Two new self-published books, by aspies, added to
http://www.lulu.com in the last ten days...
"Du bist so komisch" (English trans.: "You Are So Amusing")
A self-help book for aspies (book is in German only)...
http://www.lulu.com/content/348945
-and-
"Astonishing Aspie Tales: a beginner's guide to adult aspies."
A 'documentary style' comic-book about adults who have high-functioning Asperger's Syndrome...
http://www.lulu.com/content/380228
The best comics are, these days. :smile:
Do you know where I could find this in the States? I'd be curious to take a gander.
It comes across like a 32 page Jack Chick Tract, except it's about Asperger's not Christianity.
Also I really think that they should've mentioned that while a majority of guys have Asperger's girls can have it too. I mean, it seemed like they were just talking about guys only.
I had a look at the first few pages of the comic book, and it didn't strike me as anything revolutionary or overly original. It uses medicalized language and medicalized thinking, and it reinforces the old stereotypes of the "stupid, non-verbal low-functioning autistic" as opposed to the "fluent" intelligent, high-functioning aspie.
I wouldn't honestly decribe any of the aspies who I know as truly fluent, even though we can talk and talk and talk .... Anyone who carefully listens to an aspie and thinks will most likely pick a flaw or three in their speech, such as stuttering, odd tone or mono tone, not appearing to listen to others in conversation, anomia, lack of awareness of having a too loud or too soft voice, too much detail, "too much information" etc.
Interesting - although I disagree about the 5 to 1 ratio re males having it more than females. I tend to think Asperger's is passed on down through the x chromosome rather than the y, in which case males would be more affected by it, while females have a secondary x to compensate, so the effects are "masked" more.
Alison
No studies have found evidence to support x-linked inheretance. The only chromosomes I've heard mentioned are nos. 15 and 7.
There have been statements made about hormones, but I wouldn't put much faith in them. I think society conditions females to behave a certain way so the role of female hormone ratios in female behavior is wildly overstated.
And since people are contantly parroting how autism doesn't happen in females, females are less likely to be diagnosed as autistic simply because it isn't thought to be possible. So in females, the situation is closer to what it was in the early nineties. Or females with more mild expression of autistic traits have their autism ignored completely, which explains a statement made in one news article that females are "more severely" affected. It's not that, it's just that for many diagnosticians, a female has to express more autistic tendencies in order to be diagnosed. They just won't believe it otherwise.
For this reason I consider the alleged gender ratio in autism to be worthy of urban legend status.
ConLang wrote
.. a female has to express more autistic tendencies in order to be diagnosed. They just won't believe it otherwise.
A female has to express more of whatever she has in order for it to be noticed. For years there have been biases towards males being diagnosed with ADHD, dyslexia and intellectual giftedness, but the sex ratio for at least two of these conditions varies with time and method of identification. [/quote]