Autism in Code

Pia Hämäläinen discusses various autism theories and sees the need for novel autistic schemas, making deductive thinking possible and supporting inductive thinking as a rule. It is a new theory of autistic language expressed as an imperative programming paradigm, focusing on the how, whereas the neurotypical, declarative programming paradigm language focuses on the what. The central conclusion of the book is that the autistic person functions like a bot. The chat function has predefined alternatives and the possibility of a live chat with a real person in case new alternatives or clarifications are needed. Contact for the autistic person should be based on kind contact or the nudge theory - their need is to avoid interference in interaction.

Pia Hämäläinen (b. 1966), BA, is an autistic adult. She has studied languages, linguistics, literature, and communication at the University of Helsinki and the University of Minnesota. She has also studied electronics and IT at a vocational institute. Hämäläinen has published poetry, written a blog about autism, exhibited her art, and translated books.