Aspies For Freedom

Casey, if you look around here, you aren't the first one to bring up this scenario. There are several threads debating this very thing (like the euthanasia thread for instance).

Your fear is a valid fear, but I don't think that is actually going to happen. For one thing, we look normal and can manage to act normal (at least some of the time), so how would they find us? Another thing is that AS is not a mental  illness, and we are trying to prove to people that it isn't.

I am not worried about it, but it seems that some people are getting pretty paranoid, and those are the ones putting out all that stuff that's scaring you. This is the type of thing that might happen in communist or totalitarian countries, but not in the western world at this point.

I am sure you have enough things to worry about at your age, I don't think you need to fear being rounded up Hitler-style. People would never allow that again.

And by the way, what you said doesn't sound stupid at all. It is good for you to bring up the things that are worrying you. Just saying it helps, and hopefully we can give you some answers to your questions, and allay some of your fears. That's what this site is about, for Aspies to support each other.

Uh... I think you need to calm down.  There's an unjustified air of paranoia in here.  No one is going to start rounding up aspies and sending them to concentration camps (or some similar equivalent).  Nobody has the power to do that, and even if it did happen under some dictatorship, no one would stand for it.  It would be in violation of international law.  It ain't gonna happen.

NT's aren't plotting against us, or deliberately discriminating us because we have autism, they're not conspiring to wipe us off the face of the Earth.  Most NTs wouldn't have even the slightest idea of what Aspergers is, and only vague notions of what Autism is.  They probably see people like us as the nerds who program their computers.  Maybe abortion is a worry, but beyond that I wouldn't be too concerned.

Don't be scared, don't worry too much.

It's easy to say that but fear does make people act out of the normal at times and unfortunately anything is possible when people act out of mass hysteria due to lack of information and such propagated by the media. There are NT parents I have run into on several boards that I am on that wish their autistic kids didn't exist or that they had an abortion. It's sick and people like that would tend to run towards advocating discrimination and more against us. So while it is likely to remain hypothetical for the most part, it is not impossible and unfortunately where people view us as 'diseased' and such, diseases require a cure or to be eliminated. So yes that thought can easily scare and worry a person. It's not so much about being 'paranoid' as being aware that in some cases history repeats itself and despite much changes over time, it happens again only with altered set of circumstances.  

Though setting up concentration camps and such and putting us into them isn't really a realistic possibility, curing and preventing existance of future generations of individuals on the autism spectrum is. They used to sterilize mentally handicapped people and such, when prenatal testing comes about people likely will be quick to jump on the fact that some will believe autistics/aspies should not have children, are not fit parents and should abort any offspring they have, isn't too far reaching for some people to advocate especially those NTs that vehemently ignore adult Aspies and such.  Ask Michelle Dawson about her experiences with Kit Weintraub, yes I think Kit would likely jump on the bandwagon if it meant less kids like her son that is so bad because he's autistic.

Dreamer, I don't see paranoia, I see justified fears.
People with ASD's are having to register by law in a state in the US, so they will always know where you live.

In the UK a law is being made that people with mental health issues can be detained without having commited any crime, if it is deemed necessary, and they ARE including asperger's in that list.

Amy, it is true that in one state in the US doctors are supposed to let the authorities know when they diagnose somebody with AS. But they aren't supposed to give any details! The name and address aren't given at all. So, they obviously can't keep track of individual people with AS, if they don't know any specifics. It's simply to find out how many autistic people there are.

I read that it was the person registering, is it the same state or another one?
Can anyone remember the posts on it?

it has to be more than that.  names can be the same. or at least  the SSN must be taken.

Beginning Jan. 1, health care providers who determine a West Virginia resident has autism or a related disorder must report the patient's name, diagnosis, symptoms and related conditions to the registry at Marshall University's Autism Training Center. Even physicians in other states must report on West Virginia residents they diagnose.


from
http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2003/12...utism.html

but then this
Q.  

Will the name of the individual with an autism spectrum disorder appear in the registry?
A.

No . Names are not being collected. They are not needed to know how many people have this syndrome. We do need to ensure that we do not enter a person twice (if they receive a diagnosis by two or more diagnosticians). We are asking the person reporting to use a designated standard method of coding for the cases that will allow the names to remain confidential.

from    http://www.marshall.edu/wvasdr/faq.asp

So in other words then, they will have access to a persons full name and address via their doctor, using the code name.

If autism was contagious it might be reasonable, numbers of people newly diagnosed could be given, but why an official register for autism?


Casey, I am sorry that you have bad dreams about this stuff, dont be too anxious, we are educating people and trying to stop negative things happening to people with autism, so that we move in the right direction.

The more that we talk and make people aware, the more support we can gain.

Jerry I am glad you're out there to make up for my lack of love for math. I can't stand it. LOL!  :lol:

But I wonder what we'd do if something like that happened

Pool our resources and fight back. Kinda like what we do here

SassafrasTea, you are very right.

Maybe is should get a punching bag, too, I am feeling very aggressive these days. Maybe I could paint my husband's face on it and slug away at it. That might be very satisfying.  :twisted:

Most of them probably don't even know they're autistic.

I'd love to see a prominent autism researcher get diagnosed with Asperger's, quit his job for ethical reasons, and give a press conference explaining why.

Not likely to happen, though.

HOORAY for you!!!   :grin:

Your posts seem so mature and intelligent, I had no idea you weren't already in college.  I am sure you will do very well!

"One other thing... I know that every other day someone is publishing that they have found the cause of Autism, but I think I can safely say that it will be a while before we have to worry about actual prenatal tests. Autism is gentically complex, that is, there is no one single gene to find. Many factors govern ASDs, and we dont have the slightest clue what most of them are."

The problems are already out there, women with autism and AS being pushed to have abortions, NT women with one child with autism already, choosing to abort male foetuses. A woman wrote in a baby magazine that because her neice was dx with autism, she chose to not have any more kids, just in case.
Any clue towards autism would be jumped on and used, I'm surprised we haven't seen a "pendulum autism detector" being sold to hold over the mother's stomach by now.