Hi Amelia,

Thank you for taking the time to clarify your sentiments for me. I now see your point and I find it very interesting. I very much agree with you that time is an indispensable factor when considering social change. I also think it is very interesting how you then take this consideration and argue that perhaps the condition (and prevalence) of autism may not be around long enough to undergo a conceptual change in the eyes of society. [Please correct me if I have misinterpreted your proposal.] However, to play devil’s advocate, perhaps we should be more optimistic to the rate at which social change can occur (less than hundreds of years). Though, I admit that it does seem like significant social change would in fact take hundreds of years – this, however is not a reason to not begin the push for social change (a point that I believe you and I, as well as the rest of the class, would agree upon). Perhaps we should consider as a group how we could promote such change? (Education?)

Also, I did not pick up on the idea that people were suggesting that autism is the next step in human evolution. I am glad you brought this point to my attention, and while I find it interesting, I agree with you that it seems unlikely that autism will become the “baseline” of humanity. However, I do believe autism could grow in prevalence.

See you tonight!

-- Ian