Aspies For Freedom

Hello everyone, though it's my first post, i've read some topics and thought i'd post something here, as my profile reads, i'm from Holland. (that little country sitting next to Germany and the even smaller Belgium)

Here, we have some seriously weird systems, and for the past few years, a simply amazingly incompetent goverment, how they managed to keep running this SNAFU (for all the non-militairy people, it's Situation Normal: All F***ed Up) is a mistery to everyone including myself.

As for one of the systems i reffered to, it's a rehabilitation system, one that my brother was unfortunate to attend for six months, i'll refrain from more details for privacy reasons. Frankly, the treatment he (and most others) received was nothing short of inadequate, ranging from being treated as 5-year olds on a ward where the oldest is 23 to simply have a complete dayroster in which even their 'free time' was scheduled. Now, at the time they started initial tests on me (My brother was diagnosed with chronical tiredness syndrome, more commonly known as M.E.) and when that center found out, they asked my mother to have me admitted. By then, my mother(bless her for her understanding and patience) caught wind what happened, and forbid them any intervention, even theatening to cause trouble if they attempted to rig things (It happens, in fact, they screwed up so bad that they put kids with 'disorders', ND's like us in juvenile PRISON, though it caused a bit of a media storm, i wonder what really changed... Nothing probably.)

Anyways, they called one day, and to their amazement the wrong person picked up: Me. Something, which according to them, was impossible. According to them, i was supposed to be unable to pick up the phone, go shopping, interact with others like i did at school (i don't have many friends, but the ones i have i can trust) and be unable to be home alone, since i would panic just at the prospect, frankly i think they considered me to be a shivering mess rather than sounding like what they consider to be normal.

Though that was several years ago, i doubt they changed their views about Autism and Asperger. I haven't had much luck, since i developed M.E. in the meanwhile too, which is not yet fully recognized by the goverment. Anyways, i hope my stay here is a long, and fruitful one, you will undoubtedly see more topics from me. Live your life and dream your dreams.

On a sidenote, most call me Rey, feel free to call me that.  :smile:

Welcome, Rey!

Hi Rey, why did they start initial tests on you?

Hello and Welcome, Rey :smile:

Stella

Thanks everyone, and they did the tests because they had a feeling about it, frankly it was done on my mother's request who had suspected i had a form of autism since birth, when they had a conversation with my parents and me, we all agreed it was time to get some dust cleared out of the cabinet and find out what had been shining underneath, i was lucky to be reccomended this school in the first place. I had the unbelievable bad luck of being placed on a mid-school with conservatives who thought my mother was crazy, only one or two teachers where good, so my parents and i where happy to know that they weren't seeing things.

Yikes! Another Dutchie here on the boards! *Ducks and covers behind some building in the otherwise absurdly flat Netherlands*

The system here in NL is strange in some ways but you also have benefits here you'll probably miss out on when you're living in, say, the USA. For instance, I get a disability payment just because of my AS and the fact that getting a job would be very difficult. I can't recall any stories of people locked up in some institution here (let alone prison) because of their AS. Possibly because of a severe crisis situation at home, but at least in my case, I was admitted voluntarily. I stayed in that facility for 9 months for psychosis treatment and was sent home afterwards (which also gave me the AS diagnosis). I was never arrested or punished for anything illegal which would end me up in juvenile prison.

Ah holland - those dam hamsters (or is that amsterdam?)  :razz:

the reason they put children in jail was simple: No room. Then again, holland is a small country, so they can get away with saying that. As for hamsters... don't look at me. As for disability pay, i get that as well.. And because of the problems i received lateron, i'm unable to continue my education, so i have no choice right now but to sit at home, not that i'm gonna throw in the towel since it's possible for me to simply wait my chance and seize it.