What's good for some people sometimes isn't always good for everyone all the time.
Autism | Do we know what it is? | A review of The Autism Matrix: The Social Origins of the Autism Epidemic
Sociologist Gil Eyal's 2010 book The Autism Matrix: The Social Origins of the Autism Epidemic was a bombshell in the debate over autism. Yet over a decade later almost no one appears to have heard the explosion. The concept of autism was first presented in the 1940s, more or less simultaneously, by New York psychiatrist … Continue reading Autism | Do we know what it is? | A review of The Autism Matrix: The Social Origins of the Autism Epidemic
Autism |Toronto’s van rampage 4 | Alek Minassian convicted – what now?
For some reason the fate of Alek Minassian continues to haunt me. How is it, I ask myself, that someone who killed 10 people and injured 16 more, some permanently, running them down in his rented van here in Toronto 15 minutes walk from my home, now convicted and awaiting sentencing, continues to elicit sympathy … Continue reading Autism |Toronto’s van rampage 4 | Alek Minassian convicted – what now?
Is this the Autism Highway?
From 2006 to 2016, I ran a website that I called Shy Highway. During that time I produced my second book, The Shyness Guide, then revised it, doubling it in size to what it is today. Along the way though, I got interested in autism. At first I tried to avoid the autism debate. It … Continue reading Is this the Autism Highway?
Rescuing Psychology |the Introvert/Extrovert misunderstanding
Let's look at this again. The way introvert/extrovert is understood today is very different from what psychologist C.G.Jung intended when he introduced those terms into psychology a century ago. He saw introversion and extroversion as just two possible aspects of everyone's character. In his book Psychological Types, he wrote this: There is a further fact … Continue reading Rescuing Psychology |the Introvert/Extrovert misunderstanding
How to be Less Shy by being More Shy
What do I mean by this? It's simple really - instead of trying to suppress your shyness (what the social world has been urging you to do all your life), the best thing to do is to accept it – accept who you are. But that doesn't mean giving up and hiding at home. You … Continue reading How to be Less Shy by being More Shy
Loners |The one place where society welcomes them |Anneli Rufus and her book Party of One
Loners have a hard time in the modern, day-to-day world, yet not in fiction and film. Solitary men - who I think are shy and/or autistic men - are heroes in literature and the movies – James Fenimore Cooper's Natty Bumpo in The Deerslayer and The Last of the Mohicans. David Copperfield in the Dickens … Continue reading Loners |The one place where society welcomes them |Anneli Rufus and her book Party of One
Alternative World |New perspectives on autism, shyness, literature and history, psychology and science, life, the universe and everything
Yes, this is the new title of this site. Though I'm still fond of 'Shy Highway', the title I've used since 2007, my interests obviously are too far-ranging. Since I was a boy entering school, my view of the world around me has been different from that of anyone I've met. That wasn't always positive. … Continue reading Alternative World |New perspectives on autism, shyness, literature and history, psychology and science, life, the universe and everything
Dreams | Are they real?
Dreams are real while they last; can one say more of life?
Alan Conrad 