When I see studies like this, I always wonder how the researchers actually measured desire for connection. For example, did they ask leading or hard-to-understand questions?
It seems this study asked participants to rank a vague, unelaborated “connection with society” item along with other items. That’s not a good method. What sort of society? What sort of connection? Ranked alongside what?
I crave connection, and I need time alone. Those two things aren’t mutually exclusive.
Connection, for me, can’t happen while a 14-way conversation happens over my head and a wall of background noise nearly deafens me. That’s what many social events are like.
Connection happens in deep conversations with one or two close friends at a time, bonding over a shared interest like a board game or museum exhibit.
Another day, another poorly constructed autism study.
That’s actually the point of this post, and that entire “Autism Talks Back” blog. Most autism research is done by neurotypical people who are coming at this from the premise that autism should be prevented if it can’t be cured.
You and I know better. We are not mistakes, unless people who claim to believe in God want to buy into the premise that anybody who isn’t their idea of perfect is a mistake on God’s part, and that God makes mistakes on the regular.
In the meantime, the only valid research on autism is the research done by autistic people. Never mind “nothing about us without us”, we should be demanding “nothing about us except by us”.
Poorly constructed study in general, it seems - they’ve made the classic mistake of mistaking correlation with causation. As the article points out, lower quality of life could be (and probably is) caused by access barriers, not by the solitude.
No kidding. For my part, I’ve found that I am only lonely around other people. I have never felt welcome anywhere. I have only felt safe in my own home, and that sense of safety did not come until I was an adult. For me, solitude is both safety and freedom. Nobody can hurt me when I am alone, or presume to command me.