Aspies For Freedom

Greetings

Zardoz on AI just posted this :-

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7899821/

There is just no need for the amount of lavish praise they are giving bill gates (I suspect it might have something do with him owning the thing)

Its great to get a mention, I am glad that the issue is finally being taken seriously in the media. The more people that are aware of the prenatal test issue, the better.

I have to wonder: Does the publication of this article means that Bill Gates is having serious thoughts about "coming out" as an Aspie and using his considerable influence to try to prevent prenatal testing for autism?  Would the editors at MSNBC have dared to publish such a discussion of Gates' neurology without his approval?

Gates is a father, and considering his obvious Aspie traits, it's quite likely that at least one of his kids is autistic (although any diagnosis would have been kept confidential).  Maybe, like us, he is worried about the sort of society his kids will grow up in.

We can but hope...

Hooray! Although their one headline was stupid, "advantagous disorder". Is that even a word? It seems like an oxymoron at the least...

I am glad to finally see a positive article.

it on slashdot :   genetic Testing For Geekiness?

Does Bill Gates wear any colour except grey? It seems to be an aspie thing, wearing the same colour all the time. Apparently Warhol wore green undies every day, and I know an aspie fellow who wears the same colour every day.

Is saw in the article that there is speculation about Lewis Carrol being on the spectrum. The Rev. Dodgson was such an interesting man, and various writers have explained his quirks as the result of him having migranes, a bad stutter, or due to his having a temporal lobe epilepsy personality, but I've always thought AS was a definite possibility. Even if he wasn't on the spectrum, he did seem to have an interesting collection of neurological traits suggestive of anomalous cerebral dominance.

I have been fascinated by Lewis Carroll for many years. I have studied his books in great detail. I visited his birhtplace where they have a church with wonderful stained glass windows showing scenes from his books.
I also go to Llandudno where he holidayed, and so did Alice from the books.
They have a museum there.

The anotated version of the Alice books are very interesting to read.
I do feel that he possibly an aspie. Look at his amazing skills with mathematics and logic puzzles.

I e-mailed the person who wrote the msnbc article, he is Arthur Caplan, the director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania.

My question and his response -

How soon do you feel that a prenatal test for autism will be available?
I know it is hard to judge, but in your opinion?
Some people seem to feel that it is so far away, or so impossible, that we shouldn't worry about it.
However, as you have seen, I feel that it is better to raise awareness of the issue before it is here, and being used.

I would bet that in three to five years we will see the first 'crude' genetic tests for autism appear.

Better to anticipate this and argue for a public policy stance then wait around until the testing, however, crude and ill-informed, begins.

I thought it was an interesting article.  I agree that it would be beneficial to make as many people aware of it before they start actually doing anything.

This is the article that led me to this site.  I saw a link for it in an article at another site when doing research about AS and thought it would be interesting to read.  I'm glad I did, because I saw the link for this site and decided to check it out.

I don't like it when they talk about Aspies as being genius. Even though it might be quite an ego-stroke, it is a sterotype. and it can be as damaging to as the "rain-man" stereotype is to auties. Not all of use are uber-geniuses. And it puts unrealistic expectations on us. I could just imagine people going out of of there way to have an aspie kid only to be disappointed when they don't show any sign of upstaging Stephen Hawking and have difficulties.

What I think I am saying is that the "genius" sterotype can gloss over the difficultly that we have,  and deny us the help we need.  For example I can't get disability support because they don't think I have a "significant disablity". I haven't hada job in over a year. and the job i had would hire anyone who had a resume. And it was not in my field.  I was basicially paid for staying awake.

Just be glad that a major news site has mentioned AFF.

It's quite easy to work out they are giving him praise to show that an aspie can make huge difference to society. Bill certainly has. Why do aspies all ways have to be so picky?

"Why do aspies all ways have to be so picky?"

Lol, its in the genes :wink:

I completely agree here. I don't like extremist portrayals of AS in the news, be that overly negativistic (i.e. focussing on how we're all poor suffering sods who are condemned to a life of misery, or how all Aspies are criminal or violent or badly behaved) or distorted in the other direction (i.e. genius, special skills, look at miracle boy etc. etc.).

Everything has its good and its bad points, and IMHO the most helpful approach is to show that there is both in every neurotype, and that whatever our differences, we may need understanding and a bit of help to be able to cope better with the world.

We're not defective but we function differently, which means we may need help with things other people don't need help with. At the same time, we may be very good at things others just can't do. But we're neither just incapable or defective, nor genius prodigies who shine above all else.

We are all doomed  :roll:

(I'm sure a few people out there are saying "Yeah, we'd have aborted Bill Gates!")