Category: Autism

A syndrome for success

From A syndrome for success – Health – Specials – smh.com.au.

People with Asperger’s Syndrome – a developmental disorder on the autistic spectrum – may seem socially odd and they may have difficult relationships with their partners, children and parents, but they’re in good company.

Director Steven Spielberg has been diagnosed with AS. Einstein probably had it. Researchers speculate that Mozart, Michelangelo and Andy Warhol may have had Asperger’s traits. Bill Gates also seems to have some AS traits.

“Most of the major advances in science and art have been made by people with Asperger’s, from Mozart to Einstein,” says Dr Tony Attwood, a Brisbane-based world authority on the disorder. He describes AS as a different way of thinking.

Also there was this nugget in the article:

Judy Singer is the co-ordinator of ASPAR, a support group for the adult children of a parent with Asperger’s Syndrome. Singer’s mother has AS – something Singer only realised when her own daughter was diagnosed.

“Medical classification systems have finally caught up with something that every six-year-old schoolyard bully has been able to diagnose at sight since time immemorial,” Singer writes on her website, describing Asperger’s as the “nerd’s disorder”. Asperger’s support groups and rights groups abound on the internet, where some “Aspies” (as they’re fondly known) decry the persecution they have suffered at the hands of non-autistic people, whom they call “neurotypicals” or “NTs”.

I highly encourage anyone who reads this post to read the aforementioned article. It may be six years old, but I think it is one of the best articles about Asperger’s Syndrome.

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Why I Write This Blog

When I first started writing this blog I wanted it to be a place to showcase my skills as a writer. I have written a lot over the course of my life from works of fiction like Ivory Requiem or poems like Be The Change the words of which have become the basic mantra of my life.

The change is you
Live it like it was tomorrow today and yesterday
Society drags down those who don’t resist
Resist the mediocrity and the hypocrisy
The change is within you
And lives through you
It shields the downtrodden from the fists of society
And builds up the weak to highest points
Be the change
And it will change you
Never look back
Keep your eyes on the future
Like the light that it is
It will guide you to the change you can be
Be the change and it will change you
The future seems bright if you live it
The future will be the change
And the change will be you

Still, as time grew, it became just a place where I should showcase myself. Where I could be honest and candid about life. Yet people have been cautioning me that it I should be mindful of what I post online because people might get the wrong. That is exactly why I write this blog so that people won’t get the wrong impression about me as a person. I may have autism but I am still a person. I feel pain, I laugh. I smile. I cry. I am human. Yet I know that people have misgivings about meeting or working with or being friends with a person that has autism. Out of lack of knowledge they can’t get past the “that has autism” part and often forget the “person” bit. That is what this blog has been about: dispelling that ignorance that still exists.

In my last post Why I Use Social Media, I described my need to express myself and connect with other people and how if I wasn’t on sites like Facebook and Twitter. people would not know anything about me. The same is true for this blog. Yet it is here for more than that. I realized over time that there was a lot of ignorance about autism still in the world. It exists despite all of the bloggers and vloggers who try to spread awareness of the disorder.

Ignorance is perhaps the most infuriating thing anyone has to deal with. It is like a disease that just doesn’t want to leave. I see a lot of ignorance everywhere. I sometimes feel that despite the number of people blogging or vlogging about Asperger’s that we are really just preaching to the choir. Either that or we are shouting really loudly and no one is listening. I am not certain which is more frustrating.

On the other hand the battle for awareness of autism has made great inroads among neurotypical people. There are now two types of neurotypical people I have met. Those who know people who know people with Autism and people who don’t. This blog is primarily for the people who don’t but sometimes it applies to the people who do. Ignorance and prejudice can be a fickle things many people may not be aware they even are prejudiced or ignorant. Others are more blatant about it. Even the nicest and most caring of people can be ignorant at times. Even people who know people who have autism can be ignorant. Even people who have autism can be ignorant. The worst is when people don’t realize that they are ignorant. It is for them that this blog is written to end their blindness. I write it to illuminate what they are not seeing that disability does not mean inability. If that were true, I would not be working where I do.

Also there are the people who want to learn more about the disorder that some call autism and I just call being human. For those people too, I write this blog so that they can learn more about it. I have many neurotypical friends who I want to teach more about autism, its causes and its effects on people lives because only through knowledge can ignorance and fear be brought to an end. And on that day I will stop writing this blog because there will no longer be the need. Until that time, I shall continue writing even if I am old and grey. I will not be silenced by ignorance and fear.

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Why I Use Social Media

People have been commenting about why I use social media as much as I do. Its simple really. The answer is in the name: social media. People use it for various reasons but the primary reason most users use sites like Twitter and Facebook are the social interaction features. Yet for many people with autism the primary reason is communication. It is where we converse with friends and family much like a non-autistic person picks up the telephone to chat with a friend. So much of the conversation surrounding social media is about its uses for journalism, pr, marketing and activism. Yet while those people are the most numerous of users they are not the most active. While they tend to use it doing the work time hours of 9 to 5 or even a few hours after work until they go to sleep at night, we never stop. M0st people with autism don’t have regular sleep patterns.

Autistics are usually fairly limited in their ability to interact with people in a social manner. I myself don’t have many real friends except for maybe one or two. Sure I have met a lot of nice people but that barrier that is called autism exists. Social media is how I cross that barrier. It is my portal to the world. It is where I become known to the world. It is where I interact and socialize with people and learn about the world. How many people would I have met without this online medium? Probably none. It was through Twitter that I met Stacey Soleil who is such a caring and true friend even though I haven’t spoken to her recently yet I still enjoy seeing her snarky poss on my Twitter feed. Also there is my friend Cristina Dunning who is like everyone’s personal cheerleader always trying to encourage people and cheer them up and just generally make them laugh They are just some of the awesome and amazing people I have met.

I am not the most chatty person. In most social situations I am usually the one who is sitting quietly like a wallflower but I don’t mind doing that. It gives me a good chance to observe human behavior. I am quicker to size up a person and estimate what they are about because while everyone is chatting with other people, I am observing them. I learn a lot about human behavior that way. Yet at the same time the barrier exists that keeps me from interacting and socializing with other people. I am much more comfortable with interpersonal communication as opposed to group communication. I often sit and watch as people start-up conversations with other people and just gab away while I am often sitting quietly.

Sociologists who study group behavior say that it is possible to feel lonely and isolated in groups. Our dependence on technology as a society has created a state where we all have become like islands in a vast ocean instead of countries who share common borders. Loneliness and isolation is common for people with Asperger’s is common without the use of technology. Without the use of social media Aspies like myself as well as many other autistics who are non-verbal but can type like Carly Fleischmann who has a website called Carly’s Voice and blogs about autism for CTV. Social media is the window to the world for many people who have autism.

If I did not post on here even the people who see me on a regular basis would not know anything about me. I would just be that strange guy who sits in a corner and sometimes says things that are a little weird or out-of-place. People need to understand that this is where I communicate. Like some people like to gab about their lives to their friends at parties or at work or on the phone or in various other social situations, this is where I gab about my life to mine. People tell me that I should be careful about what I post online but when they say that it is clear they don’t understand autism and some leeway is needed when making such demands. That is why I have written this. Just so people can understand the way that I communicate is different from most people. I am not saying either way is wrong of right but the world in general favors interpersonal communication over online communication because it lacks a personal touch and people are always worried about how people might react to something so they keep it offline, for me offline means in my head or in a private journal and not with a close group of friends like many non-autistics choose to do.

For me social media is my way of gabbing about my everyday life. It is the doorway into who I am. It is here that I share my stories instead of gossiping about it with people offline in social situations. If I didn’t do this no one would know anything about me not even the people who see me on a regular basis. This breaks down the barrier that autism creates. I don’t ask why people talk to each other in person or on the phone, because I spend so much time online for the same reason: to communicate and interact with people. I hope this helps people understand me better because though I am verbal I am still in many ways locked behind the walls of autism.

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Michael Raven: A Tragic Loss

Michael Raven, 12, ‘bullied by girl gang for being autistic’ found hanged | Mail Online.

I wrote about my own experiences being bullied in recently in a post and upon seeing this article it immediately drew me back to it having been no stranger to  bullying as a child. I can only imagine the taunting and bullying that Michael experienced that drove him to kill himself. I wonder if the girls responsible feel any remorse? I have to ask this again but when will the abuse stop? When will the ignorance end? When will autistics be fully accepted into society? Those are questions that I  can’t answer, but hopefully someone can soon. No child should be made to feel ashamed or embarrassed because they are different. No child should feel that their only escape is to hang themselves. That is unacceptable.

X marks the spot: TBL1X gene involved in autism spectrum disorder

X marks the spot: TBL1X gene involved in autism spectrum disorder.

Well this is exciting news!

New research published in BioMed Central’s open access journal Molecular Autism used genome wide association study (GWAS) data to find a variation in the gene for transducin ß-like 1X-linked (TBL1X) which is associated with increased risk of ASD in boys.

Hopefully the study can be corroborated.

Autistic Brains Have More Brain Cells, Study Finds

Autistic Brains Have More Brain Cells, Study Finds – ABC News.
Thanks to my friend @RepetePro for sharing this with me. I don’t know if I like the idea of possibly having an abnormal number of brain cells. People already think I am strange. Now it is apparently at the cellular level. The study mentioned in the article did discover some interesting details.

They found that the brains of the autistic children had 67 percent more neurons in a region called the prefrontal cortex, an area linked to social, emotional, and communication processing — functions that are typically lacking in autism.

This discovery does bring us on step closer to discovering the causes of autism. I say causes  because I believe there is more than one cause. Yet, knowing that the causes are as far down as the cellular level does not surprise me. I have long believed that there is a cellular component to the disorder and this study just proves it. Now if scientists can solve the greatest mystery of all that would be great: how people lose one white sock after they wash.

We Have More Facebook Friends, but Fewer Close Friends, Says Cornell Sociologist – ABC News

We Have More Facebook Friends, but Fewer Close Friends, Says Cornell Sociologist – ABC News.

Reading this article made me think how much this is true for people with autism?Especially since we are more prone to spend time online on sites like  Facebook. According to the article, people now have an average of 2.03 real life friends which is down from 3.0 real friends. The definition of real friends used is basically people we can use for emotional support and various other things. Given the naivete that many autistics have, socializing online can be a risky proposition and it is easy to meet people online who will take advantage of us. We may also foolishly believe that people we meet online are really our friends and will be there when we need them. Just because I may have 1,000 friends online doesn’t mean I have 1,000 friends in real life.

On Being Articulate (via Just Stimming…) via @octavianasr

@octavianasr shared this post with me and I identify with it alot. I am not very articulate and am often uncomfortable talking to people I don’t know. Said uncomfortability is a trait common to people with Asperger’s Syndrome.

They say I’m articulate. (I think about all the words that stay locked in my throat, and I give a small and terrified smile and look over their shoulder and into nothing at all.) I’m really quite lucky I have such a command of language. (There are maybe five people in the whole wide world I can talk to face-to-face without wanting to die, without having a panic attack, without needing to hurt myself or sleep for hours afterward. Two of them recei … Read More

via Just Stimming…

Asperger’s Syndrome and the Missing Edit Button

autism sucks: Facebook and the Aspergers Teen.

After reading the blog I have provided a link to above I felt I could relate to the situation described in various ways.

Having Aspergers, I can see both sides of this issue having engaged in this sort of behavior albeit minus the cursing online (I reserve that for real life) I can understand the desire to blow off steam at the person who has caused the anger especially when I was a teenager. As I grew older I realized that such behavior had repercussions mostly through ruined friendships and the like, so I learned to try and put a muzzle on things. Sometimes that does not always work and as you say the missing edit button is in full effect but once I calm down I quickly apologize and delete my comments. It took me a long time to learn this as I am now 32. I sometimes still do the explosive or cryptic status update but those too for the most part eventually get deleted.

People with Asperger’s as the writer of the linked blog have a missing edit button.  The button that says perhaps we shouldn’t say such things. Too put it mildly people with Asperger’s are pretty f—cking blunt at times. And if upset we have no problem using pretty colorful and often insulting and derogatory language, which is never really appropriate and can sometimes be hurtful. As I mentioned earlier,  I have learned to try and muzzle myself because I know that at least in online situations prospective employers may be watching what I do.

Stimming

For the non-autistic person this term may be unknown. Stimming is short for Self-Stiimulating Behavior. The primary reason an autistic stims is to cope with the environnment in which they live, much like a neurotypical person uses a stress ball to cope with stress. It produces the same effect as the stress ball because for some reason the movement of the body and the stimulation of the nerves distracts the brain from the dealing with emotions such as anxiety or joy or even sadness.

I made this video to show how I stim.

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