Life with Aspergers

I've been reading the (so far excellent) book; "We said, they said: 50 things parents and teachers of students with autism want each other to know" by Cassie Zupke.  A review is coming soon.  In the meantime, Chapter 5, entitled Hooey talks about the the confusing amount of contradictory and money-grabbing autism theory out there.   I thought it was probably worth my while stating my motivation and my point of view. Hooey is not a word we use in Australia.  I'm presuming it's an American word for bullsh1t.  That's how we say it in Australia. We tell it like it is. Motivation My motivation on this blog has always been to raise public awareness of Asperger's syndrome and to provide a more balanced and positive place for parents and people with Asperger's syndrome to learn about themselves and their children.  I don't claim to know everything but I do claim to have lived daily with Asperger's syndrome (if not the knowledge that I had it) fo...

In general, I feel that I'm more "easy-going" than many of my colleagues on the spectrum in that the language of autism generally doesn't faze me. There is however one phrase which really "gets my goat". It's "the epidemic of autism". There is so much fear, inaccuracy and segregation hidden in this phrase that it passes through all of my barriers and actually manages to offend me. First of all, there's the negativity associated with comparing autism with a plague. An association which brings to mind words like; avoidance, quarantine, cure and eradication. Then there's the concept of rapid and uncontrolled spread, suggesting that autism is a new "disease" which has only recently appeared and is "spreading like wildfire". All of these concepts do damage to the work of autism advocacy and to the support networks of children and adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders. They build on the concept of fear and target ...

Sometimes it seems as if humanity is doomed to argue with itself over specifics forever, whether they be Star Wars vs Star Trek, Windows vs Mac or Islam vs Christianity. The truth is that although we're all thinking about similar concepts; science fiction, computers and religion, there is no one "correct" answer - just our own personal opinion. Yet we spend so much energy fighting the battle that we have little left to spend furthering our own causes.  That's how I feel about the whole "autism speaks" debate. Everyone will believe what they want to believe and it's not up to us to change the opinions of those who already believe. Instead, we need to move forward with our beliefs and our agenda and male sure that ours is compelling enough to catch the attention of the undecided. Why we feel that message of Autism Speaks is not the best one So, why all the antagonism towards "Autism Speaks", an agency which is raising money for "Auti...

This post is a response to;  Want to commit suicide because of my son’s autism by Tammy http://www.autismlearningfelt.com/2012/07/want-to-commit-suicide-because-of-my-sons-autism.html Tammy, who blogs at Autism Learning Felt ( http://www.autismlearningfelt.com/ ) was looking through the search words used to get to her blog when she saw “ Want to commit suicide because of my son’s autism ”.  Her post is a heartfelt response to the unknown person who searched for the phrase. Please read Tammy's post . A short while ago, there was a wave of support for a similar search using the term " I wish I didn't have Aspergers " and it was great to see the community come together to provide support and encouragement for the person in this position but I'm keen to see whether or not we're willing to open our arms to the carers. I hope so. The Issues between Advocates with Autism and Carers Unfortunately, there is one big problem which stands between the advo...

Warning: This post is likely to be upsetting or even offensive to some readers.  I apologize for this.  I hope that by writing frankly, I can stir up some feelings on this issue and perhaps even help some people to understand why this issue is important. It's a difficult line to walk, stirring up feeling without offending. Hopefully I won't cause too many issues. There's an article out by the canary party which seeks to highlight issues in Mitsubishi's funding of a charity.  It's well worth a read. See: Mitsubishi Funds Group that Opposes Preventing or Curing Autism http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=b62698a50aececa2aded9f56b&id=14c79a482a&e=7835a237fe It's a perfect example of what is wrong with so many of the autism campaigns out there. First of all, the canary party complains that the charity being funded "opposes all efforts to cure or prevent autism, denies an increase in autism prevalence and now seeks to promote this form of “acti...

It wasn't an Aspergers Spectrum Disorder which prompted this post today but it was an equally unusual incident which made me think about the wider implications of intolerance. We're all familiar with the concept of intolerance. Generally it's applied to people of different races, religions or sexual persuasions. Sometimes, as is sometimes the case with religion, the quality which is "intolerable" is chosen rather than unavoidable. Usually however, the victim has no control over their status. Sometimes, even the qualities which appear chosen are unavoidable. Young children, for example, cannot choose their religion separately from their parents. In this sense, although a religious difference is usually a choice, it's clearly unavoidable for many people. Intolerance deals with the way our own behavior towards others makes them feel unhappy. There are so many levels to intolerance which range from simple dislike through to full blown genocide. All are examp...

Introduction The aim of this series is to look at how various groups of people react to label disclosure. There's always a lot of information on the criteria and the tests but there's not a terrible lot of material on the reactions once a label is assigned.  I plan to cover, the reactions of parents, those being diagnosed and others around them. Parental Reactions Parents often have very extreme reactions to their child's diagnosis. Depending upon the parents, their reactions could be opposite. Indeed, when my son was first diagnosed, my wife and I experienced the "opposites" reaction described under "relief". The Quiz and Denial One of the biggest problems with autism spectrum disorders is that there is no "litmus paper" test. On the face of it, Asperger's and autism often gets diagnosed with a quiz and a bit of observation. This makes it very easy for parents to deny the condition. After all, it's like someone doing an "...

The Curebie debate continues to rage and while it's not normally a thing I'd get involved with, there's quite an intelligent article from Tiff on Life on the Spectrum The article is called; Just Plain Fed Up http://lifeonthes.blogspot.com/2009/04/just-plain-fed-up.html It walks the fine line between curing and acceptance and advocates neither. If it advocates anything, it's an end to advocacy. There's no doubt about it Tiff would certainly investigate a cure if one came along but it's this line that makes her different; I'm not shinning a positive light on autism, I'm shinning a positive light on my SON who happens to have autism. He has a lot of gifts and I refuse to walk around looking like I've just attend his funeral so people can throw money towards a cure I'm not sure that I agree with a cessation of all advocacy. After all, it's advocacy that gets ideas off the drawing board and into real life. I do however agree with Tiff's s...

A fellow blogger Pink has discussed the Vaccine theory on her blog . One thing that I found interesting was her suggestion that Astrology is about as relevant. I'm not a great believer in astrology at all but I'm willing to try anything - particularly during the holiday season. I put my details in and was astounded by the results. No... I'm still not ready to believe but... wow... the results hit a nerve and IMHO, they show that any set of results can be twisted to fit a given situation. If you want to give it a try, then here's the URL; http://www.alabe.com/freechart/ The Report Here's my report. I've highlighted some areas I found interesting. Name: Gavin Rising Sign is in 20 Degrees Virgo You tend to be very shy and not very self-assertive . You are supercritical about how you appear to others. Even though you may think you are uninteresting and dull, you are actually quite soft- spoken, orderly, neat and very likable. You are a perfectionist with high sta...

Reminder Just a quick reminder that although I'm knowledgeable about Aspergers, I'm not a medical professional. I can only apply what I know and see to my own, my childrens and my friends/acquaintances conditions. The Question This post is in response to an interesting question I received via comment. I am confused by the list in the DSM - IV that describes this condition a bit. I know aspergers is on a spectrum, so it doesn't look the same in everyone. Yet in the DSM -- IV it states that the traits which people have when they have aspergers have to significantly detract from a persons ability to thrive in social situations. So assuming a case is borderline, where would asperger's end and a neurotypical person with a lot of aspie traits begin? The DSM and Diagnosis The DSM by itself is very confusing and opinions vary greatly from one doctor to another. Unlike diseases or physical problems, aspergers is still undetectable by electronic means such as X-rays, CAT scans ...

This wasn't the topic I wanted to write about today but time is short and I'm very busy and I already had this one prepared, so here goes. What is a curebie? You are a curebie if any of the following ring a bell. 1. You think that one day, with enough funding, someone will invent a magic pill, therapy or operation that the kid can take which will make them Neurotypical (NT). 2. You think that you can simply change a kids diet, parents, proximity to power sources, TV or Game viewing/playing hours and they'll suddenly become NT. 3. You think you can make a kid NT by electroshocking them, beating them, locking them up or otherwise torturing them into normality. 4. You think that being Aspie or Autistic is wrong..wrong...wrong. A burden thrust onto you (a parent) which needs to be "fixed". 5. You don't think anyone would be happy the way they are unless they are NT. 6. All you want is for your child to be the same as everyone else's child. 7. You think that a...