Aspies For Freedom

HI Lucie1,

I wouldn't say I am 'gifted' in the arts, but I am a composer (I have an MA in Musical Composition) and am hoping one day to have some success in this area.

I'm glad your cat is becoming gradually more confident.

And I really enjoy talking to you.

I got slated on a comment board because they were talking about binge drinking and I just said that I find more people pick on my disability when they are drunk and that this kind of behaviour should be addressed.

There were a lot of hostile responses - presumably all from non-disabled binge drinkers!

Hi Mallard,

Thanks for you kind words - I wish you and your little boy every success.
Regarding communication, something which also helped me was lessons in my teens with a speech and drama teacher. She helped me to develop some tonal variation (before that I pretty much spoke in a monotone) and also even taught me some (very basic) body language.

It was a struggle as I was having to learn it by rote, but she was very patient at we got there in the end.

I was just wondering what other health problems people had that tend to be common with the Autistic Spectrum, and whether people feel this is more pronounced in people who are not very high functioning?

There are the obvious things like dyslexia, dyspraxia etc., but I was thinking more physical issues.

For example, I have an intestinal disorder, ME (although it seems to be at bay at the moment), eczema, slow healing, sluggish liver, dysmenorroheoa ( or however you spell it!) and also random involuntary internal muscle spasms (although fortunately this doesn't happen too often!)

Anyone else?

Thanks
Fortunately I have pretty much recovered from my last 'episode'.
I still get tired and achy a lot more easily than my peers, but that is nothing really compared to a full-blown episode of ME.

My last episode was around August last year (2006) because of bullying at work. But by Feb this year I was feeling more human again and giving up gluten really helped me.

I am having a blood test on Friday to see if I have coeliac disease.

Interesting about the gluten.
For me, gluten greatly exacerbates my ME. I also find that 'soft' dairy (milk, soft cheese, yoghurt etc.) upset my stomach, although 'firm' dairy (firm cheese etc.) is fine!

I am about to have a test for coeliac disease.

I have asthma too. I managed to do without an inhaler at first, but I now take one everywhere with me! Working in polluted London doesn't help!!

I have eczema - but it seems to be very on and off. I can go through phases - sometimes years in duration - where I have it, but then for anything up to a few years in between I can be absolutely fine!

And each 'episode' of eczema seems to be on a different place in my body, and with no obvious triggers like stress, changing toiltries / washing poweder / diet - it just happens!

You are welcome to intrude on my thread
Regarding involantarily non-verbal, it is like the verbal processing / speech processing parts of my brain just shut down - I can kind of feel it happening (although I get very little warning) - it is like I can feel it shutting down - in the same way that a computer shuts down.
I know what I want to say - I can still communicate by typing (not handwriting as I am dyspraxic) and also basic BSL (I am learning more BSL) but other than just forming the words, I can't get them to do what they need to do to  come out as speech. And I can't even 'try' to speak when this happens - it is like the mechanisms that I would use to try don't work either - just a total (though thankfully temporary!) shutdown.

My doctors so far haven't been able to come up with anything helpful regarding this other than just saying "oh yeah, that happens sometimes". I have recently been referred to the neuro-behavioural team in my area, so there is a possibility that I can have brain scans at some point as part of their research to find out specifically what is going on in my head! I'm quite looking forward to it, but I don't know for certain when this is happening.

I hope this answers your question.

Well, it is difficult for me to say without digging out all of my diagnostic reports. I guess the 'quick' answer is below average IQ and general comprehension, backwards in social and emotional development and self-care skills compared to my peers. I also have learning difficulties.

I don't thinik that rote learning per se is an indicator of cognitive issues. However, rote learning with little or no genuine understanding of the facts I am memorising is more of a problem.

Thanks
I think this, for me, is partly because I have always loved reading (and have even been known to sit and read dictionaries!) and because I was fortunate to have 2 years of one-to-one lessons with a fantastic speech therapist.

Again, I wouldn't say that echolalia per se is a disability. In my case, when I was younger, I was unable to use speech in a way to actually communicate anything at all. I could form speech by means of echolalia but could not convey to someone if I was tired / hungry / hurt or understand what they were saying to me until I was at least 5 and even then only to a basic level.

Hope all this makes sense.

Batman55, it is an individual thing.
There may be many people, yourself included, for whom it is not a significant problem.
It is a significant problem for me. That's all I can say.

I don't know what 'snippy' means - but if you mean that I am being mean to you - it genuinely wasn't meant like that.
It is just difficult because I misunderstood your questions and though you were asking me to justify my diagnosis and my medical knowledge is not sufficient for me to do that so I felt a little flustered as I didn't really know what to say.

Thanks for saying I sound bright, and sorry if I came across as 'moody' I didn't mean to, I just was just struggling to explain what I wanted to say. I'm frustrated at myself, no-one else!

Interesting - I have had some very similar experiences!

I used to have a teacher who said that there is no point in having intelligence if you are just going to use it to judge other people.

Thank you

Out of interest, how well do people here cope with Christmas?

I struggle with buying presents too.

Fortunately, my entire family is useless at this, so we always just come out and ask each other "what would you like for Christmas?"

My family are abusive, so there are only a couple of people that I buy presents for who are related to me - which makes things easier!

I used to have Christmas dinner with my family, but the effort of pretending we were a 'normal' family and having to act like the abuse just didn't happen became too stressful for me, so I spent last Christmas with a group of friends, and this Christmas I will be with my boyfriend and his best friend.

My family keep nagging me to spend Christmas with them which I don't understand. When I am around them at all they abuse me significantly - to the extent that I have needed medical care - so why do they think I would want to spend Christmas with them?

I do find Christmas quite disrupting - everywhere looks different due to decorations, and then a few weeks later, when I am beginning to get used to it, the decorations are taken down and everything looks really bare - so I have to get used to that all over again!

I also have difficulty in shops as they are usually crammed with extra displays and my problems with spatial perception mean that some shops become impossible for me to navigate.

Even little things like changes in programming times, changes in bus and train times are difficult for me to deal with, although I guess that is nothing unusual for someone on the spectrum.

I don't hate Christmas - I think it is an important festival for it's religious significance and I fully intend to go to Midnight Mass and also to do my best to have a good Christmas Day, but like you, I don't look forward to it either.

Hi Dove Nested Towers,

Thanks for your posts.

No, I don't have a history of pneumonia, although I understand that my mother had a serious case of this in her childhood.

I've had some tests for autoimmune issues and am having a further blood test next week but so far I have had no results that indicate this.

Hi,

Thanks for your response. I'm glad I'm not the only one with these issues!

I don't know if you have this problem, but I am finding that despite all the learning difficulty issues etc. my main problem continues to be in terms of friends / relationships.

The few relationships I have had have consisited of someone looking for a person to use and / or abuse and me not realising this until things had become very bad.

My friendships in general tend to be about people wanting something from me - like someone to spend time with until they get better friends, or someone to help them with things etc. and once they get what they want they move on from me. I just get discarded and am never seen as a 'real' friend or as someone who is of any genuine value.

When I have occasionally asked people why they treat me in this way they say that it is because I am 'hard work' or because I've 'got problems' and their attitude seems to be 'well, what did you expect?'.

I just wondered if you or anyone else here had similar experiences?
Are you able to find real friends / relationships or do you seem to bumble from one negative situation to another?

And how do you know when you are being used? I lack the skills to tell this - it is only when things get really bad (e.g. when I have had to involve the police!)

So, feel free to share any experiences!

Thanks for your reply A True Monotheist
I personally feel that you are very welcome on this thread.

And I understand what you mean about the whole LFA / HFA dichotomy issue - but that's a whole other conversation (and I've seen at least one thread here about it as well as numerous articles elsewhere....)

Hi Woman from Mars, thanks, I will try that book. My local libraries don't have it but it is only £8 on amazon and also there are some other interesting books there about related subjects too.

Thanks for the suggestion.