Square Pegs Don’t Roll off Tables: A Photo Essay on the World Due to Autism

 

The first kidney transplant, due to John Hartwell Harrison going to the University of Virginia, started by Thomas Jefferson.
 

 

The plasma screen TV, due to the knowledge of electrons that interfere with a television’s reception, first discovered by Albert Einstein.

 

Gandhi’s non-violent civil disobedience, due to Henry David Thoreau’s essay Civil Disobedience.  Plus a film with the charming BenKingsley.
 

 

Free-range beef, thanks to Temple Grandin’s improvements in the slaughterhouse.
 

 

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, because of Nikola Tesla’s invention of the Tesla Coil.
 

 

Chaco Canyon National Historic Park, thanks to the archaeological research done to promote and save this site made possible by Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution.
 

 

A happy couple about to wed, due to reforms inspired by Gandhi’s method of non-violent resistance, which in turn was inspired by Thoreau’s essay.
 

 

A child and mother happy together because of Michelle Dawson who made dramatic improvements to Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA).
 

Are individuals and families affected by autism?  Yes, they are affected with great boons to human society in arts, literature, science, and health.  Without autism, ask yourself Where would this world be?  Would I want to live there?

Love is All You Need (and Interventions): A Forum on Autism?Asperger Syndrome and Relationships

For my second weekly forum for Autism Acceptance Month, I wanted to discuss love and relationships among people on the autism spectrum. As with last week’s discussion, do consider a few things: 1) this forum is not to demean or belittle any individual participating in it, 2) that through this discussion, I hope to learn what sort of struggles and challenges are experienced by people on the spectrum, so we can design better behavioral and educational interventions for autistic people later in life, and to know what autistic people as a whole, do not need help with, and what therapies and interventions are doing right. If not, we hope you as the readers gain valuable insights into your love life or that of those close to you, but let them all speak for themselves, as their impression may be entirely different from yours, 3) if you not to feel comfortable sharing your name, that is fine, and if you do not want your personal information to be shared without a need-to-know basis (should that be an issue) please mention that at the beginning of your comment. If sharing your name could create negative consequences or trouble in the life of you or others do not share it, and 4) that bashful and abusive comments are not welcomed and any will be deleted. Also do not share any information that is too personal (e.g. sex life) using you’re the names or identifying information of yourself or others involved. For this discussion we welcome all autistic people and their committed partners, regardless of whether they themselves are autistic or not. If both people in the relationship are answering, please answer in the same comment space while making sure you distinguish yourself as the one making each passage. With that said, here are my questions:

1.       Are you first off in a committed relationship?

2.       Are you the autistic person in the relationship, or the partner? If you are the partner, are you yourself autistic, allistic (not autistic but having other intellectual/developmental disabilities), or neurotypical?

3.       Are you married?  Dating? In a civil union? Divorced? Separated? Engaged? Widowed? Seeing multiple partners?

4.       What is your age and the age of your partner?

5.       How long have you and your partner been together? If you have been together in different capacities (e.g. first dating then married) please state the amount of time you have been together in each capacity.

6.       How did you two meet?

7.       What is your employment status (if applicable)? What is that of your partner (again, if applicable)?

8.       What is your level of education (high school, college, some college, graduate school)? What is that of your partner?

9.       What do you love about your partner (looks, personality, money, etc.)?

10.   What does your partner love about you? Why is he/she with you?

11.   What have you two done together (e.g. travel, live together, raising children, etc.)?

12.   How do you two spend your time together (e.g. watching movies, eating out, hiking in the wilderness)?

13.   What conflicts exist in your relationship (e.g. financial, emotional, etc.)? How do you two deal with these (talking, couple’s counseling)? How has that worked out?

14.   How often do you two spend time alone together (once a week, every day, etc.)? How frequently do you two enjoy each other’s company?

15.   What are your future plans (move in together, start a family, get married)?

People to Appreciate After Normal College Drinking

You possibly have a love of college parties like I do, not to mention alcohol, especially if it’s free. If not, someone in your family or high school probably does. No shame in that. But too many of them get behind the wheel after they’ve had a significant amount to drink, and that’s where I tend to draw the line with wild drinking. For those who do not however, they may indeed find themselves in a wreck with badly damaged kidneys. Well, unfortunately there’s no way to do a kidney transplant because the famous kidney transplant pioneer John Hartwell Harrison had not gone to the University of Virginia. This is in fact because no U.S. president founded UVA, just as he did not set in motion the Louis and Clark Expedition or the Louisiana Purchase so you or someone you know is left with a damaged kidney that cannot be repaired. But wait! You’re not because thanks to the talent and existence of many fine autistic individuals, Thomas Jefferson did in fact found UVA, giving Harrison a place to start his career. But it wasn’t through your eye-gazing, hand resting brain that you get this talent. In Famous Autistic People,Autism Myth Busters’ writes, “Norm Ledgin, author of Diagnosing Jefferson, indicates that Jefferson was shy, had an inability to relate to others, had difficulties in public speaking and was sensitive to loud noises. Also, similarly to Einstein, Jefferson had a difficulty with his finances. Although he kept an accurate record of all of his transactions, he died in debt. He also had an obsession for remodeling his home and was very eccentric. Jefferson had some “abnormal” tendencies including wearing slippers to important meetings and always having a mocking bird that sat on his shoulder to keep. This mock bird may have been an effort to keep him calm during social interactions. Unfortunately, due to a fire, there are no records of Jefferson’s childhood. Therefore, it is difficult to determine whether he may have had delayed speech or display any earlier signs of autism.” 

Clearly, drinking and driving is a dumbass move. For every person who is able to get the right treatment though for any associated injuries, their life is a gift for them and several friends and family they know. When you think about whether your money to autism charities goes to behavioral and educational supports, rather than making an autistic individual neurotypical, ask yourself if you would rather you or anyone you know be diagnosed with incurable kidney damage, or difficulty using eye contact or spending all your time with others.

What Are You Working For? Forum on Autism/Asperger Syndrome and Work

For this discussion I hope to allow people with autism to share their experiences based on what I tell them, in the hopes that we can discover what challenges autistic people face in the workplace, and how they might be prevented or mitigated, and help share this with the public. These questions are not meant to belittle or berate you but to give us a sense of how autism affects people in the workforce. If you don’t answer, please at least consider these questions in your own life if you are autistic and see what changes you can make to it, or in the life of someone you know who is, but please do not answer these questions for them as your answers may not be what they would have in mind. Let us know at the start of your response if you do not want your name or personal information to be revealed to anyone not on this page without a need-to-know basis for sharing and I oblige not to do so. I ask all other people viewing or taking part in this discussion to do the same. For this discussion I want autistic people who are employed or are of an age to be searching for work and for everyone to be completely honest in their answers, though feel free not to volunteer information where you feel it to be necessary. Feel free not to use your name or use an alias name, but in any case, do not mention names of or identifying factors that are too closely tied to the people you mention in your comments, but rather identify people as say your boss, coworker, employee, or customer, and if the information shared about them or your work experience could lead to trouble with these various people, please do NOT share your name. As always please be kind to each person on in this discussion. Any insulting or abusive comments will be deleted. Here is what I hope to find out:

1.       First off, are you in fact employed? 

2.       Have you looked for work? How many job interviews have you been given, how many applications have you filled out, how many times have been asked for or given a resume?

3.       Have you been employed in the past, but are no longer employed or working for your former company? If so why?

4.       Where are you from (your hometown, state, country of origin)? Where do you currently reside? Where do you work (name of town)?

5.       Where (what company) do you work? What is your occupation? What job responsibilities do you have?

6.       What is your level of education and training? Degree? Alma matter? Past experience?

7.       What interests do you have and how passionate are you about them?

8.       How long have you been working for your company? What other work are you qualified for in terms of training and education? What factors prevented or motivated you from taking other jobs?

9.       What does your salary afford you (new car, apartment housing, etc.)? 

10.   Do you spend time with coworkers outside of work? How well do you know your coworkers and employers and how well do you think they know you?

11.   What is the most difficult or stressful part of your occupation?

12.   What do you enjoy most about your job?

13.   Do you commute to work? If so how long does it take you? What sort of work is available in your town of residence?

14.   Are you married? Divorced? Separated? Civil Union? How long have you been married/divorced/separated/etc.? Does your spouse or partner share your condition? Have children? What ages? Any children with autism? How does your salary allow you to meet the needs of these dynamics?

15.   How did you get your position and how did you come by it? Friend? Newspaper ad? Help Wanted sign?

16.   Do you have any other conditions besides autism (AD/HD, bipolar disorder, depression)?

17.   Do your bosses and/or coworkers know of your condition? How has this affected your ability to work with and get along with them and to do your job?

18.   What do you think could happen if you disclosed your condition to your employer as well as your managers, supervisors, and coworkers?

19.   What sort of supports have you had or are currently being given for your autism? How were they paid for or provided? What sort of supports have you had for any other conditions you may have?

20.   What are your ambitions for the next five years? How have they changed and for what reasons over time? What have been your ambitions for today in the past and what are they know? How do you hope or plan to achieve them?

21.   What other factors not related to autism do you feel has enabled you or made it hard for you to do your job?

22.   Are you happy with your job? Would you take it if other jobs were available to you?

The Loss of Football Closure and Other Misfortunes In an Alternative World

Right now is the season for high school football. Your old alma matter is playing against your biggest rivals. This game will decide whether or not your team goes to state championships. But you have one problem: as soon as you are about to see whether the star quarterback indeed helps make the final touchdown, your screen becomes blurry like a television from the 1940s, and you can’t tell if the pass was successful and do not hear the commentators announce the winner. Why? Because television had never improved due to the fact that the mass of electrons are not shown to increase in televisions,as first proposed by Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, thus enabling televisionsets to have clear resolution.  When you watch the news to see if anyone losses their life during the Christmas season while your son and his wife and children are driving in from out of state, what would you do when the television constantly blurs. 

                You and your newlywed are enjoying a hike throughout the Colorado Rockys or you and your long-time best buddy/sorority sister/roommate in college from have now had a huge spat over her new boyfriend, and your friendship is now coming to an end. When you and your wife have now been married for twenty years and your marriage seems to be in a rut, wouldn’t you be glad to have pictures of you and your wife when you were first married to remind you of the connection you used to have, and possibly help rekindle your love, or when your friendship with your sister and/or roommate is going downhill to have something to let you know how important you used to be to each other. Well, that’s not going to happen because digital cameras have not been invented as Einstein was not the man we think of him as today.  Autism has never existed, or been cured long before his time.  According to Autism Myth Busters article FamousAutistic People, “Einstein had difficulty with social interactions, had tactile sensitivity, was very intelligent yet found his language difficult at times, and had difficulty learning in school.” It goes on to say, “Einstein had a relationship with a woman whom he eventually married and had three children with. The marriage seemed to have quite a bit of difficulty, but  the woman gave birth to three children with him. However, although Einstein showed love and concern for his children, the  he could not stand for the children to touch him. This, sounds very characteristic of an autistic.” The article section of the article ends saying, “It is important to realize that Einstein was very different and it was his difference that made him develop ideas that made him famous. Therefore, his differences made him the celebrated individual he is today. This should give us a second look at those who we consider different, and make us realize that being different is not a bad thing.  It is instead, something to be celebrated and accepted.”

If you do not wish for future generations to face such inconveniences we may have without inventions like plasma screen TVs and digital cameras, I suggest you consider strongly the idea of a “cure” for autism, or investing in organizations that spend most of their money on this.

Coming Out of the Autism Closet: the Joys and Benefits of Revealing One’s Condition to the World

For this blog post, let’s imagine that you are autistic or that you know someone who is and want to make them acknowledge their conditions. At the day where many gay celebrities are becoming openly gay and gay awareness and freedom is increasing, I thought this month of April, designated by the autistic community as Autism Acceptance Month, should be a time for autistic people to “come out.” If you have autism and disclose it to your social network, you may find greater comfort and ease with them, in addition to helping foster understanding of autism. Now chances are that if you are autistic and maybe around age sixteen or older (I typically view people, often times males, in their twenties like me), you may not need any special help or treatment, you may not need someone to help you to communicate, live independently, or develop interpersonal relationships, perhaps because you’ve have early childhood support or the right education, as I was lucky to have beginning at age twelve, or maybe you haven’t but you are still extremely independent and are not a pity or a charity case. So why reveal your condition? Before I get to that please also note that perhaps with your condition, you feel alone, isolated, or misunderstood by others, even though you are in fact, a fully able human being. Moreover, there are times that you like to be alone, perhaps to think over and get adjusted to the world, or like to engage in activities suited to your interest, which not everyone shares but is in fact acceptable and does not make you a victim of anything, autism or otherwise. 

Like I said, I was lucky enough in my youth to get the right educational and support services early enough to where I barely need any supports, except perhaps to take my tests in the testing center, though I can still pass all of my tests taking them in a regular classroom. I can live on my own, maintain relationships, take care of my hygiene, have conversations with people, be in large crowds in public and in parties, and hold down a job with no special assistance whatsoever. Yet despite that I still feel myself searching for acceptance from everyone I meet, including friends, coworkers, potential dates, professors, CAs, and others, even though I know these people often times respect me perfectly well, and maybe even think very fondly of me, yet to live in this world and process the way I do I need to do things such as engage in particular activities or find time alone to recharge my life’s energy from all that is going around me, and worry, irrespective of the person I am speaking to at the time, how to excuse myself from their presence or explain what I in fact need to do. Now I am only one person, but perhaps if you revealed your condition to your friends, significant others, bosses, coworkers, and peers, they might be more accepting and understanding of the things you do and think, and will show you they care about you and respect your needs, both sensory and social as a person and someone with autism. Yet maybe you perhaps want to deny, or avoid speaking of your condition to these people. If so, maybe ask yourself, who are you trying to get approval from: them or you? While we might disagree, part of us as human beings do sometimes care about what others think about us. We are social creatures and we were made to live together, yet some people are in fact bigoted, ignorant, or don’t understand the various forms of human beings. Many, maybe even most of us, have been bullied sometime or another (when younger) due to our condition or perhaps been a victim of workplace bullying, not to mention faced segregated education or the use of improper behavioral interventions from schools and treatment centers. Naturally, we would be cautious of disclosing our condition to our friends, teachers, and coworkers. Or maybe you’ve had therapists and counselors with a negative attitude to your condition, or who, despite wanting to help, neither knew or cared to learn enough about autism or about you when it was important. For me however, sharing my condition with people is something that makes a difference in my ability to trust and relate to them. I like them to know I am autistic just as I would like them to know if I lost a parent or got married. Friends of mine who I have connected with on Facebook have by now seen my post several autism posts, and by now they must know of my condition. They have also seen much of my autistic pride paraphenilia or heard me talk to groups about my condition and work with it yet we remained friends. Maybe some people won’t be able to accept my condition, but my rule is if they don’t need me, I don’t need them. 

As I was fortunate enough to realize when  I came to college as a regular student living with other regular and predominantly neurotypical students, I had reservations about people, which were not entirely my fault, and perhaps partly due to my childhood, advice from therapists, and my parents, even as they have done all they could for me. When I first went to college as a regular student, I, perhaps due in part to the boyish charm my parents and family have pointed out in me, found myself the center of attention of many college girls, who were overwhelmingly neurotypical, with perhaps a very slight number of people with other cognitive disabilities. I would see them stare at me, play with twirl their hair like a punch drunk ballerina, or run their hands along their thighs, smile as they passed while looking over in my direction. Yet one class period, as I watched a movie on Native American prejudices seen in the use of mascots, I realized I had the desire not to be judged for my autism by some girl who did not share it, thinking she could never understand when we became so close together. Today I realize that I was wrong and that many neurotypical girls can understand me far better than many girls who are autistic, and now face certain challenges which are not insurmountable to dating many girls who I wish I'd been more open to as a result of my ignorance. I did not have the worries of finding acceptance in a relationship while I was in high school and a self-loathing autistic, as I had my autistic ex-girlfriend on and off from my sophomore year until our relationship finally towards the end of my senior year, with a complete Ferris Bueller conviction that we would get married. Yet for others, this is indeed a problem. A former social worker I know talked about his work seeing couples where the husbands had Asperger syndrome. These women often found their husbands behaviors offensive, but perhaps had they known of or understood their husband’s condition, things might have been different. I’ve learned though that you can wait months, even years, before finding an autistic girl who is right for you (the vast majority of autistic girls are believed by some professionals to be undiagnosed), and in that time plenty of non-autistic people may show up into your life who can be great partners. 

The key, I think is to know how to disclose your condition. For me, I had the natural born quality of autistic advocacy. I cared for everyone in the autistic community and it showed. I was interviewed on NBC in the summer of 2011 by Chris Hernandez about being an adult with autism, and remained confident and true to myself, which I think allowed people to take me seriously, despite the overwhelming misconceptions about autism. The trick I think for people with autism is to disclose your condition to your friends, employers, and social network in a way that speaks to your character. If you are normally a very shy and timid person, perhaps let your friends know that you want them to understand you and not judge you for things you do, which are neurological. If you are a normally very proactive employee, let your employer know that you are telling them you are autistic because you sometimes need help with certain functions and want them to understand that. If you usually go to the quiet corners at parties, let your girlfriend know you do it because of your autism. You let anyone know that you are autistic for your own reasons, and be sure to let them know so they will know that telling them is important to you and you are in fact serious about it, not strange or eccentric. If you in fact refer to yourself as autistic, rather than a person with autism, let the people you tell know that perhaps you are doing it because autism is an integral part of you are, and in case they might not understand, let them know that you cannot be the same person without your autism and that you, nor anybody else, can get rid of it. 

Do not get me wrong: some people you should not tell about your autism, particularly if they are in power and letting them know will only create problems for you. In that case, you should go to their supervisor or a human resources associate and talk to them. You are a person and should be able to say you are autistic without any fear of repercussions. But in most cases, you may find that being able to say that you are autistic creates a feeling of greater closeness and ease between you to, and it may very well better let the world truly understand autism. 

Autism Acceptance Month

             April has for the last six years marked Autism Awareness Month for many parents of families affected by autism. For the people with autism themselves, the problem with Autism Awareness Month is that it is too focused on autism from a parent’s perspective (the puzzle of autism), such as how they autism is confusing to them and they cannot understand it, and how it must be due to some environmental or social cause, such as bad parenting or vaccines. Autism Acceptance Month, however, deals with a different approach. It believes in making autism and the behaviors and traits associated with them and why autistic people do them to be understood accurately and factually, free from bias.

                Autism Acceptance Month furthermore deals with all aspects of an autistic person, such as autistic adults who face the same issues that today’s autistic children will face when they get older, such as employment, higher education, and love and relationships, all things that make the need for services for children and adults with autism all the more critical, and can be used to measure the comfort and quality of all people’s lives, including those with autism.

                For this reason I have decided to post more for The Autist Dharma this month than I have before. As many people consider this time to be Autism Awareness Month (which should indeed be every month), they will most certainly be visiting this page much more often, and I plan to use this time of unprecedented attention to raise awareness  of autistic people’s lives from our point of view.  This first week I plan to have two or three different autism posts related to these issues. In addition, this week and every other week during the month of April, I plan to have a post on the lives of various individuals throughout our society, including highly influential one’s in politics, sports, business, and so forth, and how their lives and careers as well as ours would be if it were not for particular individuals past and present, such as Thomas Edison and Thomas Jefferson, who happened to have autism. For the point of these posts, I have avoided doing your average article of lists and biographies of famous people with autism, which you can find anywhere by looking up ‘famous people with autism” on-line. 

                I have also decided to do forums for people with autism open to all autistic people and their loved ones one issues facing them such as vocation, secondary and post-secondary education, love and relationships, housing, and recreation. These will be open to all people regardless of race, culture, ethnicity, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation, class, age, nationality, marital status, and so forth to whoever applies. For this there is no need to be a follower of The Autist Dharma or to have any prior connections to it so forth. They will be open only during the month of April to make next April’s discussions more suitable for viewers to catch up on, and I will try and post then all at least seven days in advance of the next week and the end of April to give plenty of time for commenting. The point of these forums is to gain a better since of how communities can provide better services and resources to autistic people, so I hope for the purpose of these forms that all those who come upon them will take the time to join in them. Please remember to be kind and respectful to everyone who takes part in these discussions. Those comments which are not, I will delete when I find the time, so remember that and join us for this month’s discussions on the world of autism. Happy Autism Acceptance Month!