Autism Thinks

Human Evolution: A Story of Autism, Compassion and Collaboration

December 16, 2020 New Jersey Autism Center of Excellence
Human Evolution: A Story of Autism, Compassion and Collaboration
Autism Thinks
More Info
Autism Thinks
Human Evolution: A Story of Autism, Compassion and Collaboration
Dec 16, 2020
New Jersey Autism Center of Excellence

Learning more about our past ancestors, we can better understand the origins behind the way we think and act. Different traits can be seen passed from one generation to one another in our evolutionary history— Penny Spikins tells us more about how autistic traits have evolved and how they play crucial roles in our survival as a species. As a Professor of Archaeology in York University, she delves into how archaeological evidence can provide reasoning for why neurodivergent cognition or minds came into being, as well as their importance.


To Read More about Professor Spikins' work, here’s a link: https://www.york.ac.uk/archaeology/people/academic-staff/penny-spikins/


Paper: “Should Autism Spectrum Conditions Be Characterised in a More Positive Way in Our Modern World?” by B. Wright, P. Spikins and H. Pearson - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7279498/


Conversation Article - https://theconversation.com/how-our-autistic-ancestors-played-an-important-role-in-human-evolution-73477

Show Notes

Learning more about our past ancestors, we can better understand the origins behind the way we think and act. Different traits can be seen passed from one generation to one another in our evolutionary history— Penny Spikins tells us more about how autistic traits have evolved and how they play crucial roles in our survival as a species. As a Professor of Archaeology in York University, she delves into how archaeological evidence can provide reasoning for why neurodivergent cognition or minds came into being, as well as their importance.


To Read More about Professor Spikins' work, here’s a link: https://www.york.ac.uk/archaeology/people/academic-staff/penny-spikins/


Paper: “Should Autism Spectrum Conditions Be Characterised in a More Positive Way in Our Modern World?” by B. Wright, P. Spikins and H. Pearson - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7279498/


Conversation Article - https://theconversation.com/how-our-autistic-ancestors-played-an-important-role-in-human-evolution-73477