The Autistic Mode: A Way of Thinking
I photographed this rose with extreme underexposure, then recovered the image in post-processing. It looked invisible at first, but it was always there—fully formed, just waiting to be seen. My autistic mode is much the same. We all have moments of deep concentration—those times when we are so absorbed in something that the world recedes. A musician practicing alone, refining a passage with exquisite focus. A philosopher turning an argument over in their mind, testing its weight from every angle. A scientist working through the layers of an equation, adjusting variables, refining the logic until it holds. In these moments, the noise of the world fades, and what remains is a kind of clarity, a steady presence of thought moving toward resolution. For most people, these moments are rare—a fleeting immersion before attention is drawn elsewhere, before the pull of conversation, interaction, and social rhythm resumes. But for some of us, this is not a passing state. It is simply how our ...
