Aspies For Freedom

hey was watching the daliy show, colbert report block on comedy central and i saw a promo for a austim research fund raiser thing i'm assuming tis fotr a curbie orgaztion any idea what i can do or we can do.

yes, it's curebie, autism speaks is sponsonring, those evil child murders...

http://autismdiva.blogspot.com/2006/09/c...ht-of.html

more on the event.  apparently, we're not human beings and been robbed of our souls, etc.

All those celebrities.....yet a celeb diagnosed with AS (Dan Aykroyd) is not there. hmmmm.

Adam Sandler!
NOOOOOOOOOO!

Although I am much more concerned about these exploding numbers, they sound dangerous.

Why are they called autism speaks when they obviously don't broadcast the opinions of autistics?

Autism Speaks isn't getting ALL the money:

"Evening Benefits
Comedy Love Call will benefit a variety of autism education programs to support the overabundance of autistic children that so desperately need schools. Funds raised will support new schools that have recently or are just about to open their doors, as well as existing schools that are now developing innovative adult programs, providing vocational and life skills for adults with autism. Proceeds will also support outreach programs that provide training and consultation to families of very young children with autism in their homes"

Overall, though, we do need to let people know WHY Autism Speaks is so poorly viewed among the Autistic community.  People care, they just don't KNOW.

Why does everybody claim to know Dan Aykroyd is on the spectrum?
I highly doubt this, because this rumour has been spread by wikipedia.
If you check their reference source, it's obvious, that he said that jokingly.
(Sorry to be a little off topic.)

Andra, have you never seen any of the Blues Brothers movies? Please explain how a so believeably autistic character as Elwood Blues could have been created by a neurotypical actor working with a screenplay written by an NT? Dan Ackroyd co-wrote the screenplay of the first Blues Brothers movie and was the actor who played Ellwood. Where do you think they got the idea for the aspie monologues in the second movie or the deadpan body language or the pedantic attention to detail of Ellwood's or the very specific and odd food preferences of that character? Don't you think that there is a relationship between the character Ellwood's detailed knowledge of law enforcement and imitation of police (driving a cop car), and what is supposed to be an autistic special interest of Ackroyd's of police work, and his carrying of a police badge, even though he is not a police officer. No link there?

Why do you think Ackroyd often does those over-excited speeches that go on and on, with an odd amount of technical detail in them, in the movies that he is in? You couldn't create finer examples of the aspie monologue.

Whenever an author or writer creates an aspie character that is believable and consistent, such as Sherlock Holmes or Ellwood Blues, you have to ask, how did the author know that?

Actors and authors are very good at observing people. They might also know someone who's aspie. I also think that typical aspie character is already a pop culture staple, in almost every sitcom there is a more or less convincing example.
Also actors, especially comedians, get a typical image/typecast. An example would be Walter Matthau, who usually played scruffy, grumpy characters, which doesn't mean he was like that in private.
Not to forget, how convincing a role is played, depends on the actors talent.

Anyways, I'm not insisting he's NT, I just think they're still assumptions and not fact, no matter how much speaks for it.

Ironically, Darryl Hannah, who was diagnosed borderline autistic as a kid, isn't known for playing aspie characters.
(Since Hannah was born in 1960; and AS wasn't known back then, borderline autistic could have been their way of describing AS at the time. I'm not sure though.)

I think when people dispute a person's self-diagnosis of a thing like AS it shows a huge disrespect, because you don't know the reasons why they hold that belief. In my own case, an AS self-diagnosis provides an explanation for dozens and dozens of otherwise unexplainable facts and odd experiences, all in one theory. It's a plain and simple case of Occham's Razor; the simplest explanation is the best one. You can either have AS explain dozens of things, or try to find second-best explanations for the dozens of things all individually. Any scientist or philosopher will tell you to go for the one explanation over the scores of little separate explanations, as long as the one explanation is falsifiable ....

There is also the not insignificant matter of the webbed toes that the actor is question is supposed to have. Apparently these toes have been filmed. Partial syndactly appears to be associated with AS/autism, and at least one genetic syndrome that can have autism as a feature has webbed toes as a symptom.

The thing that I find so interesting about Ayckroyd is that his characters don't seem to fit the established aspie stereotypes, such as the unhappy loner or the geek/nerd mamma's boy scientist/maths whiz/computer programmer, but he does aspie stuff, like the monologues and the little details about pedantry and food, that a person who has day-to-day experience of aspie life would be aware of. Those aspie stereotype characters created by NTs are just misconceptions. They don't live and breathe like the best aspie characterizations.

Andra, would you be kind enough to give a reference to the source of that information about Daryl Hannah? It sounds interesting.

Oh wow, I just discovered that she was the actress who played that blonde android in Blade Runner! Some aspies really identify with those android characters. I so much envied that female robot's easy method of applying eye makeup in that movie. I wonder if that totally gorgeous Rutger Hauer is an aspie too?

Interesting about Darryl Hannah ... did you see the insomnia?

Andra, I agree with you about the dangers of self-diagnosis.  When my son was first diagnosed with Aspergers, I could see so much of myself in it, that I thought I maybe I had always had it, too.  But, the more I've read, the more I know that I am not Aspergers.  I have some Aspie traits, I definitely have a sensory itegration issue or 2, and I am subject to panic attacks, but I lack the essential brain wiring that seems to be the common thread among the Aspies here.  I do not experience total sensory overload like you do, and like my son does ... I never have.  Panic attacks, yes, but nothing as debilitating and overwhelming as I see my son go through.

When people comment like that, you might say something light like, "well, many people probably have an Aspie-like trait or 2," and leave it at that.  I told my sister that the other day, and she chuckled.  She knows she's not Aspie, but identifying the one tiny little Aspie like trait helped her understand my son just a tiny bit more.

"The Insomnia" is that a movie? Sorry... :oops:

I actually think panick attacks are incredibly debilitating. I've had them myself, and that was one the worst experiences of my life.

When these people I mentioned, say "I must be autistic, too", they're doing it out of complete ignorance. Germany is so far behind, when it comes to autism, it's beyond belief. I've met people who work with autistics, who never even heard of AS! Gaaahh! :evil:
I think they just don't want to acknowledge, me having AS. I only got diagnosed a few months ago, and for many years, people have seen me as  this drama queen, attention seeking prissy diva, it's hard for them to adjust their opinions now, because that would mean, admitting doing me wrong. :roll:

Thanks for the reference to the Wikipedia article about the actress, Andra. It would be nice to know if the stuff about her childhood diagnosis was written in any book or article published on paper, but since she hasn't been really famous since the 80s, there aren't any book biographies about Hannah still in my local public library system.

As for the sensory overload as being unique to autism, well it isn't. One of my kids has sensory issues, but wouldn't get any kid of autism diagnosis, but is intellectually gifted. Sensory hypersensitivity has been reported as being a common chracteristic of the gifted. Sensory overload isn't a universal feature of autistics either. I don't think it's a part of the DSM diagnostic criteria. I think we need to discourage the idea of diagnosing autism on the basis of single autistic traits, even if the traits are indeed genuine individual "symptoms" of the autistic "syndrome".

What is annoying too is when I find it hot and then other people disagree and say it isn't hot at all or just to put up with it. It's not that they are wrong as such; it just shows they are ignorant about sensory issues associated with having autism.

It didn't look to me like it was aimed particularly at you, but is more a reference to a tangent several posts on the thread were starting to take (including one of mine).  I see her point.  Don't over-generalize.  That is always good advice.  :grin:

Well, I got this from imdb, and I assumed that they verified whatever they put on their biography pages (except for things as height, which are indeed very difficult to check precisely).

Though it's not an official nor high profile site, it's strange if they continue to allow the spreading of the claim through their site - fooling poor people like me.