Changeling: The Ongoing Journey of an Aspie: Asperger's

Showing posts with label Asperger's. Show all posts

...seeing things from a different perspective...

"Imagine a world where Aspergers was the norm, and non-autistics or neurotypicals were the minority. Let's try it: Those who feel the need to constantly be with a variety of friends are considered fickle. Those with no propensity for computers and science are called geeks. Those with no special interest are thought to be ungrounded and lost. Those without obsessive focus have to take classes to cultivate it."
~Rudy Simone

What do you think?

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...learning the 'rules'...

"Girls are generally recognized as superior mimics. Those with [Asperger's Syndrome] hold back and observe until they learn the 'rules', then imitate their way through social situations."
~Tony Attwood

What do you think?

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...there is no epidemic...

"As the diagnosis of autism is increasing the diagnosis of mental retardation is decreasing. And more and more on the other end, the high end, more children who are just a little bit off, who ordinarily you would not single out now are being described as perhaps Asperger's syndrome or on the high end of the autism spectrum, so I don't believe there is an epidemic."
~Gerald Fischbach

What do you think?

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...a way of being...

Saying you "have" something implies that it's temporary and undesirable. Asperger's isn't like that. You've been Aspergian as long as you can remember, and you'll be that way all your life. It's a way of being, not a disease.
~John Elder Robison

What do you think?

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...an important and valuable characteristic...

"Asperger's syndrome has probably been an important and valuable characteristic of our species throughout evolution."
~Tony Attwood

What do you think?

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...the movement of rivers and stars...

“We contain the shapes of trees and the movement of rivers and stars within us."

~ Patrick Jasper Lee

“I see people with Asperger’s syndrome as a bright thread in the rich tapestry of life.”

~ Tony Attwood

"Who do you think made the first stone spears? The Asperger guy. If you were to get rid of all the autism genetics, there would be no more Silicon Valley."

~ Temple Grandin

Autism Acceptance Month: My Story: How Autism Is Making Me Brave

I've slowly been coming out of the autistic "closet" for some months now. This is a real thing, if you didn't know, and it highlights one of the major issues of being autistic, particularly, as it turns out, for women.

Talking about my diagnosis has been difficult, due to various amounts of backlash in my life. But I passed my 5-year anniversary last year, and, while I didn't think I'd put a time limit on getting loud and proud (if that's what you can call it) about my Autism, the timing just feels right.

Maybe that's part of the problem, you know? Because I've been able to "pass" for so long, to hide under a guise of quirky neurotypicality, and many of my fellow Autistics haven't. I get to choose when the world "knows" about me, at a time when Autistics are speaking out for themselves louder than ever. I get to ride on that tide of "we're not going to take this shit anymore" activism, without necessarily having put in the hardcore work they have. And I feel guilty about that.

I feel guilty about a lot of things. It's kinda my go-to. Guilt has become my holy war. But that's a post for another time.

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Autism Acceptance Month: 10 Autism Myths That Need to Be Retired

April is Autism Acceptance Month, a time used to educate people about autism in hopes of fostering greater understanding and advocacy. If you have heard of this observed "holiday" but know it by the title Autism "Awareness" Month, you are not alone. It has only been recently that this has changed. This has a lot to do with the myths that pervade autism and the lives of autistic people. But times they definitely are a-changing.

A Quick & Utterly Incomplete History

In the past, Autism education was, sadly, tantamount to spreading fear...fear of what autism is, where it comes from, how it was ruining our society, and how to eliminate it from the population. This shouldn't really come as a surprise. The majority of the population did not know that autism exists until well into the 1990s. I certainly didn't.

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