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Definition of Autistan

1. Freedom of interpretation

Everyone is free to see Autistan as they wish, And no one is obligated to conform to our definitions (or attempts at definitions).
However, below you will find some useful information to make up your own mind on this topic.

Be careful, though (for communication and events) :
The use of the Flag of Autistan is regulated. (This link opens in a new tab.)

 

2. The analogy with a “countries of the…”

When you hear “Autistan”, One immediately thinks of the “land of autistic people”.
Indeed, The suffix “-Stan” Means “place” in Persian.
This is how Afghanistan is “the place of the Afghans”, i.e. the land of the Afghans, Kazakhstan is the land of the Kazakhs, etc. etc., and so Autistan is “The land of autistic people”, although it is not an official country, or even a physical country.
Therefore, if we remember the first idea of Autistan that comes to mind (that of a country), Obviously, this is a country in the figurative or metaphorical sense.

Regarding the suffix “-Stan”, Everything is explained here : https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/-stan
And Autistan (or more precisely, Our organization) is even quoted here : https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/-stan#Autres

 

Photo Cinzia Agoni

3. The metaphor of the “world of…” or “world of…”

It is said that “The business world”, “The world of cinema”, “The World of Politics”, “The world of sport”, The World of Online Gaming”, etc.

When meeting a person with autism, And if she makes us share “his world”, You feel like you're discovering “Another World”. It's “The world of autistic people” (Very original and diverse) : l'Autistan.

In summary, l'Autistan, it's simply “The world of autistic people”.
So it's an abstract concept that refers to everything that characterizes autism and autistics, and which are difficult to find outside.

Autistic people see and live “the world” in a very different way from non-autistic people, who is “The view of the world according to autistic people”, or “The world according to autistic people”, a concept that is close to “The world of autistic people”.

To understand even better, It could be said that “The world of football enthusiasts” (And they outnumber autistic people) Would be “Footballistan”, with its rules, Culture, Its special features (Who, as with autism, can seem very strange to those who are strangers(Eras) to this world).
And when we say “Bureaucracy”, Everyone understands what that means : the world (often Kafkaesque) bureaucratic civil servants, or bureaucratic red tape (and painful).

 

4. The metaphor “To be in his world”

Everyone knows that autistics are generally “in their bubble”, i.e. “in their world”, in other words, More or less “Lost in their thoughts”, or more precisely, Focused in their thoughts.
It is therefore a second reason that reinforces the relevance of the idea of a “autistic world”.

Noticed : If you think about it, You don't have to be autistic to be autistic “lost(e) in his thoughts”. And when it happens to you, When you come back to reality, You don't know how long it lasted, neither “where you were”. You can even drive a car during this time. “Mental Escape”, And you won't even remember the road or the scenery : You were mentally “in another world” mentally, Out of time and space, And that gives a pretty good idea of what this is all about. “Dimensionlessness” of Autistan, that is to say, a world or a way of functioning where it is possible to be very focused(e) on thoughts, or to “disconnect” of the environment, with disadvantages (Inadequateness and lack of realism, therefore autonomy) but also advantages (Protection of “Social nonsense”, creativity, Problem-solving skills…).

 

5. Options for the development of the concept of “pays” in concrete reality

  • NGO……….. (to do)
  • Concrete country ideas……. (to do)
  • No desire for isolation……… (to do)

 

6. A “autistic nation” or “Autistic nation”

All autistic people are autistic from birth; therefore, they can be considered as:

  • THE “native” of Autistan

  • form a “autistic nation” (or autistic), that is to say a “Biological minority” more than 70 millions of people, since the word “nation” comes from Latin “National”, which derives from the verb “nascere” (be born).

About the concept of “Autistic minority”, an autistic organisation in Switzerland specialises in this topic, and works to advocate for autistic people at UN bodies : Autistic Minority International.

 

7. A synonym for “autism”

Over time, We find that we can often replace the word “autism” par “Autistan”, which is logical since Autistan refers to, In summary, to everything that characterizes autism.

 

8. Evocation by Josef Schovanec

(…) trip to Autistan, This country that starts right next to you, Behind the wall that separates you from a neighbor you never see because he dedicates his life to his collection of nineteenth-century Russian batteries or to the mutations of the optative into archaic Sanskrit (…)
(See the page on the origin of the name Autistan (This link opens in a new tab.))

 

9. Origin

–> See the page on the origin of the name Autistan (This link opens in a new tab.)

 

10. Other Considerations or Lines of Thought

  • 10.1. Autistan, considered as a country or as a world, is a virtual and therefore imaginary thing, BUT Autistan is not imaginary for this word refers to things that actually exist.
    For example, The concept of “Love” or other feelings is not tangible, But that doesn't mean it's imaginary (which would mean that it doesn't really exist).
    To take a counter-example, Santa Claus is a perfectly imaginary thing, because we know for sure that this does not exist in reality.
    For us autistics, Autistan is a thing that really exists, because that's kind of our way of thinking and seeing the world.

  • 10.2. The concept of the “autistic world” does not imply that autistic people see things in the same way.
    Actually, One of the main differences between non-autistic and autistic people, It is that the former tend to see things and think in ways formed by the former. “Standards”, habits, Conventions and norms of the social groups in which they live.
    While the latter (autistic people), because of their “Distancing” of the company (which could be called “Non-Autistan”), are much less influenced by these “Formatting”, and so, “Anything is possible”.
    (It is also because of this that, often, The mathematical symbol for infinity is used to represent autism.)
    Some say that there are “as many autistic people as autistic people”. That may be true, But there is a problem with this statement, which is the idea that we couldn't really define the characteristics of autistic people. However, it is possible, There are generalities, And anyway, Autism is defined by its definition “Medical” original (i.e. by the people of the “Medicalistan” who see everything with a doctor's eye).

  • 1.3. The vast majority of autistic people have never heard of Autistan, But that's not a problem And that doesn't stop this reality from existing, Whatever name it is and what contours it is given.
  • 1.4. Autistan does not know the notions of materiality, of space or time, and begins where the States, territories and regions end.
  • 1.5. In Conclusion, “The land of autistic people” is the world of autistic people: a world without borders, without limits.
  • 1.6. Another Theoretical Approach to the Metaphor of the “land of autistic people”
    It is possible to name “Autistan” the special mental world characteristic of autistic thinking when it is “in autism” (and not in the world “ordinary”).

    It is therefore possible to say that Autistan is inhabited by each autistic person when his or her thoughts are there.