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Autism Awareness Day
- Thread starter Zaarin
- Start date
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- Tags
- autism autism speaks
Lorraine
The Wicked Witch of the North
I suspect my son is on the spectrum but as he says he doesn't need any more labels, he does not want to be tested. The labels he does already carry meant I took him out of school when he was nine and he was homeschooled until 18. He says the only thing he misses having experienced were the school dances at high school and as neither of us think he would have made it that far without him committing suicide, he doesn't pine. The school system in NZ is much as Pen says Australia is like, no funding for extra help unless there is terrible behaviour. It was easier for me to remove him from school and teach him myself.
Zaarin
Brilliant
We had a high school dance in my homeschool group. Most awkward thing ever. The girls danced together and the guys just stood awkwardly off to the side. 
I had four dances with two girls all night: I asked them once, they asked me once. The one girl I had a crush on for the next five years until I finally got the courage to ask her out; she told me she thought of me as a brother. 
Happily it didn't spoil our friendship. For the next six months we were pretty awkward, but since then we've gone back to being good friends--if perhaps not as good as we formerly were.
I had four dances with two girls all night: I asked them once, they asked me once. The one girl I had a crush on for the next five years until I finally got the courage to ask her out; she told me she thought of me as a brother. Happily it didn't spoil our friendship. For the next six months we were pretty awkward, but since then we've gone back to being good friends--if perhaps not as good as we formerly were.
Lorraine
The Wicked Witch of the North
I think if we hadn't moved to Opua and had still been at his childhood home with all his friends around and the big homeschool group still a part of our lives, he would not have wanted for anything in the system. Moving here at 14 was, for him, a bad move though we didn't know at the time of course and we were both excited to be living on a boat. The best thing for me was the worst thing for him and it still makes me sad.
Lorraine
The Wicked Witch of the North
Thanks, Pen. You're right though. You set off down a particular path thinking it will be good for one and all and when it isn't it's easy to blame yourself. Which I did of course! Hey, I was brought up a Catholic, lapsed as I am now, it was drilled into us...guilt, unworthiness and more guilt. I know it wasn't my fault Shannon didn't fit in here, it just makes me sad my wonderful new life was for him not so wonderful. He still loves Sans Souci though, she is as important to him as to me, so the boat wasn't the problem, it was making new friends at 14, a difficult thing for a boy like him.
That's just how it is sometimes!
Zaarin
Brilliant
I know the feeling--I moved to a new place when I was fifteen. There were some consolations--my best (and only) friend was heading off to college that same year anyway, and I really did (and do) hate where we lived before--but it was a rough move nonetheless. I was really depressed until I got involved in the homeschool group and a new church about six months later. Ironically, these days I'm only more than Facebook friends with one person from my homeschool group and we didn't become friends until college (the one I asked out), and my closest friend is still my best friend from before. If I weren't Aspergers, I'd probably be depressed by the fact that I pretty much have two friends plus a few acquaintances, but since I am Aspergers it's enough.
Funny enough, my best friend and I have probably gotten closer since we moved to opposite ends of the country, though his being married now has changed things a little--though not as much as I feared. We still text a lot and talk on the phone pretty frequently. He is literally the only person in the world I'm not awkward on the phone with; I'm even awkward on the phone with my mom.
Lorraine
The Wicked Witch of the North
Shannon and I get on like two houses on fire which I LOVE. He's a geek like me, we have the same stupid sense of humour, we like the same movies and books, we both love science and natural history and history and NZ, we both HATE our government, we like a lot of the same music. Now his sister, well, that's a whole different story! Yep, awkward phone calls and taking what I say way too seriously. I'm a joker, not a fighter
Zaarin
Brilliant
I have a very sarcastic sense of humor; I would have a hard time getting along with someone who had no sense of humor or no sarcasm detector.Shannon and I get on like two houses on fire which I LOVE. He's a geek like me, we have the same stupid sense of humour, we like the same movies and books, we both love science and natural history and history and NZ, we both HATE our government, we like a lot of the same music. Now his sister, well, that's a whole different story! Yep, awkward phone calls and taking what I say way too seriously. I'm a joker, not a fighter
My father has no sarcasm detector; that's one of many reasons I get along a lot better with my mom...
Zaarin
Brilliant
I would, at that! I like that about Germans, too. So many Americans are so hypersensitive.Oh Zaarin, you would so fit in in NZ! We are a nation of pisstakers, sarcastic, ironic, smartarses who confound the masses who arrive here expecting I do not know what, but not what they get
Lorraine
The Wicked Witch of the North
They are the worst I have to say. Poms are fine, they are like us too, though the middle classes not so much, we are a tad 'uncouth' for them (uncouth meaning swear like troopers); Aussies of course; some Germans; not so many, if any French; Italians but the men think the women here a bit lippy, and can't understand why the men here put up with it (I tell them it's because lippy women brought up those men, what do you expect!); but yeah, few to none Americans. And the ones who are never want to go home
Zaarin
Brilliant
I admit that I don't quite know what to make of the English. They're not hypersensitive like us Americans, but their humor is so deadpan that I'm never quite sure when they're joking. If you enjoy German sarcasm and a super grim story with a candy-coated veneer, I highly recommend the Deponia adventure games (great story too--and the puzzles are...well, they're easier than the old LucasArts adventure games anyway ).
If you enjoy German sarcasm and a super grim story with a candy-coated veneer, I highly recommend the Deponia adventure games (great story too--and the puzzles are...well, they're easier than the old LucasArts adventure games anyway ).
Gosh my calendars don't have a lot on them so I wasn't aware of the "autism awareness Day". It is good to know what organization to stay away from!
Because of my own interest in psychology, and my own disabilities that include dyslexia, mild OCD and my sons hyperactivity, I'm very interested in how these syndromes affect people. I became more aware of Asperger's when watching the television series Boston Legal with the actor Christian Clemenson playing a lawyer with Asperger's. I actually thought the actor have this syndrome. (Is it in fact correct to call it the syndrome?) I also watched the television show Parenthood where there was a child with Asperger's. I was really appreciative of the producers for writing this character into the series.
As I have continued to learn more about this form of autism I have seen glimmers of some of the aspects in myself. These aspects seemed to be genetic in my family on my mothers side going all the way back to her siblings.
It is important to understand that no two people with any kind of autism are alike! With fibromyalgia (which is a physical syndrome) it makes me so angry that my doctor tries to put me in that "box"! The same with my son's hyperactivity-all of these things manifest in a very individual and different way in each person.
It's also been especially hard for anyone in my generation (baby boomer) because all of these things-every single thing I've mentioned here-were not "invented" leading to all sorts of misdiagnosis.
At any rate I will make note of the better organizations to support!
Because of my own interest in psychology, and my own disabilities that include dyslexia, mild OCD and my sons hyperactivity, I'm very interested in how these syndromes affect people. I became more aware of Asperger's when watching the television series Boston Legal with the actor Christian Clemenson playing a lawyer with Asperger's. I actually thought the actor have this syndrome. (Is it in fact correct to call it the syndrome?) I also watched the television show Parenthood where there was a child with Asperger's. I was really appreciative of the producers for writing this character into the series.
As I have continued to learn more about this form of autism I have seen glimmers of some of the aspects in myself. These aspects seemed to be genetic in my family on my mothers side going all the way back to her siblings.
It is important to understand that no two people with any kind of autism are alike! With fibromyalgia (which is a physical syndrome) it makes me so angry that my doctor tries to put me in that "box"! The same with my son's hyperactivity-all of these things manifest in a very individual and different way in each person.
It's also been especially hard for anyone in my generation (baby boomer) because all of these things-every single thing I've mentioned here-were not "invented" leading to all sorts of misdiagnosis.
At any rate I will make note of the better organizations to support!
Zaarin
Brilliant
I think it's officially called a syndrome anyway. There are, generally speaking, two ways of viewing it: that Aspergers and other forms of autism are simply a different way of being (i.e., neurodiversity--I imagine this is the stance of most people on the spectrum and probably their families as well; I certainly belong to this camp), or the medical view that it's a "disorder." I understand why the latter view exists, but I doubt many people on the spectrum would view it that way.
Yes, everyone experiences it differently. I'm writing the main character of my current book to be Aspergers (though it's in a stone age setting where that diagnosis doesn't exist, of course), but I'm working very hard to make sure that he isn't me. That's why I've always hesitated to write an autistic character, for fear the character would become a self-insert. I think Otter is different enough from myself to be safe, even though we have some striking similarities of circumstance that I did not originally intend.