Greetings,

Your site was mentioned in a recent discussion over some of the worse autism-related sites on the web - so I thought I would take a look.

Advocacy aside for the moment, if you can stand a bit of constructive criticism then I must say that your definition of Aspergers Syndrome is clearly written by someone who has no idea what they are talking about except for the basic 'surface' recognition i.e. outward symptoms.  Autism (including AS) is a neurological (or neuro-biological) condition which is present from birth and thought to be genetic.  Your site states or at least gives the impression that it is purely the result of a person's up-bringing.  I refer to the quote on your site which reads 'It's just that those of us who were raised by odd, eccentric parents now have a new name for the old "Family Problem".'  This is absolutely false.  Although those who have support with their problems stand a better chance of being sucessful in life, it does not negate the fact that those problems are there in the first place.  Surely you see the logic in that.

If you want to give an effective advocacy service, you really have to know what you are talking about (which you clearly don't).  I also noticed on your site that some AS visitors claimed discrimination.  At first glance I would not argue this - just that you dont know what AS is.  Most of us take offence when people try to claim that our problems are the result of bad parenting or even just bad behaviour because this is the general view that alot of people have and it is the source of much prejudice - so I can definately see why those other visitors argued their points the way they did.  I, however, prefer to present intelligent arguments in the hope of changing the views of the person I'm talking to.  Hopefully you will have some thigns to think about.  I don't know what the level of awareness in Austrailia is so you might want to look to other countries for information.  Here is a link to get you started : http://www.nas.org.uk