Aspies For Freedom

We fought autism to achieve gold awards
Apr 19 2006
By Hannah Murdoch

NIKOLA Woodbridge and Samantha Treadwell are prouder than most after scooping their gold Duke of Edinburgh awards, as they both suffer from an often-misunderstood form of autism.

Nikola, aged 21, and Samantha, aged 19, both have autistic spectrum disorder, formerly known as Asperger's syndrome, a condition which affects learning and social skills.

They visited St James's Palace to receive their awards, which took more then two years to complete, from the Duke of Edinburgh and comedian Harry Hill.

And today Nikola and Samantha said doing the Duke of Edinburgh award was harder for them than many people their age, and they were both proud of their achievements.

Nikola, of Linwood Drive, Woodway Park, Coventry, said: "We started it as a bet - we were going to church at Queen's Road Baptist Church and we saw a notice about it on the board and dared each other to do it.

"I like the achievement you get from completing it all and the contacts I've made.

"It brought me and Sam closer together as friends and we've learned how to be determined and get through stuff.

"I used to get upset if my environment changed, even if someone just moved a chair in the living room, but now I've been able to go on residential trips and work placements and not worry about it."

Nikola is now studying performing arts at Coventry University while Samantha, of St Margaret's Road, Lower Stoke, is studying aromatherapy at Henley College.

Samantha said the award had helped her mix with people who did not have special needs and had helped prepare her for college.

Duke of Edinburgh coordinator Graham Parsons said: "For both Nikola and Samantha, Asperger's makes it difficult for them to meet and relate to people, so their confidence suffers.

"It's amazing how much they've progressed - we're all very proud of them."

From iccoventry.icnetwork.co.uk

I am sure that the writer came up with the 'fought autism' title and that the girls themselves do not see it like that.

The writer even puts 'formerly known as aspergers syndrome'. What on earth is it known as now??? :shock:

"both have autistic spectrum disorder...".

It would seem the writer didn't know what he was writing about; as it should have stated 'both have an autistic spectrum disorder'.

nikola is my girlfriend.   She told me today she was confused about why they said "formerly called asperger".

It's now known as "gorgeous genius" syndrome.   :lol: I wish!
Alison

We were offered this program at school. I did my bronze one and was starting out my silver but I got kicked out along with my friend because we were late to one of the meetings. Never found out what the real reason was, as it couldn't have possibly been just because we were 5 minutes late for that meeting, but I guess it will just be one of those unsolved mysteries. I did ask later and they said that we had been consistently late to meetings, which was a load of hooey (I'd not been late even once before, and I know of others who didn't get kicked out but had been late several times or not turned up at all).

Where does it say that? I think the guy was just uninformed.

The formerly known as aspergers bit was quoted from the article -

Do you know what it means?


Do you feel that you 'fought autism' to be successful, or what your aspie traits actually helped you?

Could it be a typo? Maybe the author meant formally as in a formal diagnosis.

Meh, I don't know why everyone feels its so offensive. So the reporter could've done a bit more of his homework, but that's not unforgivable, is it?

Also I don't know why people who feel their condition doesn't hamper them or even helps them think that the same will be true for others. Neither way is right and it's silly to try and impose a way of thinking that arises from a very specific set of circumstances (your life experience) on someone else's.

I dont like the notion that autism is something to be fought. Its like saying 'Ellen MacArthur fought her femaleness to sail around the world'. Yes its unusual for a woman to do what she did, but she didnt fight against herself to succeed. Does that make sense?

It gives people who read the article the impression that autistics need to overcome who they are, instead of celebrating the fact that Nikola and Sam did something great and showed their strengths.

Of course, not every problem comes from prejudice, its one factor.

Well then, as we are agreed on that then I will ask why is the article here offensive? It does have the whole 'person overcomes X disability to achieve Y' slant but in this case I think it's suitable and not inappropriate. It's not about 'this person is a retard, and hey! look! it can do stuff!'; the award they have done requires things that for the average AS person are far more taxing than for the average NT person. This is because it requires that you do a whole lot of activities, many of which you have never done before in your life. So you are going to have to be very flexible, adapting to changes. You are going to meet a whole bunch of people who you wouldn't normally mingle with, over long periods of time, so you will have to form relationships with them. And chances are you are going to have to deal with all of this while juggling it with everyday responsibilities and schooling.

I can reply thus (which I have already posted in explanation of my feelings)

I didn't see any implication that people with AS are brain-damaged morons in the article. And learning disabilities are not 'extreme cognitive deficits', not by necessity at least. Whether people who read this article make that link is up to them but the article itself doesn't make any such link.