Aspies For Freedom

Didn't we do a poll on that a while back and there was only like 1 or 2 gay members on the entire forum? (No more than you'd find in the NT population at any rate), but, yah any NT writing on the Asperger's mindset will probably miss the point and just be a list of clichès

What would the award be called? I mean, you could give them a giant golden arse for an award. Some people would think that's a bit much I imagine though.

I thought Liane Holliday Willey's book "Pretending to Be Normal" was pretty bad.

She projected this attitude that seemed like she wanted the whole world to revolve around her and her daughter. She spoke as though she thought that everyone else should learn about Asperger's so they could better accomodate her and her daughter. There are a million diseases and disorders in the world, and the world is accomodating to almost none of them. Sure, it sucks for those of us who have those disorders, but it's our job to figure out a way to make it through this world, not the job of the world to figure out how to make it easier for us. I don't see her learning about other disorders and saying the public should be educated about them.

One of my biggest beefs with the book was that she suggested that people with Asperger's should be given "handicapped" parking passes (don't know if you have those in the UK) because lots of Aspies (including myself) are really bad at directions and finding their car in a parking lot. I think that's definitely overkill. There are ways to overcome that. Make sure you buy a car that's a stand-out or unusual color. Put little things on the car antenna that you can see from far away. Carry a notepad with you and write down or draw a map to where you're parked (that's what I do, but with a PDA instead). With a handicapped tag, you're taking spots away from people in wheelchairs, people who have no legs, all that sort of thing. Those people have no way to "work around" their disability. They're screwed pretty much if a handicapped spot isn't available.

Plus don't forget that there are many aspies who have very good visual memory, so we would be stuck with a whole bunch of handicapped lots being given to people who don't need them. Some aspies I am sure would forego the chance to park in a handicapped spot for the others who really need it, but I'm pretty some won't especially if its their right.

I am reading Loving Mr Spock by Barbara Jacobs, it is not the best I have read about ASD's (I say that would be Mozart and the Whale), its interesting I am annoyed at her attitudes to the issues but surely this book could equally be about the struggles of being with an alcolholic? Where did this guy get a formal diagnosis? I do see some of myself in that guy so it interesting to read a opinion of an NT as it is hard to analyse are own behaviour, for example she see's the body language we don't see and recognises that the friends this guy calls friends as she puts it hates him (bit strong, but the point is like me before my diagnosis I did not recognis between friends, mates and aquaintences), I would be nice to hear this guys own side of things.

The audience for the vast majority of the books that I have seen concerning ASD are parents of young children, who are trying to understand Autism/Aspergers.   Most of them are awful, even the ones written by actual M.D.s.  What I have not seen much of are books for and about adults who are on the spectrum.  

Although he does not write specifically about ASDs, Steven Pinker has written some excellent books on cognitive science that are accessable to the lay reader.  I especially recommend "The Language Instinct" and "How the Mind Works".

Continuing to read loving mr Spock, she thinks how wonderful the woman is who created Family afflicted by asperger's sydrome website now I know a lot of us would have opinions on that, but still I am not totally out for Ms Jacob yet!

Lisbeth Salander

Lisbeth Salander in the Millenium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson. I only began to read the first novel because somebody here on AFF mentioned that one of the two main characters seemed to be an Autist. The Trilogy is, by my definition, a Trojan horse in that that it introduces important facts, draws connections and portrays people rather than just stamping them with lables. The other main character is Kalle Blomkvist; a researching journalist and co-owner of a monthly magazine called Millenium.

The first novel was published in Sweden in 2005. The author was already dead by then. The publishing rights have been sold to several other countries. Its title will be something like "Men that hate women".

It was in response to this post that I wrote the post above this one... Silly me!!! !!! !

I wouldn't listen to very much that Faaas had to say.

Ughh!  FAAAS!  You know, some poor emo might see their website, get real depressed, and kill himself.  Freedom of speech, yeah yeah yeah, but as far as I'm concerned FAAAS is being very irresponsible by keeping a website like that.

The original question was regarding books, but if websites count, I nominate FAAAS as the absolute worst I have seen.

I kinda disliked "Speed of Dark" it's not the worst really. But I feel Elizabeth Moon's ending was major cop out.

The plot was riviting and the characters were well defind, but slightly sterotypical. I like how she devoloped Lou, he a was wonderful character and I can understand his mindset. He was well balanced example of an autistic character to some degree at least. But my two major whinings are

-NT woman writing in 1st person in the eyes of an Autist. So perspective is skewed with only the knowledge she gained from talking to other Autistics and from her perspective as a parent of an Autisic son.

-The ending was poorly written and made me feel all weird. The whole story was pretty good until she bombed it. What message are you saying to other Autistics? That you won't be happy unless your "cured?" Thats what I got. I was so proud of Lou, his affection for Majorey his love for job and fencing, I can understand him, and then she screwed it over. *sigh* It made me feel so confused and unhappy for weeks. I felt broken and misused. It took me a while to get out of that funk.

  I agree totally. It was really good until the end when She had the main character decide to be "cured".  It says that in order to fit in, people with AS need to conform and be "normal".

Whiny is exactly the word I use to describe Pretending to be Normal.

I did relate to some of the observations about behaviours and traits and so on, so it was a good insight in that sense and provided some reassurance that I was 'normal' in Aspie terms.

But the tone was so whiny as to be objectionable.  It really irritated.

Best thing I've seen is Snowcake.  It's a film starring Sigourney Weaver as an autistic woman.  The scriptwriter has an autistic child, so a lot of it was based on her experiences and insight as a parent of someone autistic.  I went to a director's talk after the screening and the scriptwriter said that Sigourney Weaver had based her portrayal on an autistic woman she'd met and spent time with, trying to get behaviours and mannerisms right.  I understand the character was autistic as opposed to Aspie, but she was functioning and living fairly independently.