Aspies For Freedom

I'll let you know if I get more than a automated reply.  Please consider boycotting Starbucks too and perhaps writing a letter stating your disappointment & disapproval of their cooperation with Autism Speaks. Stress the fact that by doing this, they are giving the public a very one-sided & misguided view of Autism.

Please explain how you feel Autism is as crippling as cerebral palsy?  I understand that along with autism, other co-morbids can cause a few physical challenges but as for the autism itself, I am having a hard time comprehending your meaning.

My grandson is dx'd PDD/NOS and my son is NOT an "aspie" but was dx'd as "high functioning autism" (whatever the "high functioning" means).  Not my grandson, or my son and well, no one in my family (including myself) would be considered savants.  My grandson loves to read and can read (and comprehends what he reads) at a high school level but is not considered a savant because he does this.  We ALL have high functioning and low functioning days.  As I get older I have noticed my coping and social skills diminishing but we all do what we can.  

The only "disability" of autism that I have noticed is the frustration of not being able to do the things expected in this world that is set up primarily for neurotypical folks.  The worst of these areas would be the workplace.  Some day I hope to see more acceptance of those of us that are wired just a bit differently.  

By the way, why is Autism always put in the same category as diseases anyway?  Does this mean that my left-handedness is as crippling as parkinson's and that being a gay individual would be as devastating as a tumor?  Of course not!  I think we should view autism for what it really is....a Difference, NOT a disease.

JennaP,
???
Is this directed at me, us or at something else?  I am not familiar with "nut jobs" being used as an answer.  I've only heard it used as a slander or a quick response from someone Trolling a forum.

Not that you are a troll....I don't know you personally any more than you know anything about who I am. Please elaborate/explain.

I see by the way you've replied with the word "Period" that your convictions would not be swayed by anything I might say in opposition so I will not even try to convince you that High Functioning and Low Functioning (when speaking about autistics) means very little to me.  
We are autistics, one and all, and I will not apply a pecking order or hierarchy by using the "I'm higher functioning than thou" attitude.  Some days I have difficulty with social functioning and daily living skills to the point of it being impossible.  This is what I mean by low functioning days.  Those of you that have experienced this know what I am talking about.  If my son would have been dx'd in his younger life, he would no doubt have been dx'd low functioning.  Thank goodness his dx was when he was in his 20's.

You might want to check out this Wiki to understand how many of us see high/low functioning and what I have trouble explaining to you;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controversi...m_spectrum

I'm getting a "Page Not Found" message with this link.

[edit] link broken [couldbecousin]

Which is just as well.  I have broken the link anyway, as the admins prefer that we do not link readers to pro-cure sites from here.

Off the top of my head... there are:

- Barnes & Noble's (bookstore chain, always with a Starbucks inside)
- Target department stores (Starbucks inside by front entrance)
- Albertson's grocery stores (Starbucks inside near front entrance)
- inside various libraries, university commons buildings, airports, etc.
- I'm sure there are more.

I still shop at Target.  I just stay away from the built-in Starbucks.  I haven't gone into Barnes & Noble's or a stand-alone Starbucks since I first read this thread.  In place of Barnes & Noble's, I've been going to Borders.  (Incidentally, the local Barnes & Noble's is along the way to Border's, and I drive right past it.  The purpose of such visits being to read magazines and drink coffee, usually putting the magazines back instead of buying them.)

I actually like Starbuck's.  They're just going to have to cut this crap out if they want my business back.  So, until I hear that they've stopped supporting Al Cureda, my coffee will be either from my own kitchen or the nearest gas station.

IMO, because people see the advantages as a threat.  It's that old story about trashing the co-worker who might "make everyone else look bad".  If people can find an "Achilles' heel" and exploit it", they will, if it means less competition.  That's not just limited to AS, but anything that can be used to pull down competition in a hostile workplace.

Now, I believe we were originally talking about Starbuck's.  Does anyone have an update?

Hm. You say that "there are no 'high-functioning days' or 'low functioning days'." So, does that mean that when I have a day on which I absolutely cannot talk to anyone, won't eat or drink anything, and things like toasters and idle chitchat give me sensory overload, I am still a high-functioning individual that day or week or however long period of time? What about the days I can deliver a speech in front of my class, even engage in spontaneous social interaction, and do not melt down when the fire alarm rings, and still have time to write proofs from my number theory book during AP calculus, then finish up a sonnet for Advanced Poetry? I was diagnosed AS, and due to IQ scores and relative adaptive skills, I am considered very high-functioning. But there are those days, sometimes even weeks or just small moments in time, that I fit the description of a lower-functioning individual. According to what you have posted, this would be impossible.

Also, Curing autism is vastly different from Helping autistics Adapt - even for "low-functioning" individuals. The only real distinguishing factor between Kanner's autism and Asperger's autism is that for Kanner's there needs to be a speech delay - that is why there is the category of HFA, to include autistics who are considered high-functioning, but not necessariy AS-diagnosed. Even though I did not have a speech delay, I do have an enormous difficulty with speaking oftentimes, especially if the speech is to be produced spontaneously, before writing it down first.

So where do I fit? To the Professionals, it is very clear that I fit in the high-functioning Asperger's category. To my experience, though, and to those who know me best, it is nowhere near that clear. This is why there are so many perils with labeling and categorizing human beings. Too often it creates unnecessary divides that confound more often than they clarify, which was their original purpose.

Yes, autistics with fewer self-help skills and such will need more support than an autistic who is considered more "high-functioning", but the issue here is not in supports to help an individual get along in society, but in the eradication of that individual's autism, which it is the latter that we anti-cure people oppose, and not the former. If I opposed all therapy and supports, I would be mounting a protest against the Director of Special Services of my school, as I am in speech therapy there, and they have loaned me use of an AppleSmart to help me type my thoughts prior to saying them - and these have helped me enormously. The fact that I, or anyone else, needing such supports does not justify the complete alteration or eradication of autism.

Well said & comprehensive.
BTW I must be a tad odd I thought Starbucks was one of those alcohol drinks for the teens.
I don't like coffee, so will not be buying any.

They have a line of bottled coffee-based drinks that you can find in the cooler at most convenience stores, including a few of those weird "energy" drinks.  (Growing market... A big company can't be left out of the game, now can it?)  It's not alcohol in there, or they wouldn't be able to sell it to teenagers.  It's usually stuff like guarana and taurine.  (That's what's in the other brands.  Not sure what Starbuck's uses in theirs besides caffeine.)

Nevertheless, I will continue to avoid any Starbuck's product until I receive word their support of Al Cureda has stopped.

Ha! I'm diagnosed with Asperger's but certainly have days when I function better than others. Other people I know with similar conditions report exactly the same thing. One chap in particular has days where he can hardly get out of bed because of sensory overload but on other days, he can cope quite well.