philosophy

• the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence, especially when considered as an academic discipline.

a particular system of philosophical thought.

plural noun: philosophies

"Schopenhauer’s philosophy"

• the study of the theoretical basis of a particular branch of knowledge or experience.

"the philosophy of science"

synonyms: thinking, thought, reasoning

"the philosophy of Aristotle"

• a theory or attitude held by a person or organization that acts as a guiding principle for behavior.

"don't expect anything and you won't be disappointed, that's my philosophy"

Over the past month, I have been feverishly researching, thinking, reading, and talking about autism. I've clicked on almost every link that I've seen come through my Facebook feed, media outlets, and friend's pages about autism. My wonderful physician sister-in-law has been sending me the most up-to-date medical information on autism and another wonderful sister-in-law who is a social worker has been giving me encouragement and help with understanding what a social worker's role is for families affected by autism. I've started following this blog by a mother with an 11-year old autistic daughter who advocates like nobody's business on behalf of her child and has a refreshing and insightful view on autism and the human family. I've also started following this video blog by an autistic woman who is quite remarkable in both poise and perspective. 

I am so grateful to have so much of the world's information at my fingertips and in the comfort of my own home. However, it's led to the very real concept in Library Science of information overload. When I first came across this term last summer during my intensive class, I laughed to myself. Surely this isn't a real thing? True, we have all of this access, but do people truly "suffer" from it? This was coupled with a term called information obesity, which is the idea that we live in an information society where information is so easily available and so we feast. 

Well, I am currently the embodiment of both of those concepts. I have been consuming information at a rate faster than I can digest it, which has led me to become overwhelmed and overloaded. To put it bluntly, I've been trying to cram as much information into my brain as possible, and in so doing I will be able to figure out what I'm supposed to be doing, what the best treatments are for Elias, and how I should approach autism. I felt the effects of this strategy this weekend when I was sluggish, sad, and overwhelmed. 

In talking to a friend at church on Sunday, she said that it sounded like I was trying to work out what my philosophy is on autism. Because it is such a wide and varied disorder, there is a multitude of conflicting viewpoints. The truth is that I don't really know how I feel about autism, though I feel my attitudes crystallizing the more I read. And I don't truly know where Elias is on the spectrum either. I suspect that we won't know for a few more years (or many more years?) as he grows and changes. My guess is that his movement on the spectrum is going to be much more fluid than most neurotypical children as he figures things out at his own pace. Over the next few posts I will lay out a few of the larger controversies that I have come across and attempt to parse them out. In the meantime, I will attempt to make my information intake more in proportion to my digestion rate.