An Eye for Detail,
Word Parsing,
Mother Teresa, Gandhi, Yantcwot, Positivity, Happiness
And so much more . . .
By Keira Fulton-Lees, Artfully Autistic Advocate for Autism
Word Parsing and an Eye for Detail
As a for-the-most-part, somewhat-well-adjusted, almost-adult-acting Autistic individual, I find (to my frequent frustration), that I do possess what is oftentimes perceived by others to be a particularly peculiar penchant for the awkwardly intense and punctiliously pedantic parsing of words.
By parsing, I mean that I sequentially and painstakingly analyze the meaning of each word I hear literally one-word-at-a-time, each an entity in and of itself first, and separate and apart from the sentence as a whole, which I perceive only as an afterthought, while the entirety of the utterance is no more than a string of words, which may or may not be connected.
Believe me; it’s as exhausting and tedious to do as it is confusing and complicated to explain.
This narrowly focused parsing gets me into trouble all too often in daily conversation with others, as I often miss the overall meaning of what is said to me. Compound that with neurotypical conversation constantly coloured with non-literal meaning, hidden intent, subtext, innuendo, metaphor, satire, or sarcasm, and I get hopelessly lost in the details.
this Autistic tendency to parse words can be seen in a new light that shines with greatness!
If conversations were forests and words were trees, to answer this old riddle: “If a tree fell in a forest and no one is around to hear it fall, did it make a sound?”
Ask your Autistic friend – they will always be the one who heard it fall, as they in fact were already there staring with unflinching hyper-focused awareness of that very tree to the exclusion of all others – there was just no one there to see them.
or aren’t what we believe them to be.
Then again, sometimes they are just what we need them to be.”
Why is that? Well, bear with me, if you will, while I parse it out…
The stars, the sun, the moon move in silence. Silence gives us a new perspective.”
– Mother Teresa
[ART BY — KEIRA FULTON-LEES]
Mother Teresa, Greatness, Small Things, and Happiness
Mother Teresa may have said:
But, I’m not sure I agree with how this is typically interpreted. Just what are these great things that she is referring to that not all of us can do?
In the common sense, things like wealth, fame, and fortune come to mind, but the body of scientific and pragmatic evidence has proven again and again that none of these things instills a real sense of happiness in anyone. Unhappiness is certainly not a good thing, and by no measure is the absence of happiness a great thing.
Sure, if your short list of “great things” is:
of ever being said something or somebody”,
Then you either have delusions of grandeur or at the very least are severely challenged in goal direction.
Likewise, even if you know yourself well, have realistic expectations of yourself and your goals, yet aspire to reach beyond them, you may still not achieve greatness in the traditional sense.
But, no worries, just keep Mother Teresa’s mantra forefront in your mind ― and while you’re at it, repeat over and over again as you robotically dole out change to the endless stream of passing cars in your little freeway hut telling yourself:
Well no, not that kind of change, and actually its other people’s change, but
it’s such a small thing and easy to do, and I just love makin’ change!
― Thanks for that one Mr. Gandhi . . .
“You want the tiger’s nature, but not the tiger”
– M. H. Gandhi
Many believe that Gandhi, the most revered Human Rights Activist, was Autistic.
[ART BY — KEIRA FULTON-LEES]
Do I sound cynical?
Perhaps, come across thus far as a mean Mother Teresa,
Gandhi bashing, tollbooth belittling bore?
Gotcha!
Meant to!
I truly believe that no matter what we do in life,
no matter how small it may be perceived by others,
as long as we are truly happy doing it,
then we have indeed achieved greatness.”
After all, we are the sole proprietor of our own happiness. No one else owns it, nor should we ever allow anyone else to measure it. It’s easy to count money if you have it, and if you have enough of it you can even hire someone to count it for you. But to measure the happiness that any one individual experiences in life is so subjective and personal to the individual that it inherently precludes all known systems of measure. There exists no certain number of human experiences whose summation will exactly equal happiness.
but ironically it is exactly that which counts the most.”
That last sentence can be frustrating if you are Autistic, given our need for exactness, but just maybe we are more open to the in-exact than we realize. After all, we live in a predominately neurotypical world, and heaven knows, every NT I’ve ever met is anything but exact.
Given the neurotypical bent towards feeling-based reactions and behaviors, the impulsive go-with-the-flow mentality, and their so-called instinct-based decisions, all the while being completely void of any routine or scientific fact-based evidence to steer their course of actions, all seems so befuddling to the Autistic sense of order, right?
But, the important thing is:
As a less condescending, more up-beat counter to Mother Teresa’s advice, I would offer that in fact:
Positivity, Yantcwot, and My Irritating Friend
There is this irritating choice of words this irritating friend of mine frequently uses when she is going to try to do something challenging.
One day she calls me on the phone very excited about a new bathroom vanity cabinet she purchased from IKEA, tells me how beautiful it’s going to look in her bathroom, relates how confused she is about the nine page assembly manual, yet at the same time so very anxious to put it together that she hurries me off the phone with:
,center>“I gotta go. I’m going to see if I can’t put it together.”
Click. I look at the phone puzzlingly with that confused dog head-tilt movement and an empty comic book bubble over my head, as if it will explain to me what I just heard. I then think two things
– in true to form Autistic order . . .
1. yantcwot
/ˈyantsē wät/
acronym
____________________________
noun
Rhymes with: Nancy Watt
Definition:
Yet Another Neuro-Typical Conversation Waste Of Time
2. Why didn’t she say?
But that’s just my therapist talking . . .
Or, is it?
Let’s turn another phrase…
There’s another old idiom we’ve all heard:
As we all know refers to a situation where what seemed at first simple to do then becomes exceedingly difficult to do once the hidden details are uncovered. We are all familiar with how frustrating this conundrum can be.
What most people don’t know is that this old adage has its origins way back in the 1800’s; then worded:
meaning simply that details matter.
Note: And its here’s where I definitely think to myself:
From “Dungeons and Dragons”, the role playing game so loved within the Autistic Community,
to Lisbeth Salander, the lead character in the books series “The Girl With The Dragon Tatoo,
by Stieg Larrson” (who is speculated to have Asperger’s),
to the book “The Dragons of Autism”, by Olga Holland
whose title was dervived from his “Autistic Special Interest” in Dragons,
to the Dignity of the Dragon within Shamhala Buddhism
whose qualities of possessing a powerful, vast, and skillful mind
are obvious parallels of the Autistic brain,
as the the Dragon is a great and powerful symbol
for the Mighty and Brave People who compose the Autistic Community
[Art by Keira Fulton-Lees]
If you’ve come this far, maybe you’re willing to go a little further. Well, so far we have Word Parsing. We have Yantcwot. We have Detail. We have Small Things. We have Greatness. We have Positivity. But, just what rabbit hole am I leading you down into? I’ll explain…
We have all these Superpowers!
1. Word Parsing ― We Autistics have a superpower ability to analyze the usage and meaning of words, sentences, paragraphs, and phrases at an extremely advanced level. Yes, it’s tedious, but it makes us a much better listener than the neurotypical.
2. Yantcwot ― Being Autistic, we can spot a neurotypical conversation that contains no substance like an eagle in the sky spots its tiny prey on the ground from a mile away. We Autistics know we have much better usage of our minds than to waste time on mindless chit-chat. Therefore, unlike the neurotypical, we Autistics have the advantage of extreme efficiency in the management of valuable resources of our brain. This too qualifies as a Superpower.
3. Happiness ― We are the sole proprietor of our own happiness. So, no matter how much our neurotypical family members, friends, or colleagues make comments or complain about how much time we spend on our “Special Interests”, we know that these things make us happy. The fact that we know that it make us happy and the very fact that it is referred to as a “Special Interest”, in my book gives Autistics an edge over the typical neurotypical, who spend their lives trying to find just what make them happy. We already know that. I’d definitely call that a Superpower.
4. Detail ― As I related earlier the old idiom: “The Devil is in the detail” originally meant “God is in the detail”, and that “Details Matter”.
Whether you are secular or non-secular we know that historically details do indeed matter. And we Autistics have an extremely acute eye for detail ― way above and beyond the neurotypical. We see, hear, and notice every single detail about everything.
We also have hyper-sensitive senses (Even the sixth one, many would argue.) So, that tree that fell in the forest that no one heard? Well, we noticed every single detail about that too. Now, I’d say that’s a Superpower indeed.
5. Small Things and Greatness ― Mother Teresa had it wrong: “Great things are small things with great love.”
It can be challenging to be Autistic. We experience the world with such greater amplitude than the average neurotypical that simply getting through each moment of each and every day feels like the world is a battlefield. Some days, just to get through one small task can be overwhelming.
But, if we can get through just one small thing, we have achieved greatness. And we can do these small things with great love too. It’s a myth that those with Autism don’t have emotions, empathy, and can’t experience love. We, in fact, experience all of these qualities with ten-fold the intensity of that of the neurotypical.
To experience the world in a unique perception ― to accomplish even the smallest of things no matter what happens ― to continue each day fighting, though maladapted ―to find our way through the world through adversity ― to ward off the stigma that remains still present ― to find our way through a world where neurodiversity is too often absent ― that we overcome not because of our difFerences, but in spite of our differences ― with all of these obstacles, what then summizes is but that of success in the small things we do with love ― and instilled deeply within each of us is a powerful sense of greatness in believing in ourselves, while standing firmly in place believing in that: All who are Autistic possess this exceptional Superpower.
6. Positivity ― Summing up all of the above superpowers that we Autistics possess means that we can certainly say with great pride that:
Hi, I am Autistic and my name is Keira Fulton-Lees. (Note: Identity-First for me!) After many years of being misdiagnosed with many other disorders, I was finally Formally Tested and Diagnosed with High Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder by a Neuropsychologist at the Bon Secours Neuroscience Clinic. Finally getting a correct diagnosis was a very vindicating experience. I’ve finally reached a place of not only acceptance of my condition, but a place of embracing and celebrating my atypical differences. Finally knowing why I never really “fit-in”, is a very powerful and validating feeling.
My Autistic “Special Interests” are:
• The Moon – My Beloved Glowing Friend
• Music – I play guitar and compose my own original instrumental Songs
• Art – I love to draw and paint
• Writing and Poetry – I love to write about my life experiences living on the Spectrum, Mental Health, Disability, and other open topics of interest.
• Photography – For me, finding just the right shot is to capture and lock-in a special moment in time
• Coding – Mostly in Java and Perl (Perl will always hold a special place in my heart – the Swiss Army Knife of programming! – Shebang! #!/usr/bin/perl
• My Son – The Love of My Life – The Steeple atop All my Extraordinary Moon People!
More examples of my creative works can be found on the following websites:
• Artfully Autistic – The Beauty of Autism Within the Written Word, Music, and the Visual Arts
• bandcamp
• and of course, The Art of Autism website
