Posts tonen met het label autisme. Alle posts tonen
Posts tonen met het label autisme. Alle posts tonen
vrijdag 13 augustus 2010
Internationale linkshandigendag
Op vrijdag 13 augustus 1976 werd voor de eerste keer de internationale linkshandigendag georganiseerd. Er is bewust gekozen voor vrijdag de dertiende omdat dit een ongeluksdag zou zijn. Linkshandigen zouden vaker ongelukjes krijgen, vandaar. De internationale linkshandigendag valt sindsdien altijd op vrijdag 13 augustus. Vandaag is het dus weer zover. Moet ik hier als linkshandige blij mee zijn? Hebben we als linkshandigen een speciale dag nodig? Is er extra aandacht voor linkshandigheid nodig? Ik heb geen behoefte aan een uitzonderingspositie vanwege mijn linkshandigheid. Het is al erg genoeg dat ik in een uitzonderingspositie verkeer vanwege mijn Asperger. Ook daar zit ik eerlijk gezegd niet op te wachten. Ik heb niet graag dat men mij ziet als iemand met Asperger. Ik wil gezien worden als een individu met zijn individuele verdiensten, gebreken en eigenaardigheden. Tegelijkertijd brengt mijn Asperger, helaas, de nodige problemen met zich mee die serieus genomen moeten worden. Extra aandacht voor autisme-stoornissen is wat dat betreft noodzakelijk. Extra aandacht voor linkshandigheid lijkt me minder te rechtvaardigen. Linkshandigheid is geen gebrek, al is het soms lastig dat veel gebruiksvoorwerpen rechtshandig en niet linkshandig zijn. Daar valt echter goed mee te leven. Ik stel voor dat we niet langer van alles dat afwijkt van het gemiddelde een gebrek, ziekte of aandoening maken, en dat we leren inzien dat de mensheid in alle opzichten ongelooflijk divers is. Laten we de diversiteit vieren! Ik roep bij deze deze dag uit tot de dag van diversiteit.
dinsdag 20 april 2010
Angst voor Asperger
Sommige mensen zijn kennelijk doodsbang voor mensen met Asperger. Op een van de Yahoogroups waar ik lid van ben kreeg ik een link doorgestuurd naar een blog waar wel een heel bizar beeld van Asperger werd geschetst. Het was het relaas van een Engelse mevrouw die jarenlang was getrouwd met iemand die volgens haar Asperger zou hebben. Deze echtgenoot van har zou haar het leven zuur hebben gemaakt door achter haar rug leugens en roddels over haar te verspreiden.Hij zou geprobeerd hebben om mensen tegen haar op te zetten. Ze wist dat er iets mis was met haar man, maar het was niet duidelijk wat dat dan was. Volgens haar werd het bestaan van Asperger door verschillende opeenvolgende regeringen in de doofpot gestopt. Artsen begrepen niets van zijn aandoening of gaven haar de schuld van haar huwelijksproblemen.Ze werd "bevrijd" van deze man toen hij in 1997 zijn heup brak. Hij zou ten val zijn gekomen omdat de hond genoeg had van zijn gemeenheid en hem tegen de grond had gewerkt.Ze verteld vervolgens hoe haar man haar aan wilde vallen met een mes. Ze vond later messen onder zijn matras. Uit haar verhaal zouden we moeten concluderen dat mensen met Asperger levensgevaarlijk zijn. Op dit verhaal is door aardig wat mensen gereageerd. De meeste reacties kwamen van mensen die het eens waren met de stelling dat mensen met Asperger gevaarlijk zijn. Later, toen dit bericht werd opgemerkt door mensen met Asperger en hun ouders, kwam er een stroom negatieve reacties op gang. Dit was voor de moderator aanleiding om de discussie te sluiten. De negatieve reacties zouden een haatdragend karakter hebben. De moderator koos duidelijk partij voor diegenen die menen dat mensen met Asperger gevaarlijk zijn. Hij ging daarbij voorbij aan het haatdragende karakter van deze reacties. Hij ging er ook aan voorbij dat de reacties van mensen die het daar niet mee eens waren doorgaans niet haatdragend waren, maar op een goed beargumenteerde en genuanceerde wijze duidelijk maakten wat Asperger is en hoe heet is om samen te leven met iemand die Asperger heeft. Het was kortom een nogal bizarre discussie. Het is de vraag wat we hier mee moeten. Aan de ene kant is het de vraag of we hier wel iets mee moeten. De relevantie van een dergelijk blogbericht en de reacties die daar op volgen is niet meteen duidelijk. Iedere aap die een toetsenbord kan bedienen kan een blog beginnen en elke andere aap kan daar op reageren. Dat gebeurt ook. Er is geen gedachte zo gek of bizar of hij wordt wel ergens op het web gekwakt en vindt daar nog een groepje aanhangers bij ook. Je zou het blogbericht van deze mevrouw gemakkelijk kunnen afdoen als het geraaskal van een gek. Dat is het waarschijnlijk ook. Mevrouw is waarschijnlijk een borderliner (ik spreek uit ervaring). Inhoudelijk stelt het in ieder geval niets voor. Uit niets blijkt dat deze man inderdaad Asperger heeft. Ik kan met evenveel recht en gemak stellen dat deze mevrouw een borderliner is. Aan de andere kant laat dit bericht zien hoe er door veel mensen wordt gedacht over mensen die een beetje anders zijn doordat ze een autisme stoornis of een psychische aandoening hebben of iets dergelijks. Kennelijk roept dit anderszijn bij veel mensen angst en agressie op. Dat de meeste mensen die een beetje anders zijn volstrekt ongevaarlijk zijn dringt tot veel mensen kennelijk niet door. Meestal proberen mensen zich te gedragen en blijft deze angst onder de oppervlakte. Soms komt deze naar boven zoals in dit blogbericht. We hebben het ook gezien bij de reacties op het vermoeden dat Volkert van der G. Asperger zou kunnen hebben. Wat er gebeurt met mensen die anders zijn als de beschaving wegvalt hebben we gezien in de Nazitijd. Dit blogbericht deed mij heet gevoel bekruipen dat de voedingsbodem voor een heksenjacht op iedereen die anders is wel erg dicht onder de oppervlakte ligt. Daar schrik ik dan weer van.
http://newsdeskinternational.wordpress.com/2010/03/20/about-aspergers-syndrome-from-a-victims-observations/#comment-17058
http://newsdeskinternational.wordpress.com/2010/03/20/about-aspergers-syndrome-from-a-victims-observations/#comment-17058
vrijdag 25 juli 2008
Kunstacademie voor autisten in Nijmegen
NIJMEGEN - In Nijmegen gaat op 1 september een speciale academie voor beeldende kunst en vormgeving van start voor jongeren met een autistische stoornis. De UNIT academie begint met zestien leerlingen in de leeftijd van 18 tot 22 jaar.
Initiatiefnemer is muziektherapeut en sociaal pedagoog Paul Kroon, die ook persoonlijk ervaring heeft met de betrokken groep jongeren. ''Onze leerlingen zijn normaal of zelfs bovennormaal intelligente kinderen met een kunstzinnig talent. Maar door hun stoornis is er op gewone opleidingen voor hen onvoldoende tijd en deskundigheid in huis'', zegt hij.
De UNIT academie is niet uitsluitend bedoeld voor jongeren met een autistische aandoening, al heeft Kroon tot nu toe alleen uit die hoek aanmeldingen ontvangen. ''Ook andere jongeren die er buiten hun schuld niet in zijn geslaagd een gewoon schooldiploma te halen en daardoor niet naar een reguliere kunstopleiding kunnen, zijn welkom'', aldus de initiatiefnemer. Iedereen moet toelatingsexamen doen om te bezien of er voldoende talent aanwezig is.
De nieuwe academie beschikt over een tiental docenten, die ook aan andere kunstopleidingen les geven en die veelal zelf ook beeldend kunstenaar zijn. Ze besteden lessen extra aandacht aan geordend werken met afgebakende taken, wat voor autistische mensen vaak een probleem is. Kroon: ''Maar uiteraard moeten onze leerlingen zelf ook wel sociale vaardigheden in huis hebben, anders is het onbegonnen werk.
De studenten komen uit het hele land volgens Kroon. Op kamers gaan wonen is voor de meesten nog niet haalbaar. Een aantal leerlingen heeft onderdak gevonden in een speciaal logeerhuis en anderen maken gebruik van begeleide kamerbewoning. Daarnaast zijn wat gastgezinnen gevonden, maar daarvan zou Kroon er graag meer hebben.
De particuliere kunstopleiding duurt twee jaar met een uitloop naar drie jaar en kost 3500 euro per jaar. Kroon wil niet meer dan hooguit achttien studenten per leerjaar aannemen om de groep overzichtelijk te houden. (ANP)
Dit is goed nieuws! Ik hoop dat dit een succes wordt! Ik hoop dat dit mensen leert inzien dat autisten gewone mensen zijn met een handicap die soms lastig is en soms voordelen met zich meebrengt. Ik hoop ook dat het mensen doet inzien dat autisten niet per se nerds zijn die alleen verstand hebben van bijvoorbeeld computers. Ik hoop dat er nog eens een beroemde kunstenaar van deze academie komt. Succes!
Initiatiefnemer is muziektherapeut en sociaal pedagoog Paul Kroon, die ook persoonlijk ervaring heeft met de betrokken groep jongeren. ''Onze leerlingen zijn normaal of zelfs bovennormaal intelligente kinderen met een kunstzinnig talent. Maar door hun stoornis is er op gewone opleidingen voor hen onvoldoende tijd en deskundigheid in huis'', zegt hij.
De UNIT academie is niet uitsluitend bedoeld voor jongeren met een autistische aandoening, al heeft Kroon tot nu toe alleen uit die hoek aanmeldingen ontvangen. ''Ook andere jongeren die er buiten hun schuld niet in zijn geslaagd een gewoon schooldiploma te halen en daardoor niet naar een reguliere kunstopleiding kunnen, zijn welkom'', aldus de initiatiefnemer. Iedereen moet toelatingsexamen doen om te bezien of er voldoende talent aanwezig is.
De nieuwe academie beschikt over een tiental docenten, die ook aan andere kunstopleidingen les geven en die veelal zelf ook beeldend kunstenaar zijn. Ze besteden lessen extra aandacht aan geordend werken met afgebakende taken, wat voor autistische mensen vaak een probleem is. Kroon: ''Maar uiteraard moeten onze leerlingen zelf ook wel sociale vaardigheden in huis hebben, anders is het onbegonnen werk.
De studenten komen uit het hele land volgens Kroon. Op kamers gaan wonen is voor de meesten nog niet haalbaar. Een aantal leerlingen heeft onderdak gevonden in een speciaal logeerhuis en anderen maken gebruik van begeleide kamerbewoning. Daarnaast zijn wat gastgezinnen gevonden, maar daarvan zou Kroon er graag meer hebben.
De particuliere kunstopleiding duurt twee jaar met een uitloop naar drie jaar en kost 3500 euro per jaar. Kroon wil niet meer dan hooguit achttien studenten per leerjaar aannemen om de groep overzichtelijk te houden. (ANP)
Dit is goed nieuws! Ik hoop dat dit een succes wordt! Ik hoop dat dit mensen leert inzien dat autisten gewone mensen zijn met een handicap die soms lastig is en soms voordelen met zich meebrengt. Ik hoop ook dat het mensen doet inzien dat autisten niet per se nerds zijn die alleen verstand hebben van bijvoorbeeld computers. Ik hoop dat er nog eens een beroemde kunstenaar van deze academie komt. Succes!
woensdag 23 juli 2008
Savage Stands by Autism Remarks
by Jacques Steinberg
NEW YORK - Michael Savage, the incendiary radio host who last week characterized nearly every child with autism as “a brat who hasn’t been told to cut the act out,” said in a telephone interview on Monday that he stood by his remarks and had no intention of apologizing to those advocates and parents who have called for his firing over the matter.
“My main point remains true,” Mr. Savage, whose radio audience ranks in size behind only those of Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, said in the interview. “It is an overdiagnosed medical condition. In my readings, there is no definitive medical diagnosis for autism.”
On the July 16 installment of his program, which is broadcast every weekday, Mr. Savage suggested that “99 percent of the cases” of autism were a result of lax parenting. He told his audience: “They don’t have a father around to tell them, ‘Don’t act like a moron. You’ll get nowhere in life.’ ” Among the other admonitions he felt children with autism should be hearing, he said, were: ” ‘Straighten up. Act like a man. Don’t sit there crying and screaming, idiot.’ ”
Asked Monday if he actually believed that 99 out of every 100 cases of autism were misdiagnosed, Mr. Savage conceded that figure was “a little high.” He added, “It was hyperbole.”
But he said he was proud to have prodded discussion on the subject, and planned to give over his entire show on Monday - broadcast live from Northern California from 3 to 6 p.m., Pacific time - to parents and other callers who wished to disagree with him and to educate him.
While Mr. Savage’s program is heard on more than 350 stations nationally, his comments on autism were widely disseminated via e-mail on Friday by Media Matters for America, an advocacy group that dedicates itself, at least in part, to “correcting conservative misinformation in the media.”
Some critics were not inclined to wait until Monday’s edition of Mr. Savage’s show, “The Savage Nation,” to register their disagreement with him.
Late Monday afternoon, Aflac, the insurance company, announced it was withdrawing all advertising from Mr. Savage’s show. “We understand that radio hosts pick on any number of targets,” Laura Kane, a company spokeswoman, said in a statement, before adding that Aflac considered “his recent comments about autistic children to be both inappropriate and insensitive.”
In New York City, Autism United, a coalition of organizations that advocate on behalf of children with autism and provide services to them, staged a protest Monday outside the studios of WOR (710 AM), which carries Mr. Savage’s program weeknights from 6 to 9 p.m., Eastern time.
“He characterizes children with autism who are very, very ill - disabled children - as essentially bad kids; the only thing wrong with them is they have parents who don’t discipline them,” said John Gilmore, executive director of Autism United and the father of an 8-year-old with a diagnosis of autism. “That completely misrepresents what is going on with children with autism.”
“Basically, what he’s doing is parroting what used to be said about autism 40 years ago, back in the heyday of Freudian analysis,” Mr. Gilmore added. “It was blamed on bad parenting. There wasn’t a shred of evidence to support that.”
Paul Siebold, a spokesman for WOR, said in an e-mail statement: “The views expressed by Michael Savage are his views and are not those of WOR Radio. We regret any consternation that his remarks may have caused to our listeners.”
Mark Masters, the chief executive of Talk Radio Network, which syndicates Mr. Savage’s program and which extended his contract in February, did not respond to several messages left at his office Monday morning.
Catherine Lord, an expert on autism who is a visiting professor in the child study center at New York University, said that beneath Mr. Savage’s overheated rhetoric was a kernel of truth: that some children are saddled with an autism diagnosis by default, when they seem to fit in no other category. But far more often, she said, children who have autism are given a misdiagnosis of having something else. And she said she feared that Mr. Savage’s ill-informed comments could wind up being harmful.
“Any tendency to blame the children or to think they’re just being bratty if they misbehave perpetuates the myth that autism isn’t a learning disability,” she said. “It’s a neurobiological condition, just like epilepsy or another medical condition like diabetes or a heart condition. It would be like blaming the child with a heart condition for not being able to exercise.”
© 2008 The New York Times
Deze meneer Savage is duidelijk een onverbeterlijke idioot. Ik vrees alleen dat hij genoeg luisteraars heeft die net zo min verstand hebben van autisme die zich door het geblaat van meneer in hun vooroordelen bevestigd zien. Ik weet nog maar al te goed dat mijn moeder de schuld in haar schoenen geschoven kreeg voor mijn handicap toen ik een kind was in de jaren zeventig. Sinds de jaren negentig is er een groeiend bewustzijn rond stoornissen als autisme. Ik kan me voorstellen dat dit niet doordringt tot neanderthalers als meneer Savage. Ik vraag me alleen af waarom zoiets zendtijd krijgt.
NEW YORK - Michael Savage, the incendiary radio host who last week characterized nearly every child with autism as “a brat who hasn’t been told to cut the act out,” said in a telephone interview on Monday that he stood by his remarks and had no intention of apologizing to those advocates and parents who have called for his firing over the matter.
“My main point remains true,” Mr. Savage, whose radio audience ranks in size behind only those of Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, said in the interview. “It is an overdiagnosed medical condition. In my readings, there is no definitive medical diagnosis for autism.”
On the July 16 installment of his program, which is broadcast every weekday, Mr. Savage suggested that “99 percent of the cases” of autism were a result of lax parenting. He told his audience: “They don’t have a father around to tell them, ‘Don’t act like a moron. You’ll get nowhere in life.’ ” Among the other admonitions he felt children with autism should be hearing, he said, were: ” ‘Straighten up. Act like a man. Don’t sit there crying and screaming, idiot.’ ”
Asked Monday if he actually believed that 99 out of every 100 cases of autism were misdiagnosed, Mr. Savage conceded that figure was “a little high.” He added, “It was hyperbole.”
But he said he was proud to have prodded discussion on the subject, and planned to give over his entire show on Monday - broadcast live from Northern California from 3 to 6 p.m., Pacific time - to parents and other callers who wished to disagree with him and to educate him.
While Mr. Savage’s program is heard on more than 350 stations nationally, his comments on autism were widely disseminated via e-mail on Friday by Media Matters for America, an advocacy group that dedicates itself, at least in part, to “correcting conservative misinformation in the media.”
Some critics were not inclined to wait until Monday’s edition of Mr. Savage’s show, “The Savage Nation,” to register their disagreement with him.
Late Monday afternoon, Aflac, the insurance company, announced it was withdrawing all advertising from Mr. Savage’s show. “We understand that radio hosts pick on any number of targets,” Laura Kane, a company spokeswoman, said in a statement, before adding that Aflac considered “his recent comments about autistic children to be both inappropriate and insensitive.”
In New York City, Autism United, a coalition of organizations that advocate on behalf of children with autism and provide services to them, staged a protest Monday outside the studios of WOR (710 AM), which carries Mr. Savage’s program weeknights from 6 to 9 p.m., Eastern time.
“He characterizes children with autism who are very, very ill - disabled children - as essentially bad kids; the only thing wrong with them is they have parents who don’t discipline them,” said John Gilmore, executive director of Autism United and the father of an 8-year-old with a diagnosis of autism. “That completely misrepresents what is going on with children with autism.”
“Basically, what he’s doing is parroting what used to be said about autism 40 years ago, back in the heyday of Freudian analysis,” Mr. Gilmore added. “It was blamed on bad parenting. There wasn’t a shred of evidence to support that.”
Paul Siebold, a spokesman for WOR, said in an e-mail statement: “The views expressed by Michael Savage are his views and are not those of WOR Radio. We regret any consternation that his remarks may have caused to our listeners.”
Mark Masters, the chief executive of Talk Radio Network, which syndicates Mr. Savage’s program and which extended his contract in February, did not respond to several messages left at his office Monday morning.
Catherine Lord, an expert on autism who is a visiting professor in the child study center at New York University, said that beneath Mr. Savage’s overheated rhetoric was a kernel of truth: that some children are saddled with an autism diagnosis by default, when they seem to fit in no other category. But far more often, she said, children who have autism are given a misdiagnosis of having something else. And she said she feared that Mr. Savage’s ill-informed comments could wind up being harmful.
“Any tendency to blame the children or to think they’re just being bratty if they misbehave perpetuates the myth that autism isn’t a learning disability,” she said. “It’s a neurobiological condition, just like epilepsy or another medical condition like diabetes or a heart condition. It would be like blaming the child with a heart condition for not being able to exercise.”
© 2008 The New York Times
Deze meneer Savage is duidelijk een onverbeterlijke idioot. Ik vrees alleen dat hij genoeg luisteraars heeft die net zo min verstand hebben van autisme die zich door het geblaat van meneer in hun vooroordelen bevestigd zien. Ik weet nog maar al te goed dat mijn moeder de schuld in haar schoenen geschoven kreeg voor mijn handicap toen ik een kind was in de jaren zeventig. Sinds de jaren negentig is er een groeiend bewustzijn rond stoornissen als autisme. Ik kan me voorstellen dat dit niet doordringt tot neanderthalers als meneer Savage. Ik vraag me alleen af waarom zoiets zendtijd krijgt.
zaterdag 19 juli 2008
Veel inschrijvingen voor autistenschool
van onze redactie binnenland Nederlands Dagblad
LELYSTAD - Kinderen met een autistische stoornis kunnen vanaf volgend schooljaar speciaal havo- of vwo-onderwijs volgen aan het Aurum College in Lelystad. Bijzonder is dat ze de vakken Nederlands, Engels en Wiskunde thuis volgen via internet. De belangstelling ervoor is groot: na de zomer start de nieuwe formule met 44 leerlingen, verdeeld over drie klassen.
Leren op afstand is voor autisten zinvol omdat het voor hen vaak lastig is klassikaal onderwijs te volgen. Op deze manier kan iedere deelnemer zijn eigen programma volgen dat hem klaarstoomt voor een staatsexamen. Vakken als handenarbeid en lichamelijke opvoeding worden wel op school gegeven.
Voor het leren op afstand is de expertise van de Wereldschool gebruikt, die al jaren onderwijs via internet aanbiedt aan Nederlandse kinderen in het buitenland. Met hulp van de onderwijsinstelling Eduvier, die veel ervaring heeft met lesgeven aan kinderen met gedragsstoornissen, is de aanpak van de Wereldschool aangepast voor kinderen met autisme. Volgens Emil Roelofs, directeur van de Wereldschool, was het aantal inschrijvingen zo groot dat niet iedereen kan worden bediend. ,,Dat laat onze capaciteit niet toe'', aldus Roelofs.
De Wereldschool doet steeds meer binnen Nederland. Chronisch zieke kinderen krijgen via internet toch onderwijs op maat, ook al zijn ze niet in staat om klassikale lessen bij te wonen. ,,De ervaring die wij de laatste zestig jaar hebben opgedaan, kunnen we voor deze doelgroep goed gebruiken'', zegt Roelofs.
LELYSTAD - Kinderen met een autistische stoornis kunnen vanaf volgend schooljaar speciaal havo- of vwo-onderwijs volgen aan het Aurum College in Lelystad. Bijzonder is dat ze de vakken Nederlands, Engels en Wiskunde thuis volgen via internet. De belangstelling ervoor is groot: na de zomer start de nieuwe formule met 44 leerlingen, verdeeld over drie klassen.
Leren op afstand is voor autisten zinvol omdat het voor hen vaak lastig is klassikaal onderwijs te volgen. Op deze manier kan iedere deelnemer zijn eigen programma volgen dat hem klaarstoomt voor een staatsexamen. Vakken als handenarbeid en lichamelijke opvoeding worden wel op school gegeven.
Voor het leren op afstand is de expertise van de Wereldschool gebruikt, die al jaren onderwijs via internet aanbiedt aan Nederlandse kinderen in het buitenland. Met hulp van de onderwijsinstelling Eduvier, die veel ervaring heeft met lesgeven aan kinderen met gedragsstoornissen, is de aanpak van de Wereldschool aangepast voor kinderen met autisme. Volgens Emil Roelofs, directeur van de Wereldschool, was het aantal inschrijvingen zo groot dat niet iedereen kan worden bediend. ,,Dat laat onze capaciteit niet toe'', aldus Roelofs.
De Wereldschool doet steeds meer binnen Nederland. Chronisch zieke kinderen krijgen via internet toch onderwijs op maat, ook al zijn ze niet in staat om klassikale lessen bij te wonen. ,,De ervaring die wij de laatste zestig jaar hebben opgedaan, kunnen we voor deze doelgroep goed gebruiken'', zegt Roelofs.
zondag 13 juli 2008
vrijdag 4 juli 2008
Wife-slaying Linux guru may have 'developmental disability'
Lawyers brand Hans Reiser 'mentally incompetent'
By Chris Williams → More by this author
Published Thursday 3rd July 2008 15:27 GMT
Nail down your security priorities. Ask the experts and your peers at The Register Security Debate, September 24 2008.
Lawyers for prominent Linux developer Hans Reiser, who was convicted of his wife's murder in April, have written to the trial judge this week to argue that their client may be mentally ill.
In the brief filing to California Superior Court, Reiser's defense attorney William DuBois wrote: "I declare under penalty of perjury that in my carefully considered opinion, defendant Hans Reiser, may be mentally incompetent as a result of mental disorder or developmental disability, defendant is unable to understand the nature of the criminal proceedings or to assist counsel in the conduct of the defense in a rational manner."
According to Wired, prosecutor Paul Hora slammed the move, saying: "This is complete and total nonsense. All of a sudden he's incompetent a week before he gets sentenced." The insanity claim is expected to delay sentencing, which had been scheduled for 9 July.
Hans Reiser, the inventor of ReiserFS, was found guilty of first degree murder on 29 April this year. There were hints following his conviction that he would lead police to his Russian wife Nina's body, which has never been found. That now seems unlikely.
During the almost six-month trial Reiser's defense had argued that 31-year-old Nina simply returned to Russia, leaving Hans Reiser to care for their two children. The jury did not believe the story, however. Police found her car in the Oakland hills six days after she disappeared in September 2006. Hans Reiser's Honda was found waterlogged with the passenger seat missing and two books about police murder investigations inside.
There was also a sleeping bag in the Honda, stained with Nina Reiser's blood.
Defense lawyers said during the trial that the fact Reiser had removed the passenger seat and hosed down the interior of his car was a sign of Asperger's syndrome, not guilt.
The overtures to leading police to the body had been interpreted as a ploy by the defense to win a lighter sentence, but would have required negotiation cooperation from a mentally competent Hans Reiser. If psychological assessments find him to be mentally incompetent, it's likely the judge will send him to an institution rather than jail, at least until he is judged sane again. ®
By Chris Williams → More by this author
Published Thursday 3rd July 2008 15:27 GMT
Nail down your security priorities. Ask the experts and your peers at The Register Security Debate, September 24 2008.
Lawyers for prominent Linux developer Hans Reiser, who was convicted of his wife's murder in April, have written to the trial judge this week to argue that their client may be mentally ill.
In the brief filing to California Superior Court, Reiser's defense attorney William DuBois wrote: "I declare under penalty of perjury that in my carefully considered opinion, defendant Hans Reiser, may be mentally incompetent as a result of mental disorder or developmental disability, defendant is unable to understand the nature of the criminal proceedings or to assist counsel in the conduct of the defense in a rational manner."
According to Wired, prosecutor Paul Hora slammed the move, saying: "This is complete and total nonsense. All of a sudden he's incompetent a week before he gets sentenced." The insanity claim is expected to delay sentencing, which had been scheduled for 9 July.
Hans Reiser, the inventor of ReiserFS, was found guilty of first degree murder on 29 April this year. There were hints following his conviction that he would lead police to his Russian wife Nina's body, which has never been found. That now seems unlikely.
During the almost six-month trial Reiser's defense had argued that 31-year-old Nina simply returned to Russia, leaving Hans Reiser to care for their two children. The jury did not believe the story, however. Police found her car in the Oakland hills six days after she disappeared in September 2006. Hans Reiser's Honda was found waterlogged with the passenger seat missing and two books about police murder investigations inside.
There was also a sleeping bag in the Honda, stained with Nina Reiser's blood.
Defense lawyers said during the trial that the fact Reiser had removed the passenger seat and hosed down the interior of his car was a sign of Asperger's syndrome, not guilt.
The overtures to leading police to the body had been interpreted as a ploy by the defense to win a lighter sentence, but would have required negotiation cooperation from a mentally competent Hans Reiser. If psychological assessments find him to be mentally incompetent, it's likely the judge will send him to an institution rather than jail, at least until he is judged sane again. ®
zaterdag 28 juni 2008
Asperger's: the IT industry's dark secret
IT is a uniquely attractive industry for the autistic
By Tracy Mayor, Framingham | Monday, 23 June, 2008 - Computerworld [New
Zealand]
"Ryno" is a 50-something ex-sysadmin, by his own account "burned out and
living on disability" in rural Australia.
He loved the tech parts of being a system administrator, and he was good
at them. But the interpersonal interactions that went along with the
position — the hearty backslaps from random users, the impromptu
meetings — were literally unbearable for Ryno.
"I can make your systems efficient and lower your downtime," he says. "I
cannot make your users happy."
Bob, a database applications programmer who's been working in high tech
for 26 years, has an aptitude for math and logic. And he has what he
calls his "strange memory". If he can't recall the answer to a question,
he can recall exactly, as if in a digital image, where he first saw the
answer, down to the page and paragraph and sentence.
Bob has some behaviour quirks as well: He can become nonverbal when he's
frustrated, and he interprets things literally — he doesn't read between
the lines. "I am sure [my boss] finds it frustrating when I misinterpret
his irony," he says, "but at least he knows it is not willful."
"Jeremy" excels at being able to see an engineering problem from the
inside out, internalising it almost from the point of view of the code
itself. He's great at hammering out details one on one with other
intensely focused people, often the CEOs of the companies he contracts
for. To protect his anonymity, he doesn't want to mention his
programming subspecialty, but suffice it to say he's a very well-known
go-to guy in his industry.
What Jeremy is not good at is suffering fools in the workplace or
dealing with the endless bureaucracy of the modern corporation. If
someone is wrong — if their idea just plain won't work — he says so,
simply states the fact. That frankness causes all manner of upset in the
office, he's discovered.
These IT professionals are all autistic. Bob and Ryno have Asperger's
Syndrome (AS); Jeremy has high-functioning autism (HFA).
Though the terms are debated and sometimes disputed in the medical
community, both refer in a general way to people who display some
characteristics of autism — including unusual responses to the
environment and deficits in social interaction — but not the cognitive
and communicative development impairments or language delays of classic
autism.
People with Asperger's, widely known as "Aspies," aren't good at reading
nonverbal cues, according to the American Psychiatric Association's
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. They can have
difficulty forming friendships with peers, they form a strict adherence
to routines and rituals, and they may exhibit repetitive and stereotyped
motor movements like hand or finger flapping.
Dr Tony Attwood, a world-renowned Asperger's clinician and author in
Brisbane, Australia, defines Asperger's in a more human context: "The
[Asperger's] person usually has a strong desire to seek knowledge, truth
and perfection with a different set of priorities. ... The overriding
priority may be to solve a problem rather than satisfy the social or
emotional needs of others."
Problems over people? Hmm, sounds like a techie.
A paper on Asperger's from Yale University's Developmental Disabilities
Clinic continues down the same path: "Idiosyncratic interests are common
and may take the form of an unusual and/or highly circumscribed interest
(such as in train schedules, snakes, the weather, deep-fry cookers or
telegraph pole insulators)."
Or technology. When Ryno spoke with a receptionist to make an initial
appointment for an evaluation with Attwood, she asked him, what is your
"Big Interest?"
"She inadvertently gave me a diagnostic question I have found
invaluable," he recalls. "The Big Interest is a great start to
Aspie-spotting."
Ryno's Big Interest is computers and communications. He's not the only
one, not by a long shot.
The Asperger's-IT connection
Autism, though first identified and labeled in 1943, is still a poorly
understood neurodevelopment disorder, and nearly every aspect of its
causes, manifestations, research and cure is mired in controversy.
Asperger's and HFA, being hard-to-define, often undiagnosed or
underdiagnosed variants on the high end of the autism spectrum, are even
less quantified or understood.
Diagnoses of autism, including Asperger's, have skyrocketed in the US in
recent years — the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention now
estimates that one in 150 8-year-old children has some form of autism.
It's not clear if the increase is because of better detection, a change
in the diagnosis to include a wider range of behaviours, a true increase
in case numbers, or some combination of those or other factors.
It's even less clear how many adults have Asperger's. Because Aspies are
usually of average or above-average intelligence, they're often able to
mask or accommodate their differences socially and in the workplace,
meaning many of them make it well into middle age, or live their whole
lives, without being formally diagnosed.
A spokesman for the National Institute of Mental Health says the agency
is not aware of any government organisation or academic research that
tracks the incidence of AS in adults.
Where statistics come up short, anecdote is happy to take up the slack.
Ask an Asperger's-aware techie if there is indeed a connection between
AS and IT, and you're likely to get "affirmative, Captain".
When the question is put to Ryno, he emails back a visual: "Aspies-->
tech--> as fish--> water."
And Bob, the database applications programmer, says, "Yes, it is a
stereotype, and yes, there are a higher than average number of Aspies in
high tech."
Nobody, it seems, has more to say on the subject than Temple Grandin, a
fast-talking PhD Aspie professor who's the closest thing Asperger's has
to an elder stateswoman. Grandin made her mark designing
livestock-handling facilities from the point of view of the animal; she
now has a thriving second career as an Asperger's author (Thinking in
Pictures, Unwritten Rules of Social Relationships) and speaker.
"Is there a connection between Asperger's and IT? We wouldn't even have
any computers if we didn't have Asperger's," she declares. "All these
labels — 'geek' and 'nerd' and 'mild Asperger's' — are all getting at
the same thing. ... The Asperger's brain is interested in things rather
than people, and people who are interested in things have given us the
computer you're working on right now."
Career opportunities, career limitations
Grandin has compiled a list of jobs and their suitability to Aspies and
autistics according to their skills. No surprise, tech jobs are cited
early and often. Her list of "good jobs for visual thinkers", for
example, includes computer programming, drafting (including
computer-aided drafting), computer troubleshooting and repair, web page
design, video game design and computer animation.
Grandin's "good jobs for nonvisual thinkers", which she further defines
as "those who are good at math, music or facts," includes computer
programming, engineering, inventory control and physics.
Why do Asperger's individuals gravitate to technology?
"Adults with Asperger's have a social naivety that prevents them from
understanding how people relate. What draws them in is not parties and
social interaction, but work that allows them to feel safe, to feel in
control," explains Steve Becker, a developmental disabilities therapist
at Becker & Associates, a private practice in the Seattle suburb of Des
Moines, Washington, that conducts ongoing small group sessions for
adults with AS, among other services.
"What's better for that than a video game or a software program?" Becker
asks. "When you're designing a software program, there are rules and
protocols to be followed. In life, there is no manual."
While careful to protect his clients' confidentiality, Becker confirms
that he sees many adults and children of adults who work for the
region's tech powerhouses — Microsoft and Boeing — and the hundreds of
smaller companies that orbit around them.
Some of the Aspies he counsels are at the very top of their tech game:
software and aerospace engineers, computer scientists, PhDs. But for
every research fellow with Asperger's, he says, there are a legion of
fellow Aspies having a much tougher time in the middle or lower ranks of
the industry.
"The spectrum of success is much broader than one would expect," agrees
Roger Meyer, the Oregon-based author of The Asperger Syndrome Employment
Workbook who runs one of the oldest peer-led adult Asperger's groups in
the country. "Adults who have grown sophisticated at masking and
adaptive behaviours can either bubble along at the bottom of the market
or do very well at the top."
It's that "bubbling along at the bottom" that has Becker, Meyer and
other Aspie specialists concerned. Employees with Asperger's might do
well for years in data entry or working in a job like insurance claims,
where knowledge of ephemera is a prized work skill, only to flounder
when they're promoted to a position that requires a higher degree of
social interaction.
"The more technical the job, the better they do. But for some, managing
people in a supervisory capacity can be a problem," Becker says.
That can leave Asperger's employees stuck on the lower and less
remunerative ranks of IT, sometimes in jobs that are vulnerable to
outsourcing, says Meyer. For example, certain tech support situations,
where sensory distractions are minimal and human interactions are
reduced to a screen or a voice on the phone, are a natural fit for some
Aspies.
"They're good at diagnostic work. They can get in and slosh around in
the computer, use their encyclopedic knowledge of applications and
work-arounds, and arrive at a solution that may be unorthodox but
effective," says Meyer. As those jobs increasingly become automated
and/or outsourced, Aspies' chances for employment are diminished as well.
IT's dark little secret
Becker and Meyer say they have yet to hear of a single corporation that
has any kind of formal programme in place to nurture and support
employees with Asperger's and HFA, aside from covering the costs of
therapy through standard health care plans.
Which begs the question: If Aspies are everywhere among us, why isn't
the IT industry doing more to support them or even to simply acknowledge
their existence?
High-tech companies, after all, have been at the forefront of supporting
workers with nearly every type of social, ethnic, physical or
developmental identification. Microsoft, to take just one example,
sponsors at least 20 affinity groups — for African Americans, dads, deaf
and hard of hearing, visually impaired, Singaporeans, single parents,
and gay/lesbian/bisexual and transgendered employees, to name a few.
Just nothing for autistics.
A Microsoft spokeswoman confirmed that the company has no group or
formal, separate support for Asperger's. On rare occasions, an employee
with AS has requested accommodation, she says. When that happens, the
employee is paired with a disability case manager to determine
"reasonable accommodation" on a case-by-case basis.
Intel and Yahoo didn't respond to requests to discuss their policy
toward Asperger's employees, and a Google spokesman says the company was
"unable to accommodate the inquiry".
To be fair, the question of whether and how corporations should support
Aspies is a thorny one to untangle.
For one thing, unlike a disability that confines an employee to a
wheelchair or the language barrier that a foreigner faces, autism is
something others can't see or easily understand.
"A readily visible disability is easier [for co-workers] to cognitively
take on board, it seems," Ryno laments. "Ah, if only Asperger's made one
turn green!"
"If you meet someone from another country," Jeremy elaborates, "people
know they're from a different country and they cut them some slack."
And by their very nature, Aspies are not uniters. Microsoft's clubs and
support groups are all initiated and chartered by employees. That leaves
Aspies out by default: It would be highly unusual for an employee with
Asperger's to voluntarily organise any type of social group, with or
without other autistics.
Finally, many Aspies aren't "out" in the workplace; they haven't
acknowledged their condition publicly or to more than one or two
individuals.
Whether they should is a matter of contention. Ryno revealed his
Asperger's at only one job (his last) and lived to regret it, even
though his boss happened to be a young Aspie as well.
"It's the first time I've had an AS person as a superior," he says. "It
was definitely a refreshing change not to have to explain why I didn't
do eye contact, hated meetings and could not suffer fools, let alone
feign gladness."
In retrospect, however, Ryno regrets having told anyone he has AS. "I'd
say there were many disadvantages and few gains. The gains were
short-lived, too." Specifically, systems that Ryno and his boss had
designed both to help users and to minimise interruptions to their own
workdays were resented and little used.
Now that Ryno is gone — he quit after being ordered by an executive to
restore internet access for an employee caught downloading pornography
against company policy — "the other AS employee is being forced into
meetings, crowded social gatherings and many of the situations we had
previously been allowed to keep to a minimum," he reports.
Jeremy has found that when he asks co-workers and bosses to accommodate
his differences, it doesn't help, and in fact always seems to lead to
the same end: termination.
"I don't blink. I stare. I don't understand boundary issues very well. I
don't have a feeling of group membership, but other people have a very
firm idea of membership in groups," he says, struggling to define the
problem as precisely as possible.
As a result, where other employees are able to correct their mistakes
and adjust their behaviours day to day in the office environment, Jeremy
isn't. "People won't give me negative feedback. I don't know what I'm
missing until it's already become a problem. I pick up on a lot of
stuff, but I miss some cues. They're like little black holes, and the
little black holes accumulate, and I end up being forced out. It keeps
happening."
It isn't a question of work — he is sought out for his programming
specialty and always busy as a contractor — but of social relationships.
"I get the feeling what they'd like to do is put me in a black box, give
me an assignment and get it out the other end in few weeks."
Building a better workplace?
The subtle social engineering that Jeremy and other HFA and Aspie
employees struggle with may be beyond the ken of even the most proactive
human resource organisations. But that doesn't mean the industry's
heavy-hitters can't and shouldn't proactively fashion a more
Asperger's-friendly workplace, a kind of "if you build it they will come
— and work" scenario.
These changes needn't be monumental, or limited to Aspies only,
specialists say. Bob, the database applications programmer, was just one
of several Aspies interviewed for this story who spoke admiringly of the
work/life accommodations in place at internet companies like Google.
"I would not demand it from anyone, but I do wish every employer were as
accommodating as Google, supplying prepared meals and encouraging people
to bring their dogs to work," he says.
Physical changes to the office environment can help as well, Grandin and
others point out. Many Asperger's workers are debilitated by blinking or
flickering lights; the mechanical noise of an air conditioner,
photocopier or ringing telephones; or simple office chatter. A quiet
corner, an office or cubicle with soundproofing or a white-noise machine
may be all it takes to turn the situation around.
And more than one person spoke highly of the rumours that Microsoft
offers a "buddy system" for Aspies, pairing an Asperger's employee with
a neurotypical — that is, nonautistic — colleague who coaches them
through the whys and wherefores of meetings and other social
interactions. A Microsoft spokeswoman says there is no official
information available on any buddy programmes, but says there is a good
chance such initiatives are conducted on a team-by-team basis within the
company.
Beyond that, Asperger's individuals hope only that they be given a
chance to find a niche in the modern corporate landscape. Companies have
evolved to accommodate everything from workers' physical height to their
hearing ability, sexual orientation or ethno-religious status, Ryno
points out.
In the same way, he says, "employers of Aspies should look at the person
and the tasks, environment, and communication structure and adjust for
the best viable fit."
Seattle-area psychologist Becker has seen some early signs that
forward-looking high-tech companies may be doing just that. "I have seen
cases where [a client] will say, 'I have Asperger's,' and receive a
positive response from social workers employed by the business or the
insurance companies," he reports.
On the whole, Becker is willing to cut IT some slack — for now at least.
"Most corporations have never dealt with Asperger's. It's a fairly new
diagnosis, even newer for adults," he points out. His general feeling is
that high tech wants to support Aspies as valuable employees, it just
doesn't yet know how. But that too shall change.
"In the next five to 10 years, we'll see more businesses treating autism
spectrum disorders as routine," he predicts.
Copyright © Fairfax Business Media A Division of John Fairfax
Publications Pty Limited, 2006 Privacy Policy
By Tracy Mayor, Framingham | Monday, 23 June, 2008 - Computerworld [New
Zealand]
"Ryno" is a 50-something ex-sysadmin, by his own account "burned out and
living on disability" in rural Australia.
He loved the tech parts of being a system administrator, and he was good
at them. But the interpersonal interactions that went along with the
position — the hearty backslaps from random users, the impromptu
meetings — were literally unbearable for Ryno.
"I can make your systems efficient and lower your downtime," he says. "I
cannot make your users happy."
Bob, a database applications programmer who's been working in high tech
for 26 years, has an aptitude for math and logic. And he has what he
calls his "strange memory". If he can't recall the answer to a question,
he can recall exactly, as if in a digital image, where he first saw the
answer, down to the page and paragraph and sentence.
Bob has some behaviour quirks as well: He can become nonverbal when he's
frustrated, and he interprets things literally — he doesn't read between
the lines. "I am sure [my boss] finds it frustrating when I misinterpret
his irony," he says, "but at least he knows it is not willful."
"Jeremy" excels at being able to see an engineering problem from the
inside out, internalising it almost from the point of view of the code
itself. He's great at hammering out details one on one with other
intensely focused people, often the CEOs of the companies he contracts
for. To protect his anonymity, he doesn't want to mention his
programming subspecialty, but suffice it to say he's a very well-known
go-to guy in his industry.
What Jeremy is not good at is suffering fools in the workplace or
dealing with the endless bureaucracy of the modern corporation. If
someone is wrong — if their idea just plain won't work — he says so,
simply states the fact. That frankness causes all manner of upset in the
office, he's discovered.
These IT professionals are all autistic. Bob and Ryno have Asperger's
Syndrome (AS); Jeremy has high-functioning autism (HFA).
Though the terms are debated and sometimes disputed in the medical
community, both refer in a general way to people who display some
characteristics of autism — including unusual responses to the
environment and deficits in social interaction — but not the cognitive
and communicative development impairments or language delays of classic
autism.
People with Asperger's, widely known as "Aspies," aren't good at reading
nonverbal cues, according to the American Psychiatric Association's
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. They can have
difficulty forming friendships with peers, they form a strict adherence
to routines and rituals, and they may exhibit repetitive and stereotyped
motor movements like hand or finger flapping.
Dr Tony Attwood, a world-renowned Asperger's clinician and author in
Brisbane, Australia, defines Asperger's in a more human context: "The
[Asperger's] person usually has a strong desire to seek knowledge, truth
and perfection with a different set of priorities. ... The overriding
priority may be to solve a problem rather than satisfy the social or
emotional needs of others."
Problems over people? Hmm, sounds like a techie.
A paper on Asperger's from Yale University's Developmental Disabilities
Clinic continues down the same path: "Idiosyncratic interests are common
and may take the form of an unusual and/or highly circumscribed interest
(such as in train schedules, snakes, the weather, deep-fry cookers or
telegraph pole insulators)."
Or technology. When Ryno spoke with a receptionist to make an initial
appointment for an evaluation with Attwood, she asked him, what is your
"Big Interest?"
"She inadvertently gave me a diagnostic question I have found
invaluable," he recalls. "The Big Interest is a great start to
Aspie-spotting."
Ryno's Big Interest is computers and communications. He's not the only
one, not by a long shot.
The Asperger's-IT connection
Autism, though first identified and labeled in 1943, is still a poorly
understood neurodevelopment disorder, and nearly every aspect of its
causes, manifestations, research and cure is mired in controversy.
Asperger's and HFA, being hard-to-define, often undiagnosed or
underdiagnosed variants on the high end of the autism spectrum, are even
less quantified or understood.
Diagnoses of autism, including Asperger's, have skyrocketed in the US in
recent years — the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention now
estimates that one in 150 8-year-old children has some form of autism.
It's not clear if the increase is because of better detection, a change
in the diagnosis to include a wider range of behaviours, a true increase
in case numbers, or some combination of those or other factors.
It's even less clear how many adults have Asperger's. Because Aspies are
usually of average or above-average intelligence, they're often able to
mask or accommodate their differences socially and in the workplace,
meaning many of them make it well into middle age, or live their whole
lives, without being formally diagnosed.
A spokesman for the National Institute of Mental Health says the agency
is not aware of any government organisation or academic research that
tracks the incidence of AS in adults.
Where statistics come up short, anecdote is happy to take up the slack.
Ask an Asperger's-aware techie if there is indeed a connection between
AS and IT, and you're likely to get "affirmative, Captain".
When the question is put to Ryno, he emails back a visual: "Aspies-->
tech--> as fish--> water."
And Bob, the database applications programmer, says, "Yes, it is a
stereotype, and yes, there are a higher than average number of Aspies in
high tech."
Nobody, it seems, has more to say on the subject than Temple Grandin, a
fast-talking PhD Aspie professor who's the closest thing Asperger's has
to an elder stateswoman. Grandin made her mark designing
livestock-handling facilities from the point of view of the animal; she
now has a thriving second career as an Asperger's author (Thinking in
Pictures, Unwritten Rules of Social Relationships) and speaker.
"Is there a connection between Asperger's and IT? We wouldn't even have
any computers if we didn't have Asperger's," she declares. "All these
labels — 'geek' and 'nerd' and 'mild Asperger's' — are all getting at
the same thing. ... The Asperger's brain is interested in things rather
than people, and people who are interested in things have given us the
computer you're working on right now."
Career opportunities, career limitations
Grandin has compiled a list of jobs and their suitability to Aspies and
autistics according to their skills. No surprise, tech jobs are cited
early and often. Her list of "good jobs for visual thinkers", for
example, includes computer programming, drafting (including
computer-aided drafting), computer troubleshooting and repair, web page
design, video game design and computer animation.
Grandin's "good jobs for nonvisual thinkers", which she further defines
as "those who are good at math, music or facts," includes computer
programming, engineering, inventory control and physics.
Why do Asperger's individuals gravitate to technology?
"Adults with Asperger's have a social naivety that prevents them from
understanding how people relate. What draws them in is not parties and
social interaction, but work that allows them to feel safe, to feel in
control," explains Steve Becker, a developmental disabilities therapist
at Becker & Associates, a private practice in the Seattle suburb of Des
Moines, Washington, that conducts ongoing small group sessions for
adults with AS, among other services.
"What's better for that than a video game or a software program?" Becker
asks. "When you're designing a software program, there are rules and
protocols to be followed. In life, there is no manual."
While careful to protect his clients' confidentiality, Becker confirms
that he sees many adults and children of adults who work for the
region's tech powerhouses — Microsoft and Boeing — and the hundreds of
smaller companies that orbit around them.
Some of the Aspies he counsels are at the very top of their tech game:
software and aerospace engineers, computer scientists, PhDs. But for
every research fellow with Asperger's, he says, there are a legion of
fellow Aspies having a much tougher time in the middle or lower ranks of
the industry.
"The spectrum of success is much broader than one would expect," agrees
Roger Meyer, the Oregon-based author of The Asperger Syndrome Employment
Workbook who runs one of the oldest peer-led adult Asperger's groups in
the country. "Adults who have grown sophisticated at masking and
adaptive behaviours can either bubble along at the bottom of the market
or do very well at the top."
It's that "bubbling along at the bottom" that has Becker, Meyer and
other Aspie specialists concerned. Employees with Asperger's might do
well for years in data entry or working in a job like insurance claims,
where knowledge of ephemera is a prized work skill, only to flounder
when they're promoted to a position that requires a higher degree of
social interaction.
"The more technical the job, the better they do. But for some, managing
people in a supervisory capacity can be a problem," Becker says.
That can leave Asperger's employees stuck on the lower and less
remunerative ranks of IT, sometimes in jobs that are vulnerable to
outsourcing, says Meyer. For example, certain tech support situations,
where sensory distractions are minimal and human interactions are
reduced to a screen or a voice on the phone, are a natural fit for some
Aspies.
"They're good at diagnostic work. They can get in and slosh around in
the computer, use their encyclopedic knowledge of applications and
work-arounds, and arrive at a solution that may be unorthodox but
effective," says Meyer. As those jobs increasingly become automated
and/or outsourced, Aspies' chances for employment are diminished as well.
IT's dark little secret
Becker and Meyer say they have yet to hear of a single corporation that
has any kind of formal programme in place to nurture and support
employees with Asperger's and HFA, aside from covering the costs of
therapy through standard health care plans.
Which begs the question: If Aspies are everywhere among us, why isn't
the IT industry doing more to support them or even to simply acknowledge
their existence?
High-tech companies, after all, have been at the forefront of supporting
workers with nearly every type of social, ethnic, physical or
developmental identification. Microsoft, to take just one example,
sponsors at least 20 affinity groups — for African Americans, dads, deaf
and hard of hearing, visually impaired, Singaporeans, single parents,
and gay/lesbian/bisexual and transgendered employees, to name a few.
Just nothing for autistics.
A Microsoft spokeswoman confirmed that the company has no group or
formal, separate support for Asperger's. On rare occasions, an employee
with AS has requested accommodation, she says. When that happens, the
employee is paired with a disability case manager to determine
"reasonable accommodation" on a case-by-case basis.
Intel and Yahoo didn't respond to requests to discuss their policy
toward Asperger's employees, and a Google spokesman says the company was
"unable to accommodate the inquiry".
To be fair, the question of whether and how corporations should support
Aspies is a thorny one to untangle.
For one thing, unlike a disability that confines an employee to a
wheelchair or the language barrier that a foreigner faces, autism is
something others can't see or easily understand.
"A readily visible disability is easier [for co-workers] to cognitively
take on board, it seems," Ryno laments. "Ah, if only Asperger's made one
turn green!"
"If you meet someone from another country," Jeremy elaborates, "people
know they're from a different country and they cut them some slack."
And by their very nature, Aspies are not uniters. Microsoft's clubs and
support groups are all initiated and chartered by employees. That leaves
Aspies out by default: It would be highly unusual for an employee with
Asperger's to voluntarily organise any type of social group, with or
without other autistics.
Finally, many Aspies aren't "out" in the workplace; they haven't
acknowledged their condition publicly or to more than one or two
individuals.
Whether they should is a matter of contention. Ryno revealed his
Asperger's at only one job (his last) and lived to regret it, even
though his boss happened to be a young Aspie as well.
"It's the first time I've had an AS person as a superior," he says. "It
was definitely a refreshing change not to have to explain why I didn't
do eye contact, hated meetings and could not suffer fools, let alone
feign gladness."
In retrospect, however, Ryno regrets having told anyone he has AS. "I'd
say there were many disadvantages and few gains. The gains were
short-lived, too." Specifically, systems that Ryno and his boss had
designed both to help users and to minimise interruptions to their own
workdays were resented and little used.
Now that Ryno is gone — he quit after being ordered by an executive to
restore internet access for an employee caught downloading pornography
against company policy — "the other AS employee is being forced into
meetings, crowded social gatherings and many of the situations we had
previously been allowed to keep to a minimum," he reports.
Jeremy has found that when he asks co-workers and bosses to accommodate
his differences, it doesn't help, and in fact always seems to lead to
the same end: termination.
"I don't blink. I stare. I don't understand boundary issues very well. I
don't have a feeling of group membership, but other people have a very
firm idea of membership in groups," he says, struggling to define the
problem as precisely as possible.
As a result, where other employees are able to correct their mistakes
and adjust their behaviours day to day in the office environment, Jeremy
isn't. "People won't give me negative feedback. I don't know what I'm
missing until it's already become a problem. I pick up on a lot of
stuff, but I miss some cues. They're like little black holes, and the
little black holes accumulate, and I end up being forced out. It keeps
happening."
It isn't a question of work — he is sought out for his programming
specialty and always busy as a contractor — but of social relationships.
"I get the feeling what they'd like to do is put me in a black box, give
me an assignment and get it out the other end in few weeks."
Building a better workplace?
The subtle social engineering that Jeremy and other HFA and Aspie
employees struggle with may be beyond the ken of even the most proactive
human resource organisations. But that doesn't mean the industry's
heavy-hitters can't and shouldn't proactively fashion a more
Asperger's-friendly workplace, a kind of "if you build it they will come
— and work" scenario.
These changes needn't be monumental, or limited to Aspies only,
specialists say. Bob, the database applications programmer, was just one
of several Aspies interviewed for this story who spoke admiringly of the
work/life accommodations in place at internet companies like Google.
"I would not demand it from anyone, but I do wish every employer were as
accommodating as Google, supplying prepared meals and encouraging people
to bring their dogs to work," he says.
Physical changes to the office environment can help as well, Grandin and
others point out. Many Asperger's workers are debilitated by blinking or
flickering lights; the mechanical noise of an air conditioner,
photocopier or ringing telephones; or simple office chatter. A quiet
corner, an office or cubicle with soundproofing or a white-noise machine
may be all it takes to turn the situation around.
And more than one person spoke highly of the rumours that Microsoft
offers a "buddy system" for Aspies, pairing an Asperger's employee with
a neurotypical — that is, nonautistic — colleague who coaches them
through the whys and wherefores of meetings and other social
interactions. A Microsoft spokeswoman says there is no official
information available on any buddy programmes, but says there is a good
chance such initiatives are conducted on a team-by-team basis within the
company.
Beyond that, Asperger's individuals hope only that they be given a
chance to find a niche in the modern corporate landscape. Companies have
evolved to accommodate everything from workers' physical height to their
hearing ability, sexual orientation or ethno-religious status, Ryno
points out.
In the same way, he says, "employers of Aspies should look at the person
and the tasks, environment, and communication structure and adjust for
the best viable fit."
Seattle-area psychologist Becker has seen some early signs that
forward-looking high-tech companies may be doing just that. "I have seen
cases where [a client] will say, 'I have Asperger's,' and receive a
positive response from social workers employed by the business or the
insurance companies," he reports.
On the whole, Becker is willing to cut IT some slack — for now at least.
"Most corporations have never dealt with Asperger's. It's a fairly new
diagnosis, even newer for adults," he points out. His general feeling is
that high tech wants to support Aspies as valuable employees, it just
doesn't yet know how. But that too shall change.
"In the next five to 10 years, we'll see more businesses treating autism
spectrum disorders as routine," he predicts.
Copyright © Fairfax Business Media A Division of John Fairfax
Publications Pty Limited, 2006 Privacy Policy
zondag 8 juni 2008
Voetbal en vrije wil
De vraag of er een vrije wil bestaat is er een die mij reeds lange tijd achtervolgt. Deze vraag is voor iedereen van belang. Zonder vrije wil zouden we niets te kiezen hebben en geen verantwoordelijkheid hebben voor ons bestaan. Volgens Dennett bestaat er een oprechte zorg dat als we ons de vraag stellen of de vrije wil bestaat we in een afgrond kijken. We zouden ons kunnen verliezen in nihilisme en wanhoop. Bij de vraag naar de vrije wil staat er echt iets op het spel. Voor mij is de vraag naar de vrije wil er een die mij ook persoonlijk raakt.
Ben ik vrij of ben ik gedetermineerd? In hoeverre heb ik zelf kunnen kiezen wat voor een persoon ik ben? Veel mannen houden van voetbal. Ik niet (ik hou over het algemeen niet van sport). Je kunt natuurlijk zeggen dat dit een kwestie van persoonlijke voorkeur is, maar dat is misschien wat simpel gezegd. Onze persoonlijke voorkeuren kunnen we tot op zekere hoogte kiezen en hebben vaak (niet altijd) te maken met het soort persoon die we willen zijn. Voor een ander deel worden persoonlijke voorkeuren bepaald door aanleg en achtergrond.
Waar komt deze persoonlijke voorkeur vandaan? Sommige mensen zouden wellicht de indruk kunnen hebben dat ik neerkijk op een sport als voetbal. Ik heb vaak geroepen dat ik wel iets beters te doen heb dan me bezighouden met voetbal, dus enige aanleiding tot dergelijke gedachten zal ik ongetwijfeld wel gegeven hebben. Toch is dit niet de juiste verklaring. Mijn gebrek aan interesse in voetbal heeft niets te maken met dédain of arrogantie. Dat had misschien gekund als ik was opgegroeid in een milieu waar men neerkeek op voetbal om dat deze sport te “volks” zou zijn.1 Dat is echter niet het geval. Ik kom gewoon uit een middenklasse gezin. Ik ben geen arbeidersjongen maar beslist ook geen osm. Bovendien heb ik ook geen interesse in een sport als hockey. Van een sociaal determinisme lijkt er in mijn geval geen sprake. We zullen de verklaring ergens anders moeten zoeken. We moeten kijken of het een kwestie van aanleg is.
Mijn onverschilligheid ten opzichte van voetbal heeft waarschijnlijk meer te maken met de neurologische aandoening waar ik aan lijdt. Ik heb twee diagnoses; NLD (Non verbal Learning Disability) en het syndroom van Asperger (een autisme spectrum stoornis). De symptomen van NLD en Asperger overlappen elkaar op heel veel punten en de diagnostiek van dergelijke aandoeningen is niet bepaald waterdicht. Het is dus niet zo vreemd dat ik twee diagnoses voor dezelfde aandoening heb. Deze aandoening brengt met zich mee dat ik een gebrekkig ruimtelijk inzicht heb, dat ik problemen heb met de verwerking van zintuiglijke prikkels en dat ik een slechte motoriek heb. Dit betekent dat ik vergeleken met mensen die deze aandoening niet hebben zowel waar het gaat om het beoefenen als het aanschouwen van deze sport op achterstand sta. Ik ben een ramp op het voetbalveld. Het volgen van een wedstrijd als toeschouwer is wat mij betreft ook geen succes. Het is moeilijk om de bal te volgen, de teams uit elkaar te houden en het kost me moeite om in de gaten te houden aan welke kant van welk team welk doel staat. Ik mis kortom het overzicht. Dit alles valt terug te voeren op mijn aandoening. Ik kan niet uitsluiten dat ik wel van voetbal zou hebben gehouden als ik deze aandoening niet zou hebben gehad.
Mijn aandoening is aangeboren. Dat maakt het moeilijk om te zeggen hoe ik mij zou hebben ontwikkeld als ik deze aandoening niet zou hebben gehad. Dat ligt anders als je op latere leeftijd een hersenbeschadiging krijgt door een ongeluk, een hersenbloeding of een ziekte. Soms lijkt het dan of iemands hele persoonlijkheid verandert. Daarnaast gaan er vaak vaardigheden verloren die voorheen vanzelfsprekend waren. Zo is er het voorbeeld van een Russische soldaat die tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog een kogel in zijn hoofd kreeg. De kogel schakelde enkele hersendelen uit. Als gevolg daarvan werd hij ontzettend gevoelig en vriendelijk en was hij vooral zeer sterk in emoties. Zijn geheugenfunctie was minder. Ook moest hij volledig opnieuw leren schrijven en lezen. Ondanks zijn tegenslag vond hij dat hij het nog behoorlijk goed had gered in het leven.
Mijn ontwikkeling is vanaf mijn geboorte anders verlopen dan bij mensen zonder mijn aandoening. Byron Rourke, die NLD voor het eerst als zodanig beschreven heeft, komt met het volgende voorbeeld;
Wat zou een gewoon kind doen die de peuterleeftijd heeft bereikt in een kamer vol met antieke spullen en andere interessante objecten? Het volgende scenario zou zich kunnen voltrekken op het moment dat de verantwoordelijke ouder even is afgeleid: Het kind ziet een interessante vaas die op een tafel aan de andere kant van de kamer staat. Ze hobbelt naar de tafel, voelt even aan de vaas, tilt deze op en gooit de vaas in de lucht. Terwijl de vaas op de vloer in scherven valt, gilt de ouder; “Oh nee, dat was de vaas van tante Gertrude!” Dit wordt gevolgd door een opvoedkundige tik en vermaningen om de vaas van tante Gertrude en vergelijkbare voorwerpen in het vervolg met rust te laten.
Laten we nu kijken wat er gebeurt als een kind met NLD zich in dezelfde situatie bevindt. Hij hangt met zijn ouder rond in de woonkamer en ziet de vaas, maar maakt geen aanstalten om zich naar de vaas toe te bewegen. Hij vraagt wat het is. Het antwoord volgt onmiddellijk: “Dat is de vaas van tante Gertrude.” Hij schenkt verder geen aandacht aan de vaas. In plaats daarvan stelt hij meer vragen over objecten in de kamer, en de ouder zal reageren met verbale informatie.
Rourke nodigt ons uit om na te gaan wat deze kinderen nu eigenlijk hebben geleerd van deze situatie. Het “normale”kind neemt het interessante object waar en mobiliseert dan haar loco-motorische vermogens om het te pakken te krijgen. Terwijl ze dit doet moet ze haar koers houden door af en toe naar het object te kijken. Als ze bij het object is gekomen raakt ze het aan. Vervolgens tilt ze het op en gooit ze het in de lucht. Ze hoort hoe het object op de vloer in scherven valt en de kreet van de ouder. Dit wordt snel gevolgd door een sensatie van pijn en verdere verbale uitingen van de ouder. Het is niet onwaarschijnlijk dat deze reeks gebeurtenissen het volgende heeft bewerkstelligd: elementaire maar cruciale middelen- doel relaties en het gevoel van kracht en vertrouwen dat je krijgt van het gebruik van je vermogens om je doel te bereiken; de notie dat een object hetzelfde blijft ondanks veranderingen in het licht dat de retina ontvangt van de reflectie op het object; een elementair begrip van de interactie tussen aërodynamica en zwaartekracht als het object door de lucht vliegt; de realisatie dat een object glad is en een bepaald gewicht heeft desintegreert als het een onbeweeglijk object als een vloer raakt; de naam van het object; de gevolgen van dit gedrag; en verder verbale labels die bij horen bij deze activiteit en het betrokken object.
Een normaal kind geeft een object een label nadat het de fysische kenmerk heeft leren kennen. Dit is niet alleen de gebruikelijke manier om labels aan objecten te geven maar ook de manier die de voorkeur heeft. Dit verondersteld dat het kind beschikt over een goed functionerende tactiele en visuele waarneming, complexe motorische vaardigheden en het vermogen om om te gaan met nieuwe situaties. Problemen met deze zaken maken onderdeel uit van het NLD syndroom.
Laten we nu kijken wat het kind met NLD heeft geleerd. Waarschijnlijk heeft dit kind niet meer geleerd dan dat er een bepaald object een “vaas”is en dat dit object kennelijk iets te maken heeft met “tante Gertrude”. Niets meer.
Binnen dit voorbeeld zien we hoe al op een jonge leeftijd er complexe interacties die hun uitwerking hebben op de neuropsychologische vaardigheden en gebreken bij kinderen met NLD. Het is bijvoorbeeld waarschijnlijk dat zulke kinderen in steeds minder situaties geneigd zullen zijn hun omgeving op een fysieke wijze te verkennen. Het kost ze te veel moeite. Het is veel makkelijker om de wereld te leren kennen via de taal. De ouders en andere opvoeders zullen ook geneigd zijn verbaal te reageren op de vragen van het kind waardoor deze nog minder wordt geconfronteerd met nieuwe stimuli. (Rourke 1989 pp.89/90).
De aanwezige sterke punten worden zo versterkt en de zwakke punten blijven achter in de ontwikkeling. Ik ben dus gevormd door een aangeboren neurologische aandoening waar ik geen controle over heb. Deze aandoening zorgt er voor dat ik slecht ben in sporten als voetbal. Dat betekent niet zozeer dat ik geen Johan Cruijff had kunnen worden (dat is voor gewone stervelingen niet weggelegd) maar dat ik niet eens fatsoenlijk een balletje kan trappen. Zoals gezegd kost het me ook moeite om voetbal te volgen op televisie. Naar een voetbalwedstrijd gaan in een stadion is al helemaal geen optie (teveel impulsen).
Een belangrijk argument in de discussie met betrekking tot de vrije wil is het Geen Keuze principe. Dit houdt in dat we geen keuze hebben met betrekking tot gebeurtenissen waar we geen invloed op hebben. We hebben geen keuze met betrekking tot een reeks gebeurtenissen die met de Oerknal is begonnen. Dit ontrekt zich aan onze controle.
Een aangeboren aandoening ontrekt zich even goed aan de controle van het betreffende individu als een reeks gebeurtenissen die in gang gezet is door de Oerknal. Voor het Geen Keuze principe maakt het in wezen geen verschil, we kunnen de causale reeks net zo goed bij de geboorte laten beginnen.
Het is de vraag in hoeverre mijn aandoening mij bepaalt. Waar eindigt mijn NLD of Asperger en waar begin ik? Het kan niet zo zijn dat ik geheel door mijn aandoening wordt bepaald.
Het zenuwstelsel is een ingewikkeld orgaan dat bestaat uit zo'n 100 miljard zenuwcellen en zo'n 1000 miljard gliacellen. De gliacellen kunnen grofweg worden beschouwd als de ondersteunende, verzorgende en opruimcellen van het zenuwstelsel. De zenuwcellen of neuronen zijn de cellen die het leeuwendeel van de signaalverwerking voor hun rekening nemen. Daartoe hebben deze cellen karakteristieke uitlopers om signalen op te vangen en door te geven, en specifieke aanpassingen om signalen van de ene cel aan de andere cel over te brengen. De intercellulaire signaaloverdracht vindt plaats in de synapsen. Daar wordt het elektrische signaal van de zenuwcel tijdelijk omgezet in een chemisch signaal, het signaal van de neurotransmitters. Een beetje zenuwcel heeft al gauw 1000 synapsen, maar er zijn ook neuronen die wel 100.000 synaptische contacten hebben. Tijdens de ontwikkeling moeten al deze cellen en verbindingen gemaakt worden. Ontwikkeling is echter niet alleen een kwestie van aanmaak van elementen, maar evenzeer een van afbraak. Een belangrijk deel van de aangemaakte cellen, uitlopers en synapsen kent slechts een tijdelijk bestaan. Welke cellen en verbindingen mogen blijven, wordt bepaald door een samenspel tussen genetische aanleg, chemische factoren en functionele geschiktheid. Het hele proces van aanmaak en afbraak, de ontwikkeling van het zenuwstelsel, duurt ongeveer vijf en twintig jaar. Het uiteindelijke resultaat is een flexibel en functioneel stelsel van cellen en synapsen dat in staat is gedrag te plannen en aan te passen aan steeds weer veranderende omstandigheden. (Mijna Hadders-Algra) http://www.balansdigitaal.nl/sitemanager.asp?artikel=576
Onze hersenen kennen dus een zekere plasticiteit. Door te oefenen kunnen we nieuwe vaardigheden aanleren. Deze plasticiteit is natuurlijk niet oneindig. Het volwassen brein is minder plastisch dan het onvolgroeide brein. Door interventie op jonge leeftijd valt een hoop narigheid te voorkomen. Door oefening en training kan de ontwikkeling van het brein in positieve zin worden bijgestuurd. Daarmee valt echter niet alles te verhelpen. Het volwassen brein valt minder bij te sturen. Met levenservaring en compensatietechnieken valt echter voor volwassenen ook nog het een en ander bij te sturen. Helemaal te verhelpen zijn aandoeningen als NLD en Asperger echter nooit. Je moet leven met je handicap maar je mag je er nooit achter verschuilen.
Daniel Dennett komt in ElbowRoom en Freedom Evolves met een mooie frase; ‘If you make yourself really small, you can externalize virtually everything.’ Als je jezelf erg klein maakt dan kan je bijna alles buiten jezelf leggen. Dennett bedoelt zijn uitspraak ironisch zegt hij in Freedom Evolves. Wat hij bedoelde was: ‘You’d be surprised how much you can internalize, if you make yourself large.’ (Dennett 2003, p.122) Het volgende citaat maakt beter duidelijk wat Dennett bedoelt:
This time I made a fool of myself; if the situation had been quite different, I would certainly have done otherwise; if the situation had been virtually the same, I might have done otherwise and I might not. The main thing is to see to it that I will jolly well do otherwise in similar situations in the future.
That, certainly, is the healthy attitude to take toward the regrettable parts of one’s recent past. It is the self-applied version of the engineers’attitude toward the persisting weaknesses in the design of the robot. Of course if I would rather find excuses than improve myself, I may dwell on the fact that I don’t have to “take” responsibility for my action, since I can always imagine a more fine-grained standpoint from which my predicaments looms larger than I do. (If you make yourself really small, you can externalize virtually everything.) (Dennett 1984, p.143)
Overwegingen zoals Dennett ons hier geeft hebben slechts zin als we kunnen kiezen om ons gedrag te veranderen. Anders zou zijn opmerking pas echt ironisch zijn. We kunnen onze keuzes alleen herzien als we kunnen kiezen tussen verschillende alternatieve mogelijkheden. We moeten het zelf dat deze keuzes maakt kunnen afgrenzen van datgene wat buiten ons ligt en ons van buiten af bepaalt. Wat Dennett hier over in Freedom Evolves zegt is niet bepaald geruststellend.
Waar leggen we de grens tussen onszelf en de buitenwereld? Dennett verzet zich sterk tegen wat hij het Cartesiaans Theater noemt; een imaginaire plek in het brein waar alles samen komt voor het bewustzijn.’There is no such place, and any theory that tacitly presupposes that there is should be set aside as on the wrong track.’ (Dennett 2003, p. 123) Is er dan wel sprake van een zelf? Dennett lijkt soms te beweren dat dit het geval is en soms weer dat dit niet het geval is. Als er geen zelf is dan is de vraag waar mijn NLD of Asperger ophoudt en waar ik begin een onzinnige. Er is dan in wezen geen “ik”dat ergens zou kunnen beginnen.
Ik ga er vanuit dat we niet in zijn geheel zijn gedetermineerd en dat we beschikken over een vrije wil. Een totale vrijheid zoals Sartre bijvoorbeeld lijkt voor te staan is naar mijn idee een illusie.
Ben ik vrij of ben ik gedetermineerd? In hoeverre heb ik zelf kunnen kiezen wat voor een persoon ik ben? Veel mannen houden van voetbal. Ik niet (ik hou over het algemeen niet van sport). Je kunt natuurlijk zeggen dat dit een kwestie van persoonlijke voorkeur is, maar dat is misschien wat simpel gezegd. Onze persoonlijke voorkeuren kunnen we tot op zekere hoogte kiezen en hebben vaak (niet altijd) te maken met het soort persoon die we willen zijn. Voor een ander deel worden persoonlijke voorkeuren bepaald door aanleg en achtergrond.
Waar komt deze persoonlijke voorkeur vandaan? Sommige mensen zouden wellicht de indruk kunnen hebben dat ik neerkijk op een sport als voetbal. Ik heb vaak geroepen dat ik wel iets beters te doen heb dan me bezighouden met voetbal, dus enige aanleiding tot dergelijke gedachten zal ik ongetwijfeld wel gegeven hebben. Toch is dit niet de juiste verklaring. Mijn gebrek aan interesse in voetbal heeft niets te maken met dédain of arrogantie. Dat had misschien gekund als ik was opgegroeid in een milieu waar men neerkeek op voetbal om dat deze sport te “volks” zou zijn.1 Dat is echter niet het geval. Ik kom gewoon uit een middenklasse gezin. Ik ben geen arbeidersjongen maar beslist ook geen osm. Bovendien heb ik ook geen interesse in een sport als hockey. Van een sociaal determinisme lijkt er in mijn geval geen sprake. We zullen de verklaring ergens anders moeten zoeken. We moeten kijken of het een kwestie van aanleg is.
Mijn onverschilligheid ten opzichte van voetbal heeft waarschijnlijk meer te maken met de neurologische aandoening waar ik aan lijdt. Ik heb twee diagnoses; NLD (Non verbal Learning Disability) en het syndroom van Asperger (een autisme spectrum stoornis). De symptomen van NLD en Asperger overlappen elkaar op heel veel punten en de diagnostiek van dergelijke aandoeningen is niet bepaald waterdicht. Het is dus niet zo vreemd dat ik twee diagnoses voor dezelfde aandoening heb. Deze aandoening brengt met zich mee dat ik een gebrekkig ruimtelijk inzicht heb, dat ik problemen heb met de verwerking van zintuiglijke prikkels en dat ik een slechte motoriek heb. Dit betekent dat ik vergeleken met mensen die deze aandoening niet hebben zowel waar het gaat om het beoefenen als het aanschouwen van deze sport op achterstand sta. Ik ben een ramp op het voetbalveld. Het volgen van een wedstrijd als toeschouwer is wat mij betreft ook geen succes. Het is moeilijk om de bal te volgen, de teams uit elkaar te houden en het kost me moeite om in de gaten te houden aan welke kant van welk team welk doel staat. Ik mis kortom het overzicht. Dit alles valt terug te voeren op mijn aandoening. Ik kan niet uitsluiten dat ik wel van voetbal zou hebben gehouden als ik deze aandoening niet zou hebben gehad.
Mijn aandoening is aangeboren. Dat maakt het moeilijk om te zeggen hoe ik mij zou hebben ontwikkeld als ik deze aandoening niet zou hebben gehad. Dat ligt anders als je op latere leeftijd een hersenbeschadiging krijgt door een ongeluk, een hersenbloeding of een ziekte. Soms lijkt het dan of iemands hele persoonlijkheid verandert. Daarnaast gaan er vaak vaardigheden verloren die voorheen vanzelfsprekend waren. Zo is er het voorbeeld van een Russische soldaat die tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog een kogel in zijn hoofd kreeg. De kogel schakelde enkele hersendelen uit. Als gevolg daarvan werd hij ontzettend gevoelig en vriendelijk en was hij vooral zeer sterk in emoties. Zijn geheugenfunctie was minder. Ook moest hij volledig opnieuw leren schrijven en lezen. Ondanks zijn tegenslag vond hij dat hij het nog behoorlijk goed had gered in het leven.
Mijn ontwikkeling is vanaf mijn geboorte anders verlopen dan bij mensen zonder mijn aandoening. Byron Rourke, die NLD voor het eerst als zodanig beschreven heeft, komt met het volgende voorbeeld;
Wat zou een gewoon kind doen die de peuterleeftijd heeft bereikt in een kamer vol met antieke spullen en andere interessante objecten? Het volgende scenario zou zich kunnen voltrekken op het moment dat de verantwoordelijke ouder even is afgeleid: Het kind ziet een interessante vaas die op een tafel aan de andere kant van de kamer staat. Ze hobbelt naar de tafel, voelt even aan de vaas, tilt deze op en gooit de vaas in de lucht. Terwijl de vaas op de vloer in scherven valt, gilt de ouder; “Oh nee, dat was de vaas van tante Gertrude!” Dit wordt gevolgd door een opvoedkundige tik en vermaningen om de vaas van tante Gertrude en vergelijkbare voorwerpen in het vervolg met rust te laten.
Laten we nu kijken wat er gebeurt als een kind met NLD zich in dezelfde situatie bevindt. Hij hangt met zijn ouder rond in de woonkamer en ziet de vaas, maar maakt geen aanstalten om zich naar de vaas toe te bewegen. Hij vraagt wat het is. Het antwoord volgt onmiddellijk: “Dat is de vaas van tante Gertrude.” Hij schenkt verder geen aandacht aan de vaas. In plaats daarvan stelt hij meer vragen over objecten in de kamer, en de ouder zal reageren met verbale informatie.
Rourke nodigt ons uit om na te gaan wat deze kinderen nu eigenlijk hebben geleerd van deze situatie. Het “normale”kind neemt het interessante object waar en mobiliseert dan haar loco-motorische vermogens om het te pakken te krijgen. Terwijl ze dit doet moet ze haar koers houden door af en toe naar het object te kijken. Als ze bij het object is gekomen raakt ze het aan. Vervolgens tilt ze het op en gooit ze het in de lucht. Ze hoort hoe het object op de vloer in scherven valt en de kreet van de ouder. Dit wordt snel gevolgd door een sensatie van pijn en verdere verbale uitingen van de ouder. Het is niet onwaarschijnlijk dat deze reeks gebeurtenissen het volgende heeft bewerkstelligd: elementaire maar cruciale middelen- doel relaties en het gevoel van kracht en vertrouwen dat je krijgt van het gebruik van je vermogens om je doel te bereiken; de notie dat een object hetzelfde blijft ondanks veranderingen in het licht dat de retina ontvangt van de reflectie op het object; een elementair begrip van de interactie tussen aërodynamica en zwaartekracht als het object door de lucht vliegt; de realisatie dat een object glad is en een bepaald gewicht heeft desintegreert als het een onbeweeglijk object als een vloer raakt; de naam van het object; de gevolgen van dit gedrag; en verder verbale labels die bij horen bij deze activiteit en het betrokken object.
Een normaal kind geeft een object een label nadat het de fysische kenmerk heeft leren kennen. Dit is niet alleen de gebruikelijke manier om labels aan objecten te geven maar ook de manier die de voorkeur heeft. Dit verondersteld dat het kind beschikt over een goed functionerende tactiele en visuele waarneming, complexe motorische vaardigheden en het vermogen om om te gaan met nieuwe situaties. Problemen met deze zaken maken onderdeel uit van het NLD syndroom.
Laten we nu kijken wat het kind met NLD heeft geleerd. Waarschijnlijk heeft dit kind niet meer geleerd dan dat er een bepaald object een “vaas”is en dat dit object kennelijk iets te maken heeft met “tante Gertrude”. Niets meer.
Binnen dit voorbeeld zien we hoe al op een jonge leeftijd er complexe interacties die hun uitwerking hebben op de neuropsychologische vaardigheden en gebreken bij kinderen met NLD. Het is bijvoorbeeld waarschijnlijk dat zulke kinderen in steeds minder situaties geneigd zullen zijn hun omgeving op een fysieke wijze te verkennen. Het kost ze te veel moeite. Het is veel makkelijker om de wereld te leren kennen via de taal. De ouders en andere opvoeders zullen ook geneigd zijn verbaal te reageren op de vragen van het kind waardoor deze nog minder wordt geconfronteerd met nieuwe stimuli. (Rourke 1989 pp.89/90).
De aanwezige sterke punten worden zo versterkt en de zwakke punten blijven achter in de ontwikkeling. Ik ben dus gevormd door een aangeboren neurologische aandoening waar ik geen controle over heb. Deze aandoening zorgt er voor dat ik slecht ben in sporten als voetbal. Dat betekent niet zozeer dat ik geen Johan Cruijff had kunnen worden (dat is voor gewone stervelingen niet weggelegd) maar dat ik niet eens fatsoenlijk een balletje kan trappen. Zoals gezegd kost het me ook moeite om voetbal te volgen op televisie. Naar een voetbalwedstrijd gaan in een stadion is al helemaal geen optie (teveel impulsen).
Een belangrijk argument in de discussie met betrekking tot de vrije wil is het Geen Keuze principe. Dit houdt in dat we geen keuze hebben met betrekking tot gebeurtenissen waar we geen invloed op hebben. We hebben geen keuze met betrekking tot een reeks gebeurtenissen die met de Oerknal is begonnen. Dit ontrekt zich aan onze controle.
Een aangeboren aandoening ontrekt zich even goed aan de controle van het betreffende individu als een reeks gebeurtenissen die in gang gezet is door de Oerknal. Voor het Geen Keuze principe maakt het in wezen geen verschil, we kunnen de causale reeks net zo goed bij de geboorte laten beginnen.
Het is de vraag in hoeverre mijn aandoening mij bepaalt. Waar eindigt mijn NLD of Asperger en waar begin ik? Het kan niet zo zijn dat ik geheel door mijn aandoening wordt bepaald.
Het zenuwstelsel is een ingewikkeld orgaan dat bestaat uit zo'n 100 miljard zenuwcellen en zo'n 1000 miljard gliacellen. De gliacellen kunnen grofweg worden beschouwd als de ondersteunende, verzorgende en opruimcellen van het zenuwstelsel. De zenuwcellen of neuronen zijn de cellen die het leeuwendeel van de signaalverwerking voor hun rekening nemen. Daartoe hebben deze cellen karakteristieke uitlopers om signalen op te vangen en door te geven, en specifieke aanpassingen om signalen van de ene cel aan de andere cel over te brengen. De intercellulaire signaaloverdracht vindt plaats in de synapsen. Daar wordt het elektrische signaal van de zenuwcel tijdelijk omgezet in een chemisch signaal, het signaal van de neurotransmitters. Een beetje zenuwcel heeft al gauw 1000 synapsen, maar er zijn ook neuronen die wel 100.000 synaptische contacten hebben. Tijdens de ontwikkeling moeten al deze cellen en verbindingen gemaakt worden. Ontwikkeling is echter niet alleen een kwestie van aanmaak van elementen, maar evenzeer een van afbraak. Een belangrijk deel van de aangemaakte cellen, uitlopers en synapsen kent slechts een tijdelijk bestaan. Welke cellen en verbindingen mogen blijven, wordt bepaald door een samenspel tussen genetische aanleg, chemische factoren en functionele geschiktheid. Het hele proces van aanmaak en afbraak, de ontwikkeling van het zenuwstelsel, duurt ongeveer vijf en twintig jaar. Het uiteindelijke resultaat is een flexibel en functioneel stelsel van cellen en synapsen dat in staat is gedrag te plannen en aan te passen aan steeds weer veranderende omstandigheden. (Mijna Hadders-Algra) http://www.balansdigitaal.nl/sitemanager.asp?artikel=576
Onze hersenen kennen dus een zekere plasticiteit. Door te oefenen kunnen we nieuwe vaardigheden aanleren. Deze plasticiteit is natuurlijk niet oneindig. Het volwassen brein is minder plastisch dan het onvolgroeide brein. Door interventie op jonge leeftijd valt een hoop narigheid te voorkomen. Door oefening en training kan de ontwikkeling van het brein in positieve zin worden bijgestuurd. Daarmee valt echter niet alles te verhelpen. Het volwassen brein valt minder bij te sturen. Met levenservaring en compensatietechnieken valt echter voor volwassenen ook nog het een en ander bij te sturen. Helemaal te verhelpen zijn aandoeningen als NLD en Asperger echter nooit. Je moet leven met je handicap maar je mag je er nooit achter verschuilen.
Daniel Dennett komt in ElbowRoom en Freedom Evolves met een mooie frase; ‘If you make yourself really small, you can externalize virtually everything.’ Als je jezelf erg klein maakt dan kan je bijna alles buiten jezelf leggen. Dennett bedoelt zijn uitspraak ironisch zegt hij in Freedom Evolves. Wat hij bedoelde was: ‘You’d be surprised how much you can internalize, if you make yourself large.’ (Dennett 2003, p.122) Het volgende citaat maakt beter duidelijk wat Dennett bedoelt:
This time I made a fool of myself; if the situation had been quite different, I would certainly have done otherwise; if the situation had been virtually the same, I might have done otherwise and I might not. The main thing is to see to it that I will jolly well do otherwise in similar situations in the future.
That, certainly, is the healthy attitude to take toward the regrettable parts of one’s recent past. It is the self-applied version of the engineers’attitude toward the persisting weaknesses in the design of the robot. Of course if I would rather find excuses than improve myself, I may dwell on the fact that I don’t have to “take” responsibility for my action, since I can always imagine a more fine-grained standpoint from which my predicaments looms larger than I do. (If you make yourself really small, you can externalize virtually everything.) (Dennett 1984, p.143)
Overwegingen zoals Dennett ons hier geeft hebben slechts zin als we kunnen kiezen om ons gedrag te veranderen. Anders zou zijn opmerking pas echt ironisch zijn. We kunnen onze keuzes alleen herzien als we kunnen kiezen tussen verschillende alternatieve mogelijkheden. We moeten het zelf dat deze keuzes maakt kunnen afgrenzen van datgene wat buiten ons ligt en ons van buiten af bepaalt. Wat Dennett hier over in Freedom Evolves zegt is niet bepaald geruststellend.
Waar leggen we de grens tussen onszelf en de buitenwereld? Dennett verzet zich sterk tegen wat hij het Cartesiaans Theater noemt; een imaginaire plek in het brein waar alles samen komt voor het bewustzijn.’There is no such place, and any theory that tacitly presupposes that there is should be set aside as on the wrong track.’ (Dennett 2003, p. 123) Is er dan wel sprake van een zelf? Dennett lijkt soms te beweren dat dit het geval is en soms weer dat dit niet het geval is. Als er geen zelf is dan is de vraag waar mijn NLD of Asperger ophoudt en waar ik begin een onzinnige. Er is dan in wezen geen “ik”dat ergens zou kunnen beginnen.
Ik ga er vanuit dat we niet in zijn geheel zijn gedetermineerd en dat we beschikken over een vrije wil. Een totale vrijheid zoals Sartre bijvoorbeeld lijkt voor te staan is naar mijn idee een illusie.
maandag 26 mei 2008
St. Lucie teacher has students vote on whether 5-year-old can stay in class
By Colleen Wixon (Contact)
Originally published 01:50 p.m., May 23, 2008
Updated 04:30 p.m., May 23, 2008
5-year-old Alex Barton's teacher made him stand in front of his kindergarten class and had his fellow students say what they didn't like about him and then vote whether he should remain in the class.
5-year-old Alex Barton's teacher made him stand in front of his kindergarten class and had his fellow students say what they didn't like about him and then vote whether he should remain in the class.
PORT ST. LUCIE — Melissa Barton said she is considering legal action after her son's kindergarten teacher led his classmates to vote him out of class.
After each classmate was allowed to say what they didn't like about Barton's 5-year-old son, Alex, his Morningside Elementary teacher said they were going to take a vote, Barton said.
By a 14 to 2 margin, the class voted him out of the class.
Barton said her son is in the process of being diagnosed with Asperger's, a type of high-functioning autism. Alex began the testing process in February for an official diagnosis under the suggestion of Morningside Principal Marsha Cully.
Alex has had disciplinary issues because of his disabilities, Barton said. The school and district has met with Barton and her son to create an individual education plan, she said. His teacher, Wendy Portillo, has attended these meetings, she said.
Barton said after the vote, Alex's teacher asked him how he felt.
"He said, 'I feel sad,'" she said.
Alex left the classroom and spent the rest of the day in the nurse's office, she said.
Barton said when she came to pick up her son at the school on Wednesday, he was leaving the nurse's office.
"He was shaken up," she said. Barton said the nurse told her to talk with the child's teacher, who told her what happened.
Alex hasn't been back to school since then, and Barton said he won't be returning. He starts screaming when she brings him with her to drop off his sibling at school.
Thursday night, his mother heard him saying "I'm not special."
Barton said Alex is reliving the incident.
They said he was "disgusting" and "annoying," Barton said.
"He was incredibly upset," Barton said. "The only friend he has ever made in his life was forced to do this."
The child's mother filed a complaint with the school resource officer, who investigated the matter, said Port St. Lucie spokeswoman Michelle Steele said. But the state attorney's office concluded the matter did not meet the criteria for emotional child abuse, so no criminal charges will be filed, Steele said. Port St. Lucie Police is no longer investigating, but is documenting the complaint, she said.
Steele said the teacher confirmed the incident did occur.
St. Lucie School's spokeswoman Janice Karst said the district is investigating the incident, but could not make any further comment.
Vern Melvin, Department of Children and Families circuit administrator, confirmed the agency is investigating an allegation of abuse at Morningside, but said he could not elaborate.
dinsdag 29 april 2008
State house panel OK's autism-aid plan
A House proposal could provide more healthcare and education options for children with developmental disabilities, but some lawmakers worry about how much the plan would cost the state.
Posted on Wed, Apr. 23, 2008
bgilpatrick@MiamiHerald.com
TALLAHASSEE --
A major healthcare plan to help children with autism and other developmental disabilities cleared a key state House council Tuesday, bringing Florida a step closer to providing universal insurance for kids.
For the first time, private insurers as well as Florida's KidCare health program would be required to provide services to children with disabilities, under the plan unanimously approved by the House Healthcare Council. Advocates praised House Speaker Marco Rubio for pushing the proposal, providing a rare sense of relief in a legislative session when programs for the poor, sick and disabled are being slashed as part of $5 billion in budget cuts.
Among the cuts: upward of $180 million in programs for the developmentally disabled. That irony aside, advocates and insurance lobbyists also noted that lawmakers are pushing ahead with a separate affordable health-insurance plan that reduces government mandates rather than requiring more of them.
If the proposal passes, Florida would be one of 12 states to require insurance companies to cover treatment for children with autism. But key questions need to be answered, such as how many children will be served, what will happen to KidCare and whether the proposal will make health premiums more expensive.
A big roadblock: time. The 60-day legislative session is scheduled to end May 2. And some insurance companies, as well as some senators, are privately balking at the late-in-the-game proposal.
''I know it's late in session -- two weeks left. I know it's a broad thing, a big proposal, but I think it's worth our time,'' said Rubio, who began pushing the House measure after a friend's child was diagnosed with autism.
More and more children are being diagnosed with autism, experts say, but no one is sure why. Right now, one of every 150 8-year-olds has autism. Virtually everyone agrees that early intervention and therapy can make a big difference.
Under the plan, a child would be able to receive $36,000 a year in services -- for a lifetime maximum of $108,000 -- and allow more parents to enter the program by paying the full premium.
In the past, concerns about rising insurance premiums have killed the idea. But Tuesday, representatives from the Florida Insurance Council and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida told sponsors they support the plan.
Senate Democratic Leader Steve Geller of Cooper City is pushing a similar proposal, though it only includes a private-insurance mandate for autism and no other disability.
Geller said some people are concerned that the House's broad proposal would cost too much and worries that covering developmental disabilities in KidCare could raise the cost of premiums and break the bank. Next year's proposed budget includes an extra $36.4 million for KidCare enrollment, enough for 38,000 additional slots.
''I am concerned that this year adding a big fiscal hit to the state could be problematic,'' Geller said. ``I like what they're doing. I'm just worried about the funding for it.''
On the other hand, some parents say the plan should do more. The proposal's $108,000 limit in lifetime coverage is not enough for parents spending thousands each year, said Carmen Zaldivar, a Miramar mother who has a 13-year-old son with autism.
Hilda Mitrani, of North Miami Beach, said autism therapy made a huge difference for her 13-year-old son, David. When he was diagnosed on his second birthday, he wasn't making eye contact, wouldn't speak and wouldn't respond to his name.
His parents scrimped to pay his $40,000 annual therapy bill. Today, he attends a public school in Broward, where his father lives, and last year he learned Hebrew and celebrated his bar mitzvah.
''Some parents are able to spend a great deal of money to help their children,'' Mitrani said. ``But every child deserves a chance.''
Miami Herald staff writer Marc Caputo contributed to this report.
maandag 14 april 2008
Asperger’s Syndrome: Do I have it? And how do I live with it?
By Susan J. Golubock and Tara J. Marshall
Members of the Phoenix Adult Asperger’s Support Group
I suspect I may have, or have been diagnosed with, Asperger’s Syndrome, but I’m not really sure what it is:
* Please note that Asperger’s Syndrome (sometimes called Asperger’s Disorder) is a neurobiological collection of behavioral differences (thus the word syndrome). It is classified in the ICD-10 and the DSM-IV as a Pervasive Developmental Disorder, alongside Autistic Disorder. This is why some consider Asperger’s Syndrome as part of an Autistic Spectrum Disorder. There is no known cause, although both genetic and environmental factors are suspected to be involved. It is a condition that continues throughout the lifespan. It is not a mental illness.
Diagnostic criteria for Asperger’s Disorder from DSM-IV (1994)
A. Qualitative impairment in social interaction, as manifested by at least two of the following:
(1) marked impairment in the use of multiple nonverbal behaviors such as eye-to-eye gaze, facial expression, body postures, and gestures to regulate social interaction
(2) failure to develop peer relationships appropriate to developmental level
(3) a lack of spontaneous seeking to share enjoyment, interests or achievements with other people (e.g. by a lack of showing, bringing, or pointing out objects of interest to other people)
(4) lack of social or emotional reciprocity
B. Restricted repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behaviour, interests and activities,
as manifested by at least one of the following:
(1) encompassing preoccupation with one or more stereotyped and restricted patterns of interest that is abnormal either in intensity or focus
(2) apparently inflexible adherence to specific, nonfunctional routines or rituals
(3) stereotyped and repetitive motor mannerisms (e.g. hand or finger flapping or twisting, or complex whole-body movements)
(4) persistent preoccupation with parts or objects
C. The disturbance causes clinically significant impairment in social, occupation, or other important areas of functioning
D. There is no clinically significant general delay in language (e.g. single words used by age 2 years, communicative phrases used by age 3 years)
E. There is no clinically significant delay in cognitive development or in the development of age-appropriate self-help skills, adaptive behavior (other than in social interaction), and curiosity about the environment in childhood
F. Criteria are not met for another specific Pervasive Developmental Disorder or Schizophrenia
These clinical definitions were developed for the purpose of determining the degree to which a child is “disabled” and therefore eligible to receive services. They may not mean much or be of much help to adults who suspect that they have Asperger’s Syndrome. The important thing to understand is that Asperger’s Syndrome represents a mild to significant difference in how we process sensory input, communicate, and generally perceive social experiences from those with neurologically typical nervous systems. Like “neurotypicals,” we have our own strengths and limitations. Unfortunately, our “different-ness” often makes us appear more limited and our strengths harder to perceive.
Learning Style differences: Most of us have one very strong learning style, and may pick up very little information from other senses or teaching styles. We may be very strong visual thinkers, very strong auditory thinkers, very strong mathematical thinkers, or very strong in our language skills. One recent study found that some 70% of people diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome also met the criteria for nonverbal learning disorder. The vast majority of us have what neurotypicals consider weak social skills, primarily because we don’t pick up the unspoken social cues the way that neurotypicals do. This difference can contribute to failures in relationships and employment, and may also lead to a high co-morbidity of depressive disorder. Most people with Asperger’s Syndrome (colloquially known as “aspies”) have some degree of sensory processing dysfunction, meaning that various of the senses (sight, hearing, smell, touch, taste, proprioception, and vestibular) may be over-or-under sensitive to stimuli in comparison to those of neurotypicals (people not on the autistic spectrum). Synaesthesia (mixing of sensory information, such as smelling sounds) may also be present.
Tony Attwood, a clinical psychologist, and Carol Gray, an educator, both of whom work extensively with individuals on the autism spectrum, took a reverse look at the DSM-IV criteria for receiving a diagnosis of Asperger’s Syndrome and pointed out how what others view as “limitations” could also be viewed as strengths.
From: Discovery of “Aspie” Criteria
Carol Gray and Tony Attwood, 1999
As found at http://www.tonyattwood.com.au/index.htm,
“Tony’s Publications”
A. A qualitative advantage in social interaction, as manifested by a majority of the following:
(1) peer relationships characterized by absolute loyalty and impeccable dependability
(2) free of sexist, “age-ist”, or culturalist biases, ability to regard others at “face value”
(3) speaking one’s mind irrespective of social context or adherence to personal beliefs
(4) ability to pursue personal theory or perspective despite conflicting evidence
(5) seeking an audience or friends capable of enthusiasm for unique interests and
topics, consideration of details, spending time discussing a topic that may not be of primary interest
(6) listening without continual judgement or assumption
(7) interested primarily in significant contributions to conversation, preferring to avoid “ritualistic small talk” or socially trivial statements and superficial conversation
(8) seeking sincere, positive, genuine friends with an unassuming sense of humour
B. Fluent in “Aspergese”, a social language characterized by at least three of the following:
(1) a determination to seek the truth
(2) conversation free of hidden meaning or agenda
(3) advanced vocabulary and interest in words
(4) fascination with word-based humour, such as puns
(5) advanced use of pictorial metaphor
C. Cognitive skills characterized by at least four of the following:
(1) strong preference for detail over gestalt
(2) original, often unique perspective in problem solving
(3) exceptional memory and/or recall of details often forgotten or disregarded by others, for example: names, dates schedules, routines
(4) avid perseverance in gathering and cataloging information on a topic of interest
(5) persistence of thought
(6) encyclopaedic or “CD-ROM” knowledge of one or more topics
(7) knowledge of routines and a focused desire to maintain order and accuracy
(8) clarity of values/decision making unaltered by political or financial factors
D. Additional possible features:
(1) acute sensitivity to specific sensory experiences and stimuli, for example, hearing touch, vision and/or smell
(2) strength in individual sports or games, particularly those involving endurance or visual accuracy, including rowing, swimming, bowling, chess
(3) “social unsung hero” with trusting optimism: frequent victim of social weaknesses of others, while steadfast in the belief of the possibility of genuine friendship
(4) increased probability over general population of attending university after high school
(5) often take care of others outside the range of typical development
Note: Many Famous People Are Suspected To Have Characteristics of Asperger’s Syndrome:
Temple Grandin, Ursula LeGuin, Albert Einstein, Gene Roddenberry, Charles Darwin, Thomas Edison, Mark Twain, M.C. Escher, Johann S. Bach, Max Planck, Helen Keller, J.R.R. Tolkien, Jean Ayres, Dylan Thomas, Pablo Picasso, Linus Torvald, Galileo, Arthur C. Clarke, Franz Kafka, Glenn Gould, Benjamin Franklin, Margaret Mead, Aristotle
From “Sparks of Genius” - The 13 Thinking Tools of the World’s Most Creative People
Robert and Michele Root-Bernstein, (2001) Marriner Books
[For clarification: Temple Grandin has been diagnosed as autistic since she was a child. She has on many occasions stated that if she were to be diagnosed today, as an adult, she believes that she would fit the criteria for Asperger’s Syndrome. The others on this list have not been diagnosed as having Asperger’s Syndrome, but many suspect that, based on observation of their social and learning characteristics, they fit the diagnostic definition of someone with Asperger’s Syndrome. ]
Why have I received diagnoses from doctors that suggest that I have something other than or more than Asperger’s Syndrome?
Asperger’s Syndrome is often diagnosed when all other disorders can be ruled out. People who have, or suspect they have, Asperger’s Syndrome may have been previously diagnosed with:
Autistic Disorder, High Functioning (HFA)
Pervasive Developmental Disorder, Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS)
Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)
Schizoid Personality Disorder
Nonverbal Learning Disorder
Right Hemisphere Learning Disorder
Semantic Pragmatic Language Disorder
Clumsy Child Disorder
Additionally, if you have a medical history which includes a past head injury, you may be diagnosed with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). A warning for those previously diagnosed with Autistic Disorder or PDD-NOS: being re-diagnosed as having Asperger’s Syndrome can lead to being considered ineligible for various benefits (such as supported employment) that you may have previously benefited from.
There are several disorders that are frequently co-morbid with Asperger’s Syndrome. These include:
Attention Deficit (Hyperactive) Disorder (ADHD or ADD)
Tourette’s Syndrome
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
Depressive Disorder
Dysthymia Disorder (minor depressive disorder)
Sensory Integration Dysfunction
Seizure Disorder/Epilepsy
Several of us have also been considered to have “autistic characteristics” as children, but may never have received any special education or other services. In addition, some people may have asperger tendencies, but not have Asperger’s Syndrome. Engineers and computer programmers are often thought to exhibit asperger-like characteristics. A diagnosis of Asperger’s Syndrome simply reflects the severity of the differences between those with the diagnosis and those without. Current research suggests that there are 10-15 genes related to autism. The severity of your differences may relate to how many genes are affected and/or your other inherited traits, environmental exposures, and life experiences.
The inability to clearly define the difference between autism and Asperger’s Syndrome is why many consider both to be part of an autism spectrum, with Asperger’s Syndrome representing the high end of the spectrum. Based on DSM-IV criteria used to make a diagnosis, those with Asperger’s Syndrome have normal to above normal intelligence and fewer limitations in their use of speech and ability to communicate than those diagnosed with autism. Significant delays in the development of speech and communication, beyond the age of 2 years, are considered characteristic of autism. Some people on the autism spectrum display a splinter skill (also known as a savant skill) related to mathematics, calendars, or music, although this is not necessary for a diagnosis of autism.
Those who do develop speech but continue to have difficulties in communication and/or performing daily living activities are often classified as having “high functioning” autism. This is a delineation that many adults on the spectrum are not comfortable with as it implies that those with more severe difficulties in communicating and performing daily living activities are “low functioning.” The assumption is, and they are often treated as though, they are mentally retarded, and thus not given the mental and academic stimulation they deserve and need to achieve their true potential. Yet many “low functioning” individuals with autism have been discovered to be quite intelligent once the environmental or biochemical stresses interfering with their ability to communicate or perform daily living activities are lessened. With Asperger’s Syndrome, because of our high verbal skills, the expectations are often just the opposite. The assumption is that we are intelligent enough to do more than we demonstrate and are just not trying hard enough, when the truth is that we are “passing” for close to normal only because we are trying so hard and, in most cases, can’t do more than we are doing. For this reason, learning self-advocacy skills to clearly communicate to others just what you can and can not do is very important.
Why would I want an official diagnosis of Asperger’s Syndrome?:
If you are currently not experiencing any major problems in your relationships or employment, you may not want to get diagnosed as having Asperger’s Syndrome. However, getting an official diagnosis from a psychiatric or medical professional will be necessary if you are considering applying for social benefits, such as Social Security Disability or Vocational Rehabilitation. Please note that the diagnosis of Asperger’s Syndrome alone will not qualify you for any form of services. It is generally some co-morbid (accompanying) symptom (as mentioned above) that affects your ability to function in your work or home environment that is considered disabling. Despite the fact that functioning in a neurotypical world can be very difficult, a diagnosis of Asperger’s Syndrome does not mean a person is unable to learn to function, especially if they are fortunate enough to have people in their lives that provide the support they need.
Getting a diagnosis can be useful if you need accommodations in order to perform the tasks or deal with the environment in an employment situation. Such accommodations may include alternative ways of communicating, a more isolated space, breaks, etc.
If you are having considerable difficulty with relationships, especially with regards to understanding the other person’s perspective, then perhaps it is worthwhile investigating whether you have Asperger’s Syndrome and/or how it might be affecting communication between you and the person with whom you are trying to relate. You may also need to explore what it is you expect and need from a relationship and learn how to advocate for what you want in a non-demanding manner. Of equal importance is learning how to give what the other person wants in order to get what you want. If you decide to seek help in this regard, be sure that the psychiatrist, psychologist or counselor has experience with and is accepting of Asperger’s Syndrome differences.
Who you contact for a diagnosis will depend on what you are seeking from this person. Psychologists or neuropsychologists will arrive at a diagnosis through testing. This can be helpful if you are looking for more information on your areas of learning strength and differences. A neuropsychologist looks at the neurological as well as psychological issues. This type of testing can give you helpful information about yourself, but only IF the psychologist or neuropsychologist is familiar with neurological differences associated with Asperger’s Syndrome. Otherwise, their report is not likely to give you an accurate picture of yourself that you can relate to and use. A psychiatrist will often diagnose you after getting a history and talking with you, or others who know you. A psychiatrist is a medical doctor who can prescribe medication that may be helpful to you in calming your anxieties or bringing you out of depression (or treating co-morbid disorders).
The choice should always be left up to you as to whether you want to try medication. Medication can have side effects you need to be aware of and long-term use can sometimes result in a form of tics. Psychotropic medications (the ones that influence your brain chemistry) must never be stopped suddenly as your brain adapts to them and must be very slowly decreased to avoid withdrawal symptoms. You always have the choice of trying natural supplements that have a similar influence on your brain chemistry (check out http://www.phxautism.org/vitamin/frame.htm for more information on this). Unfortunately the manufacturers of supplements are unregulated so your doctor is unable to support their use and your insurance is not going to cover their cost.
Where can I go to get a diagnosis?:
If you are considering getting an official diagnosis, you should bring the following items with you: medical history/records and parents or teacher’s notes on your childhood behavior (including any kind of “baby development log” your parents may have kept, noting important milestones such as crawling, walking, first words, etc.). School records from Kindergarten through High School that show your abilities, both weak and strong, can be helpful. If you keep a diary, or have written personal essays on your experiences in dealing with other people, these may also be useful. There may be others who work with adults with Asperger’s Syndrome, but the following references are the ones we are aware of at this time (this does not constitute an endorsement of these doctors, only an awareness that they are said to work with adults with Asperger’s Syndrome):
Mark Wellek, M.D., psychiatrist, 4202 N. 32 St., Phoenix, AZ 85018, Phone: 602-955-1070, Fax: 602-957-9614. He accepts Out-of-Plan Referrals but payment is required at the time of services.
Bruce Rigler Holzman, M.D., 525 N. 18th Street, Suite 303, Phoenix, AZ 85006-3734
Phone: 602-254-9986, Fax: 602-254-4439. He is a provider in PPO, HMO or Network Plans and Accepts Out-of-Plan Referrals
William Graff, Ed.D., Well Being Systems, 2701 East Camelback Road, Phoenix, AZ 85016, Phone: (602) 957-2368. [Be aware that Dr. Graff is not a medical doctor if this is what you are looking for to work with you long-term, but he has his own approach, like most professionals, that he believes can help.]
Do NOT feel obliged to continue to see any professional that makes you feel uncomfortable or who pushes on you their agenda for what they think is best for you. You have both control over and responsibility for how you chose to live your life. Continue to seek what you find helpful, and look elsewhere when it is not or stops being helpful.
Should I tell people that I have Asperger’s Syndrome?:
This is a sensitive subject. In regards to employment, you do not need to disclose your diagnosis until after you have actually been hired. If you know that you will require certain accommodations in order to do your best at work (e.g., incandescent, rather than fluorescent, lighting, a flat-screen computer, etc.). If you need to disclose your diagnosis in order to request accommodations, the best person to start with may be your immediate supervisor. Sometimes simply stating that you “do best” when [a particular accommodation is provided] is enough. Some businesses require you to disclose your disability to personnel in order to receive accommodations that are not typically made for others. Be aware that some aspies have found that disclosing their diagnosis with the expectation that others will better understand and provide for their needs was not helpful, and often backfired. It is always best if YOU decide what you need and politely, with reasonable explanations that do not need to include your diagnosis, ask for it,. Don’t expect them to know what you need, based on a diagnosis that they may not understand. You are the only one that can know your needs.
In relationships, disclosure of a diagnosis Asperger’s Syndrome has been known to save relationships that are in trouble, but it has also been known to lead to a faster break-up or divorce if the non-Asperger’s Syndrome partner is unwilling to deal with the changes or issues inherent with this new knowledge about you. Experiences have been mixed.
A book on this issue that you might want to check out is: Ask and Tell: Self-Advocacy and Disclosure for People on the Autism Spectrum, Stephen M. Shore, editor, by Autism Asperger Publishing Company (www.asperger.net).
Where can I meet others who have Asperger’s Syndrome?
Asperger’s Syndrome/HFA/PDD Support Groups:
In Phoenix, contact: Trish Gelvin, 602-421-2215, trish_crew@yahoo.com
In Tucson, contact: Jerry Newport, 520-795-0396, wholphin48@hotmail.com
Internet Sites:
Patty's Home Page, adult autism issues, advocacy for adult autistics, autism information, http://www.autistics.cc/
Frank Klein’s Autistic Advocacy, http://home.att.net/~ascaris1/
Autism Network International, http://ani.autistics.org/
M. Jane Meyerding’s Home Page, http://staff.washington.edu/mjane/
Dave Spicer - autistic writer and speaker - http://bellsouthpwp.net/d/s/dspicer/
The MAZE - Ooops... Wrong Planet! Syndrome Master Link Page, http://www.isn.net/~jypsy/autilink.htm
autistics.org Links Autistic_Culture-People, http://www.autistics.org/links2/Autistic_Culture/People/
I want friends but making friends seems hard. Why?:
Personal friendships are generally built on one or more things of shared interest between two people. Personal friends share their thoughts and feelings as well as experiences. Not everyone who calls themselves friends are personal friends. Aspies tend to be very open and honest and willing to share themselves with others, which are traits that close personal friends will value. Social and work friends, however, may not value this trait. They may not be ready to be open and honest and share personal information about themselves with you, so it makes them feel uncomfortable when you offer these things to them. Some Neurotypicals like to take the development of friendships slowly (see the stages of relationships below). When someone asks you questions about yourself, like where you were born or went to school or what things you like, they are indicating that they have a possible interest in becoming your friend. That doesn’t mean they will become your friend, only that they are interested in finding out if you both share enough interests to possibly become friends.
Some Neurotypicals, on the other hand, can be very open to making friends quickly. If someone wants to be your friend quickly, and then asks you to do something for them, like give them money or do something crazy or hurt someone, be aware that true friends don’t do that! True friends help you to feel good about yourself and protect you from doing things that are not in your best interest, or in the best interest of others. As mentioned in “Aspie Strengths”, we tend to be very loyal to our friends. However, our loyalty can (and has) been abused by those with various social weaknesses, such as greed or jealousy or low self-esteem. It is always a good idea to pay attention to your instincts. If you feel even the slightest bit uncomfortable about something, even if you can’t identify what it is, it is best to seek advice from someone you do trust who understands how some people can take advantage of others.
Many aspies have particularly strong interests in certain areas. Unfortunately very few people around them may share that interest. This makes it harder for aspies to find friends. An excellent place to look for friends are clubs where people with your special interest are likely to gather. Some aspies recognize that having a lot of friends is not that important to them. Other aspies blame themselves or think badly about themselves if they don’t have friends or make friends easily. Making friends has less to do with whether people like you than it does with whether you have interests or experiences that are similar to theirs AND whether you are also willing to share in the interests they have that are different from your own. It is easy to lose potential friends if you share more than what the other person wants to receive, or don’t give the other person equal time to share their interests with you. Friends who are close personal friends will stick up for each other in front of others, answer questions honestly (in a kind way), help each other when there is a need, and will enjoy just spending time together. Most people, neurotypical or aspie, only have a few friends that meet this definition of a close personal friend. These are the best friends to have and to seek.
Another reason that aspies may have a more difficult time making friends is because our sensory processing and body movements are different from neurotypicals. Friendly pats on the back and reaching out to touch your arm are common ways for neurotypicals to “connect” with each other through the sense of touch. If touch is perceived as uncomfortable, or even threatening, your reaction to their well-intentioned effort to relate to you is not going to be easily understood. This is where aspies need to self-advocate, to let others know what makes us uncomfortable. Most neurotypicals ARE willing to respect these differences, IF they know about them. For those who struggle with verbal communication, a card that explains what you need can be carried in your wallet or purse and shared with others as you choose. The “down side” is, because it is hard for neurotypicals to relate to these differences in perception, it may limit how many potential friends will be willing to work that hard to become a close personal friend. Aspies often find it easier to socialize and become friends with other aspies, simply because we understand each other’s way of thinking and perceiving.
“Missed” communication can also make it harder for aspies to make and keep friends. Our more limited body movements can be misread by neurotypicals who look for “body language” cues when communicating with others. Aspies also tend to find it difficult to attend to all the body language cues neurotypicals give. Thus, we may misread their “intended” messages to us if all we are paying attention to are the words they use. A good source for learning about body language is Teaching Your Child the Language of Social Success by M. P. Duke, S. Nowicki, Jr., and E. A. Martin (1996) Peachtree Publishers, Atlanta, Georgia.
Understanding the social rules that neurotypicals follow can also help in making and keeping friends (as well as working with others on the job). A good source for this is “The Rules of the (Social) Road” (Chapter 9) in Asperger Syndrome and Adolescence, by Teresa Bolick, (2001) Fair Winds Press, Gloucester, MA. Some typical social rules that aspies can break that neurotypicals find “off-putting” (but won’t tell you about to avoid hurting your feelings) are: 1) poor grooming habits, including not brushing teeth, not bathing or washing one’s hair, not wearing clean clothes, and not wearing deodorant; 2) telling people things about yourself that are considered “private”, such as that you do not have friends, have never had sexual intercourse, or use self-gratification to meet your needs; 3) appearing desperate or too eager to establish a close relationship with someone you don’t know really well (which may be a dangerous thing for you as this is the type of behavior that people who will abuse you look for); 4) asking others about their current relationships (unless they bring it up first); and 5) dressing too fancy or too casually for the situation, such as wearing too much make-up or seductive clothes to work or a picnic, or wearing jeans to a job interview.
Even though your sensory processing differences may be the reason for your grooming habits or clothes choices, unless you take the time to explain these differences to others (and even then they may not understand or accept what you say), people will judge you based on your appearance. That doesn’t mean you can’t find ways to compromise, such as adding a jacket to dress up blue jeans. Clothes that are clean and unwrinkled (which can be accomplished by hanging clothes on a hanger while they are still warm and wet after 10 minutes in the dryer) are more important than being “in fashion.” You can accomplish the “snug-fit” your body seems to prefer by wearing biking shorts or a wet suit under your clothes rather than overly tight fitting clothes that might be viewed as “suggestive.”
It might also be helpful to note that toxin build-up due to gut digestion difficulties may contribute to a “body odor” problem even when you are careful about your grooming. If this is the case, consider reading Children with Starving Brains, by Jacquelyn McCandless, M.D., for more information on the medical conditions that can affect the functioning of individuals on the autism spectrum. You may also want to check out the book Biological Basis of Autism by William Shaw, Ph.D., available from Great Plains Laboratory (913) 341-8949, www.greatplainslaboratory.com, for more information on yeast/bacterial infections and diets.
I’m interested in dating and an eventual commitment to another person. Will Asperger’s Syndrome make that more difficult for me?:
Many aspies, both male and female, are married or in long-term relationships. Many are not. Often it is only when aspies have children that they recognize their own aspie traits and are themselves diagnosed. It is also worth noting that aspies have a tendency to belong to “other minority groups”, and may be homosexual or have alternative lifestyles, in statistically greater numbers than the general population. Some aspies do not feel particularly attached to their sexuality. They do not identify with a particular sex or seek relationships with a particular sex. Other aspies simply choose to not pursue relationships other than friendships. Temple Grandin has spoken often of her own preference to not seek a sexual relationship. You should not feel pressured to act outside of what you are comfortable with when it comes to developing relationships with other people.
Whatever your relationship preferences are, relationship difficulties are not something unique to those on the autism spectrum. Neurotypicals have their own share of relationship difficulties. It is important to remember that all relationships have stages. It can be confusing to you if you are not sure which stage in a relationship you are with someone. It can be confusing and even overwhelming to others if you appear to be in a more advanced stage in the relationship than they are ready for. According to the book, Speaking Skills for Prospective Teachers1, the stages in a relationship are: 1) coming together, 2) staying together, and 3) moving apart. Coming together is a 5-step process: 1) initiating contact; 2) discovery of common interests; 3) intensifying our interest and involvement;
4) integrating this person into our life’s activities; 5) bonding or committing to the relationship (usually leading to marriage if the interest in the relationship is sexual). Staying together is described as a long-term situation that requires effort from both partners to keep the relationship going. There are nine characteristics that long-term relationships often have, none of which are always present to the same degree: 1) amusement (making the relationship fun and enjoyable); 2) affection (pleasure in being together); 3) commitment equity (equal dedication to the relationship); 4) fidelity equity (faithfulness to each other); 5) contracting (fulfilling any agreements made to each other); 6) twosome (relying on each other as partners); 7) recognition (publicly making others aware of your commitment to each other); 8) frankness (revealing your inner self to each other); and 9) averaging (good and bad times should average out). It is possible for a relationship to come apart at almost any stage. Under normal conditions, relationships come apart in five steps: 1) differentiating (disagreements and differences become the focus of attention); 2) circumscribing (talk diminishes, with less revealing of self and fewer commitments to each other); 3) stagnation (relationship loses its life and partners move apart physically); 4) avoiding (partners stop seeing each other); and 5) termination (the relationship is over).
Communication is always thought of as a key to successful relationships. So is attitude, according to this same book. This is where the differences in how asperger people and neurotypical people perceive similar experiences can cause problems in relationships. Neurotypicals value the following attitudes in a relationship: being genuine (being honest and open about ones feelings); being committed (having a desire for the relationship to continue and to share the responsibilities and make compromises when problems occur); talking together (to achieve understanding and appreciation of each other and discuss conflicts, expectations, and anxieties that bother each other); and 4) being empathic (seeing the world through the other person’s perspective, listening non-judgmentally and trying to understand the other person in the way they perceive themselves). It is a common, but very false perception, on the part of many neurotypicals that people with Asperger’s Syndrome lack these abilities! It is extremely difficult for ANYONE to understand and perceive what one has never experienced. Because of differences in the way that our brains process and respond to experiences, neurotypicals have just as much difficulty understanding and appreciating the asperger person’s perspective as the asperger person has understanding and appreciating the neurotypical’s perspective.
That doesn’t mean that both sides can’t learn to respect those differences and even understand them somewhat on an intellectual level. Communication becomes the most important factor in helping each other to understand and appreciate these differences. Again, this is a major contributor to relationship difficulties between asperger people and neurotypical people. Neurotypical people learn about and experience social interactions on a non-thinking level. To articulate how and what they know or feel on a thinking level is not something they often need to, or know how to, do with other neurotypicals. They simply “understand” because they tend to perceive these experiences in a similar fashion. Aspies tend to process a lot of input on an intellectual level because it is harder for them to pick up multiple information and process it quickly on a non-thinking level as neurotypicals do. Ironically, even though the mental effort of verbal communication can be very fatiguing for aspies, they are the ones who are expected to “explain” their differences to neurotypicals since neurotypicals see themselves as “normal” and therefore consider themselves easy to understand. Unfortunately, neither party has strengths in the areas that the other person needs for effective communication to take place.
Neurotypical and Asperger’s Syndrome people can develop meaningful and fulfilling relationships. It requires that both parties have to have a strong desire to make the relationship work and to work hard at communicating their different perspectives. Attitudes are not where the problems lie, even though they may often be expressed differently. It’s both parties willingness to communicate, in a non-judgmental way, that is essential to the understanding of, and increased appreciation for, the differences that contribute to the problems in neurotypical-asperger relationships. If you are interested, the movie The Mirror Has Two Faces may be worth watching as an example of an aspie and a neurotypical in a relationship, even though the main character is not identified as having Asperger’s Syndrome (but the characteristics are there). Liane Holliday Willey, in Pretending to be Normal, was already a wife and mother when she discovered, along with her daughter, that she had Aspeger’s Syndrome. Jerry and Mary Newport, in Autism-Asperger’s & Sexuality, have shown that two people with Asperger’s Syndrome can fall in love and have a meaningful committed relationship. All relationships, to be successful in the long-term, require a commitment to compromise and sharing, but having Asperger’s Syndrome does not lessen your chances of having such a relationship if this is truly what you want. It is important to recognize whether a relationship is what YOU want and are willing to work toward and not what you think society expects of you. It is equally important that you know your own limitations to know just how much you have and are willing to give to a relationship. Relationships, even in the neurotypical world, that are built on unrealistic expectations and only getting, not giving, rarely work.
What about having children? What are my chances that they will also have Asperger’s Syndrome?:
Many of us have been diagnosed after having children, particularly if we had a child who was diagnosed as having an Autism Spectrum Disorder. While there are no statistics on the likelihood of aspies having ASD children in general, the statistics for parents of autistic children (at least some of whom are probably undiagnosed aspies) run between 3-5% for Autistic Disorder, and up to 10% for ASD and “language delays”. There is also no data on how our “neurotypical” children turn out, but personal stories told by those on the spectrum of their children seem to indicate that these children pick up the body language and other social information they need from the outside world and do not suffer any “adverse effects” from their parent(s) autistic characteristics.
Where can I go to get the support that I need to live in a neurotypical world?:
[Disclaimer: Because something is listed does not imply that it is endorsed or even known to live up to whatever claims are made as regards providing needed support. They are listed because they are known through word-of-mouth to exist. It is your responsibility to check out these services/agencies for yourself to determine if they could be of any help to you. If there are resources for adults that you are aware of that should be included here, or excluded, please contact sgolubock4@msn.com or gpcasa@hotmail.com ]
Greater Phoenix Chapter (GPC) of the Autism Society of America: This group is for all people interested in autism, including parents of children/adults, and people with autism/Asperger’s. Monthly meetings, newsletter, annual conference. Call (602) 940-1093 http://www.phxautism.org
Tucson Chapter of the Autism Society of America, (520) 770-1541. This group serves people with autism of all ages, and holds monthly meetings. http://aztec.asu.edu/asa-pcc
Asperger Parent Network, resource for families and professionals in the Greater Phoenix Area. Monthly meetings, e-group and web site. www.apn.150m.com
Autism Assistance Program - This program provides financial assistance to low-income children and adults with autism/Asperger's who live in Arizona. The program is funded by a tax-credit in Arizona. Tax-payers may donate up to $200 per year, and receive a dollar-for-dollar reduction in their taxes; i.e., donate $200, and pay $200 less in Arizona taxes. http://www.eas.asu.edu/~autism/AAFA/AAFA.html.
Emily Anderson Family Learning Center: a lending library for information on disabilities. Located on the main corridor of Phoenix Children’s Hospital, 1919 E. Thomas Rd, Phoenix (SW corner of 20th St and Thomas Road). Call them at 602-546-1400 for hours. http://www.phxchildrens.com/about/services/emilycenter/
Phoenix Public Library: Special Needs Center: 1221 N. Central Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85004, Tel: 602-261-8690, Fax: 602-534-4520, E-mail: mmccain@phxlib.org
Arizona Center for Disability Law: Advocates for the legal rights of persons with disabilities to 1) be free from abuse, neglect and discrimination and 2) have access to education, health care, housing and jobs, and other services in order to maximize independence and achieve equality, http://www.acdl.com/, Phoenix: 602) 274-6287 Tucson: (520) 327-9547
Council for Jews with Special Needs: Provides a range of services, 480-629-5343. www.cjsn.org/. Email: info@cjsn.org. 12701 North Scottsdale Rd., Suite 205, Scottsdale, AZ 85254.
Arizona Division of Developmental Disabilities (DDD): Provides many services to people with developmental disabilities, including speech therapy, physical therapy, and occupational therapy. 602-870-1721
Social Security Disability Program: Contact 1-800-772-1213. http://www.ssa.gov/applyfordisability/adult.htm
Mental Health Association of Arizona
6411 E. Thomas Rd., Scottsdale, AZ 85251, Tel: 480-994-4407. Fax: 480-994-4744. E-mail: jsinclair@mhaarizona.org; web site: www.mhaarizona.org
Life Development Institute: Offers basic life training and training for employment. Contact Rob Crawford, M.Ed., Chief Executive Officer, 18001 N. 79th Ave., E-71, Glendale, AZ 85308, rcrawford@life-development-inst.org, www.life-development-inst.org, Phone (623) 773-2774, Fax (623) 773-2788.
Occupational Therapy (Sensory Integration) -
The Children’s Center for Neurodevelopment Studies – Offers occupational therapy, music therapy, speech therapy and horticultural therapy services which focus on the sensory processing strengths and limitations of those on the spectrum and development of a Sensory Diet to improve one’s ability to stay functional. http://www.thechildrenscenteraz.org. 560 W. Brown Rd., Suite 4007, Mesa, AZ 85201, 480-315-0730; or 5430 W. Glenn Dr., Glendale, AZ 85301, 623-915-0345.
Baio Enterprises, Inc., Marti A. Baio, M.A., CCC-SLP, Director
Pediatric Speech & Occupational Therapy, Adult Therapy
1745 S. Alma School Rd., Suite 145, Mesa, AZ 85210, Tel (480) 963-3634, Fax (480) 855-8384 www.baioenterprises.com
Auditory Integration Training –
Harper Hearing Services, Sandra Ann Harper, 1007 East Warner Road, Ste. 105, Tempe, AZ 85284-3242, ph: 480-838-1212, fax: 480-838-4334, email: saharper@dancris.com
Rebecca D. Welker, M.S., CCC/SLP, 1791 East Hampton, Tucson, AZ 85719
ph: 520-325-4402, fax: 520-323-6915, email: speechbyRDW@aol.com
Premier Care Rehab, Kristin Davis-Cole, 1024 Willow Creek Road, Suite D, Prescott, AZ 86301, ph: 520-778-9666, fax: 520-771-9620
Naturopaths, Homeopaths & Sources for Nutritional Supplements -
Mixtures Pharmacy & Compounding Center – specializes in medication not available in the traditional retail setting; focuses on sensitivities/allergies as well as supplements, secretin, and chelation therapy. 16515 S. 40th St., #123, Phoenix, AZ 85048. Tel: 480-706-0620, Fax: 480-706-0489, E-mail: pharmacist@mixturesrx.com; Web site: www.mixturesrx.com.
Mesa Health and Wellness Center, Dr. Sung, Dr. Armanti, and Dr. Rodriguez, (naturopathic doctors) 560 W. Brown Rd., Suite 3006, Mesa, AZ 85201, 480-461-1255.
Stanley R. Olsztyn, M.D.(H.), P.C. , Preventative Medicine, 4350 E. Camelback, Rd., Suite B-220, Phoenix, 85018, Phone (602) 840-8424, Fax (602) 840-8545
Stephen Davidson, D.D., Homeopathy, 1303 W. Bethany Home Rd., (602) 246-8977
Todd Rowe, M.D.(H.), CCH, DHE, Homeopathy, 5501 N. 19th Ave., #425, (602) 864-1776
Arizona Resources from the National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities (NICHCY) website:
State Vocational Rehabilitation Agency, Skip Bingham, Administrator
Rehabilitation Services Administration, Department of Economic Security
1789 W. Jefferson, 2nd Floor, NW (930A), Phoenix, AZ 85007,
(602) 542-3332; (800) 563-1221, E-mail: sbingham@azdes.gov
Web: www.de.state.az.us/rsa
State Developmental Disabilities Program, Ric Zaharia, Assistant Director
Department of Economic Security, Division of Developmental Disabilities
P.O. Box 6123, Site Code (791A), Phoenix, AZ 85005
(602) 542-6853, Web: www.de.state.az.us/ddd
Regional ADA & IT Technical Assistance Center, Erica C. Jones, Director
Pacific Disability and Business Technical Assistance Center, Public Health Institute, 555 12th Street, Suite 1030, Oakland, CA 94607-4046, (510) 285-5600 (V/TTY); (800) 949-4232 (V/TTY), E-mail: adatech@pdbtac.com,
Web: www.pacdbtac.org
Technology-Related Assistance, Jill S. Oberstein, Director, Randy Collins, Outreach/Training Coordinator, Ed Myers, Policy and Funding Specialist
Arizona Technology Access Program (AZTAP), 4105 N. 20th Street, Suite 260
Phoenix, AZ 85016, (602) 728-9534; (602) 728-9536 (TTY)
(800) 477-9921 (toll-free), E-mail: jill.oberstein@nau.edu, Web: www.nau.edu/ihd/aztap/
To find out the contact information for the Statewide Independent Living Council (SILC) in your state, contact:
Independent Living Research Utilization Project, The Institute for Rehabilitation and Research, 2323 South Sheppard, Suite 1000, Houston, TX 77019, (713) 520-0232 (V); (713) 520-5136 (TTY), E-mail: ilru@ilru.org, Web: www.ilru.org
To find out the contact information for centers for independent living (CILs) in your state, contact:
National Council on Independent Living, 1916 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 209
Arlington, VA 22201, (703) 525-3406; (703) 525-4153 (TTY), E-mail: ncil@ncil.org, Web: www.ncil.org
Where can I read more about these topics?:
ABOUT ASPERGER’S SYNDROME:
Tony Attwood, Asperger’s Syndrome: A Guide for Parents and Professionals, (1998) Jessica Kingsley Publishers, www.jkp.com
K. Stewart, Helping a Child with Nonverbal Learning Disorder or Asperger’s Syndrome: A Parent’s Guide, (2002) New Harbinger Publications, www.newharbinger.com
LIVING WITH ASPERGER’S SYNDROME:
L. Holliday Willey, Pretending to be Normal, (1999) Jessica Kingsley Publishers, www.jkp.com
Jerry Newport, Your Life is Not a Label: A Guide to Living Fully with Autism and Asperger’s Syndrome for Parents, Professionals, and You!, Future Horizons, Inc., www.FutureHorizons-autism.com.
Stephen Shore, Beyond the Wall: Personal Experiences with Autism and Asperger Syndrome, (1961) Autism Asperger Publishing Co., www.asperger.net
Temple Grandin, Thinking In Pictures: and Other Reports from My Life with Autism, (1996) Vintage Books.
Jean Kearns Miller, editor, Women from Another Planet: Our Lives in the Universe of Autism,(2003) 1stBooks Library.
WORK AND ASPERGER’S SYNDROME:
Temple Grandin & Kate Duffy, Developing Talents: Careers for Individuals with Asperger Syndrome and High-Functioning Autism, (2004) Autism Asgerger Publishing Co., www.asperger.net
How to Find Work That Works for People with Asperger Syndrome: The Ultimate Guide for Getting People With Asperger Syndrome into the Workplace (and Keeping Them There!) by Gail Hawkins. www.amazon.com
Stephen M. Shore (editor), Ask and Tell: Self-Advocacy and Disclosure for People on the Autism Spectrum, (2004) Autism Asperger Publishing Co., www.asperger.net
RELATIONSHIPS AND ASPERGER’S SYNDROME:
J. Newport and M. Newport, Autism-Asperger’s & Sexuality, (2002) Future Horizons, www.futurehorizons-autism.com.
Jeanette McAfee, Navingating the Social World: A Curriculum for Individuals with Asperger’s Syndrome, High Functioning Autism and Related Disorders, (2002) Future Horizons, Inc., www.futurehorizons-autism.com
LIVING IN A NEUROTYPICAL WORLD WITH ASPERGER’S SYNDROME:
Teresa Bolick, Asperger Syndrome and Adolescence: Helping Preteens and Teens Get Ready for the Real World, (2001) Fair Winds Press, Gloucester, MA
J. Dimitrius and M. Mazzarella, Reading People: How to Understand People and Predict Their Behavior—Anytime, Anyplace, (1999) Ballantine Publishing Group, www.randomhouse.com/BB/
Brenda Smith Myles, Melissa L. Trautman, Ronda L. Schelvan, The Hidden Curriculum: Practical Solutions for Understanding Unstated Rules in Social Situaitons, Autism Asperger Publishing Company (2004).
Rebekah Heinrichs, Perfect Targets: Asperger Syndrome and Bullying, (2003) Autism Asperger Publishing Co.
THE BIOCHEMISTRY OF AUTISM
Children with Starving Brains, by Jacquelyn McCandless, M.D.
Biological Basis of Autism by William Shaw, Ph.D., available from Great Plains Laboratory (913) 341-8949, www.greatplainslaboratory.com
SENSORY ISSUES IN AUTISM/ASPERGER’S SYNDROME:
B. Smith Myles, K. Tapscott Cook, N. E. Miller, L. Rinner, L. A. Robbins, Asperger Syndrome and Sensory Issues: Practical Solutions for Making Sense of the World, (2000) Autism Asperger Publishing Co., www.asperger.net
J. L. Savner, and B. Smith Myles, Making Visual Supports Work in the Home and Community: Startegies for Individuals with Autism and Asperger Syndrome, (2000) Autism Asperger Publishing Co., www.asperger.net
Members of the Phoenix Adult Asperger’s Support Group
I suspect I may have, or have been diagnosed with, Asperger’s Syndrome, but I’m not really sure what it is:
* Please note that Asperger’s Syndrome (sometimes called Asperger’s Disorder) is a neurobiological collection of behavioral differences (thus the word syndrome). It is classified in the ICD-10 and the DSM-IV as a Pervasive Developmental Disorder, alongside Autistic Disorder. This is why some consider Asperger’s Syndrome as part of an Autistic Spectrum Disorder. There is no known cause, although both genetic and environmental factors are suspected to be involved. It is a condition that continues throughout the lifespan. It is not a mental illness.
Diagnostic criteria for Asperger’s Disorder from DSM-IV (1994)
A. Qualitative impairment in social interaction, as manifested by at least two of the following:
(1) marked impairment in the use of multiple nonverbal behaviors such as eye-to-eye gaze, facial expression, body postures, and gestures to regulate social interaction
(2) failure to develop peer relationships appropriate to developmental level
(3) a lack of spontaneous seeking to share enjoyment, interests or achievements with other people (e.g. by a lack of showing, bringing, or pointing out objects of interest to other people)
(4) lack of social or emotional reciprocity
B. Restricted repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behaviour, interests and activities,
as manifested by at least one of the following:
(1) encompassing preoccupation with one or more stereotyped and restricted patterns of interest that is abnormal either in intensity or focus
(2) apparently inflexible adherence to specific, nonfunctional routines or rituals
(3) stereotyped and repetitive motor mannerisms (e.g. hand or finger flapping or twisting, or complex whole-body movements)
(4) persistent preoccupation with parts or objects
C. The disturbance causes clinically significant impairment in social, occupation, or other important areas of functioning
D. There is no clinically significant general delay in language (e.g. single words used by age 2 years, communicative phrases used by age 3 years)
E. There is no clinically significant delay in cognitive development or in the development of age-appropriate self-help skills, adaptive behavior (other than in social interaction), and curiosity about the environment in childhood
F. Criteria are not met for another specific Pervasive Developmental Disorder or Schizophrenia
These clinical definitions were developed for the purpose of determining the degree to which a child is “disabled” and therefore eligible to receive services. They may not mean much or be of much help to adults who suspect that they have Asperger’s Syndrome. The important thing to understand is that Asperger’s Syndrome represents a mild to significant difference in how we process sensory input, communicate, and generally perceive social experiences from those with neurologically typical nervous systems. Like “neurotypicals,” we have our own strengths and limitations. Unfortunately, our “different-ness” often makes us appear more limited and our strengths harder to perceive.
Learning Style differences: Most of us have one very strong learning style, and may pick up very little information from other senses or teaching styles. We may be very strong visual thinkers, very strong auditory thinkers, very strong mathematical thinkers, or very strong in our language skills. One recent study found that some 70% of people diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome also met the criteria for nonverbal learning disorder. The vast majority of us have what neurotypicals consider weak social skills, primarily because we don’t pick up the unspoken social cues the way that neurotypicals do. This difference can contribute to failures in relationships and employment, and may also lead to a high co-morbidity of depressive disorder. Most people with Asperger’s Syndrome (colloquially known as “aspies”) have some degree of sensory processing dysfunction, meaning that various of the senses (sight, hearing, smell, touch, taste, proprioception, and vestibular) may be over-or-under sensitive to stimuli in comparison to those of neurotypicals (people not on the autistic spectrum). Synaesthesia (mixing of sensory information, such as smelling sounds) may also be present.
Tony Attwood, a clinical psychologist, and Carol Gray, an educator, both of whom work extensively with individuals on the autism spectrum, took a reverse look at the DSM-IV criteria for receiving a diagnosis of Asperger’s Syndrome and pointed out how what others view as “limitations” could also be viewed as strengths.
From: Discovery of “Aspie” Criteria
Carol Gray and Tony Attwood, 1999
As found at http://www.tonyattwood.com.au/index.htm,
“Tony’s Publications”
A. A qualitative advantage in social interaction, as manifested by a majority of the following:
(1) peer relationships characterized by absolute loyalty and impeccable dependability
(2) free of sexist, “age-ist”, or culturalist biases, ability to regard others at “face value”
(3) speaking one’s mind irrespective of social context or adherence to personal beliefs
(4) ability to pursue personal theory or perspective despite conflicting evidence
(5) seeking an audience or friends capable of enthusiasm for unique interests and
topics, consideration of details, spending time discussing a topic that may not be of primary interest
(6) listening without continual judgement or assumption
(7) interested primarily in significant contributions to conversation, preferring to avoid “ritualistic small talk” or socially trivial statements and superficial conversation
(8) seeking sincere, positive, genuine friends with an unassuming sense of humour
B. Fluent in “Aspergese”, a social language characterized by at least three of the following:
(1) a determination to seek the truth
(2) conversation free of hidden meaning or agenda
(3) advanced vocabulary and interest in words
(4) fascination with word-based humour, such as puns
(5) advanced use of pictorial metaphor
C. Cognitive skills characterized by at least four of the following:
(1) strong preference for detail over gestalt
(2) original, often unique perspective in problem solving
(3) exceptional memory and/or recall of details often forgotten or disregarded by others, for example: names, dates schedules, routines
(4) avid perseverance in gathering and cataloging information on a topic of interest
(5) persistence of thought
(6) encyclopaedic or “CD-ROM” knowledge of one or more topics
(7) knowledge of routines and a focused desire to maintain order and accuracy
(8) clarity of values/decision making unaltered by political or financial factors
D. Additional possible features:
(1) acute sensitivity to specific sensory experiences and stimuli, for example, hearing touch, vision and/or smell
(2) strength in individual sports or games, particularly those involving endurance or visual accuracy, including rowing, swimming, bowling, chess
(3) “social unsung hero” with trusting optimism: frequent victim of social weaknesses of others, while steadfast in the belief of the possibility of genuine friendship
(4) increased probability over general population of attending university after high school
(5) often take care of others outside the range of typical development
Note: Many Famous People Are Suspected To Have Characteristics of Asperger’s Syndrome:
Temple Grandin, Ursula LeGuin, Albert Einstein, Gene Roddenberry, Charles Darwin, Thomas Edison, Mark Twain, M.C. Escher, Johann S. Bach, Max Planck, Helen Keller, J.R.R. Tolkien, Jean Ayres, Dylan Thomas, Pablo Picasso, Linus Torvald, Galileo, Arthur C. Clarke, Franz Kafka, Glenn Gould, Benjamin Franklin, Margaret Mead, Aristotle
From “Sparks of Genius” - The 13 Thinking Tools of the World’s Most Creative People
Robert and Michele Root-Bernstein, (2001) Marriner Books
[For clarification: Temple Grandin has been diagnosed as autistic since she was a child. She has on many occasions stated that if she were to be diagnosed today, as an adult, she believes that she would fit the criteria for Asperger’s Syndrome. The others on this list have not been diagnosed as having Asperger’s Syndrome, but many suspect that, based on observation of their social and learning characteristics, they fit the diagnostic definition of someone with Asperger’s Syndrome. ]
Why have I received diagnoses from doctors that suggest that I have something other than or more than Asperger’s Syndrome?
Asperger’s Syndrome is often diagnosed when all other disorders can be ruled out. People who have, or suspect they have, Asperger’s Syndrome may have been previously diagnosed with:
Autistic Disorder, High Functioning (HFA)
Pervasive Developmental Disorder, Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS)
Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)
Schizoid Personality Disorder
Nonverbal Learning Disorder
Right Hemisphere Learning Disorder
Semantic Pragmatic Language Disorder
Clumsy Child Disorder
Additionally, if you have a medical history which includes a past head injury, you may be diagnosed with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). A warning for those previously diagnosed with Autistic Disorder or PDD-NOS: being re-diagnosed as having Asperger’s Syndrome can lead to being considered ineligible for various benefits (such as supported employment) that you may have previously benefited from.
There are several disorders that are frequently co-morbid with Asperger’s Syndrome. These include:
Attention Deficit (Hyperactive) Disorder (ADHD or ADD)
Tourette’s Syndrome
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
Depressive Disorder
Dysthymia Disorder (minor depressive disorder)
Sensory Integration Dysfunction
Seizure Disorder/Epilepsy
Several of us have also been considered to have “autistic characteristics” as children, but may never have received any special education or other services. In addition, some people may have asperger tendencies, but not have Asperger’s Syndrome. Engineers and computer programmers are often thought to exhibit asperger-like characteristics. A diagnosis of Asperger’s Syndrome simply reflects the severity of the differences between those with the diagnosis and those without. Current research suggests that there are 10-15 genes related to autism. The severity of your differences may relate to how many genes are affected and/or your other inherited traits, environmental exposures, and life experiences.
The inability to clearly define the difference between autism and Asperger’s Syndrome is why many consider both to be part of an autism spectrum, with Asperger’s Syndrome representing the high end of the spectrum. Based on DSM-IV criteria used to make a diagnosis, those with Asperger’s Syndrome have normal to above normal intelligence and fewer limitations in their use of speech and ability to communicate than those diagnosed with autism. Significant delays in the development of speech and communication, beyond the age of 2 years, are considered characteristic of autism. Some people on the autism spectrum display a splinter skill (also known as a savant skill) related to mathematics, calendars, or music, although this is not necessary for a diagnosis of autism.
Those who do develop speech but continue to have difficulties in communication and/or performing daily living activities are often classified as having “high functioning” autism. This is a delineation that many adults on the spectrum are not comfortable with as it implies that those with more severe difficulties in communicating and performing daily living activities are “low functioning.” The assumption is, and they are often treated as though, they are mentally retarded, and thus not given the mental and academic stimulation they deserve and need to achieve their true potential. Yet many “low functioning” individuals with autism have been discovered to be quite intelligent once the environmental or biochemical stresses interfering with their ability to communicate or perform daily living activities are lessened. With Asperger’s Syndrome, because of our high verbal skills, the expectations are often just the opposite. The assumption is that we are intelligent enough to do more than we demonstrate and are just not trying hard enough, when the truth is that we are “passing” for close to normal only because we are trying so hard and, in most cases, can’t do more than we are doing. For this reason, learning self-advocacy skills to clearly communicate to others just what you can and can not do is very important.
Why would I want an official diagnosis of Asperger’s Syndrome?:
If you are currently not experiencing any major problems in your relationships or employment, you may not want to get diagnosed as having Asperger’s Syndrome. However, getting an official diagnosis from a psychiatric or medical professional will be necessary if you are considering applying for social benefits, such as Social Security Disability or Vocational Rehabilitation. Please note that the diagnosis of Asperger’s Syndrome alone will not qualify you for any form of services. It is generally some co-morbid (accompanying) symptom (as mentioned above) that affects your ability to function in your work or home environment that is considered disabling. Despite the fact that functioning in a neurotypical world can be very difficult, a diagnosis of Asperger’s Syndrome does not mean a person is unable to learn to function, especially if they are fortunate enough to have people in their lives that provide the support they need.
Getting a diagnosis can be useful if you need accommodations in order to perform the tasks or deal with the environment in an employment situation. Such accommodations may include alternative ways of communicating, a more isolated space, breaks, etc.
If you are having considerable difficulty with relationships, especially with regards to understanding the other person’s perspective, then perhaps it is worthwhile investigating whether you have Asperger’s Syndrome and/or how it might be affecting communication between you and the person with whom you are trying to relate. You may also need to explore what it is you expect and need from a relationship and learn how to advocate for what you want in a non-demanding manner. Of equal importance is learning how to give what the other person wants in order to get what you want. If you decide to seek help in this regard, be sure that the psychiatrist, psychologist or counselor has experience with and is accepting of Asperger’s Syndrome differences.
Who you contact for a diagnosis will depend on what you are seeking from this person. Psychologists or neuropsychologists will arrive at a diagnosis through testing. This can be helpful if you are looking for more information on your areas of learning strength and differences. A neuropsychologist looks at the neurological as well as psychological issues. This type of testing can give you helpful information about yourself, but only IF the psychologist or neuropsychologist is familiar with neurological differences associated with Asperger’s Syndrome. Otherwise, their report is not likely to give you an accurate picture of yourself that you can relate to and use. A psychiatrist will often diagnose you after getting a history and talking with you, or others who know you. A psychiatrist is a medical doctor who can prescribe medication that may be helpful to you in calming your anxieties or bringing you out of depression (or treating co-morbid disorders).
The choice should always be left up to you as to whether you want to try medication. Medication can have side effects you need to be aware of and long-term use can sometimes result in a form of tics. Psychotropic medications (the ones that influence your brain chemistry) must never be stopped suddenly as your brain adapts to them and must be very slowly decreased to avoid withdrawal symptoms. You always have the choice of trying natural supplements that have a similar influence on your brain chemistry (check out http://www.phxautism.org/vitamin/frame.htm for more information on this). Unfortunately the manufacturers of supplements are unregulated so your doctor is unable to support their use and your insurance is not going to cover their cost.
Where can I go to get a diagnosis?:
If you are considering getting an official diagnosis, you should bring the following items with you: medical history/records and parents or teacher’s notes on your childhood behavior (including any kind of “baby development log” your parents may have kept, noting important milestones such as crawling, walking, first words, etc.). School records from Kindergarten through High School that show your abilities, both weak and strong, can be helpful. If you keep a diary, or have written personal essays on your experiences in dealing with other people, these may also be useful. There may be others who work with adults with Asperger’s Syndrome, but the following references are the ones we are aware of at this time (this does not constitute an endorsement of these doctors, only an awareness that they are said to work with adults with Asperger’s Syndrome):
Mark Wellek, M.D., psychiatrist, 4202 N. 32 St., Phoenix, AZ 85018, Phone: 602-955-1070, Fax: 602-957-9614. He accepts Out-of-Plan Referrals but payment is required at the time of services.
Bruce Rigler Holzman, M.D., 525 N. 18th Street, Suite 303, Phoenix, AZ 85006-3734
Phone: 602-254-9986, Fax: 602-254-4439. He is a provider in PPO, HMO or Network Plans and Accepts Out-of-Plan Referrals
William Graff, Ed.D., Well Being Systems, 2701 East Camelback Road, Phoenix, AZ 85016, Phone: (602) 957-2368. [Be aware that Dr. Graff is not a medical doctor if this is what you are looking for to work with you long-term, but he has his own approach, like most professionals, that he believes can help.]
Do NOT feel obliged to continue to see any professional that makes you feel uncomfortable or who pushes on you their agenda for what they think is best for you. You have both control over and responsibility for how you chose to live your life. Continue to seek what you find helpful, and look elsewhere when it is not or stops being helpful.
Should I tell people that I have Asperger’s Syndrome?:
This is a sensitive subject. In regards to employment, you do not need to disclose your diagnosis until after you have actually been hired. If you know that you will require certain accommodations in order to do your best at work (e.g., incandescent, rather than fluorescent, lighting, a flat-screen computer, etc.). If you need to disclose your diagnosis in order to request accommodations, the best person to start with may be your immediate supervisor. Sometimes simply stating that you “do best” when [a particular accommodation is provided] is enough. Some businesses require you to disclose your disability to personnel in order to receive accommodations that are not typically made for others. Be aware that some aspies have found that disclosing their diagnosis with the expectation that others will better understand and provide for their needs was not helpful, and often backfired. It is always best if YOU decide what you need and politely, with reasonable explanations that do not need to include your diagnosis, ask for it,. Don’t expect them to know what you need, based on a diagnosis that they may not understand. You are the only one that can know your needs.
In relationships, disclosure of a diagnosis Asperger’s Syndrome has been known to save relationships that are in trouble, but it has also been known to lead to a faster break-up or divorce if the non-Asperger’s Syndrome partner is unwilling to deal with the changes or issues inherent with this new knowledge about you. Experiences have been mixed.
A book on this issue that you might want to check out is: Ask and Tell: Self-Advocacy and Disclosure for People on the Autism Spectrum, Stephen M. Shore, editor, by Autism Asperger Publishing Company (www.asperger.net).
Where can I meet others who have Asperger’s Syndrome?
Asperger’s Syndrome/HFA/PDD Support Groups:
In Phoenix, contact: Trish Gelvin, 602-421-2215, trish_crew@yahoo.com
In Tucson, contact: Jerry Newport, 520-795-0396, wholphin48@hotmail.com
Internet Sites:
Patty's Home Page, adult autism issues, advocacy for adult autistics, autism information, http://www.autistics.cc/
Frank Klein’s Autistic Advocacy, http://home.att.net/~ascaris1/
Autism Network International, http://ani.autistics.org/
M. Jane Meyerding’s Home Page, http://staff.washington.edu/mjane/
Dave Spicer - autistic writer and speaker - http://bellsouthpwp.net/d/s/dspicer/
The MAZE - Ooops... Wrong Planet! Syndrome Master Link Page, http://www.isn.net/~jypsy/autilink.htm
autistics.org Links Autistic_Culture-People, http://www.autistics.org/links2/Autistic_Culture/People/
I want friends but making friends seems hard. Why?:
Personal friendships are generally built on one or more things of shared interest between two people. Personal friends share their thoughts and feelings as well as experiences. Not everyone who calls themselves friends are personal friends. Aspies tend to be very open and honest and willing to share themselves with others, which are traits that close personal friends will value. Social and work friends, however, may not value this trait. They may not be ready to be open and honest and share personal information about themselves with you, so it makes them feel uncomfortable when you offer these things to them. Some Neurotypicals like to take the development of friendships slowly (see the stages of relationships below). When someone asks you questions about yourself, like where you were born or went to school or what things you like, they are indicating that they have a possible interest in becoming your friend. That doesn’t mean they will become your friend, only that they are interested in finding out if you both share enough interests to possibly become friends.
Some Neurotypicals, on the other hand, can be very open to making friends quickly. If someone wants to be your friend quickly, and then asks you to do something for them, like give them money or do something crazy or hurt someone, be aware that true friends don’t do that! True friends help you to feel good about yourself and protect you from doing things that are not in your best interest, or in the best interest of others. As mentioned in “Aspie Strengths”, we tend to be very loyal to our friends. However, our loyalty can (and has) been abused by those with various social weaknesses, such as greed or jealousy or low self-esteem. It is always a good idea to pay attention to your instincts. If you feel even the slightest bit uncomfortable about something, even if you can’t identify what it is, it is best to seek advice from someone you do trust who understands how some people can take advantage of others.
Many aspies have particularly strong interests in certain areas. Unfortunately very few people around them may share that interest. This makes it harder for aspies to find friends. An excellent place to look for friends are clubs where people with your special interest are likely to gather. Some aspies recognize that having a lot of friends is not that important to them. Other aspies blame themselves or think badly about themselves if they don’t have friends or make friends easily. Making friends has less to do with whether people like you than it does with whether you have interests or experiences that are similar to theirs AND whether you are also willing to share in the interests they have that are different from your own. It is easy to lose potential friends if you share more than what the other person wants to receive, or don’t give the other person equal time to share their interests with you. Friends who are close personal friends will stick up for each other in front of others, answer questions honestly (in a kind way), help each other when there is a need, and will enjoy just spending time together. Most people, neurotypical or aspie, only have a few friends that meet this definition of a close personal friend. These are the best friends to have and to seek.
Another reason that aspies may have a more difficult time making friends is because our sensory processing and body movements are different from neurotypicals. Friendly pats on the back and reaching out to touch your arm are common ways for neurotypicals to “connect” with each other through the sense of touch. If touch is perceived as uncomfortable, or even threatening, your reaction to their well-intentioned effort to relate to you is not going to be easily understood. This is where aspies need to self-advocate, to let others know what makes us uncomfortable. Most neurotypicals ARE willing to respect these differences, IF they know about them. For those who struggle with verbal communication, a card that explains what you need can be carried in your wallet or purse and shared with others as you choose. The “down side” is, because it is hard for neurotypicals to relate to these differences in perception, it may limit how many potential friends will be willing to work that hard to become a close personal friend. Aspies often find it easier to socialize and become friends with other aspies, simply because we understand each other’s way of thinking and perceiving.
“Missed” communication can also make it harder for aspies to make and keep friends. Our more limited body movements can be misread by neurotypicals who look for “body language” cues when communicating with others. Aspies also tend to find it difficult to attend to all the body language cues neurotypicals give. Thus, we may misread their “intended” messages to us if all we are paying attention to are the words they use. A good source for learning about body language is Teaching Your Child the Language of Social Success by M. P. Duke, S. Nowicki, Jr., and E. A. Martin (1996) Peachtree Publishers, Atlanta, Georgia.
Understanding the social rules that neurotypicals follow can also help in making and keeping friends (as well as working with others on the job). A good source for this is “The Rules of the (Social) Road” (Chapter 9) in Asperger Syndrome and Adolescence, by Teresa Bolick, (2001) Fair Winds Press, Gloucester, MA. Some typical social rules that aspies can break that neurotypicals find “off-putting” (but won’t tell you about to avoid hurting your feelings) are: 1) poor grooming habits, including not brushing teeth, not bathing or washing one’s hair, not wearing clean clothes, and not wearing deodorant; 2) telling people things about yourself that are considered “private”, such as that you do not have friends, have never had sexual intercourse, or use self-gratification to meet your needs; 3) appearing desperate or too eager to establish a close relationship with someone you don’t know really well (which may be a dangerous thing for you as this is the type of behavior that people who will abuse you look for); 4) asking others about their current relationships (unless they bring it up first); and 5) dressing too fancy or too casually for the situation, such as wearing too much make-up or seductive clothes to work or a picnic, or wearing jeans to a job interview.
Even though your sensory processing differences may be the reason for your grooming habits or clothes choices, unless you take the time to explain these differences to others (and even then they may not understand or accept what you say), people will judge you based on your appearance. That doesn’t mean you can’t find ways to compromise, such as adding a jacket to dress up blue jeans. Clothes that are clean and unwrinkled (which can be accomplished by hanging clothes on a hanger while they are still warm and wet after 10 minutes in the dryer) are more important than being “in fashion.” You can accomplish the “snug-fit” your body seems to prefer by wearing biking shorts or a wet suit under your clothes rather than overly tight fitting clothes that might be viewed as “suggestive.”
It might also be helpful to note that toxin build-up due to gut digestion difficulties may contribute to a “body odor” problem even when you are careful about your grooming. If this is the case, consider reading Children with Starving Brains, by Jacquelyn McCandless, M.D., for more information on the medical conditions that can affect the functioning of individuals on the autism spectrum. You may also want to check out the book Biological Basis of Autism by William Shaw, Ph.D., available from Great Plains Laboratory (913) 341-8949, www.greatplainslaboratory.com, for more information on yeast/bacterial infections and diets.
I’m interested in dating and an eventual commitment to another person. Will Asperger’s Syndrome make that more difficult for me?:
Many aspies, both male and female, are married or in long-term relationships. Many are not. Often it is only when aspies have children that they recognize their own aspie traits and are themselves diagnosed. It is also worth noting that aspies have a tendency to belong to “other minority groups”, and may be homosexual or have alternative lifestyles, in statistically greater numbers than the general population. Some aspies do not feel particularly attached to their sexuality. They do not identify with a particular sex or seek relationships with a particular sex. Other aspies simply choose to not pursue relationships other than friendships. Temple Grandin has spoken often of her own preference to not seek a sexual relationship. You should not feel pressured to act outside of what you are comfortable with when it comes to developing relationships with other people.
Whatever your relationship preferences are, relationship difficulties are not something unique to those on the autism spectrum. Neurotypicals have their own share of relationship difficulties. It is important to remember that all relationships have stages. It can be confusing to you if you are not sure which stage in a relationship you are with someone. It can be confusing and even overwhelming to others if you appear to be in a more advanced stage in the relationship than they are ready for. According to the book, Speaking Skills for Prospective Teachers1, the stages in a relationship are: 1) coming together, 2) staying together, and 3) moving apart. Coming together is a 5-step process: 1) initiating contact; 2) discovery of common interests; 3) intensifying our interest and involvement;
4) integrating this person into our life’s activities; 5) bonding or committing to the relationship (usually leading to marriage if the interest in the relationship is sexual). Staying together is described as a long-term situation that requires effort from both partners to keep the relationship going. There are nine characteristics that long-term relationships often have, none of which are always present to the same degree: 1) amusement (making the relationship fun and enjoyable); 2) affection (pleasure in being together); 3) commitment equity (equal dedication to the relationship); 4) fidelity equity (faithfulness to each other); 5) contracting (fulfilling any agreements made to each other); 6) twosome (relying on each other as partners); 7) recognition (publicly making others aware of your commitment to each other); 8) frankness (revealing your inner self to each other); and 9) averaging (good and bad times should average out). It is possible for a relationship to come apart at almost any stage. Under normal conditions, relationships come apart in five steps: 1) differentiating (disagreements and differences become the focus of attention); 2) circumscribing (talk diminishes, with less revealing of self and fewer commitments to each other); 3) stagnation (relationship loses its life and partners move apart physically); 4) avoiding (partners stop seeing each other); and 5) termination (the relationship is over).
Communication is always thought of as a key to successful relationships. So is attitude, according to this same book. This is where the differences in how asperger people and neurotypical people perceive similar experiences can cause problems in relationships. Neurotypicals value the following attitudes in a relationship: being genuine (being honest and open about ones feelings); being committed (having a desire for the relationship to continue and to share the responsibilities and make compromises when problems occur); talking together (to achieve understanding and appreciation of each other and discuss conflicts, expectations, and anxieties that bother each other); and 4) being empathic (seeing the world through the other person’s perspective, listening non-judgmentally and trying to understand the other person in the way they perceive themselves). It is a common, but very false perception, on the part of many neurotypicals that people with Asperger’s Syndrome lack these abilities! It is extremely difficult for ANYONE to understand and perceive what one has never experienced. Because of differences in the way that our brains process and respond to experiences, neurotypicals have just as much difficulty understanding and appreciating the asperger person’s perspective as the asperger person has understanding and appreciating the neurotypical’s perspective.
That doesn’t mean that both sides can’t learn to respect those differences and even understand them somewhat on an intellectual level. Communication becomes the most important factor in helping each other to understand and appreciate these differences. Again, this is a major contributor to relationship difficulties between asperger people and neurotypical people. Neurotypical people learn about and experience social interactions on a non-thinking level. To articulate how and what they know or feel on a thinking level is not something they often need to, or know how to, do with other neurotypicals. They simply “understand” because they tend to perceive these experiences in a similar fashion. Aspies tend to process a lot of input on an intellectual level because it is harder for them to pick up multiple information and process it quickly on a non-thinking level as neurotypicals do. Ironically, even though the mental effort of verbal communication can be very fatiguing for aspies, they are the ones who are expected to “explain” their differences to neurotypicals since neurotypicals see themselves as “normal” and therefore consider themselves easy to understand. Unfortunately, neither party has strengths in the areas that the other person needs for effective communication to take place.
Neurotypical and Asperger’s Syndrome people can develop meaningful and fulfilling relationships. It requires that both parties have to have a strong desire to make the relationship work and to work hard at communicating their different perspectives. Attitudes are not where the problems lie, even though they may often be expressed differently. It’s both parties willingness to communicate, in a non-judgmental way, that is essential to the understanding of, and increased appreciation for, the differences that contribute to the problems in neurotypical-asperger relationships. If you are interested, the movie The Mirror Has Two Faces may be worth watching as an example of an aspie and a neurotypical in a relationship, even though the main character is not identified as having Asperger’s Syndrome (but the characteristics are there). Liane Holliday Willey, in Pretending to be Normal, was already a wife and mother when she discovered, along with her daughter, that she had Aspeger’s Syndrome. Jerry and Mary Newport, in Autism-Asperger’s & Sexuality, have shown that two people with Asperger’s Syndrome can fall in love and have a meaningful committed relationship. All relationships, to be successful in the long-term, require a commitment to compromise and sharing, but having Asperger’s Syndrome does not lessen your chances of having such a relationship if this is truly what you want. It is important to recognize whether a relationship is what YOU want and are willing to work toward and not what you think society expects of you. It is equally important that you know your own limitations to know just how much you have and are willing to give to a relationship. Relationships, even in the neurotypical world, that are built on unrealistic expectations and only getting, not giving, rarely work.
What about having children? What are my chances that they will also have Asperger’s Syndrome?:
Many of us have been diagnosed after having children, particularly if we had a child who was diagnosed as having an Autism Spectrum Disorder. While there are no statistics on the likelihood of aspies having ASD children in general, the statistics for parents of autistic children (at least some of whom are probably undiagnosed aspies) run between 3-5% for Autistic Disorder, and up to 10% for ASD and “language delays”. There is also no data on how our “neurotypical” children turn out, but personal stories told by those on the spectrum of their children seem to indicate that these children pick up the body language and other social information they need from the outside world and do not suffer any “adverse effects” from their parent(s) autistic characteristics.
Where can I go to get the support that I need to live in a neurotypical world?:
[Disclaimer: Because something is listed does not imply that it is endorsed or even known to live up to whatever claims are made as regards providing needed support. They are listed because they are known through word-of-mouth to exist. It is your responsibility to check out these services/agencies for yourself to determine if they could be of any help to you. If there are resources for adults that you are aware of that should be included here, or excluded, please contact sgolubock4@msn.com or gpcasa@hotmail.com ]
Greater Phoenix Chapter (GPC) of the Autism Society of America: This group is for all people interested in autism, including parents of children/adults, and people with autism/Asperger’s. Monthly meetings, newsletter, annual conference. Call (602) 940-1093 http://www.phxautism.org
Tucson Chapter of the Autism Society of America, (520) 770-1541. This group serves people with autism of all ages, and holds monthly meetings. http://aztec.asu.edu/asa-pcc
Asperger Parent Network, resource for families and professionals in the Greater Phoenix Area. Monthly meetings, e-group and web site. www.apn.150m.com
Autism Assistance Program - This program provides financial assistance to low-income children and adults with autism/Asperger's who live in Arizona. The program is funded by a tax-credit in Arizona. Tax-payers may donate up to $200 per year, and receive a dollar-for-dollar reduction in their taxes; i.e., donate $200, and pay $200 less in Arizona taxes. http://www.eas.asu.edu/~autism/AAFA/AAFA.html.
Emily Anderson Family Learning Center: a lending library for information on disabilities. Located on the main corridor of Phoenix Children’s Hospital, 1919 E. Thomas Rd, Phoenix (SW corner of 20th St and Thomas Road). Call them at 602-546-1400 for hours. http://www.phxchildrens.com/about/services/emilycenter/
Phoenix Public Library: Special Needs Center: 1221 N. Central Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85004, Tel: 602-261-8690, Fax: 602-534-4520, E-mail: mmccain@phxlib.org
Arizona Center for Disability Law: Advocates for the legal rights of persons with disabilities to 1) be free from abuse, neglect and discrimination and 2) have access to education, health care, housing and jobs, and other services in order to maximize independence and achieve equality, http://www.acdl.com/, Phoenix: 602) 274-6287 Tucson: (520) 327-9547
Council for Jews with Special Needs: Provides a range of services, 480-629-5343. www.cjsn.org/. Email: info@cjsn.org. 12701 North Scottsdale Rd., Suite 205, Scottsdale, AZ 85254.
Arizona Division of Developmental Disabilities (DDD): Provides many services to people with developmental disabilities, including speech therapy, physical therapy, and occupational therapy. 602-870-1721
Social Security Disability Program: Contact 1-800-772-1213. http://www.ssa.gov/applyfordisability/adult.htm
Mental Health Association of Arizona
6411 E. Thomas Rd., Scottsdale, AZ 85251, Tel: 480-994-4407. Fax: 480-994-4744. E-mail: jsinclair@mhaarizona.org; web site: www.mhaarizona.org
Life Development Institute: Offers basic life training and training for employment. Contact Rob Crawford, M.Ed., Chief Executive Officer, 18001 N. 79th Ave., E-71, Glendale, AZ 85308, rcrawford@life-development-inst.org, www.life-development-inst.org, Phone (623) 773-2774, Fax (623) 773-2788.
Occupational Therapy (Sensory Integration) -
The Children’s Center for Neurodevelopment Studies – Offers occupational therapy, music therapy, speech therapy and horticultural therapy services which focus on the sensory processing strengths and limitations of those on the spectrum and development of a Sensory Diet to improve one’s ability to stay functional. http://www.thechildrenscenteraz.org. 560 W. Brown Rd., Suite 4007, Mesa, AZ 85201, 480-315-0730; or 5430 W. Glenn Dr., Glendale, AZ 85301, 623-915-0345.
Baio Enterprises, Inc., Marti A. Baio, M.A., CCC-SLP, Director
Pediatric Speech & Occupational Therapy, Adult Therapy
1745 S. Alma School Rd., Suite 145, Mesa, AZ 85210, Tel (480) 963-3634, Fax (480) 855-8384 www.baioenterprises.com
Auditory Integration Training –
Harper Hearing Services, Sandra Ann Harper, 1007 East Warner Road, Ste. 105, Tempe, AZ 85284-3242, ph: 480-838-1212, fax: 480-838-4334, email: saharper@dancris.com
Rebecca D. Welker, M.S., CCC/SLP, 1791 East Hampton, Tucson, AZ 85719
ph: 520-325-4402, fax: 520-323-6915, email: speechbyRDW@aol.com
Premier Care Rehab, Kristin Davis-Cole, 1024 Willow Creek Road, Suite D, Prescott, AZ 86301, ph: 520-778-9666, fax: 520-771-9620
Naturopaths, Homeopaths & Sources for Nutritional Supplements -
Mixtures Pharmacy & Compounding Center – specializes in medication not available in the traditional retail setting; focuses on sensitivities/allergies as well as supplements, secretin, and chelation therapy. 16515 S. 40th St., #123, Phoenix, AZ 85048. Tel: 480-706-0620, Fax: 480-706-0489, E-mail: pharmacist@mixturesrx.com; Web site: www.mixturesrx.com.
Mesa Health and Wellness Center, Dr. Sung, Dr. Armanti, and Dr. Rodriguez, (naturopathic doctors) 560 W. Brown Rd., Suite 3006, Mesa, AZ 85201, 480-461-1255.
Stanley R. Olsztyn, M.D.(H.), P.C. , Preventative Medicine, 4350 E. Camelback, Rd., Suite B-220, Phoenix, 85018, Phone (602) 840-8424, Fax (602) 840-8545
Stephen Davidson, D.D., Homeopathy, 1303 W. Bethany Home Rd., (602) 246-8977
Todd Rowe, M.D.(H.), CCH, DHE, Homeopathy, 5501 N. 19th Ave., #425, (602) 864-1776
Arizona Resources from the National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities (NICHCY) website:
State Vocational Rehabilitation Agency, Skip Bingham, Administrator
Rehabilitation Services Administration, Department of Economic Security
1789 W. Jefferson, 2nd Floor, NW (930A), Phoenix, AZ 85007,
(602) 542-3332; (800) 563-1221, E-mail: sbingham@azdes.gov
Web: www.de.state.az.us/rsa
State Developmental Disabilities Program, Ric Zaharia, Assistant Director
Department of Economic Security, Division of Developmental Disabilities
P.O. Box 6123, Site Code (791A), Phoenix, AZ 85005
(602) 542-6853, Web: www.de.state.az.us/ddd
Regional ADA & IT Technical Assistance Center, Erica C. Jones, Director
Pacific Disability and Business Technical Assistance Center, Public Health Institute, 555 12th Street, Suite 1030, Oakland, CA 94607-4046, (510) 285-5600 (V/TTY); (800) 949-4232 (V/TTY), E-mail: adatech@pdbtac.com,
Web: www.pacdbtac.org
Technology-Related Assistance, Jill S. Oberstein, Director, Randy Collins, Outreach/Training Coordinator, Ed Myers, Policy and Funding Specialist
Arizona Technology Access Program (AZTAP), 4105 N. 20th Street, Suite 260
Phoenix, AZ 85016, (602) 728-9534; (602) 728-9536 (TTY)
(800) 477-9921 (toll-free), E-mail: jill.oberstein@nau.edu, Web: www.nau.edu/ihd/aztap/
To find out the contact information for the Statewide Independent Living Council (SILC) in your state, contact:
Independent Living Research Utilization Project, The Institute for Rehabilitation and Research, 2323 South Sheppard, Suite 1000, Houston, TX 77019, (713) 520-0232 (V); (713) 520-5136 (TTY), E-mail: ilru@ilru.org, Web: www.ilru.org
To find out the contact information for centers for independent living (CILs) in your state, contact:
National Council on Independent Living, 1916 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 209
Arlington, VA 22201, (703) 525-3406; (703) 525-4153 (TTY), E-mail: ncil@ncil.org, Web: www.ncil.org
Where can I read more about these topics?:
ABOUT ASPERGER’S SYNDROME:
Tony Attwood, Asperger’s Syndrome: A Guide for Parents and Professionals, (1998) Jessica Kingsley Publishers, www.jkp.com
K. Stewart, Helping a Child with Nonverbal Learning Disorder or Asperger’s Syndrome: A Parent’s Guide, (2002) New Harbinger Publications, www.newharbinger.com
LIVING WITH ASPERGER’S SYNDROME:
L. Holliday Willey, Pretending to be Normal, (1999) Jessica Kingsley Publishers, www.jkp.com
Jerry Newport, Your Life is Not a Label: A Guide to Living Fully with Autism and Asperger’s Syndrome for Parents, Professionals, and You!, Future Horizons, Inc., www.FutureHorizons-autism.com.
Stephen Shore, Beyond the Wall: Personal Experiences with Autism and Asperger Syndrome, (1961) Autism Asperger Publishing Co., www.asperger.net
Temple Grandin, Thinking In Pictures: and Other Reports from My Life with Autism, (1996) Vintage Books.
Jean Kearns Miller, editor, Women from Another Planet: Our Lives in the Universe of Autism,(2003) 1stBooks Library.
WORK AND ASPERGER’S SYNDROME:
Temple Grandin & Kate Duffy, Developing Talents: Careers for Individuals with Asperger Syndrome and High-Functioning Autism, (2004) Autism Asgerger Publishing Co., www.asperger.net
How to Find Work That Works for People with Asperger Syndrome: The Ultimate Guide for Getting People With Asperger Syndrome into the Workplace (and Keeping Them There!) by Gail Hawkins. www.amazon.com
Stephen M. Shore (editor), Ask and Tell: Self-Advocacy and Disclosure for People on the Autism Spectrum, (2004) Autism Asperger Publishing Co., www.asperger.net
RELATIONSHIPS AND ASPERGER’S SYNDROME:
J. Newport and M. Newport, Autism-Asperger’s & Sexuality, (2002) Future Horizons, www.futurehorizons-autism.com.
Jeanette McAfee, Navingating the Social World: A Curriculum for Individuals with Asperger’s Syndrome, High Functioning Autism and Related Disorders, (2002) Future Horizons, Inc., www.futurehorizons-autism.com
LIVING IN A NEUROTYPICAL WORLD WITH ASPERGER’S SYNDROME:
Teresa Bolick, Asperger Syndrome and Adolescence: Helping Preteens and Teens Get Ready for the Real World, (2001) Fair Winds Press, Gloucester, MA
J. Dimitrius and M. Mazzarella, Reading People: How to Understand People and Predict Their Behavior—Anytime, Anyplace, (1999) Ballantine Publishing Group, www.randomhouse.com/BB/
Brenda Smith Myles, Melissa L. Trautman, Ronda L. Schelvan, The Hidden Curriculum: Practical Solutions for Understanding Unstated Rules in Social Situaitons, Autism Asperger Publishing Company (2004).
Rebekah Heinrichs, Perfect Targets: Asperger Syndrome and Bullying, (2003) Autism Asperger Publishing Co.
THE BIOCHEMISTRY OF AUTISM
Children with Starving Brains, by Jacquelyn McCandless, M.D.
Biological Basis of Autism by William Shaw, Ph.D., available from Great Plains Laboratory (913) 341-8949, www.greatplainslaboratory.com
SENSORY ISSUES IN AUTISM/ASPERGER’S SYNDROME:
B. Smith Myles, K. Tapscott Cook, N. E. Miller, L. Rinner, L. A. Robbins, Asperger Syndrome and Sensory Issues: Practical Solutions for Making Sense of the World, (2000) Autism Asperger Publishing Co., www.asperger.net
J. L. Savner, and B. Smith Myles, Making Visual Supports Work in the Home and Community: Startegies for Individuals with Autism and Asperger Syndrome, (2000) Autism Asperger Publishing Co., www.asperger.net
Abonneren op:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
