Contentious posts split out of The Telepathy Tapes

The premise seems to be that these people are not fully embodied: the connection between mind and body is disrupted, which is why they struggle to control their bodies. Thus, they have more access to psychic and spiritual powers, which are more mental than bodily.

I believe that the premise may well be rather faulty. Given that they are non-verbal, it becomes easy for us to project our beliefs onto them ~ and given that there seems to be no independent confirmation by any unbiased psychics, I have my strong doubts. If anything, they seem more locked into their bodies ~ if the research into Autism being linked to severe brain inflammation has any merit.

I don't see the point in entertaining such ideas without independent confirmation from parapsychology researchers or psychics who don't have a horse in the race.

I don't know whether you've listened to the Tapes, but on their account this very much has been observed for a long time by many people; they've just been sidelined and silenced for various reasons that are discussed.

I have listened to the tapes ~ up to the part where they start glorifying Autism, anyways.

Another part of my caution has come from a recently increasing celebration of Autism and "neurodivergence" as a good thing. But that just reminds me too much of the new age crowd who take spirituality and distort it for their own ends ~ power, status and the like.

I know enough about Autism and have seen enough Autistic people to realize that none of them are telepathic.

For myself, I had no such capabilities initially ~ it took a few years of drinking Ayahuasca at the behest of the spirits. It was only when there were odd moments that then popped up where I heard a sentence in my mind just before it was said verbally, or unconsciously guessed someone's idea, with them asking me how I knew that, and I could only fumble in confusion, unsure myself.

For all we know, the carers of the Autistic people themselves may be the telepathic ones, projecting it onto their non-verbal Autistic charges. That would be some irony. If they're non-verbal, they can neither confirm nor deny, unfortunately ~ as I said, we would need an actual psychic with no biases towards an answer. Someone who can actually reach out and confirm. Preferably one that is telepathic themselves.

[Laird]

A sad and disappointing response, Valmar. I'll disengage at this point.

I'm more than willing to believe ~ if it is reproduced by parapsychologists and psychics. I'm just too wary to believe words blindly. There are enough bad studies out there, and I don't want this to just be accepted automatically, simply because there is a modern trend to glorify Autism and neurodivergence as being more than they are.

Yes, maybe there are some Autistic people who also happen to be telepathic or psychic ~ but I don't think it has anything to with the Autism itself nor enhanced by the Autism. Because, well, I am apparently an example of that ~ I don't believe my Autism / Asperger's to have any contributing power. Nor have the spirits made any focus on those attributes nor do they mention them at all, actually ~ I forget most days that I have that diagnosis, because I make efforts to just be myself, not a label.

[Laird]

I think the real problem here is that even one incontrovertible instance of a psychic phenomenon breaks a taboo with some people.

That's true. It's still disappointing when powerful evidence and narrative are dismissed on flimsy grounds. It's even more disappointing to see it from a member of this forum who, in this respect, on this issue, takes the same attitude as the pseudo-skeptics: I don't believe non-speaking autistic people are capable of telepathy, therefore I'm not going to give any credence to the evidence presented in this series; the evidence isn't good enough, and I demand better. @Valmar's closed-mindedness is bad enough; his shameless bigotry and prejudice against this group of people are contemptible.

That's true. It's still disappointing when powerful evidence and narrative are dismissed on flimsy grounds. It's even more disappointing to see it from a member of this forum who, in this respect, on this issue, takes the same attitude as the pseudo-skeptics: I don't believe non-speaking autistic people are capable of telepathy, therefore I'm not going to give any credence to the evidence presented in this series; the evidence isn't good enough, and I demand better. @Valmar's closed-mindedness is bad enough; his shameless bigotry and prejudice against this group of people are contemptible.

Are you serious???

I never said that Autistic people aren't capable of telepathy ~ simply that what is presented in the Telepathy Tapes is very flimsy, and has no corroboration from parapsychologists or psychics who could actually demonstrate that there is validity to the specific claims.

Technically, everyone has the capacity for telepathy, given that we are all souls expressing through physical forms. Many pets, as shown in Sheldrake's experiments, are clearly telepathic.

I just have no patience for the glorification of disabled people who cannot speak for themselves to confirm or deny. We just have claims by the people speaking on the Telepathy Tapes, and no actual confirmation.

But if there can be verification and corroboration by actual experts from the field of parapsychology, alongside verified psychics, then I will start listening with actual interest. But as that seems to not exist, I don't see why I shouldn't treat it as a documentary just using people to prop up something else.

But we already have plenty of evidence for telepathy ~ we didn't need the Telepathy Tapes to tell us.

[Laird]

Yes, I'm serious. You have basically dismissed the evidence presented in The Telepathy Tapes without even looking at it. If you had, you would have known that many of these people can talk for themselves, being capable of independent typing. And you wrote this...

I know enough about Autism and have seen enough Autistic people to realize that none of them are telepathic.

...which is a bad enough broad dismissal even if you didn't mean by it that autistic people aren't capable of telepathy.

You say you don't want autism to be "glorified". The reader can draw their own conclusion as to what that implies. I think I've made mine clear.

Yes, I'm serious. You have basically dismissed the evidence presented in The Telepathy Tapes without even looking at it. If you had, you would have known that many of these people can talk for themselves, being capable of independent typing. And you wrote this...

I watched enough it until I got to the points talking about Autism.

...which is a bad enough broad dismissal even if you didn't mean by it that autistic people aren't capable of telepathy.

I realize now that I botched that sentence ~ none of the Autistic people I have seen are telepathic.

You say you don't want autism to be "glorified". The reader can draw their own conclusion as to what that implies. I think I've made mine clear.

Because I have seen weirdness online around glorifying "neurodivergence" as setting them apart from "normal people" ~ so the Telepathy Tapes highlighting Autism as something special in the sense of them being "more telepathic" reminds me far too much of that. It rubs me the wrong way somehow. It's a bit difficult to explain, perhaps.

Perhaps because the shamanic and psychic individuals I've been witness to come from all walks of life ~ there's nothing about them that makes me think that they are anything but who they are. They're not this or that or something else. Most of them are just your average Joe or Jane on the outside.

I see no good evidence that Autistic people are any more telepathic (or psychic) than anyone else. It seems to hinge on the fact that Autism is a bit of a mystery ~ and I find myself a little disgusted at that, being diagnosed as Autistic / having Asperger's myself.

It simply come across, and feels, exploitative.

[Laird]

I watched enough it until I got to the points talking about Autism.

Dude, the whole show is about autism. Did you even listen to it at all?

none of the Autistic people I have seen are telepathic.

Oh yeah, and how do you know just from looking whether or not somebody is telepathic?

It rubs me the wrong way

Letting your emotions get in the way of the facts is not helpful, especially on a discussion forum.

@Valmar's closed-mindedness is bad enough; his shameless bigotry and prejudice against this group of people are contemptible.

This seems rather unwarranted?

edit: I do agree with you that it would be fallacious to just assume autistic people are incapable of telepathy due to a diagnosis of autism - besides believing telepath exists I don't see any reason to impose that or most other limits on the capacity. 

However, I also think it would be fallacious to assume that autism of any kind or degree confers telepathy, which it seemed to me is the claim that I understood Valmar to be inferring from the Telepathy Tapes. This might be true, in some sense or another, but we need more research.

I will admit I am also wary of this claim in part due to the idea that such a vulnerable group has this ability universally could easily be exploited for others' gain. It might also draw away needed attention as to such a group's needs, by assuming they are actually "better off" than we should immediately assume.

As the Daily Grail article notes, there is a very delicate balance to be struck here. We don't want to commit ableism but also don't want to project powers onto a vulnerable group.

[Laird]

This seems rather unwarranted?

Read between the lines.