This is an article by John Elder Robinson, writer of several books on autism.
Autism in the South Pacific: A Different Way of Seeing?
Might Polynesian society show a "lost" way of accommodating autism
Two years ago I was invited to Hawaii to speak in schools about autism and neurodiversity. Before going there I read what I could find on autism and its culture in Hawaii. There was not much on autism, but I saw there was a great renaissance of native Hawaiian culture. Autism has been part of humanity for quite a long time, so I realized the two must be intertwined. One place where I immediately suspected a connection was in the area of navigation.
That set me exploring the possibility that some Polynesian navigators may be/have been autistic. That has been a fascinating thing to study, and it raised another question that I'd like to discuss – does a western diagnostic label that we associate with disability have relevance when applied to a gifted individual performing a specialized task in the South Pacific? That question struck me as I watched video of Mau Piailug, an indigenous navigator from the island of Satawal who died in 2010.
Polynesian navigators were for many years the finest navigators in the world. Using their eyes and their minds – no tools or maps – they successfully steered vessels over vast distances to every corner of the Pacific. They did this over thousands of years, during a time that western navigators had absolutely no idea how to find a speck in the ocean like Hawaii or Tahiti.
Polynesian navigation is often referred to as wayfinding to distinguish it from the instrument and chart based navigation practiced elsewhere in the world. As soon as I read about the various cognitive requirements of the job I thought it was something autistic people would be ideally suited to. I wondered if there was any evidence of autism in wayfinders and indeed there were clues in various writings. The thing that really cinched it for me, though, was watching videos of a master wayfinder from the island of Satawal.
When I watched the videos I saw many signs of the broad autism phenotype in Piailug’s speech, expressions, and behavior. He did not look at the person he was speaking to, or the camera. He looked down almost all the time. He spoke in a near monotone with a pattern of prosody I’ve learned to associate with autism. When he spoke, his eyes and upper face were generally devoid of animation and he seldom displayed large expressions. He also had the flat affect that is common to autistic speakers. To a trained eye, those were all signs of autism. Yet the films did not depict a disabled man. They showed an exceptional man telling his story for an appreciative listener.
Rest of the article here: Autism in the South Pacific: A Different Way of Seeing?
Autism in the South Pacific: A Different Way of Seeing?
Might Polynesian society show a "lost" way of accommodating autism
Two years ago I was invited to Hawaii to speak in schools about autism and neurodiversity. Before going there I read what I could find on autism and its culture in Hawaii. There was not much on autism, but I saw there was a great renaissance of native Hawaiian culture. Autism has been part of humanity for quite a long time, so I realized the two must be intertwined. One place where I immediately suspected a connection was in the area of navigation.
That set me exploring the possibility that some Polynesian navigators may be/have been autistic. That has been a fascinating thing to study, and it raised another question that I'd like to discuss – does a western diagnostic label that we associate with disability have relevance when applied to a gifted individual performing a specialized task in the South Pacific? That question struck me as I watched video of Mau Piailug, an indigenous navigator from the island of Satawal who died in 2010.
Polynesian navigators were for many years the finest navigators in the world. Using their eyes and their minds – no tools or maps – they successfully steered vessels over vast distances to every corner of the Pacific. They did this over thousands of years, during a time that western navigators had absolutely no idea how to find a speck in the ocean like Hawaii or Tahiti.
Polynesian navigation is often referred to as wayfinding to distinguish it from the instrument and chart based navigation practiced elsewhere in the world. As soon as I read about the various cognitive requirements of the job I thought it was something autistic people would be ideally suited to. I wondered if there was any evidence of autism in wayfinders and indeed there were clues in various writings. The thing that really cinched it for me, though, was watching videos of a master wayfinder from the island of Satawal.
When I watched the videos I saw many signs of the broad autism phenotype in Piailug’s speech, expressions, and behavior. He did not look at the person he was speaking to, or the camera. He looked down almost all the time. He spoke in a near monotone with a pattern of prosody I’ve learned to associate with autism. When he spoke, his eyes and upper face were generally devoid of animation and he seldom displayed large expressions. He also had the flat affect that is common to autistic speakers. To a trained eye, those were all signs of autism. Yet the films did not depict a disabled man. They showed an exceptional man telling his story for an appreciative listener.
Rest of the article here: Autism in the South Pacific: A Different Way of Seeing?
