Aspies For Freedom

thanks for this article! I really love the kindness and understanding in her words. Really beautifully spoken!

I recognized quite some stuff in her, from what I've seen, what she has with snow I think I had with sand when I was really young (I think until they told me I'll get worms eating sand) and later (and still) with shells, especially the ones with small notches, I like to bite/eat them. When I saw her eating snow, it was the first time I put the link with the eating of shells (I knew it was odd but hadn't layed the link with autism yet) And as for the trampoline.. I think I have this with swings, I would love to have a swing in my backyard or in my living room (if possible)!! It is one of those "once when I have my own house"-fantasies. I adore swinging, I even have to giggle when I breathe in a specific way while swinging. Or swinging with specific music, I love that too. I get this incredible "high" feeling from swinging sometimes. I haven't in a while, I'm ashamed (not in the least because I start giggling). That's why I want my own swing!

Sounds good, but it gets panned by the critics who saw the premiere. Admittedly, they are jaundiced critics, and so they often don't react the same way the general audience does - so there's still hope  :smile:

I am not 100% certain but I think it is more a tactile thing (taste and crispycrunchiness) than a nutritional thing... I cannot know for certain though, it could be very instinctual. I know pregnant women have the urge to eat chalk sometimes...

Here, I found it, it is called "pica":
http://www.kidshealth.org/parent/emotion.../pica.html

It could have been iron deficiency (?) I did check my blood some time ago and it was low on iron, but not insufficient, so I take iron-supplement now from time to time just to be certain. But I can hardly imagine having been low on iron when I was a kid and had this craving for sand....

Actually I remember, I have/had the same craving with pencil gums!!!! (= the blue gums, which are also a bit crispy and sandy). I even bought the gums especially for biting purposes...  :roll:

Natalia,
1.  Of course ice is food.
2.  My cat eats plastic bags.  :shock:
3.  I like to suck on the ends of long grass stalks.   :?:

Ciao,
Athene

maybe they were refering to ice-cubes or something? That literally wouldn't be food, just frozen water... although it's consumable, why not? So is snow btw, it's a good water intake in places where everything is frozen.
My cats eat grasses and sometimes they like to play with/chew on long 'plastic ribbons', more because they're fun I think. So we don't leave them lying around unsupervised. I think otherwise my cats are pretty normal (well... normal... hehe.. no cat is normal, they all have their quirks)

Also I noticed on that list they had both "baking soda" and "cornstarch". Maybe they just need a refresher on what food is.

I predict that there will be plenty of complaint that the character turns out to not be "autistic enough".  There will be plenty of complaing that the character turns out to be "too autistic".

Yup, and people will complain about the portrayal and character.  Some will say she "goes too far" and some will say that "she doesn't show the horror and heartbreak that is autism".  It's no comment on the performance.  It's a comment on how these matters are received by society.

Me, I prefer documentaries that cite their sources, in any case.  Drives my wife to distraction.  Many evenings have me and the boys in the living room, Discovery Channel (or Cartoon Network) on; her in the office, some network fiction series on.

     I hear that Sigourney Weaver has publicly been very positive about our community. That goes for some of the cast involved in my movie as well, especially Radha Mitchell. As for "autism celebrities" doing this, I do it everywhere I go. But it is never enough to satisfy the purists

                         Jerry Newport aka The Whale

   I am that person but your question wasn't stupid at all.

                       Jerry Newport aka The Whale

     For the most part, yes. My wife's alter-ego is played by a woman much closer to Mary in 1993 than I ever was to Josh Hartnett. However, both characters got our spirit down very well. Where the movie deviates from reality, it does so in a way that an aspie could do. It is too bad that more of our actual lives weren't used. Mary's alter-ego is single. Mary is a mom. That's just one example. I think the other people in the group could have been a little less stereotypical but considering where the script was in 1997, we improved it a lot.

     I think the best example of aspergers is ironically a character who doesn't claim to have it; Gregory, the best friend of my alter-ego, Donald.

     What I like best about "my" movie is that it is not just about one character, but a group of people. OTOH, "Snow Cake", which I haven't seen yet, might provide a deeper look at one person.

                                    Jerry Newport aka The Whale

Heh, I agree zakkie

I've had Snowcake for a while on DVD, this post is reminding me I should watch it again soon.

I think Weaver's portrayal was surprisingly accurate, funnily enough, I once dated a woman almost exactly like the character she plays, scarily alike, almost a mirror image of my ex!

I've seen it a few times and have thought of making a thread about it; until now...

The first few times it was on I only caught it past the accident where the daughter dies but then I've seen it a couple of times right through. I have a few minor hang-ups with her portrayal in that it seem too stereotyped; the way she zones out in church and starts playing with whatever it is. But I guess I'm just being a schmuck. And I should view it more times. Only It's so sad that the daughter dies. I really liked her character.

It's not based on a true story.  The storyline is not based on a true story at all.  However, the mannerisms and behaviours of the autistic character are based on Sigourney Weaver's research meeting real-life autistic Ros Blackburn.

The screenplay was written by Angela Pell.  Angela Pell and her partner/husband Henry Normal have an autistic son.  That's where the writer got a lot of the behaviours and insight about autism from.

Sigourney Weaver who plays the autistic woman did a lot of research about autism before playing the part and in the course of her research she met Ros Blackburn in order learn more and to see mannerism and physical behaviours and so on.

(I attended a screening of Snowcake followed by a director's talk at the Cornerhouse Cinema in Manchester and that's where my information is from.)

Lulu, you lucky bugger I live in manchester, and I wish I had known about that.