Aspies For Freedom

Bleh, they used really crap language so I didn't care reading it all.

I wrote this comment:

If you're still able to improve it:

Alot of autististic people do abuse drugs.

It's controversial whether or not Albert Einstein is autistic, I guess most people don't think he could ever be, and that is not the place to convince people.

... and it isn't necessarily just social interactions that is the problem for autistic people. SIB - self-injurious behavior and aggression is also a problem for many.

I think the best you can do is to show people how destructive presenting autism in such a unecessary negative view really is.

Gah.  More alarmist curebie crap.

"Trapped in their own world"?  If that's the way you're going to be about it, better their world than yours.

I read this article in the paper today....mind you I couldn't concentrate cos I was being nagged by my HFA daughter to "put down the paper and come and play with me" from her "cruel" "walled off " "loveless" world of non-communication  apparently (lol).

Having re-read the article I'm in agreement with you all...especially what Moo was saying about it  (not) appearing at 3...My daughter was doing the same stims she does now (at 6), when she was 6 weeks old....I just didn't know what they were then.

However the print article also carried a full page interview with a Mum who's son was a 12 yr old HFA (though he sounded more MFA if there is such a thing). Her comment on the "research" was;

"It took an age to get Alex the help he needed. The earlier you know the better, and if this could help us identify autism as young as possible it would be wonderful. But I would not want a situation like Down's syndrome, where you tell parents while the child is in the womb and you have to make a decision.
We also ask ourselves how much of Alex's personality is Alex, and how much is the autism. Can we even separate the two ?
If you asked us could we have prevented it, we would have to think. Obviously in some ways it would be better for him, but he is happy in himself".

This at least tempered somewhat the curebie fervour and doom of the rest of it, but they didn't put that bit online.
No wonder people are scared of autism when they print this stuff.

Oh they did put the "alex story" online, but I missed it whoops !

I agree with all who posted, I didn't have time to make a comment when I posted the article, but did want to post before it was lost.
I think it is useful to know what we are up against re curbies & the more information that we find that they are disseminating  the better for  we who do not want to be 'cured'.

I usually don't buy into this stuff, but I left a comment, too:

"As an Autistic person, I can assure you I am not "walled off in a social and emotional world of [my] own" - I simply experience and interact with the world in a way slightly different to "neurotypical" people. It is at least as much a blessing as a curse.

Autism is not a "psychiatric" condition, as this report incorrectly states - it is a pervasive developmental disorder. And a female is not "immune" from autism "because of her gender" - as a female Autistic, I should know.

You may also be unaware that Autism Speaks is not highly regarded within the Autistic community. Most people on the spectrum I've discussed this with don't want to be "cured" - just understood."

Autism Speaks & CAN are two that I know of for certain.

I really like the fact that Ethel's comment starts "As an autistic person..."  I think those are very powerful words in and of themselves.

I'm afraid the concept of "walled off in their own world" is a somewhat accurate depiction for some however, especially those like Hrick whose autism involves a highly dysfunctional sensory system at start which can take little or no meaning out of the world at outset. What is true for one is not true for all however.  It would be far more helpful to autists generally if the experts took the time to  learn and recognize the different genres and their sources, then address help, if and where needed, accordingly.   Mom

My father read this when at the airport this week- he emailed me to tell me to read it, but warning for these things that you have mentioned. His exact words were "You may find the language used bad, and it does not portray autism particularly well"
Think that sums it up quite well- at first I got annoyed, but I guess that could have been due to my mood yesterday. hmm,

One has to question the value of a label that is being applied to such a diverse group of people. It is very unlikely that the articulate people with "autism" who are commenting here really have the same underlying condition as my "autistic" 14-year-old son, who is almost mute. It seems very probable that there are numerous different conditions to for which the same word is being used. Using the same label for millions of different people, most of whom don't seem to have a whole lot in common, is only likely to confuse everyone--not just the public, but also the scientists.



How would you guys answered this

Yes, you could say that again.  It's been an ongoing struggle for me.

I hear that there's a tendency for autistic people to get hooked on their own adrenaline, which is precisely what happened to me.