Environment vs. genetics | humanitysdarkerside

We really do need to do more research when it comes to girls and autism/aspergers. Is the visibility of male Aspergers the reason they are used as a template for what a female Asperger should be?

Seventh Voice

The overwhelming majority of referrals for a diagnostic assessment for Asperger’s Syndrome are boys. The ratio of males to females is around 10:1, yet the epidemiological research for Autistic Spectrum Disorders suggests that the ratio should be 4:1. Why are girls less likely to be identified as having the characteristics indicative of Asperger’s Syndrome? The following are some tentative suggestions that have yet to be validated by academic research, but they provide some plausible explanations based on preliminary clinical experience.

It appears that many girls with Asperger’s Syndrome have the same profile of abilities as boys but a subtler or less severe expression of the characteristics. Parents may be reluctant to seek a diagnostic assessment if the child appears to be coping reasonably well and clinicians may be hesitant to commit themselves to a diagnosis unless the signs are conspicuously different to the normal range of behaviour and abilities.

We…

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“The Dosadi Experiment” by Robert Laftont

Nominated for a Locus Award for best science fiction novel in 1978

The Dosadi Experiment takes place in the same universe as The Whipping Star, but can be read on its own.

I dipped my toes into the waters of Frank Herbert’s writing with The Dosadi Experiment. It’s been ages and ages, back in the days of the dinosaurs, so I cannot really remember what I thought, but it must have been positive because I kept on exploring Herbert’s world. I reread The Dosadi Experiment from time to time, and each time I discover new bits to love. As I change, so does my understanding of The Dosadi Experiment, and that is a sign of a classic to me.

The ConSentiency is composed of many species who have different abilities. The Taprisiots provide instant mind-to-mind communication between two minds anywhere in the universe. The Caleban provide instantaneous travel between any two points in the universe.

Our extremely intelligent and empathic Saboteur Extraordinary, Jorj X. McKie, gets an assignment that he soon discovers is probably a set-up. He is sent by the agency to Dosadi as their “best”. Compared to those already living on Dosadi, he was like an infant in swaddling clothes.

What he discovers on Dosadi is shocking in its blatant disregard of any and all ConSentiency regulation. Dosadi has been placed behind an impenetrable barrier called “The God Wall”. Humans and Gowachin have been dumped together in numbers that defy description. The planet itself is poisonous except for a narrow valley, containing the city “Chu”, containing nearly 89 million citizens.

Senior Liator Kaila Jedrik starts a war and Jorj becomes a pawn in her hope of saving the population of Dosadi.