David Hartley
Aug 24, 2017 · 2 min read

Thanks for your comment Caroline, it’s very helpful for me. You are correct of course — there was no way I could have 100% known that I was the only autistic person in the room, nor that the others in the room did not know that I was non-autistic. I think I’ve made quite a lazy statement in the original piece — more for dramatic impact than anything else. I may reconsider that sentence to make my meaning clearer.

I think I was trying to say that in that moment I had an unexpected revelation about my position within the group in the room. I did suddenly feel like the outsider — almost like an intruder — although I know from the sensibilities of the other people in the room that I was, in reality, neither of these things. Nevertheless, my own realisation of my position as a ‘lurking researcher’ was certainly a curious and destabilising private moment for me that warranted further reflection. Ultimately, it was a positive thing. It led, I think, to a clearer personal connection to the concept of ‘neurodiversity’ and the fuzzy line between the autistic and non-autistic which very much complicates reflections like the ones in this article.

I myself have never been diagnosed one way or the other. It was always clear and obvious with my sister, but perhaps (see the comment below) there are strains and echoes of the condition within myself. Perhaps not. In an ideal, utopian world, we would not need a medical practitioner to diagnose us as it would not matter! But for now the approach, I think, has to be a skepticism about how ‘set’ we generally seem to believe that minds are.

As for Amy Sequenzia — thanks for pulling me up on that. I’m aware of the debate surrounding FC, but I felt it was too much of a concept to explore in this particular article given the complexity of it. As I understand, there’s variation in practices of FC and some non-verbal autists may well argue in favour of it. I admit I don’t know enough about it to comment with any conviction but its certainly something I’ll go back and read further about. I mentioned Amy S because her article about Low/High functioning was the first to really strike a chord with me and help me understand the problems with this form of labeling.

Thanks again for your thoughts!

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    David Hartley

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    Writer and researcher. Author of Spiderseed (Sleepy House Press, 2016). Interested in autism, animals, SF&F, spoken word, veganism. Tweets @DHartleyWriter