So, the question is what is normal about wanting to be well adjusted? What is the prize that you get at the end of the day for fitting in?

Holidays for me are often pain-filled triggers of hell-filled holidays of days gone by, Now I realize that it is far more important to be connected to myself and to my spiritual reality than it is to be engaged socially for the sake of any holiday.

One of the most difficult challenges of dealing with an AS diagnosis in adulthood, for me, has been the reality that while I was finding all of this out there were no services to help in the necessary transition, adjustment, or understanding of what it will all mean in my life and for my future.

I don't think Asperger's is a disease to be cured or conquered. Instead, it's a condition to overcome and use to my advantage.

...the teachers and the shrink said there was nothing wrong with me. I was confused! later they find out I have AS and I find out I'm very different. So the way I see it is "Every body is different but some are more different than others".

...free of sexist, 'age-ist', or culturalist biases; ability to regard others at 'face value'; speaking one's mind irrespective of social context or adherence to personal beliefs; listening without continual judgement or assumption...

I’m often asked if I can “cure” children with Asperger’s. I don’t have “the cure”, no one does. There are many treatments that can help with specific symptoms. My only goal for writing this course is to help people understand why people with Asperger’s are thinking what they are thinking with the hopes that understanding leads to patience and kindness.

There are actually some benefits to this disorder. If you have it, you usually are very bright. In addition, having it makes you very resistant to peer pressure. You do not care what others want you to do if you do not want to do it.

I'd found my answer. I don't just feel different from the 'normal world'. I AM DIFFERENT. I AM AUTISTIC. My lifelong search for truth continues, but now with direction.

Dedicated to the equally fascinating topics of autistic advocacy and the 'sisterly sophistries' of radical gender feminism. Other topics may occasionally crop up.

I denounce injustice, whether perpetrated by parents, relatives, autistic people, classmates, coworkers, random people on the street, or professionals of all kinds.

Some people have the courage and the patience to stick with me for a while and find out that although I am unusual, that encompasses sometimes being nicer or intelligent than normal people.

A.S. people can be creative, high-powered thinkers, with courage to make a contribution outside the mainstream; many academics have A.S. A.S. people also tend to be straightforward, not manipulating people or having hidden agendas.

The physical world around us makes perfect sense to me, and also to those like me. However, the same cannot be said of activities such as spending enormous amounts of money getting drunk or working my way up the social ladder for it's own sake.

I was diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome when I was 17. I was a target for bullies who didn't understand me, because of my general lankiness and my thoughts and beliefs. Only another person with AS could fully understand the syndrome.

I've always wanted to live in a quiet place in the country where I can observe wildlife and compose music without having to deal with a lot of people.

All of you have had experience of this disorder within your families and you will each have a personal story to tell. This story is mine and I hope that sharing it with you will be of some help and encouragement.

Andy is a recent college grad blogging about Asperger's and politics

Most people do not understand how the autistic mind works, and most likely will withdraw from that person's presence. Sadly, people with autism have to often cope with ostracism and defamation from intolerant people.

This website describes my journeys: my faith, the births of my three children, early motherhood, my various health problems and my recent diagnosis with Asperger's Syndrome (a form of autism). It is not professional advice, but I love to write and I love to share what I have learned.

The diagnosis has finally allowed me to let myself off the hook. I will always struggle with social skills, but by focusing on my strengths I hope to find other ways to be successful and maybe even have a career.

Presentation to the European Agency for Development in Special Needs Education

I have many hobbies that include: Science fiction a cult shows. I like Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Smallville, Andromeda, Stargate SG-1, Alias and my favourite show is Farscape.

Home I have in my heart wherever I go. In he years I've had I have found shelter, food, water, warmth, care. Even in a harsh world of negative help there have been the few who saw how it is for me and I have homes open for me...

So, who is normal? The ones who set out deliberately to hurt others who are 'different,' of someone like me who set out to learn how to assert my inalienable validity as a person while also learning very deliberately how not to hurt others back?

Never give up. Don't complain about being different: someday you will be a very successful person. It takes a while to develop your social skills, but have patience and then you can succeed.

Important clues that led to my diagnosis included difficulties working with other people within teams. A solitary childhood was pivotal too, as is a reasonably isolated adult life. An interesting speech abnormality failure which I have always had is referring to oneself consistently as "one" or "we," and never the more usual "I" or "me."

The mind is, I think, probably the only truly comfortable place for a person like myself, with Asperger's Syndrome, because there's certainly nowhere like that in the big, confusing, social real world. A defining feature of Asperger's is having intense, particular (and usually peculiar) preoccupations — so intense they can inhibit concentration, alertness and social adaptability. It's a godsend that my biggest interests are music, theater and dance — communal activities with people as intensely passionate as I am that leave me no choice but to adapt and make personal connections. If I couldn't, I'd feel so ostracized that involving myself in these activities would be emotional suicide. As it is, they are constructive outlets where I can channel my disorder. Still, presenting my obsessions to my non-theater friends is hard to do in a socially acceptable manner.

When I was diagnosed with Asperger's autism, I was advised to be careful: no one wants that stigma! Imagine the problems with being labeled! I couldn't believe the exclamation points I was hearing from these doctors.

I am a 26 year old woman, diagnosed with Autism at the age of 3. My parents were told that I would be at the learning level of a two year old for the rest of my life, but they would not leave it at that.

Welcome to the home page of the Autistic Bitch from Hell. As you've probably guessed from the name, this site is not a circus sideshow for ignorant people's entertainment. You will not find any demeaning psychological jargon here, any self-pitying talk about "symptoms," any charming little tragicomic anecdotes about a bizarre childhood, or any "wrong planet" rubbish. Instead, you will find blunt comments on civil rights, neurodiversity, and consciousness-raising. If you can't deal with that, take a hike.

My hope is to share the many POSITIVE aspects of autism. It may not be your idea of normal, but to me it is, and .. one day it might just touch your life.

Why should there be a cure if the autists are not suffering from their autism as we are constantly being told they are. They only suffer our inability to meet their very specific needs and understanding, as other strains of beings.

The way to understanding, for me, is to know how something came about and why it works the way it does. Without that understanding, I often find myself having a difficult time dealing with the overall subject at hand.

It's often hard to tell whether social interaction is more difficult for me than academics or not. It used to be at my high school, but this is no longer the case at University of Rhode Island where I am now. I have to attribute this to my friends, to the diverse community of people here, and to the lack of teasing inherent in my grade school years.

Hello I'm Ben, I am a 22 year old male from London with Asperger's Syndrome...this is my website for people interested in Asperger Syndrome in the UK.

I'm a complicated man. I have multiple layers to my personality. I'm not schizophrenic or anything but I can be a totally different person from day to day. I was raised in a small farm town (2,000 people) but I don't really fit that stereotype. In fact, most of the people from small towns don't fit that stereotype. No, I can't stand crowds but at the same time I'm open-minded, semi-cultured and pretty non-conservative. I'm of average intelligence and I like to say I know a little about a lot of things and a lot about a few things. Jack of all trades...master of baiting...err, I mean master of none.

I am a FinnDago, Finnis/Italian kindred known for my bouts of rage, my obsessions, and hidden love.

Offering an edgy collection of nicely organized links, reflecting a libertarian perspective on life.

If you were being forever forced to do upsetting functions or at times acutely painful ones, just because everybody else does it with no discomfort, and expects you to be the same; would that make you want to be outgoing, and a party personality?

i've always known that I wasn't really like everyone else. there were certain traits I had that the 'neurotypical' kids lacked, and there were things that I couldn't understand as a trade-off.

When I learned to do sign language and use the computer in 1992, I was surprised that other people wanted to know how I think. I learned that I could stay like me and still fit in your world, a little.

Everyone likes to be included in group activities, have friendships. We with disabilities don't want to look from the sidelines. We want to be right in the everyday happenings like everyone else.

I hope you take with you a little understanding of AS, and maybe learn to have patience with people, they may not be able to help it. Always remember you can never judge a book by its cover.

This is my motto for the year 2003-04: Shine Jesus Shine / Let the Nations See / You in me / and me serving thee.

People can become social outcasts for lots of reasons. Such as, people get labeled as geeks or nerds when they're smart or good at something. Doesn't seem fair, but that's reality. Have you ever heard of someone being a social disaster because of too much imagination? There is such a thing. It's called Asperger's syndrome. This form of high-functioning autism causes social problems that can't entirely be overcome, because the problem is not with the individual's personality. It's in the wiring of the brain. I should know. I suffer from this disorder.

Feelings don't matter, only doing matters. Do exactly as you are told and you get a cookie. Being autistic is a bad thing. Don't stare out the window in rapt amazement at the fluttering of leaves on a tree or at the formation of a cloud. It's not allowed.

Australia-based information resource

The greatest impact of Asperger's study has been the recent acceptance of autistic individuals with average to above average intelligence as belonging on the 'autistic spectrum' - a term coined by Asperger himself.

Cecilia was born in 1981, in Southern California. Even though Cecilia cannot express herself well with words, she loves to draw pictures and take photographs.

CJS's personal idiosyncratic expressions include: (TO) BEET--to fall in love with Beethoven's music; (TO) BEVERLY--to shake your long hair to and fro; GOIN' FOUR--to do a French kiss in a full embrace chest-to-chest ...

One of our prime aims here at Asperger's World 3 is to provide a safe environment for members, some of whom may be or feel vulnerable We aim to provide a safe forum and entertainment area for Aspies and their care givers or friends.

Its all very well therapists telling us to GROW THE HELL UP!!! But they would not tell someone in a Wheel Chair to walk would they???? Basically out condition makes it hard for us.

The objective of this page and its subpages is to express myself, Christopher Marsh, to friends and prospective friends worldwide.

I was relieved to find out that there was a reason for why I am the way I am and when I saw the advantages that the condition presents, I became more confident about myself. The diagnosis also helped my colleagues to understand me.

After losing 3 secretarial jobs consecutively and 2 months before I lost my 4th, I was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome at the age of 21... This signaled a complete life change in me and a soar in my self confidence and esteem.

Touch and its various possible meanings have become a symbol for me of a long struggle to reject other people's interpretations until I found something that rang true for me.

Because I was only diagnosed halfway through my undergraduate degree, it took me a while to have the courage of my convictions and adapt my learning methods to my own abilities, instead of trying to work and revise in the way I thought I was supposed to.

Oh schizoids of the world, unite / Your body with your soul. / Why settle for a half of life / When you can have the whole?

Featuring: the proofreader's hall of shame; letters to the world; font stuff, message forums.

I may use the phrase, 'You say that in a way I don't understand.' or 'you use that word in a way I don't understand.' Or something like that. I say this to denote I understood what was said, but misunderstood the way it was inferred.

We're a full-service television production company specializing in commercials, visual effects and production services.

Aspies tend to get into trouble because of peoples reaction, prejudices or inability to deal with their unusual, persistent or dedicated behaviour. This is THEIR Disability and not ours.

When I was reading about NLD on the Internet today, I found several web sites that discuss children w/NLD, but very little about NLD's impact on adults.

This is a place where I dump my new sketches and say whatever I feel like saying, meaning that it tends to be full of scattered blurbs and bizarre non sequiturs. Be it known that I'm generally not ashamed of who I am, and it shows.

All too often, I found myself at social settings, filled with people innocently talking, and me totally unprepared for the unwelcome assault of meaningful noise on my senses.

By a quirk of nature I was born with a cruel disability called autism. Now the sunlight of new information will change many lives for the better. Not that autism will be erased but the ignorance about it will be removed.

Most of this site deals with Asperger Syndrome, generally considered to be on the autism spectrum. This is because I would not be me were I not autistic; to come to know me, one must come to know autism.

My hope is that by describing how things went for me, others can see what to do differently, so that the path they take will be different from mine.

The willingness to understand is precious, because everything else follows from it - the learning, the understanding, the growth, and the success. There is much to learn. There is much to understand. There is much work to be done.

Interaction between autistic people is a fascinating thing. Lately, I have got in contact with other autistic people - and guess if I were surprised - we can communicate without all the usual misunderstandings and troubles...

One of my interests is the diagnosis of higher functioning autistic states in adulthood, in the absence of reliable development histories. Another is the application of environmental psychology in mental health issues relating to Asperger syndrome.

Most people I have spoken with seem to feel that task difficulty is similar in all people... Oddly, they usually recognize the things I am good at. Perhaps they just need to realize that these strengths come at a cost.

Furtive greetings from Tornadobait, Mokansahomasas.

The poems of confusion, loneliness and despair of an autistic adult after his parents have passed away.

I hope that I can help people to understand a little more about autism and what it is like to be autistic. There are pages on my thoughts about some of the mathematical topics I like, and the psychological topics I find fascinating.

The story of an autistic man betrayed and abused by the very people who were supposed to protect and help him.

Blog by a woman with high-functioning autism, VATER association, a powerful love for cats, and a sometimes-overboard belief in disability advocacy.

I now see how my autism affected my social skills and interviewing skills in college. However, all-in-all, I'm happy that I made the decisions I made, because going through college has given me a very good career.

Wednesday, March 02, 1994 Fresh Air

Information overload can occur when information is coming in too quickly to process, or when a person is unable to filter out irrelevant stimuli. People who operate in mono-track have difficulty with processing, monitoring, and accessing information.

I'm wild and wooly, with an incredible naughty streak, prone to phobia and compulsion with a great determination to strive for balance and detachment yet a great love of connection and discovery.

There is often clamor for new legislation to protect the disabled. I have to wonder. Here, in the USA, we have ADA and IDEA to promote the interests of the disabled in the workplace and the classroom. However, with the best will in the world, employers and educators will be at a loss as to how to structure the workplace or the classroom, for the purpose of accommodating the autistic, if they are prey to the many misconceptions about autism.

Back in the summer of 1995, after I had discovered that, for almost all my life, I had been autistic, I had to wonder what to do about that.

I write because, since I began learning about autism, I have found a distressing amount of malicious misinformation, superficial sterotypes, unprofessional professionals, perplexed parents, callous cruelty and general cluelessness. I hope to do my part in correcting this; in making the world a better place for my kind. I also write because it is the by far easiest way for me to explain my way of functioning to those around me.

Random reminiscing ramblings. Topics may include computing, autism, lingustics, Nihontô, anthropology and anything else that happens to catch my fancy.

According to the theory-theory account of understanding other minds, children develop a succession of theories of mind that, just like scientific theories, postulate abstract coherent mental entities and laws, and provide predictions, interpretations and explanations. These, in turn, enable them to interact successfully with other people. Individuals with autism or Asperger’s syndrome are said to be unable to theorize about other minds, resulting in difficulties in relating to the people around them. This paper explores the possibility that we can reconceptualize the assumed relationship from the other direction, proposing that it is misleading to construe the task of achieving social understanding as a logical, scientific one. Rather, it will be suggested that typical children do not have to theorize that there are minds as they can immediately experience other people’s intentions and feelings within their affective, co-regulated interactions with them. High-functioning individuals with autism, on the other hand, do need to engage in theorizing about mind if they are to bridge the gap that exists between themselves and other people. In support of this argument, this paper presents findings from an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) of ten published autobiographical accounts written by individuals diagnosed with either high-functioning autism or Asperger’s syndrome.

I've been on a dairy (casein) and wheat (gluten) FREE diet since the summer of 1998 not counting the times I cheated! The times I cheated after several months on that diet, I could really feel it in my brain!

Autistic people always think of things differently then a normal person. They may appear to be weird or act weird, but they don't mean to.

The monkey, the eagle and the fish all have different needs and different perspectives. This does not mean they have mistaken thinking. - A parable on the innate differences of our paradigms

I frightened most people, so they excluded me, which made me feel rejected and lonely until I realized that no matter who we are, we all have places we belong, but we have to create them.

Salutations! I am 10 years old and am an ancient coin archaeologist destined for the stars. I am the Young Indiana Jones of numismatics!

Creatures games page On Creatures games, Rants and Opinions (abortion, autistic rights, etc.), Special Needs Database (all those interesting rare - and not so rare - disabilities).

All people are real, in the deepest sense of that word. That means that there is no such thing as a non-human human. But if you look around this room, you will see people who look at least non-standard. And that is where the problem begins. We live in a country where image is kind of a reality more real than reality. My main answer to that is: I don't need surgery to make me real any more than a beautiful woman "really" needs her eyelids sewn back. The fact that I think I do and she thinks she does is more fairy tale than real. Eagerness to be like others didn't make Pinocchio real -- it turned him into a donkey! And eagerness by parents to cure autism or retardation or compulsiveness will not drive great distances toward the final solution to the actual problem. Because the person who believes "I will be real when I am normal," will always be almost a person, but will never make it all the way.

There are perhaps a dozen life-forms in the entire universe whose opinions matter to me. Two of them are cats.

Beyond SPACE ..., beyond TIME ..., beyond IMAGINATION ..., there exists a strange, weird, bizarre universe. No author of science fiction, mystery, or fantasy could ever adequately describe the eerie dimension of autism.

Essays: Autism and Human Problems; A Nerd in the Herd; Autistic Competency; Fractal Autism; The Irony of Autism; Where I Am Going; Who Me, Autistic?; Consciousness Versus Autism; Stimulus Versus Overselectivity; Wanted: Dead or Alive

One of these days, one of us is going to have to study NTs in the way that we autistics have been studied, and write about those enigmatic NTs. I wonder if any NTs would consent to be research subjects in the way that so many of us have.

Q. As what animal would you like to return? A. I love animals but I think I'd rather be a human again

I have a Greater overview, of 'everyday life' in the material world, now, after having many many DreamVisions, where Guides take me at night to experiences places in the Spirit, afterlife, realms! I still have these types of dreams!

I have always known I didn't quite fit in. I've been somewhat of an 'odd man out' throughout my life, a loner, socially somewhat 'inadequate', so to speak… This is me, and I'm quite happy being me...

People with AS like structure and routine in employment, are punctual, can work alone, are meticulous, pay great attention to detail, take pride in their work, do not talk during work time and do not take days off and can handle repetitive tasks.

I lived a challenging life, dealing with many hardships with many different situations, being different for unknown reasons and unable to fit properly in society. Ultimately, they were all learning experiences.

Autism/PDD Speaker/Advocate. About Me; Gary for Hire; Living with Asperger Syndrome; The Autistic Mind; Services Needed for Teens and Adults with PDD; Presentation on Autism/PDD; Links

I do believe that PDD patients can be trained and counselled to function, to an extent, like otherwise “normal” people. They may have to think and practice differently, but I do not think it is impossible to bridge the gap.

The brain of a person with PDD is the same as one of a typical person, but the disorder forms a block, limiting the absorption of information. However, this brain is highly active. The emotions of a person with PDD are highly magnified.

Don't think you have a right to tell Asperger people to change or behave differently, unless they are being violent towards someone else. We have a right to self expression just like anyone else, even if we do it in a different way.

The wide world can be so cruel to vulnerable people, and some people can't or refuse to understand that there's anything wrong with you.

I have Asperger's Syndrome, and have a brother with Kanner autism.

When I was fourteen years old and switched from one high-school to another, I wrote an article about it, mainly intended for the teachers at my new school. The goal was to receive more understanding.

I'm told I have autism, some say I have Asperger's syndrome (it's very similar). Maybe it is the reason I have been drawing since the age of 5 and I have always been fascinated by big cities and aeroplanes. In 1984, I started to be interested by the conception of an imaginary city called Urville. The name came from "Dumont d'Urville", a scientific base, in a French territory of the Antarctic. Since then, I made many (200) drawings of Urville, and I wrote a historical, geographical, cultural and economic description. I also have a book project, called "Urville Sightseeing Tour" that I'd love to publish. My greatest pleasure is to be invited to give a lecture on Urville because I can make it exist!

The theory points out that lack of social ability is the main feature of autism. The theory shows that although some forms of autism are difficult, autism in general is not a disease.

Autism emerges as a major feature of brain evolution: It is generally not a disease. Autism has been with humans as long as humans have been and has markedly influenced human history. It evidently has shaped forms of religious practice.

Autism is very contradictory to me, someone else wrote: 'I've gained as much as I've lost'... Maybe I've lost some more than I gained but that wasn't because of the autism itself, but the lack of understanding from the world around me.

Gunilla Gerland is 34 and has always brushed her teeth twice a day. But every time she has to think about what she is doing. It has never become automatic - every contact with the toothbrush is like her first.

Nowadays I am very high-functioning but I had big difficulties when I was younger. To start from the beginning my parents thought I was difficult to get in touch with; they didn't feel they got a real contact with me.

Lectures and presentations on autism. (In Swedish.)

I lived till 60 years of age with the judgement of a psy-prof that I was the model of hyper-absence-mindedness (challenger of Newton). Then I discovered, alone, that I could be prosopamnesian (like Darwin) with a strong layer of autism (like Einstein)

I'm pretty sure, there couldn't be a bigger difference as it exists between what I percept, think or feel and the world non-autists live in.

It is partly about anticipating behaviour of others. During driving lessons I learned to anticipate the behaviour of other people, that participate in traffic.

I read. And at last I understood! Not only that, but I could even be proud of myself, and believe that I had just as much right to exist as anybody else.

Autism is only a part of your personality. A lot of symptoms are typical for autism but there is no symptom that you can see at every autistic person. That's why autistic people recognise this disorder very lately or even never.

I live in Kotka, Finland. I am diagnosed with AS, and so are my five-year-old daughter and my husband. I have previously studied biology at Helsinki University, and graduated with a degree in plant physiology, genetics and biochemistry.

I want to talk about the reality out there for those of us with Autism on the higher functioning end of the spectrum. The National Health Service has a revolving door policy of once you enter this revolving door you come out the end with nothing.

I grew up untreated, because 40 years ago, there were no books, and nobody knew what the underlying cause of autism was, neither what to do about it. Today, it should be different.

The emotional dynamics of autism are: Autism = envy + jealousy (mode of self-pity); The unconscious idea that creates autism is: I do not want an emotional relationship with anyone.

After a considerable amount of thought, the theme of this blog will be neurodiversity, which is broadly the concept that there isn't one "normal" path of neurological development that is "right" for everyone. Of course, it is generally assumed that there is only one "normal" and "right" course of development, and that any other path is a "disease" or "defect" that renders anyone whose development deviates from it to that degree "abnormal" and consequently "defective." But as one who has been the victim of these labels, I beg to disagree.

However autism is really misunderstood. Unfortunately it is too often linked in people's minds with either schizophrenia or attention deficit hyper activity disorder, it is categorically neither. It is not mental illness and it is not a learning disability, although you will come across some people on the autistic spectrum who may also have an independent learning disability. In the same way as people on the autistic spectrum may at some time suffer mental illness, but the autism and mental illness are discreet.

All my life, I have felt, although happy, different from everyone else. I have had various problems with mobility and other issues. My interests were---and still are---very unusual. They include world religion, poetry, play writing and epidemiology, which is the study of diseases. I also have strong emotions about certain things---most notably pertaining to my disabilities and pertaining to social justice, which is very typical of people with my disorder, which is called Asperger’s Syndrome... I was basically a baobab amongst sequoias.

I'm a person who doesn't talk with my mouth. I'm a teenager who has worked hard to learn to type to communicate. I have been typing since I was nine. People who can't talk really want to communicate. You can help them. My mother loves me. She helped me learn to type. Please understand that people who don't talk can be very smart.

Welcome to my website. I’m James Williams. I live in Northbrook, Illinois, a Chicago suburb of 33,000. I am seventeen years old, I am homeschooled, and I have high-functioning autism. Despite my age, I have spoken at several autism conferences, parent support groups, and special schools, and have had several correspondences with individuals (normal and autistic) who are interested in my advice. I am also the co-author of The Self-Help Guide For Special Kids and Their Parents and the author of Out To Get Jack. On my website, I have archived the speeches I have given and the essays I have written over the years.

Personally, being told I am shy feels like I am being told: I will accept you, I will engage in the process of trying to be friends with you, on the condition that I am allowed to continue perceiving you as a slightly modified version of myself.

I used to think all people were alike at the core. Each of us was unique, of course, but unique with an awful lot in common.

On this page I plan to 'stack' a bunch of very short bits of writing, most of them posts I have sent to one of the several autism- or AS-focused online groups to which I belong.

'Feeling Stressed? For therapy, try making Teddy Bears!' Teddy bear pix (beautiful workmanship!), articles (mostly on autism), fiction, book recommendations, and more.

Most of us prefer to think of our autism as a difference rather than a disability, but it's undeniably true that our difference looks and feels like a disability when we are measured (and found lacking) against the mainstream social norms.

I then moved to Swansea to read for a degree in Geology. Bliss. I was at last amongst my sort of people. My eccentricities were celebrated, not scorned.

Every time I leave my house I feel like I am on stage..... every situation is its own play and there is a role for me in it.

All my school days, as far back as I remember, I doodled like this in my notebooks in order to listen and hear what the teacher was saying...

In her essay "My Name is Autism," Marty Murphy, a 41 year-old "high functioning" autistic woman describes what autism means to her... We find these statements to be dangerous, sensationalist and false. We believe these statements demean and devalue the lives of all autistics. These statements resonate with similar historical efforts to incite fear and hatred against identifiable groups of people, with the goal of restricting then eliminating the existence of these people.

Let's live in harmonious concert and respect for ourselves and other life forms who cope with living on Earth. Let us teach and learn from other people and other species and responsibly enjoy our planet's resources.

One aspect of autism is that it is like being in perpetual culture shock, no matter where I go or how long I stay.

Henry David Thoreau declared: "If the condition of things which we were made for is not yet, what were any reality which we can substitute?" I think that I am coming to realize, in more than one sense, the situation I was meant to have for my own, both in terms of life and work. I think that this column is itself part of a glimmering first light of that means, mode, and purpose.

Mine is a world of senses and feelings. It is rich with private perceptions. Experiences engrave themselves into my psyche as clear and detailed fragments.