A belief (from Wikipedia) is the psychological state in which an individual holds a proposition or premise to be true. The article on "belief" in Wikipedia goes on to talk about Epistemology.
"Epistemology is the philosophical study of knowledge and belief. A primary problem for epistemology is exactly what is needed in order for us to have knowledge. In a notion derived from Plato's dialogue Theaetetus, philosophy has traditionally defined knowledge as justified true belief. The relationship between belief and knowledge is that a belief is knowledge if the belief is true, and if the believer has a justification (reasonable and necessarily plausible assertions/evidence/guidance) for believing it is true."
I have been working with people described as having autism for 25 years. I have had the extreme pleasure to work very closely with a very high number of people "with autism." I am interested in several core assertions about autism that I think should be challenged as untrue. In my experience, these assertions are not justifiable, or plausible. The four core assertions that I would like to challenge are the following:
- There is such a thing as autism
- Children with autism have a common disorder
- In all children with autism, there is a common neurological anomaly.
- Autism is the same from time to time and place to place.
I will be periodically making installments challenging these core beliefs, and I would love to hear your comments. In introducing yourselves, please give me a few notes about your experience with autism, or with people described as having autism.
