Tempus

I'm not sure about the current state of services in Leicester, never having used them myself except when getting a diagnosis (which, although a slow process, was very good -- the person I eventually saw was excellent and well-known) . My mum works at the City Council and last I heard was on a planning committee at the moment, or something or other aimed at improving said services for ASDs -- so there is at least scope to see improvement in future, if such a thing exists. I certainly wouldn't say above average though. If you are considering moving somewhere specifically for better services, I wouldn't advise Leicester.

My mum didn't actually tell me specifically, it was first mentioned when I was 11 and my mum left a newspaper article lying around (or similar, can't remember exactly what it was) that I read and then saw the similarities for myself. I think that's quite a good way to go about it if a child is relatively self-aware; for me it was a relief to have a name put to it and I think figuring it out for myself rather than being 'labelled' by somebody else probably went a good way towards acceptance too.

This. I was expecting it to be awful (X-factor has a ridiculous amount of 'sob-stories' that it was likely to be cringeworthy. It was a really good performance. Shame he didn't get through, but good on him for going for it.

I'm 18 now and have had a limited range of foods that I'll eat all my life. I know my mum despairs about it, and it logically doesn't make that much sense to me -- it's mostly textures that I'm averse to but in the case of some things (such as fish, melted cheese and eggs) it is also the smell. I pretty much live on pasta (I'd say I eat it 90% of days). This quote is the main reason I wanted to post; I guess that those sorts of skills are important in a way, but I am still unable to use a knife and fork properly. I can use a knife in the wrong hand ineffectively if there is some very tough meat or similar -- but other than that I just use a fork (in right hand) without a knife. It's never caused me any real problems in the long run; I can cut practically anything with the side of the fork. I know that up to the age of 10 or 11 I quite often just used a spoon instead of a knife and fork for a lot of meals. Just wanted to point out that as these things go it's not that important as a skill to be able to eat properly -- rather to just eat foods that contain at least nutritional value.

Yup. I know all their supposed reasoning behind it, but for a system that was supposed to be more efficient they've really screwed it up

I have this problem too. Making phone calls myself is less of an issue -- it freaks me out and I avoid them as much as possible (I get somebody else to do it or use the internet if I possibly can), but if I need to I write myself a list of prompts on my laptop and use those to make sure I don't just freeze up and not say anything. That seems to work for me. In regards to the phone ringing I quite often just don't answer it. If I do answer it, it always increases my stress levels to ridiculous heights. And I completely agree with the analogy about walking into a room -- if you were wanting someone's attention you wouldn't just shout 'LISTEN LISTEN LISTEN' at them until they answered you. It's just stress before you even answer!

That video is so utterly ****** up it makes me want to be sick. I thought that the comments here must be exaggerating (though I am a staunch hater of Autism Speaks they seemed a little melodramatic) referring to it as like a horror movie, but it was absolutely disturbing. I'm sure that some people will believe what this short puts across, and the ramifications of that are horrible.

I've had similar experiences to you. I applied back in March, my declaration letter only arrived yesterday. And even this doesn't include the means-tested grants I applied for; they are just doing the loans for now. It's absolutely ridiculous. The new system really doesn't work!

"Help! I Seem to be Getting More Autistic!" http://www.autistics.org/library/more-autistic.html An excellent article with a wide variety of possible reasons for this.

I'd agree with this, but I think it's wrong for someone without autism to make that judgement -- even more so for a member of the press to do so, where as a result the term is used in mass media.

Quite an interesting review: http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2009/aug...ic-me-tv-review

Got to say well done to the makers of this documentary; it was remarkably unbiased and I found I could relate to each of the people in it in some way. A few things stood out to me especially. Firstly was in Oli's interview with the council worker where he mentioned wanting to do a job relating to the Arts -- and then his Mum piping in with 'repetitive data entry'; if someone said that to me, something that was completely aside from the idea that I had mentioned, I have to say I would be incredibly insulted. Practically, I agree with the mother - but for somebody who is supposedly neurologically typical that shows a remarkable lack of tact and empathy. Second thing was relating to Tom's fight with his Dad. The documentary came over entirely on the side of his parents, and I can appreciate why that is. I'll say now that I disagree with violence in any form -- but I find myself sympathising far more with Tom than his Dad; even if I had hit somebody, being restrained to the ground (for anybody, never mind somebody who is autistic) would aggravate me ten-fold, and at which stage I would personally become incredibly violent. It seemed to me that when Tom hit his mother earlier on in the documentary he was just trying to push her away -- and she seemed to take it as if he was attacking her -- could anyone explain this? It was fairly plain to me that he wasn't intentionally attacking her, but that isn't how it was put across in the documentary. The last thing was very positive; I absolutely loved near the end with Alex's 'date'. I've never been on a date (or been out with a girl alone in a social situation, for that matter), and I'm guessing that the majority of people (maybe not the people on these forums) watching the documentary would think it strange that they both said they enjoyed the data even though very little actual communication was done. Particularly loved that as I know that I would feel exactly the same way.

Fair enough, I couldn't see any when I looked. Apologies . I've reported the thread to be deleted.

Edit: Apparently duplicate thread. Sorry .

I've got to say that poem is pretty much perfect in my opinion; simplistic but it puts its message across very effectively (which is great because poetry is normally incredibly cryptic, at least to me). Very sad too; hits very close to home. I'm glad to hear that you've passed on people's congratulations to your son; very deserving and I hope you'll pass on mine too

I absolutely applaud you for doing something like this; it's a wonderful idea, though I truly doubt whether I'd be able to do it! I'm going to post a comment on the video too, and good luck with it

I'm guessing you've had your assessment now, I hope that it turned out well for you -- I know how much of a relief getting mine was

Damn all of you getting your results so early (though of course congratulations for getting good results !) I've got just under a month now to wait for my A-levels. It's almost torture.

I've got 7 left... 3 of them tomorrow. I'll be so glad when I'm at Uni next year (already setup so that I can do them on computer and in a separate room). Last load of written exams ever, and very glad about it!

Thanks for the well-wishes dee. The appointment went well (was stressful as hell though), and I now finally after 6 years have an official diagnosis.

I personally don't think that autism should enter into this matter at all -- however the US has a less-than-adequate reputation for it's prison and justice system and I think that extraditing somebody to the US for a crime such as this is wrong. He should be tried in a UK court, under UK law and if necessary jailed in a UK prison (somewhere where rights are at least considered to exist).

It's come up so fast now; it's on Friday afternoon. I'm nervous as hell; if this goes wrong and he says for some reason that I'm not autistic then the (very helpful) things that my Uni has suggested such as use of a computer in exams, rooms for lectures/exams/tutorials that don't have flourescent lighting etc. may not actually happen -- they might I suppose, but I'd rather not have to purely rely on their goodwill if I don't get an official diagnosis. Dunno what to do really; I've written out some notes (well, 3000 words of notes anyway ) for myself to take with me to the assessment so I don't forget anything that I need to say, which have been horrible to write as they've made me think about the negative aspect of it a lot more. I just haven't a clue what I'll do if he doesn't support what my family have thought for years now...

I can understand what you're saying, but there is no way to create a cure that would only cure those undesirable aspects or would only cure those with more severe forms of autism. My opinions on the idea of a cure stem only from what I go through myself, however because it is a spectrum of conditions I can't only focus on that one area -- anything that I believe, I have to apply to everything else. It's a hard choice between the desirable and undesirable aspects at times; there have been times in the past where I've felt that I would quite happily give up certain parts of my personality to cure others -- I have very severe sensory issues (especially with touch, I can't even accept a hug from my mum without a lot of effort). I think you're taking what I said wrongly; I am only applying that to the idea of pre-natal testing (something I disagree with for absolutely everything, no matter what the condition). It is eugenics to either abort or 'modify' a foetus in order to remove undesirable aspects. My opinions on a cure are separate to this.

It's a tough call to make, but in my opinion a cure is entirely wrong. Once somebody has been born with an ASD you are effectively taking away a part of who they are. A lot of my personality is due to my Aspergers, and I wouldn't give it away for the world. I don't believe parents have any right to decide this for their children, as it is such a fundamental part of who they are (a contentious ideal I suppose, but I'm not going to change that any time soon). As to screening, it is back to this concept of 'designer babies'. It's eugenics, and fundamentally wrong, that people would try to change a child before they are even born just to suit society's norms. If a pre-natal test were ever developed (and I hope to God that it isn't) then it is a slippery-slope from there for it to become a mandatory test -- after all, once it is available what would be the point in having people that society views as 'defective' in some way. I am all for therapy and treatments (non-medical) to assist with severe disability caused by autism, but I think it is wrong to cure something that has no direct disabling effects. Society as it is currently structured is not something that is geared towards a person with an ASD, and as a result certain factors are raised that cause them to be disabling. And towards the final part of your post you mention "a blanket condemnation of a "cure" for autism or a wish to prevent all screening for ASDs" -- indeed I would condemn it, as the causes of this ASDs are the same; one cannot be cured without the effect of curing another.

You can only judge based on what you see and experience if you haven't got the condition/disability yourself. If there is no evidence to the contrary then I think it is better to make the assumption that she has lived a happy/fulfilled life rather than being unhappy with it -- and this is also more logical; she has never experienced life in any other way, so why would what she has make her unhappy?