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2021-11-09 Israel-Palestine-Jordan

IDF aims to recruit 500 soldiers with autism by end of 2022

[JPost] The IDF Manpower Directorate’s "Titkadmu" program is opening the military's doors to teens on the autistic spectrum with a unique approach pioneered by Cpt. Udi Heller.

After years of exempting them from serving in the Israeli military, the IDF is aiming to recruit some 500 soldiers on the autism spectrum by the end of next year.

The future soldiers will join the army as part of the IDF’s Manpower Directorate’s TITKADMU program which recruits autistics into the military.

“Today there are 52 soldiers with autism in the program, and by the end of December, we will have 70. By the end of 2022 there will be over 500,” said Capt. Udi Heller.

Heller, the highest-ranking soldier with autism in the IDF, initiated the program which he says gives hope to the thousands of autistics in Israel.

According to Heller, there’s been an 18% increase year-by-year of those diagnosed with autism in Israel’s education system; 19,500 diagnosed in 2019, 27,300 in 2020, and some 32,000 this year.

That sounds more like evaluators getting better at recognizing the symptoms than an actual increase of sufferers year over year.

And with all those young people diagnosed with autism in the education system, “there’s no reason why there can’t be 10,000-15,000 with autism in the army. We want thousands of recruits with autism to serve in the IDF, it’s not a military of only geniuses,” Heller said.

Israel didn’t recognize autism as a medical disorder for years and the first diagnosed soldier with autism volunteered in 2006. Other than TITKADMU, there are currently some 200 other people with autism volunteering through other organizations and programs like Ro’im Rachok (Hebrew for “seeing into the future”) that helps students on the spectrum prepare for military service.

TIKTAKDMU builds a special track for volunteers with autism who spend six weeks along with specialized mentors who help them integrate into military life and who accompany them throughout their service. During the six weeks, the mentors also meet with the families of the cadets in order to learn more about them.

Posted by Skidmark 2021-11-09 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11128 views ] Top

#1 That sounds more like evaluators getting better at recognizing the symptoms than an actual increase of sufferers year over year.

Maybe. Hard to tell with autism. But peanut allergies are not hard to diagnose, and they are definitely increasing. So something is happening.

Posted by Grailet Speang1824 2021-11-09 02:48|| 2021-11-09 02:48|| Front Page Top

#2 /\ Messing with female reproductive cycles may have lead to unforeseen genetic consequences. The timing appears to coincide.

Autism is much more prevalent in white families (possibly 2x higher) than Hispanic. Disregarding the obvious, researchers point to autism being "underdiagnosed" in Hispanic children.

With our good friends in Big Pharma and Big Gov't as stakeholders (both husband and wife must pull the plow). The obvious once again surfaces. Yes, I'm at it again, following the money.

As we have recently witnessed, "Replacement People" can easily be imported.

You decide.

Posted by Besoeker 2021-11-09 03:09|| 2021-11-09 03:09|| Front Page Top

#3 ...it’s not a military of only geniuses...

Except autism does not mean you are not a genius. My grandson did not speak until age three. At two he spent his time visually stimming on the carpet. He became obsessed with youtube vids about Science and Astronomy. His heroes were people like de Broglie, Thomson, Rutherford, and Planck, not to mention Kip Thorne and his LIGO device. He could barely speak their names. Just before his third birthday he began to read and type in searches for Dr. Seuss. That was when he began to speak. Shortly after he found that he could search History and Science and everything. The other day he told me it was Guy Fawkes day. I did not know that. He read it in a dictionary. He is a voracious reader. At five he began to learn Calculus from a graphing calculator located at desmos.com. He is nine now and in Third grade. It is no longer "calculator Calculus". He knows the chain rule and can prove it. Ditto the product rule. He knows and can prove the elementary properties of the exponential function, trig functions, and so on. He loves de Moirve's Theorem, aka he knows about Complex numbers. We are now working on the proof of the Quadradic Formula. You be the judge. Does he sound mentally retarded?

Autism is a different dimension than cognitive ability. Some are very smart and some not so much.

My $0.02 as the grandfather of a kid on the spectrum.

Posted by Helmuth, Speaking for Thromons3612 2021-11-09 07:46|| 2021-11-09 07:46|| Front Page Top

#4 My nephew's almost non-verbal 19-YO autistic son is extremely good at minutia, crosswords, Sudoku and complicated puzzles. He can read and write in 6 languages. He just doesn't interact well with people in general.

Maybe one of the reasons the IDF is seeking these folks out.

Posted by Mullah Richard 2021-11-09 09:08|| 2021-11-09 09:08|| Front Page Top

#5 ^^^ good point, maybe being trained for intel analysis?

Posted by Chris 2021-11-09 14:27|| 2021-11-09 14:27|| Front Page Top

#6 It isn't that Autistic people are any dumber or 'retarded' but they just process things a little differently. And as a result they aren't that good at socialisation - not picking up the hundreds of clues and hints which make up interactions. OTOH they may view things differently and might see things others miss.

And I would take any claim that 'more people are autistic' with a huge grain of salt. The 'Spectrum' didn't even exist then - only the hardest cases were diagnosed with Authsm while others, more high-functioning, weren't even diagnosed. now they are so of course you have higher numbers.

Posted by CrazyFool 2021-11-09 14:45|| 2021-11-09 14:45|| Front Page Top

#7 Correct. You have described ASD exactly. Also, in the past they missed a lot of it and it really wasn't in the DSM. Looking back at my childhood, I never fit in with the other kids. They made fun of me when I started talking about the newly invented LASER. I spent my days in my little Chem Lab in the basement, making pyrotechnic devices. My father encouraged this insanely. Do you really provide concentrated Nitric and Sulfuric acids to a ten YO who has announced that he is trying to make Nitroglycerine? Thank God I failed at that one. Similar activities today would warrant a visit from ATF.

Looking back I can see that I displayed the symptoms and today I would have gotten a diagnosis.
I don't fit in anywhere and have only four friends. One is an Electrical Engineer. The other three have PhDs in Math(Stanford), Physics, and Geochemistry. I have a PhD in Math and was a doctoral candidate in Physics.

I can connect to people, actually. Just special people and one at a time. I am married for 40 years and have children and grandchildren who are my total focus.

Posted by Helmuth, Speaking for Thromons3612 2021-11-09 16:05|| 2021-11-09 16:05|| Front Page Top

#8 I can connect to people, actually. Just special people and one at a time. I am married for 40 years and have children and grandchildren who are my total focus.

Hat tip to you Helmut.

Posted by Besoeker 2021-11-09 17:09|| 2021-11-09 17:09|| Front Page Top

#9 I can relate Helmut. I still can't connect easily and when I look at my 2 autistic boys, and how I was back in my childhood I really think I 'fit the profile' myself. Oh well I'm over 60 now - well accustomed to it - still get a little anxious about stupid things but I recognise it and work it out. Good thing my wife is understanding :).

Posted by CrazyFool 2021-11-09 17:22|| 2021-11-09 17:22|| Front Page Top

09:43 Mullah Richard
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