian podcast by Anne Borden King. We had a good chat about #monotropism, #WeirdPrideDay, #Autscape, @amase and inclusive education.

https://noncompliantpodcast.com/2023/04/14/talking-about-neurodiversity-monotropism-more-with-scottish-activist-fergus-murray/