Aspies For Freedom

Fellas my little boy is autistic (HFA) and I understand him a hell of a lot better than his mother does. (She is NT) Does this mean I am a better parent for this perception? No. I can not, despite this wonderful insight, teach him to be better at adapting to new situations, resist stimming or to social better. THese are my weaknesses too. Why?
I am diagnosed Aspie after all.
Or perhaps we are similar if not the same.
So try to draw lines in the sand if it helps. I just think that everyone of us who s on the spectrum is different from the neurological mainstream.
NT is different to those on the spectrum and there is a similarity to all people on the spectrum that is not present in NTs. All people on the spectrum are not the same. We do have a common denominator though.

Yes mate there are a lot of very weird conclusions draw from biased, ill-research or implausible research. I would reckon that if you scoured the realms of scientific literature of the last fifty years you would find that many contradictory "evidence" on autism, as to the cause, effects, management or even "cure". I think it is great that forums like this exist where we can share our knowledge, feelings and experiences about this. I reckon Gareth and Amy have done a really good thing by doing this.
Oh I think people with AS have unusual personalities too. Ususal personality would equate with being similar to everyone else or NT wouldn't it?

Guys you know what would be really terrible (if it was to ever happen)? Imagine if we start trying to create dissension in our populance by seeking to divide the autistic community (which is approxiamately 2% of the population) into those people who are autistic enough to be classified as autistic and those that aren't and through personal opinion and prejudice further seek to classify and re-classify autistic people. Does that sound disempowering to you?
Does to me. I could try at this point to ratify my diagnosis based on what I would hope to be compelling evidence as to my "right" to be considered "on the spectrum" or "autistic" or "HFA" or "Aspergic". Maybe I could do this successfully. Maybe not. You know what, I am not going to.
One thing I will say to you all is that I will be more than a little angry if anyone on this forum would has the self-righteous arrogance to question a diagnosis by specialists given to me for a condition that does affect damn near every aspect of my socialisation and interpretation of the world or to cast judgment on me for what they may in their opinion deem my stance on any aspect of autism.
Not that I think anyone would do that. I think anyone coming to this forum understands that this forum is about sharing, learning from each other and find a commonplace to connect to. It is a very positive thing. I don't think there is any real push from any group or individual in this forum to push that barrow or to create disharmony.
We do all have some common ground. We are not just Nts with "geeky" or "nerdy" personalities. We are not all the same either. Autism affects us all in different way as the replies to any post will confirm. Isn't it nice though that a population which is outnumbered 49 to 1 in society has a safe haven like this where they can exist and connect with people kinda like they are without being flamed, accused of bigotry, being isolated from their peers or being bullied?
Too much of this kind of behaviour in the real world
Thoughts anyone?

Seven thank you for the time you have given for your responses to me.
OK you raise some very interesting points about me (the kind of man I am and the way I feel about things) given what you know about me.
Maybe a couple more tidbits of information on me may help cement your views on me one way or another.
I am 36yr old. There was no diagnosis on Autism oe Aspergers when I was school age in the seventies. What this meant is that they DID diagnose me when they realise "something wasn't right with me". I was diagnosed as ***. I was treated as such throughout schooling and by my parents at home.
I remember the compulsory deafness testing in year 4 hoping upon hope that maybe I could be discovered to be deaf instead so to give another reason why things were so difficult. Perfect hearing as it turned out.
I have gone through most of my life struggling to hide my autism from those around me. Yes I wasn't diagnosed until I was 30 but I thought of my faults/ineptitudes/weirdness as something to be ashamed about and hidden.
The diagnosis to me was validation for me not to just presume myself as stupid.
What I face in dealing with society is not nice, fun or exciting. I do my best within the limits of my abilities to share, learn and not too judge those people in this forum that are seeking the same. I do not think there is anything sexy or glamourous about being on the spectrum so wouldn't think in a million years anyone would want to have autism or be on the spectrum unless they were. Why would an NT want to be autistic? Therefore I take at face value if someone says "I believe I am", I believe them too.

Now...In this context, How may I be believed to be uppity about my diagnosis? How am I "knocking" those that haven't been given a formal diagnosis? How am I way off track in my opinions? How on Earth am I yelling at you?

I thought I made the point that: "Not that I think anyone would do that. I think anyone coming to this forum understands that this forum is about sharing, learning from each other and find a commonplace to connect to. It is a very positive thing. I don't think there is any real push from any group or individual in this forum to push that barrow or to create disharmony."

I certainly wasn't saying anyone was even there to yell at.

I still go with the 2% though and agree I may in time be proved wrong. We are definately in the minority though.

I will say three things about and to you here though.
Firstly: You are tactless. You say what you mean regardless. I call it honest. I find tact very difficult and broken relationships and friendship are testament to this. LOL. So it is cool with me.
Secondly: You believe some Aspies are intolerant and self-absorbed. You think that many are not willing to see difference between all those on the autism spectrum. I agree. It is not (unfortunately) the case that because we are all on the spectrum somewhere that we will get along, understand the intricasies of the other or even make an effort. It is a shame.
Thirdly: I think you did a good thing in joining here in Feb. I hope like me you will learn a lot, share a lot and connect a lot with us all.

Aspies are people too, with their own personalities. You can't take one bad apple and assume everyone else with AS is the same!

Who said that?

Well exactly... so why the "rule" about "No Aspies"? I'm just saying, keep an open mind, that's all!

LOL, well "observed"

I've heard that about 70% of autistics (classical type) eventually do learn to talk somewhat fluently.

Don't quote me on that, though.

I agree. I have stated my experiences earlier. If someone (and people in the past and I'm sure future will) dismissed that I have autism, I would be very angry. Who understands your perspective and experiences? I would say you. This concept is a simple one and not only can be applied to SEven, but Batman55, and rossco, JennaP.....let's face it...everyone.
If someone identifies themselves as AS or HFA I assume they have reasons for it. We as a collective group do not get "benefits" for being so. We as individuals do not get "favourable" treatment. So what would be the point in attaching yourself to a diagnosis that does not apply. Think about it.

Oh I think I know and what's more even as an Aspie male, I am not offended.
Bardwolf is very young. I more than suspect that she has issues within herself of wanting to be mature and is doing what I have seen a lot of young girls do and that is to attach themselves to men that meet their standards of maturity. To further complicate this the previous interest was autistic and on diagnosis or realisation of the implications of her diagnosis probably had enough to deal with than being with someone else on the spectrum. That isn't particularly nice though, so the maturity thing came into play. She has found someone who she feels comfortable with now though. I think that is great.
Bardwolf I think finding someone you feel comfortable with and making your life stable is good and good for you as a person. In time I am sure you will mature yourself and look back on occassions like this where you made posts like this about maturity as a young girl and laugh. Along the lines of "If only I knew then what I know now". Its part of growing up.
I could be wrong and you may critically oppose my point but I think most of the older Aspies here will agree and in time you will as well.

Same in the 70's s to respect to diagnosis.

I was diagnosed with slight retardation but two IQ tests kinda ruled that diagnosis out. Mind you I was about 0 when I had the diagnosis and about 4 when I had the IQ tests. Shame.

Again with the "I hope you stop believing my Self-DX is unfounded and/or dubious". Who? Who? Who?
Don't stress about this Batman55.
You are posting here. That alone has to say something. If we all thought you were some kind of troll or were irrelevant we wouldn't respond to you and embrace you as I say most of us have. I will tell you though if I see another unfounded remark like this you will hear my primal scream from Australia! LOL

On the topic of the original post:

I've been around the autistic community for a long time.

I have seen a number of groupings of people who have trouble intuitively understanding people in other groupings, but who understand people within their own grouping reasonably well.

The thing is, these groupings are not divisions between HFA, LFA, AS, and PDD-NOS or anything like that.  They will not as far as I know be found in journal articles that attempt to subtype autistic people by various facets of our outward behavior or test performance.  Because they are internal differences and similarities, and those are harder to quantify and certainly harder for non-autistic researchers to look for.

For instance.

One grouping of people I understand more readily are people whose primary mode of thinking is pattern-based and not symbol-based (symbol-based can be language but it can also occur in picture thought etc).  That's just the words I have for it, don't take this as hard and fast, it's just the words I can come up with.

It would be really easy to say that I am autistic, and people who engage in symbol-based thinking are Asperger's.  In fact, I know autistic people who say exactly that sort of thing.

I also have met and corresponded with a large number of people who have been labeled low-functioning for one reason or another.  Some speak, some don't, some can only speak after typing what they want to say (then reading it aloud), etc.  There is no way they would qualify for an Asperger diagnosis.

Many of them are so symbol/language-bound that I have real trouble relating to them, the same way I would with someone who was regarded as HFA or AS and thought the same way.  Their difficulty with spoken language (to whatever degree exists) is often not even based in language at all, but in finding and coordinating their mouth to say the words, or multitasking, or something like that.

Whereas my difficulty with language does not disappear when I type, it just gets less of a problem.  It has to do with an entire way of processing the world that is geared towards something other than symbols (although I can obviously produce quite good written language some of the time).

I have also met people with Asperger diagnoses who were more pattern-based than symbol-based.

And the reverse of both, of course.

And there are many other things that create misunderstandings and divisions between different sorts of autistic people.  I just don't think the answer is to say that one diagnostic category does not understand another diagnostic category, because these differences and similarities are not about DSM labels or anything else like that.  So "aspies don't understand auties" doesn't make sense to me, I'd say more like "some auties don't understand each other very well because of fundamental differences in the way they operate".

Seven writes: "aspies understand auties about as well as NTs understand aspies."

Yes Seven. I agree.

Some of your system processing issues are the same, others different. Sometimes an AS processing issue may make it difficult for an AS to grasp something an Autie is trying to tell them. Just like sometimes your processing issues may make it diffcult for you, as an autist,  to grasp what an AS is trying to tell you. Nt's are no different, we also have our limitations and processing issues.  What is important is that we all at least try to listen and understand one another... and perhaps even far more importantly, RESPECT one another.   The one experience you most universally share in common is your victimization by the larger global society of NT's.  I hope the victimizaton is a product of  misunderstanding, something correctible,  rather than a reflection of our underlying nature as NT's generally.  But I can't be sure.  For my part, it saddens me to see so many worthwhile individuals carrying so much extra pain and burden beyond whatever is the simple processing differences between us, all as result of having endured years of unnecessary mistreatment by others, NT.  I am truly sorry.

Hrick is also an autie.  For him, severe sensory dysfunction is at core of his autism.  He does not think many others like him make it to point of being able to engage in the world let alone  communicate what the experience is like for them as autists.  To the outside observer hrick looks ***, yet he has one of the sharpest minds I have ever encountered. it has taught me,at least,  that appearance is unimportant and often greatly deceiving.

I am sure he will be pleased to see another autie posting. We will watch for you.
                            Mom of Hrick