Why “My Kid Isn’t Like You(rs)!” Isn’t The Point

Melody Latimer  www.ASParenting.com There are re-occurring themes among the Autism/Autistic online worlds. The most current, though it comes and goes, is when parents of Autistic kids insult Autism because of their child’s difficulties, summed up by “You can’t understand because you’re high-functioning/have Asperger’s.” I’ve wanted to rebut this several times (and often do when getting into a comment exchange on other blogs): No. I am not like your kid. Because I’m an adult. No, I am not where I’m at because my parents helped me. I didn’t receive any Special Education or 504s or anything. Actually, when I went to college, this is where I found that I couldn’t even stand on my own two feet. I have had to have several years of therapy and medication, much thanks to my husband, to overcome my previous years. For years, I couldn’t even do household chores because of the resulting, built-up…

Loving Lamposts: A Movie Review by TH

TH, age 10, Autistic The title of the film is “Loving Lampposts.” I was somewhat weirded out by the title because it was sort of a strange name for a movie and I had a particular interest in lampposts myself. And I knew it had to do with a syndrome called “Autism.” I for one am very familiar with this term, because I myself have it. Well, the movie revolves around this kid named Sam and his love for some particular lampposts in a local park. His dad wonders why Sam does all of the things he does and also wonders: “What is Autism, and why does it do the things it does?” Well, a large portion of the video is devoted to answering that question and others like it. Well first of all, there are the smart people who believe Autism is a gift, and it should not be…

Two Stories: Autism’s Financial and Racial Limitations

Kerima Çevik theautismwars.blogspot.com Several years ago, I attended a meeting of parents and care providers to discuss the lack of county services available for their loved ones on the autism spectrum. At the meeting, an African American medical professional told me something that still gives me pause: “Autism is a disability for the rich,” she said. “Only the wealthy can afford the costs of the intensive early interventions we as parents need to help our children succeed.” She continued, “As African Americans, we are disproportionately caring for our children on the spectrum as single parents, with limited means, and are dependent on institutions like our public schools to give whatever supports they can.” As I continue my three year fight for appropriate supports for my own child, I ask myself each day, “Was my acquaintance correct? No matter how diligently I try, no matter the effort I make, will I…

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The Morality Police: Honor Codes and the Tattle-Tale Aspie

Amy M. Murphy www.aspergersthealien.blogspot.com By Beijing Patrol from US  via Wikimedia Commons I’m not going to beat around the bush — Aspies love to tattle and point fingers at evildoers. Driving with an Aspie one can be sure if the stated speed limit is exceeded there will be words. Both my son and I consider ourselves to have a code of honor which is probably higher than most. We believe in rules, laws and a certain high standard of everyday conduct. He has remarked, more than once, that his aberrant behavior of a year and a half ago was more damaging to his psyche and personal pride as he broke his own moral code, than the whole jail/ prison sentence thingy. We like to attempt to hold others to our over-zealous standards. I made an excellent safety in grade school. I loved “patrolling” and reporting the tiniest malfeasance. If anyone…

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Separate Vacations

Shannon Des Roches Rosa www.squidalicious.com www.thinkingautismguide.com When we told people we were spending a week on a summer family vacation with our girls — but without our son Leo, who has high-octane autism, responses varied. The best reactions stayed positive without dwelling on the details of our abandonment: “Wow, that sounds like fun, all that time in the San Juan Islands!” More well-intentioned reactions stoked my already-raging guilt-fires: “Well, you know, those girls really deserve a break, and so do you — it’s about time you had a regular family vacation.” I know those latter folks meant well, but it’s amusing to me that, because of his autism, sweet-natured Leo is assumed to be the kid we need a vacation from — when in truth it’s his fiery, defiant, bickering sisters who are currently draining the parenting lifeblood from my veins. Still, I felt guilty leaving Leo behind. I kept…

Autism Works: A Bottle of Sunshine

Scott Standifer Autism Works National Conference We are in the dregs of winter where I live, and I’ve got the blahs. Everything is cold and grey, the branches are bare, the patches of snow are dirty, and spring seems like it will never get here. Our family’s latest antidote has been listening to a song on one of my son’s old toddler CDs–Bottle of Sunshine by Milkshake. It is a peppy song about a child who finds ways to be unstoppably proactive and creative to entertain herself on days when there is “nothing to do.” (Of course, you can’t really put sunshine in a bottle–that is a metaphor for something fun or cheerful that helps you feel good.) That’s a good metaphor for our upcoming Autism Works National Conference — an antidote for the blahs. There are a lot of people discouraged over the prospects for autism employment right now,…

What Can Technology Do For You?

Jen Lee Reeves www.bornjustright.com Jen Lee Reeves is one of those people who always has a big smile and a big goal. She teaches social media and engagement at the Missouri School of Journalism and is the interactive director at KOMU 8 TV, the only university-owned commercial television station in the United States. She has built a great community on her website Born Just Right, and has plans to present on a panel at SXSW (South by Southwest) a series of conferences held in Austin that brings multimedia professionals together. She’s hoping our community can offer additional perspectives. What inspired you to get involved in the special needs community? My daughter was born in December of 2005 with a limb difference. She has a typical right arm and a left arm that stops right after the humerus and growth plate. I immediately felt the need to connect with other families…

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Kate Winslet’s Autism Awareness Project: The Golden Hat

Carol Greenburg, Shannon Des Roches Rosa, and Jennifer Byde Myers www.ThinkingAutismGuide.com Thinking Person’s Guide to Autism editors Carol, Shannon, and Jennifer recently attended an event celebrating the work of Kate Winslet. Kate has a new autism awareness and fundraising book coming out next month called The Golden Hat: Talking Back to Autism. We were told the book is meant to shine “a light on a world very few people understand […] about people with profound autism and the challenges they and their families face every day, as well as all the ‘beautiful potential’ of people with autism.” The event was hosted by Ladies’ Home Journal, and featured Margret Ericsdottir, whose son Keli is the inspiration for The Golden Hat Foundation. (Kate is currently on the cover of LHJ, talking about how she was inspired to create The Golden Hat book and foundation with Margret; Margret is the foundation’s President and…

The DSM-V Changes From a Late-Diagnosed Adult’s Perspective

Charli Devnet Charli writes: In view of the firestorm surrounding the proposed changes to the DSM-V criteria for the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder, an open debate on the nature and scope of autism and what it means to be autistic might be in order. —-  I’m not an expert, but I am autistic. All my life I searched for the answer to a seemingly inexplicable riddle, “Just what is wrong with me?” At the age of 54, I was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome. The diagnosis, when I finally acquired one, was not a surprise, not to me nor to anyone who had known me for any significant time. I’m far from a borderline case. No one came up to me and said, “You? We just cannot believe it!” Instead, a number of people greeted my disclosure with the response, “We thought so all along.” Not content to simply have…

Squag: A Social Media Space for ASD Tweens & Teens

Sara Winter Squag.com Squag is a new social media space with a difference, developed for tweens and younger teens with autism.  The user (the tween, called a Squagger) begins using Squag by interacting with his or her own “Squagspace’” — designed to look like a room — with content (photos, videos, and messages added by parents.  Eventually, when a particular Squagger is is ready (according to parents) one Squagger is matched with another, and they can interact.  The interaction are always only between two Squaggers.   The platform is now in beta user testing, which means the ability to connect pairs of  Squaggers is not yet enabled. I saw a Squag announcement, and was intrigued by the concept, so arranged an interview with Sara Winter, Squag’s founder–LD What inspired you to create SquagTM? The idea came to me two years ago when I was on the playground with my nephew…