Life with Aspergers

This has been a very busy week in terms of autism rights and there have been a number of incidents which demonstrate very clearly that people with autism are not being treated with the respect that they deserve.  History is full of stories of groups of individuals who were victimized for physical, economic, social or theological characteristics and while we still have a long way to go, constantly pointing out these issues has proven to be the best way to make progress towards an all-inclusive society.  Autism is yet another of these groups but it's still in infancy. At this point, we're still fighting for acceptance and the concept of true equality hasn't really been considered. It's important for us to continue to point out oversights and to correct thinking patterns which can whenever they arise. The Murder of London McCabe Last week, London McCabe, a six year old with autism who "loved hats, loved his parents, and was ‘all smiles'." was thrown ...

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...

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...

I've posted links on this site from time to time but I usually avoid long posts of just links. I'm making an exception in this case for a few reasons; 1. Obviously I want to join the Aspergian pride site 2. A list of links like this is a good way to find out what other aspies are up to. One of the most interesting lines on the aspergian pride site is a request that "others will respect and value our diversity, instead of calling for our extermination by way of prenatal testing and eugenic abortion". For those who aren't familiar with the term, Eugenics was a genocidal theory proposed in the late 1800s which had a wide following amongst otherwise sensible scholars in the 1940s. It formed a large part of the basis for the Nazi atrocities of World War II. Eugenics has a particular relevance to autism because the elimination of autistic children by selective breeding is no different from the elimination of racial groups by the same method. It deserves a post all ...