Monday, August 5, 2019

Manuel Casanova's new book

I'm pleased to announce that neuroscientist and autism researcher Manuel Casanova has a new book out. Dr. C is a neuroscientist who has done research on post-mortem brains, showing that autistics have abnormalities in structures called minicolumns, where there are too many of them and the cells are more narrow.  Also, according to his research, there is a protective membrane around the minicolumns which p;rovide a sort of shower curtain effect.  The neurons in this membrane use GABA as a neurotransmitter, which is an inhibitory neurotransmitter and could be the reason autistics engage in self-stimulatory behaviors.

He's also done research on Transcranial magnetic stimulation as a possible treatment for autism.

Unlike most scientists, manuel has a blog called Cortical Chauvinism where he in part explains his research in terms the lay person (such as myself) can understand.

In addition, Manuel criticizes the neurodiversity movement as well as journalist Steve Silberman.

Manuel now has a personal stake in developmental disabilities, as his grandson suffers from a severe genetic disorder resulting in serious neurologic dysfunction.

He's included these posts on cortical chauvinism in book form which is now available from amazon at the above link.

I attempted to publish a 5 star review of the book on Amazon, but for some reason, my review has not been posted yet.

I highly recommend this book and hope others will purchase it.  (I purchased a copy, yeah)

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

90% of the battle against identity politics in autism (the backbone of ND) is on the internet.

I recommend trolling these views on ND sites in a constructive way, everytime they say rosy things about autism, remind them of the shortend life span etc..

I do this all the time, be polite but factual, exposing their silly views for what they are.

They will soon get the message their not operating in an echo chamber.

Emily said...

I will add it to my reading list

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

Do you know much about the link between autism and gender dysphoria? Because a lot of girls who feel like boys end up getting diagnosed as autistic. But this is usually during teenagehood and adulthood, long after most kids get diagnosed. Many autistics can't even talk or know what transgender is. A lot of these girls end up getting involved in neurodiversity, which irks me, because they say that the problem that caused their gender dysphoria is something to celebrate. What are your thoughts on this issue?

jonathan said...

don't really know anything about gender dysphoria, don't really have any thoughts on it TBH. Sorry you're not on twitter anymore

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I was permanently suspended. Anyhow, I wrote a short story that you may be interested in. Here it is: file:///C:/Users/Adela%20Ludeke/Downloads/The%20Western%20Disease%20(2).pdf

jonathan said...

sorry to hear. I tried downloading your story, it said it was not available.

Anonymous said...
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Clipping Path said...


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Anonymous said...

aludeke said...

Do you know much about the link between autism and gender dysphoria? Because a lot of girls who feel like boys end up getting diagnosed as autistic. But this is usually during teenagehood and adulthood, long after most kids get diagnosed. Many autistics can't even talk or know what transgender is. A lot of these girls end up getting involved in neurodiversity, which irks me, because they say that the problem that caused their gender dysphoria is something to celebrate. What are your thoughts on this issue?



I'm sorry to intrude. They have neither autism nor gender dysphoria. As far as I know, people with gender dysphoria hate their genitals. Yet these self-proclaimed "transgender autistic" have normal sex and get pregnant. I saw some females ND believing they have a "more men-alike brain" (Baron Cohen's theory) and therefore as having "gender identity problems" based on silly reasons such the fact they are not interested in wearing nice clothes, or because they hate to be economically dependent and they always had a job (what about the diagnosis criteria item "Symptoms cause clinically significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of current functioning"?)... Autism is trivialized almost to idiocy.

Anonymous said...

Errata: * they have normal sexual intercourse and get pregnant. They do not appear to refuse their biological sex at all. ND are a bunch of liars. I'm also tired of self-proclaimed "asexual autistics" who says they are capable to enjoy sexual relationships if well done (there are authentic asexuals who never fell in love and even less have they ever had sex). These people self label with everything that has been and stills to come.