Aspies For Freedom

They wish to cure us, but I say WE are the cure!

sorry.

X-Men? Not quite. Mutants denote an evolutionary change, an advance of the HomoSapien species. You, the aspies are nothing but a genetic disorder. A G that was supposed to a C. Don't give yourself to much credit.

And its that kind of mentality that makes you just another weakness in human genetics. ADD, ADHD, Alzheimers, BiPolar, Manic Depression, the list goes on and on. Excuses, weaknesses I say. It is a wonder how Aspies have survived this long. Just remember, you arne't advanced, you aren't the next evolutionary stage. You are a disorder, a disease, maybe when one of you can look a person in the eye, take a picture without staring off at the ground, learn to shut up when it isn't your place to talk, we can talk evolutionary change.

I highly doubt that. But since everyone these days seems to need to be diagnosed with some crutch disorder, why not. Listen, I'm not trying to get angry with the AS community, I just find your ideas funny. People with AS might be X-Men. hehe I know a kid with AS, personally I think he has a lack of discipline and a spoon across the *** a few times will get him corrected. It worked for me as a kid. I just find it hard that a parent uses AS as an excuse to fail than to teach a kid how to be a person. I am afraid if he doesn't learn when to shut up, he is going to say the wrong thing to someone some day and get a bullet in his head for it. Thank god he lives in a small town where there are no minorities, well, other than him.

I think any disease they have "created" in the past 100 years is a crutch. Small Pox, Leprecy, those are diseases. ADD, AS, Manic Depression, is just crap made up by the medical community to have people get prescription drugs that turns them into zombies.

And you dare me to do what? I have raised my hand to that boy and used it. Why, because my son used to talk that way, he doesn't now. AS does not give him an excuse to not be able to learn respect.

Is AS a disorder, yes, does it give people with it an excuse to do certain things? Not at all. Like someone else said, we are all humans. If you, him, or they happen to have AS, it does not give them a free pass to be prick. Which quite frankly is a lot of what I see here. You are all under some notion that you are all superior, smarter, which I can understand, its a form of Autism. But for every give there is a take. You can't have Yin without a Yang. AS doesn't make you the next step in man kinds evolution whether that evolution be forward or backward. And I for one am not going to treat anyone with any disorder with kid gloves any longer. Part of life's lessons are consequence. I don't care what you have, its something you'll learn eventually, even if I am the only one that is going to do it.

So keep your idle threats to yourself, the breaking of limbs, the ripping off of an arm or whatever. I came here to help learn what it is to have AS so I can better deal with this child, and from what I've seen, his fate is already sealed.

this, ladies and gentlemen- is a prime case of Neurotypical syndrome.
See how this *** thinks that anyone with AS automatically uses it as an exuse FOR THE SYMPTOMS OF ASPERGERS.

I don't even want to debate with you, scum- go somewhere quiet and shoot yourself.
The world will be better off with one less child abuser.

   I was watching the new X-MEN movie not even a week ago.  I was thinking about how I fit that, having Asperger's.  I find this very interesting that the idea is so widespread.  

AND MR. Grosser- U remind me of a couple people in my life.  I was diagnosed with Asperger's earlier this year when I was in college.  My dad went to an interview with the guy who was doing my evaluation.  But recently, after I applied to SS because the autism services in my town only help people on SS(go figure), he told me I was lazy(I have worked more this year than he is as I am in the ARMY RESERVE) and I needed to get a real job. (Army Reserve vs. unemployment hmm...)  AND, ironically the teacher for the MR class in high school quit talking to me after I got a service dog that she didn't think I needed -- teaching degree, medical degree what's the difference?. (I got it because I refused to be put on medication and the service dog was a compromise I made with my doctor).  I spent 6 years in high school because my (regular ed) teachers refused to work with me.  The self-contained teachers helped me to the point my regular ed teachers would send me down there to do my work. (I had asked for a learning evaluation, but they dodged it because I tested into advance classes on the state tests- just couldn't put up with the noise and lights and telepathic teachers, "Well, everyone else understood what I meant.")
Maybe this will give U some insight into the difficulty I face and maybe that boy too.  I got pretty upset when I didn't understand what people wanted or when they didn't believe that lights and sound bothered me that bad.  Maybe U should find out about his sensitivities and see if that might be leading to his behavior, and look into his social skill training.  Respect is based on social ideas that everyone "naturally" understands.  People with autism do what makes sense to them and makes them feel better(like from sensory problems).  Do some research and don't judge.

:?   I got off track about that guy.
       SPECIAL POWERS-- I can bore people.  How is that a power: two examples.  One- this kid started picking on me in the alley behind my house and I don't know how Star Trek got into the conversion but I told him he shouldn't be mean to people and started quoting the preamble to the Articles of Federation to prove my point.  He just turned around and left.  He never spoke to me again.  Two- it got me an A+ in 6th grade science- for the year from just one assignment.  I don't remember the exact assisgnment, but I did a paper on warp theory.  I talked for half an hour.  EVERYONE in the class was asleep.  The teacher was trying to keep up with what I was saying to make sense of it.  I showed her the references that I used( to prove there is real science behind it.) She told me I was guranteed an A+ for the year.  And everyone was glad they got a nap.

Power - Make people feel stupid.

I do it all the time with my co-worker, not on purpose though. Not 2 day ago i was trying to explain to my boss and a co-worker some stuff about astronomy and some of Stephan Hawking theory. After 5 minute my boss just left saying "I hate it when he does that, i can barely keep up with him." My co-worker stay a bit longer but went away saying "this give me an headache."

I'm sorry, I know the thread has moved on from this, but I'm new and really wanted to respond.

Kinda contradictory, eh? Also, What about AIDs, is that a made up disease? Tell that to all the made up victims.

Well, let me talk to you about my life. I apparently grew up with aspergers, but only recently discovered that I have aspergers. I just always thought I was wierd. Now I know why.

So you say we arne't (sic) advanced? Well, perhaps not, but I would be interested to know what it is that you do for a living. I will tell you what I do. I am a college professor in the field of Computer Engineering. Also, I am only 24. Were you teaching college courses at 24? What about 23? (Which is when I started.) When earning my degree, I was on the dean's list every year (3.8 GPA). Also, in the hardest course in the program, Electromagnetic Fields and Waves (can you even pronounce that?), which has failed many an engineering student, I recieved an A+.

Now this is really against my nature to talk about my accomplishements. I far prefer to just blend into the background, but I am doing this to make a point. We are smart people. Smarter than you (as evidenced by how well organized the Aspie arguments are and how absurd your's are).

I used to be a little like you. When I first heard of aspergers, I said "*** burgers? I hear those can be painful!" (I know, real original, eh?) Then, I started reading about it and it really tweeked my interest. I haven't been officially diagnosed, but I show several of the signs (obsessive with key interests, for example), and the more I investigate it the more I'm convinced. I even took the online tests and they tell me I am most likely an Aspie.

It kind of bothered me at first that I wasn't normal, but then it hit me, I'm not normal. I never have been. I've always felt inferior because I was not normal. Now I know why. It is a huge comfort!

As for the disipline end of things, aspergers is not a crutch for bad behaviour. When I grew up, I was never in trouble in school (in fact, that was one of the things that I was made fun of for; one of the many things). It was fartheads like you that made my childhood a living hell. I loved learning, but absolutely hated school because people were not accepting like they should be, but rather were those with a cranium full of fecal matter that insisted on making fun of different people.

Aspergers is not a crutch. Those who use it a to excuse all that the kid does wrong is missled. I agree that a little discipline is important when raising a child, but it also helps to know why a kid is acting a certain way. Also, a lot of missbehaviour is not necessarily directly related to aspergers, but rather may be percieved misbehaviour. For example, insisting that the child look you in the eye when you are talking to him is an example of you being in the wrong, not the child!

In conclusion, don't be so full of your self that you refuse to learn from your intellectual superiors (aspies, normal people, rocks, etc). I would be interested to know what you do for a living, and what kind of contribution you are making to society. You better be a doctor or professor or similar to hold any weight. If you are flipping burgers or delivering packages, that is fine. That is your choice, and you are entitled to it, however, you don't have the right to tell those that are actually making a meaningful contribution to society that they are inferior. It doesn't even remotely sound right!

Thats my rant for now. Thanks for your patience everyone!

* SPOILER *

Mmm... "Cure" as weapon was a good twist. But I also like that the experience to this cure was not the same for everyone.

Like, Rogue gets the cure because it IS something she wants for herself, and that's the way it should be. Not something that is forced upon people.

{In conclusion, don't be so full of your self that you refuse to learn from your intellectual superiors (aspies, normal people, rocks, etc). I would be interested to know what you do for a living, and what kind of contribution you are making to society. You better be a doctor or professor or similar to hold any weight.}  

I can tell you what he does for a living, a computer technician - I know this because I am the parent of the boy he speaks of; the one he hit!  I was not around when he hit my son and did not have a chance to address it with him because he took off for home immediately after doing this. He could not face me - wonder why.  To this day he has not apologized to my son nor I. My daughter was dating this man (I use the term very loosely) but thankfully has moved on.

My son, as are many Aspie kids, is a challenge at times. It is difficult to know when a behavior is a result of his disorder or just being difficult.  I am not perfect and have at times spanked my son only to totally regret it afterwards. I am 'woman' enough to have apologized to my son and work on myself daily to keep myself in check.

Thanks for listening and I know you all are wonderful individuals. I know my son is.

Honestly I think we aren't mutants because they basically own Marvel now. If anything, the Mutants are the "normals" and we're the forgotten heroes like the Blue Diamond and Spitfire-- or we're the gentle heroes like the Silver Surfer or the Vision-- or we even have moments when we're Doctor Doom.

In fact, if you ever want to see a more neglected or abused group in Marvel (or most places, really)-- check out the robots and other living machines. They don't even have citizen status in their home countries...

Hmm... super powers... Well, naturally I don't have any; but if you were to say "extraordinary"--as in things most people (say, 99 out of 100) can't do, I do have some, and most I think are connected to AS.

With me, it has to do with sleep; but my own sleep--not others'. If sick, injured, or sore from exercise, I can sleep for ten to twenty hours and wake up completely or mostly recovered; it's almost as though I am deliberately putting myself into some sort of healing trance. I sleep very lightly, so that anything that goes on nearby, I can sense just as well as if I were awake. That results in frequent awakenings, but it also means I'm very alert. When I go to sleep and wake up naturally, without an alarm, I can tell the amount of time I was asleep to within a half hour (with an alarm, anybody can tell the time--they set the alarm, of course!).

I'm also very prone to lucid dreams and can control them to a good extent, visiting places and doing things I've decided to do before I went to sleep. These can help self-knowlege, letting me explore tendencies and actions which come out only during the lowered inhibitions of a dream; last night, I visited a school in which about fifty children represented different aspects of my personality. I remember three or four dreams a night (there are usually five REM periods in a normal sleep period).

A lot of this has come about because my circadian rhythm is extremely unpredictable and shifts without warning, meaning that my body is not "used to" being asleep at any given time of the day--and that means I sleep lightly when I do sleep. The rest has to do with an intense interest in sleep and dreams, an obsession which reached its peak about a year and a half ago and stayed pretty strong for about a year. Naturally, what one thinks about, one dreams about; studying sleep is quite conducive to being aware of it as more than just a period of unconsciousness.

As for other talents of the 1-out-of-100 variety:
--perfect pitch, and ability to harmonize intuitively with a melody
--naturally good speller (went to the state spelling bee without ever studying; defeated by an unfamiliar word)
--ability to visualize 3-D images and locations easily (visual/spatial skill); 4-D objects in a limited sense
--the ability to "think out of the box", quickly connecting ideas, methods, and objects that most people don't think of connecting--especially useful with "brain teasers", logical problems, scientific experiments and concepts, improvising solutions, fixing things, creating analogies, and making things out of what most people consider "junk".

They're not superpowers; they're not savant skills; but they're definitely Aspie strengths, and I'm proud of them. I wouldn't even think of trading those abilities for intuitive social cognition, no matter how important it is in our socially-oriented world. The world needs 1-in-100 Aspie abilites just so much more than it needs yet another NT social genius.

I wanna be "The Procastinator"