Earl Purple

Mr B the Gentleman Rhymer performed a very "interesting" version of that song.

I always performed badly in English in school exams. During the class I would be fine as a lot of the English lesson were focused on grammar and I was good at that as it was structured, but there was never a grammar part in exams. My grades did start heading upward as I went through school and I ended up with 65% in my mock O level and a B in the actual exam to match this grade. Part of the reason was that now: - The comprehension had multiple choice answers which made it a lot easier for me. - One part of the exam was a "summary" and I was very good at those. There was an essay too but I guess with the other parts, I only needed to scrape a pass or maybe not even quite that in it.

The thing not to do is resign yourself to a life of failure and underachievement. I see far too many people who get diagnosed with Aspergers do that, because they think they have no hope of making anything of their lives. It is harder to achieve than it is for others, so you have to perservere that extra amount.

There are typical symptoms but not everyone has all of them. I do not have a sensitivity to flickering lights, I don't think anymore than anyone else anyway. I do have a dislike of brightly lit rooms and prefer them a bit darker but I don't think that's the same. If you read about someone with Aspergers and their issues, and you suddenly feel they are talking about you and your situtation, then you know you are likely to be Aspergers. I hate that questionnaire, by the way. Far too long and multiple choice questions.

Sounds good although it is expensive to attend. Is this an all-day conference as they don't give a time? I may be working that day but I will pass this information on to others.

I was there. Yes, there was far too much emphasis on parents in the stall, the London Autistic rights Movment stall being the only one of the stalls for adults. There were also 2 areas of speeches, and I met a number of people through that. I was there on the Friday at the LARM stall. And I met Aeolienne (whom I already knew online from another aspie forum). I don't know of a Prospects stall being there, I didn't see one. There really should have been though. From a point of view of employment and Prospects, I am actually more interested in the upcoming CIPD (Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development) conference in November this year. This is a leading event for people management professinals and attracks over 4000 visitors over the course of the 3 day exhibition. In other words, a lot of hiring managers will be there learning about recruitment and talent management. If Prospects could have a stall there (a 2-man stall would cost about £3,700 for the stall itself) it would go some way in training personnel of existing companies to hire people on the spectrum. This is part of my current agenda. Even more so, I would like all new HR training to train Human Resources managers about Autistic Spectrum issues as part of their learning. I am told they are taught about Disability Discrimination and making adjustments but know little about ASD. I do not know if the waiting list for Prospects could be shortened quickly, but it would be useful for people with Aspergers to be able to get some careers advice sooner rather than later.

I hope I am successful in my quest, but given that I may not be, I would try to advise intellectual aspies down career paths that do not require them to go through an interview process with hiring managers looking for personality fit, and perhaps instead to learn a manual trade that they can do self-employed.

If I am successful in my quest then children growing up will hopefully do so into a better environment than we have now. If your sons can at least work on their written communication skills then a reasonable adjustment could be made. It's harder to see a reasonable adjustment if they cannot communicate at all.

I think in general it is harder to form a relationship when you are hung up about things, either work situation or feeling like a nobody or the anxiety of being single. You may find a partner who feels sorry for you, but I don't think that's the right basis for a relationship. The problem is that your partner really doesn't want to be your therapist. They don't want to go out with you only for you to pour your problems upon them - instead people want a nice relaxing day or evening out to enjoy themselves and forget about their issues. Ok, in the long run it will develop into a caring relationship and you take the lot, but it isn't like that at first. My own personal situation is that I have been married for 10 years. But I am now 46 which means I didn't get married until 36, the same age Aeolienne is now. I met my wife 5 days before my 35th birthday. Before then I had some relationships, although not very good ones, and aside from the first one, they generally didn't last very long. Partly this is because I am a bit dominant, a bit controlling. This can be attractive at first but later on partners have resented me setting "rules". My current relationship is not particularly perfect either. Not sure we would be together now if we didn't have so much history and a child together.

Much of it is the way they phrase it and what they actually mean by it. What they mean is they want to you to use neurotypical-style communication. Aspies communicate in a different way. Neurotpicals will usually have better verbal communication skills than us, but actually we usually possess the better written communication skills, as we are likely to be more methodical, write with good structure, write clearly what we mean and include all the detail, with no ambiguity. Their way of phrasing it sounds like no adjustments would be made, and you need to fit exactly into their way of doing things. I find the following to be a far better way to phrase things: "Needs to be able to communicate effectively with other members of the team in order to work together towards a common goal and be able to document their ideas clearly". What needs to be done for a business perspective. Sounds reasonable enough to me in order to get the work done.

Their agenda as to the requirements from a business perspective, but not all this "must be a strong team player with excellent verbal and written communication skills" and then using personality tests, trick questions and "competency-based skills" questions to test for them. And no, not positive discrimination either. If they are recruiting 3 positions and you take a technical test and come 4th you've failed. However if you come 1st and are not hired because they have a grudge you might not "fit the team", there is obviously something wrong.

For the poster ScienceGeek who likes ukulele's, take this: I am listening to my current playlist which is comprised of: [spunge] - Nothing at All Alice Gold - End Of The World Architecture In Helsinki - Escapee Big Country - Another Country Cults - Go Outside Devlins - Julian Erasure - When I Start To (Break It All Down) Feist - How Come You Never Go There Felix Fables - Wonderful World Janks - Dead Man KeyWest - Feels So Cruel Lisbee Stainton - Wrench(3) My Chemical Romance - The Only Hope For Me Is You Nathalie Nordnes - America Pete & The Pirates - Half Moon Street Pete Murray - Free plus49 - Sad In One Hour Rising Rocket - Nothing In This World Säkert! - Can I Savage Gypsy - Windowpane Starfire - The Revelation Taking Back Sunday - You Got Me Tatiana - Been A Fool Theme Park - A Mountain We Love / Wax Toy Tin Soldier - Only Pictures Ultrasound - Welfare State Various Cruelties - Chemicals Xray Eyeballs - Sundae Ya Kid K & We 3 Kings - Tell Me and my "single of the week" among that lot? The wonderful comeback by Ultrasound...

I knew I'd see people I knew here and maybe shouldn't be so surprised to find you here too.. with regards to GS, I have tales to tell on that one..

I am new to this site but have been a member of some other Aspergers-related sites, and will probably find I know a number of people here already. My primarily goal is to improve the situation for people with Aspergers in the workplace, and allow us to have fulfilling careers using our own skills rather than being expected to fit in with others to their agenda, and being then let go for personal reasons rather than business-driven ones, because people don't like us if we dared to criticise their work. Also at the application process, ensure some changes are made to make the process a lot fairer.