With Jorge Wenceslao de Irureta Goyena

Autism, also called autism spectrum disorder[a] (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by symptoms of deficient reciprocal social communication and the presence of restricted, repetitive, and inflexible patterns of behavior that are impairing in multiple contexts and excessive or atypical to be developmentally and socioculturally inappropriate. Other common signs include difficulty with social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication, along with perseverative interests, stereotypical body movements, rigid routines, and hyper- or hypo-reactivity to sensory input. Autism is clinically regarded as a spectrum disorder, meaning that it can manifest very differently in each person. For example, some are nonspeaking, while others have proficient spoken language. Because of this, there is wide variation in the support needs of people across the autism spectrum. Wikipedia

My grandmother used to say about people who had firm opinions on health or anything else, that they had doctorates from the F.W. Woolworth & Company.

At my soon-to-be age of 82 I have noted that my list of friends and family has been diminished by death, the removal of land line telephones, the difficulty in finding their smart phone numbers and worse of all their participation in that execrable and useless Linkedin.

When I call people they have all kinds of excuses for not wanting to talk. The principal one is that they are about to eat. Some don’t have answering machines and others don’t call back if they have one. One was playing bridge at 10 in the morning and another I woke up at 9 PM.

I have a friend since 1962, who some years ago, told me that he did not need to talk to me as he reads my daily blog. His excuse for not answering now is about all the chores that his she-who-must-be-obeyed wife piles on him. My conclusion is that our friendship is fading or probably gone.

First cousins send me emails telling me that Covid is just a bad cold or that they are worried that if Trump loses, family values will disappear. One cousin, when I mentioned President Kennedy, answered back with a string of terrible epithets.

A friend of yore when I finally did get him to answer told me:

Every day I lift weights for 3 hours. I only listen to Italian opera. I am not interested in any other kind of music. I don’t read literature. I have no friends because I am comfortable with the one friend I have – me.

The result is that I constantly talk to my two cats, Niño and Niña in Spanish. They further provide me with attention and affection. Niño, in particular, stares at me lots.That’s a bonus. As a portrait photographer eye contact is important to me.

I have been wondering what is wrong in this age of communication. I have a very intelligent first cousin in Buenos Aires called Jorge Wenceslao de Irureta Goyena. He speaks an incredible and literate Spanish with an accent from the Province of Corrientes.

As I was telling him of my travails in finding people with whom I could talk, he kept using the term autismo and autista.

Until I talked to Wency (that’s what we call him) I had a limited idea of what autism was all about. There was the autistic son of a friend who would open my camera bag and try to take apart my equipment. Another friend has an autistic son who talks constantly. The Wikipedia citation was illuminating.

Wency’s theory is that autism has been exacerbated by Covid, social media and smart phones.

I believe that this may be the case here in Vancouver. In places like Buenos Aires and Mexico City this syndrome has yet to catch on and people are friendly and warm.

Will it ever change here?

I had a friend Mark Budgen now gone who was ahead of the game back in the other century. One day when I called him he answered, “Alex I cannot talk to you. I am monitoring a fax.”