Aspies For Freedom

     That part, I don't see anything wrong with but the "brain operation" part comes straight out of Hollywood, which produced "Molly", in which this was part of the plot.

      I heard about this character a year ago and talked to people from the show about consulting on it. They were all for it as long as I did it for free.
I could have but knew if I did that, I would be selling the rest of us short so I didn't.

                                      Jerry

Y'know this whole disenfranchisement of people is really annoying.  I really detest this 'Does he like sugar?'* attitude of the general populace, and even more so people in positions of influence, towards people with AS, differences, disabilities etc.  I really can't stand the way that only the opinion of an 'expert' with a PhD or whatever is considered as 'valid' whereas the people who actually have real experience as opposed to theoretical expertise are ignored.

If the producers of that programme were making another series set in a hospital, would they expect their medical consultants to work for free?  Go back and ask them if they think they would have any success in asking a doctor to work for free to spend hours consulting on the accuracy of the terminology, the reactions of the characters and so on?  Do they think a doctor will agree to work for free?  Or laugh in their faces?

Likewise police dramas.  Would they get any ex-cop to work as a consultant and advise them about police procedure for free?

Likewise legal dramas?  Not only would a lawyer refuse to work for free, they would likely bill them by the hour and charge them all their incidental expenses (known as 'disbursements') such as costs of telephone calls and photocopying and postal charges for returning scripts or whatever!!!

They've got to be having a laugh, haven't they?

Actually, is that some kind of disability discrimination?  I'm sure they would pay a fee to someone to act as a consultant relating to legal, medical, police issues, what the doctors/lawyers/cops would say, how they would react, what they would do.  Why should they expect you to do that for free?  It's discrimination on the grounds of your disability.

They've acknowledged your expertise in this field by agreeing that they would like you to do it.  They are simply discriminating against you on grounds of disability because they are refusing to pay you for your work as they would pay any other kind of consultant to their programme.


*Does he like sugar?  Is the title of a programme on British radio about disability issues.  It's a comment on the fact that lots of ignorant people will ignore a perfectly capable disabled person, say in a wheelchair, and ask their carer or assistant questions about the disabled person, instead of directing their questions to the person concerned.  There's a heck of a lot of that kind of attitude about.