Table Of ContentAutism and the
Edges of the
Known World
by the same author
Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
Different Sensory Experiences – Different Perceptual Worlds
Forewords by Wendy Lawson and Theo Peeters
ISBN 978 1 84310 166 6
Communication Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
Do We Speak the Same Language?
ISBN 978 1 84310 267 0
Theory of Mind and the Triad of Perspectives on Autism and
Asperger Syndrome
A View from the Bridge
ISBN 978 1 84310 361 5
Autism and the
Edges of the
Known World
Sensitivities, Language
and Constructed Reality
Olga Bogdashina
Foreword by Theo Peeters
Jessica Kingsley Publishers
London and Philadelphia
First published in 2010
by Jessica Kingsley Publishers
116 Pentonville Road
London N1 9JB, UK
and
400 Market Street, Suite 400
Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA
www.jkp.com
Copyright © Olga Bogdashina 2010
Foreword copyright © Theo Peeters 2010
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any
material form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by
electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some
other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright
owner except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright
Licensing Agency Ltd, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS.
Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce any
part of this publication should be addressed to the publisher.
Warning: The doing of an unauthorised act in relation to a copyright work
may result in both a civil claim for damages and criminal prosecution.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 1 84905 042 5
ISBN pdf eBook 978 0 85700 239 6
Printed and bound in the United States by
Thomson-Shore, 7300 Joy Road, Dexter, MI 48130
To my children Alyosha and Olesya
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The largest debt of gratitude goes to the autistic individuals who are
willing to share their experiences and ideas in order to help us all learn
about the diversity of human thinking and ways to perceive the world
around us.
I’m most grateful to Manuel Casanova, Gottfried and Gisela Kolb
Endowed Chair in Psychiatry, Associate Chair for Research, University
of Louisville, and Professor Geoffrey Samuel, Director of the Cardiff
Humanities Research Institute and Professorial Fellow in the School of
Religious and Theological Studies, Cardiff University, both of whose
critical comments and supportive recommendations enabled me to
improve this book. As with all projects, there are ideas and issues in
this book that are likely to be modified or corrected when new facts,
research findings and observations come to light.
My warmest thanks go to Ian Wilson, a brilliant artist working with
adults with autism, who kindly drew the pictures for this book.
This book would not have been written if it were not for my children
(who are young adults now) – Alyosha and Olesya. Without them I
wouldn’t have been the ‘me’ I am now. Thanks also due to Nigel for his
patience and tolerance of my working schedule, and to my three very
special friends and companions, Dasha, Lucy and Peter, whose emotional
support throughout the project was invaluable.
Last but not least, I’d love to thank my publisher, Jessica Kingsley, and
all the staff at JKP who were very supportive of this project. This book
benefited greatly from the skills of my production editor, Victoria Peters,
and copyeditor, Amy Lankester-Owen. However, the shortcomings,
whatever they may be, remain my responsibility.
CONTENTS
Foreword
9
Introduction
13
1.
Sensory Realities
17
2.
Filtering Model
29
3.
Side-Notes: A Few Questions to Ask
45
4.
Gestalt Perception
53
5.
Sensory Perceptual Development
67
6.
Hidden Agenda of Language
93
7.
Non-Verbal Communication
133
8.
Sensory Hypersensitivities
165
9.
Side-Notes: Before We Go Further
173
10.
Extrasensory Realities in Autism (With
Possible Explanations)
187
AFTERWORD
197
REFERENCES
200
SUBJECT INDEX
219
AUTHOR INDEX
222
/ 9
FOREWORD
If we could but understand one single flower we might know
who we are and what the world is. (J.L. Borges)
When I read Olga’s manuscript I immediately thought of Alvarez’s
foreword to his book, The Savage God (1972). Since ‘traditional
science’ has the tendency to study phenomena in mono (looking at
things from one angle only), he tried to study suicide in literature,
because, as Pavese said, literature is a science of life, the one that
studies a phenomenon from different angles. This is precisely what
Olga Bogdashina attempts to do here. Her Sensory and Perceptual
Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome: Different Sensory Experiences
– Different Perceptual Worlds (2003) was an eye opener. In this
new book she goes much further in her analysis, hypotheses and
suggestions relating to the consequences of the ‘qualitatively
different sensory and perceptual differences’ in autism spectrum
conditions. If, from the very beginning, individuals with autism
have a different sensory and perceptual development, then it is
only logical to admit that they may have different experiences,
concepts, intuitions or dreams… that they live in a reality that is
different from ours in several ways. Don’t they have the right to
their own reality?
Olga tries to push the boundaries and explore ‘the edges of
our knowledge’, describing aspects of autism for which there are
(until now) no rational explanations, but which have often been
