Our Aspergers Teenage Boy » Of Interest

World Autism Day

djuggler — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 16:16:11 +0000

World Autism Day.

(yes, small posts but I’m trying to jump start this blog again…)

In the press

djuggler — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 11:04:43 +0000

Autistic boy’s arrest at school fuels debate on discipline for disabled

Michael Savage Thinks Your Child is a Brat

djuggler — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 19:57:57 +0000

Michael Savage thinks autism is the parents fault.

Michael Savage … characterized nearly every autistic child as "a brat who hasn’t been told to cut the act out." [Source, The New York Times, Savage Stands by Autism Remarks]

CNN Manager Discovers She Is Aspie

djuggler — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 13:03:00 +0000

This week has seen an influx of visitors to Aspergerteen looking for information on Bill Gates and Asperger’s. I’d say CNN’s article Asperger’s: My life as an Earthbound alien is why.

Don’t pity me or try to cure or change me. If you could live in my head for just one day, you might weep at how much beauty I perceive in the world with my exquisite senses. I would not trade one small bit of that beauty, as overwhelming and powerful as it can be, for "normalcy."

Source, Asperger’s: My life as an Earthbound alien

That’s beautiful! It should be on billboards and bumper stickers and business cards and everywhere! I think if I ever attend an IEP again that will be read at the start of the meeting.

The CNN manager, who doesn’t appear to have an credits on the story, exquisitely sums up the Aspies traits.

tend to have specialized interests
don’t quite understand small talk
A misconception is that Aspies do not have a sense of humor. [Tommy has a great sense of humor!]
lack the ability to see emotion in most facial expressions
intensified senses
live with anxiety

She leaves out that Asperger’s Disorder typically follows the male lineage which makes her even more unique. I find these articles interesting and wish we had written more when Tommy was younger. Tommy now blogs but I think he often finds it a chore. I hope he will read this article and be inspired to write lengthier, more intimate stories of his own life.

I do caution people about red car syndrome. The Autism spectrum is broad and it is easy to find autistic traits for everyone we know and even ourselves. Be sure to visit a professional to confirm any suspicions of Asperger’s Syndrome. Asperger’s was first diagnosed in 1944 by Austrian pediatrician Hans Asperger. The diagnosis was not translated into English until 1989 and was not accepted as a diagnosis in America until the mid-nineties. Only in the past decade have inroads toward acceptance, treatments, therapies, integration in schools, and support systems developed in the United States. Today’s Aspie is very fortunate compared to the Aspie a decade ago. Tomorrow’s Aspie will be ever more fortunate.

How’s that for a comfort zone?

djuggler — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 12:31:56 +0000

When looking back over the years and thinking about the tags that had to be cut from clothing, the brushing therapy, the meltdowns in the mall food court because of lighting and noise, the inability to shop in Sam’s Wholesale Club because of the lights, the yelps and tears from a finger being pointed his direction, I would laugh out loud if you told me one day my Asperger son would be sitting on a plywood seat of a canoe in a mosquito infested swamp mere feet away from an alligator as large my son! That’s exactly how we spent last week. Five adults and thirteen boys including my son spent five days and four nights on Mixon’s Hammock in the Okefenokee Swamp.

The strenuous paddling upstream into the wind was frustrating but did not break Tommy’s spirit. The mosquitoes thick as morning fog did not quell his desire to sleep in a tent in a swamp and the infected (from scratching) bites are now a source of pride as a battle scar. The four foot long black and brown snake that took residence under Tommy’s tent to avoid further harassment by the curious scouts did not send Tommy packing. The ravenous raccoons, masked with sharp claws, wandering through camp as if they were part of our company, and coming within 10 feet of the humans, did not bother Tommy in the least. The only part of the experience that threw Tommy for a loop was the composting toilet which was almost full to the brim and in desperate need for a new treatment of enzymes. I am sure he wasn’t the only scout that waited five days for the clean restroom of the Corral Wheel restaurant.

Do not let anyone ever tell you what your Aspie cannot do for your child is capable of amazing feats!

Tommy Accepted to Lincoln Memorial University!

admin — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 17:00:33 +0000

At age 6, it was declared "Tommy will never read."
At age 10, doctors, friends, and family encouraged putting Tommy away in a home stating "you can’t save Tommy and the other children."
Tommy spent 2nd to 6th grade at KAEC with no textbooks and "learning behaviors."
In the 8th grade, the school system highly encouraged us to hold Tommy back a year for socialization and maturity (we refused).
In the 12th grade, Tommy takes the ACT and gets a 28. He was expected to take 6 years in high school to accept a special education degree. Instead he completes in 4 years and will walk the stage in May 2008 with a regular education high school diploma.
On April 12, 2008, Tommy received a letter of acceptance from Lincoln Memorial University!

Tommy is thrilled!

Tommy succeeds by his own efforts. He is also supported by a fantastic network of loving family, friends, teachers, doctors and professionals. Never give up; never surrender!

Bill Gates Asperger’s?

djuggler — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 12:19:42 +0000

Until the end, I was thinking no.

It’s a familiar joke in the industry that many of the hardcore programmers in IT strongholds like Intel, Adobe, and Silicon Graphics – coming to work early, leaving late, sucking down Big Gulps in their cubicles while they code for hours – are residing somewhere in Asperger’s domain. Kathryn Stewart, director of the Orion Academy, a high school for high-functioning kids in Moraga, California, calls Asperger’s syndrome “the engineers’ disorder.” Bill Gates is regularly diagnosed in the press: His single-minded focus on technical minutiae, rocking motions, and flat tone of voice are all suggestive of an adult with some trace of the disorder. Dov’s father told me that his friends in the Valley say many of their coworkers “could be diagnosed with ODD – they’re odd.” In Microserfs, novelist Douglas Coupland observes, “I think all tech people are slightly autistic.” Source

Many articles and blogs reference the possibility of Bill Gates as having Asperger’s Syndrome but it is a spectrum disorder. I think we can look at anyone and declare, "ah ha! You did ___ so you have it too!" and I think that people in extraordinary circumstances, be it special needs like Asperger’s or needing a wheelchair or deaf or whatever the case, find comfort in associating with celebrities in the same situation. And that is ok because we all need our heroes!