Lucas

You are working with Autistics? I recommend the Bible; pay particular attention to memorising the Revelation I'm joking. For a good internet read, I always recommend Tony Attwood's Discovery of Aspie, it's quite short but insightful. http://www.thegraycenter.org/discovery_of.htm Here's a link to a library of articles written by Autistics, you might want to read those under the heading of The Autistic Experience: http://www.autistics.org/library/

I think you have misunderstood; I didn't say that my perceptions, identity were the same for all Autistics, I said: Autism is the implicit self-posession and it is that which is the same in all Autistics; the other aspects of the person are what makes them branch out so widely. I was low-functioning once, do people forget that? I have been many differnet 'types' of low-functioning and high-functioning too. I have had a broad cognitive experience and I have large points of refference to work from that I'm often unable to find the words to describe. Autistics talk with other Autistics about this and so have I, our opinions differ from tiem to time but we realise that we actually have similiar ideas but different way of expressing them, which is where the confusion often begins.

Reminds me of Terry Pratchett's The Fifth Elephant: "Dwarfs are not religious, but the way they think about their bread comes pretty damn close." I don't belong to any religion, but I don't dismiss them very readily either. Atheism doesn't actually stay true to the spirit of science; the most basic wisdom of science is to say 'I don't know'. I am Agnostic because I say I don't know and neither ego nor contempt for those who believe in something based on flimsy evidence will make me move to the opposite extreme and denounce the religious as fantasists. The fact is that Atheists are guilty of the same because they are denouncing the very principle of hypothisis; where a person must imagine something can happen and how before they can make it happen. If Isaac Newton had not been able to hypothisise he never would have developed modern scientific principles and cavemen would only be able to make fire by waiting for the next lightening-strike. I believe that refusing to reserve room for the most improbable possibility is not logical: Science and Religion are not incompatible. Stephan Hawking's Big Bang Theory actually made room for the existence of God to be scientifically valid; the alternative was that the universe never had a beginning, which would mean that God couldn't have created it. The current scientific explaination for the universe being created randomly is Chaos Theory; the belief that all events relate to each other and the sum of the incomprehensible mathematical equation of all this is the universe we have now. The problem is that the theory is unprovable(Like God) and self-sustaining; like 1+1=2, it is both self-evident but no more proof can be given other than the fact that it is self-evident(Like God). When I started talking and learning math, a teacher first tried to teach me 1+1=2, I asked her "Why?". She couldn't explain; it was self-evident, so she assumed that there was something seriously 'wrong'(she correctly assumed this was something to do with Autism, she incorrectly thought there was something wrong with it). Chaos Theory is the scientific, unprovable *belief* that the universe is a well-balanced equation that looks like an endless blur of random events. It's also the only possible and objective alternative to religion, so many assume that it must be true because religion is the only alternative.

I don't actually believe in psychic power, but I know that there is a heavy association between Autistics and paranormal phenomena. This has a variety of roots in tales of supernatural origin, a good read is Elves, Autistics and Nazis, Oh My! http://www.autistics.org/library/elves.html Pay particular attention to the footnotes, especially changlings(historical resemblance to much of the modern day langauge about Autism). I believe that psychic phenomena is the intuition of people working 'behind the scenes'; we dream because our sub-conscious is trying to make sense of the things that we can't, who's to say that there isn't a mechanism that does this while we are awake? It's percieved as mystical because we don't recognise it or understand it. It's possible that much of the the phenomena with Autistics is because so many people cannot understand how an Autistic can be percieving something that they can't.

A Deaf couple recently had a Deaf son, he was a 'designer baby'; they chose his genes specifically because it would give him a high chance of being born Deaf. I have mixed feelings towards that; there is one big pro and one big con: Pro: The Deaf Community have fought for a very long time for the rights they enjoy now, Autistics are nearly a century behind even. They have gathered to themselves a very powerful lobby to which they can protect their individuality and the characteristic which they believe is a part of their identity. The fact that they were allowed to do this shows they have escaped the downward social comparison(I say that a lot now) that plagues other disabled people. Con: They are practicing Eugenics. Could they posses a downward social comparison towards Hearing people? Have they fought for their rights only to turn the tables on the Hearing? Perhaps I should stop being proud of being Autistic and start being proud of being Hearing to counter-balance their powerful lobby? Yep, I'll do that. Their reason for having a Deaf baby is the same reason other parents would desperately try not to have a disabled baby: "He won't be able to have as full a life if he could hear; he will grow-up and live among Deaf people". Oh dear. It would seem that as much as the Deaf Community tried to gain acceptance by educating the mainstream about being Deaf, the Hearing will now have to educate the Deaf to stop them from discriminating against Hearers. I openly disaprove of what they have done; when I balance the comfort of some against the acceptance of Eugenics, I am willing to sacrifice comfort and the comfort of others to prevent Eugenics becoming acceptable. I have always been fearful of one day having children who are NT. I used to be fearful of having a Down's baby but after having an ample amount of contact with Down's people, I have found out that they have much better manners. But I think I will try to take what comes; I might learn something. I'm very glad for that; a common excuse used by other parents is "You can't possibly understand what it's like for my child". They accept this as gospel truth up until the point I actually do help them, which I try to do often. Bid, This is very complicated; a low-functioner will not always have what is typically described as 'Co-Morbids'. I call anything which is irritant to an Autistic Co-Morbid, but 'stressor' seems more apt. The first set of problems for low-functioners are Co-Morids like bowel problems and intolerences. The second is social-enviromental stressors. The first catagory is what the parents are best at; I stay well clear but listen carefully when someone informed speaks about them. My knowledge is in social-enviroment stressors because I have experienced so many of them. They include the way a room is set out, sensory input and people. Few people realise that most poo-smearing by Autistics is because the Autistic is trying to wipe it off their hands rather than play with it. These are little things that NTs miss out because they can't read minds(it's a well-known fact that Autistics can, I think). They make a big impact on the Autistic. Because they are hardly taken account of, parents and professional focus on things like diet and biological stressors and Co-Morbids, but they only go so far. I'm still learning about how the enviroment affects an Autistic, most of my experimenting is done on myself; testing what lighting in the room will make the carpet feel softer and all that. I may write a book one day. As for my own Co-Morbids, I may have a wheat intolerance because I feel tired and my stomach sets on fire when I seem to have it, I'll get it checked soon. I am Dyspraxic (despite being a dance teacher), but that's not a Co-Morbid; it's caused by heightened touch sense, I know this because my handwriting is better when I have been drinking.

A few years ago I would have been offended by this, because I know it's based on an assumption with no basis. Now I think it is best to always explain before going off on a rant. The assumption that there are different types of Autism is not true, I explained why on another messageboard. It was my explaination for why I don't believe vaccines cause Autism, I'll copy and paste here: It was Lorna Wing that coined the term 'Autistic Spectrum' when she had Hans Asperger's work translated and called his Autism, Asperger's Syndrome. This was supposed to explain easily that Autistics vary greatly as people, but not to suggest that there were different types of Autism. Because no study has been done on the nature of Autistic intelligence, the high and low functioning definitions of Autism are baseless except for assumptions made about the ability of each Autistic based on the Neurotypical model for what intelligence is. I am a VERY high-functioner(even if I do say so myself) and I can't even do that. Quite often I am told that I shouldn't be so critical of parents trying to cure Autism because I am so 'high-functioning'. Those people really don't know how meaningless being 'high-functioning' is when you live in a society like this. The cure-Autism lobby have an easy way of getting round that; deny it and ridicule those who might suggest it to be true. I speak out against so much that is being tried by people who I believe are misguided and myopic. They use the False Dilemma fallacy to try and silence this:http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/false-dilemma.html They say that if they don't do 'this', their child will be doomed to 'that'. It's simply not true. Autism Society Canada and their likes can't understand how Autistic adults can help Autistic children; they're blind to the fact that the foremost world-experts on Autism are either Autistic themselves or consult heavily with Autistics: Tony Attwood, Simon Baron-Cohen, Carol Gray, Donna Williams and Lorna Wing. I'm going to be singing from this hymn-sheet for a long time.

The problem is the bleak view of Autistics; few can imagine an Autistic doing better BECAUSE of their Autism. Parents of high-functioners find it easier to see how, but that vision isn't a luxary for parents of low-functioners. I always have a question for them: "Would you rather make your child Neurotypical than make them high-functioning?" It is a hard question for them, but I always have to know; Autism societies are dominated by parents when most Autistics are able-adults and they decide what will happen to us in the end.

I had a traumatic birth and was on life-support for six weeks, I miraculously recovered right after they switched it off, leading everyone to believe that I must have been somehow faking hypothermia. I think it's actually Autism that causes these kinds of births and not the otehr way around; the sudden change of enviroment as the baby leaves the womb would be terrifying.

Since the discovery of the pre-natal test for DS, all government funding in the US into research for Down's Syndrome has ceased. So much for Bush being pro-life.

I feel like Scooby-Doo. I'll keep my eye on the appeal and if it doesn't look good, I may even apply to intervene.

Now that the case is over, the files and notes will be in the public domain. I'm going to see about getting some; the lad is innocent; the best justification they can come up with is 'somebody had to have done it'. Might as well be him then?

Been reading articles on the case and seen it on the news; I'm convinced the whole thing was a farce in a kangaroo-court. I accept that Autistics are capable of pre-meditated murder, but 5% of Britain's prison population are Autistic and they mostly don't understand why they are there. Paul Smith will know, but he won't understand how the chain of responsibility has led to him. The prosecutions big piece of concrete evidence? A can of guiness found in Rosie-May's room with his DNA one. They don't tell you that this is the same can that Rosie-May stole from him and hid, so of course it will have his DNA in it. The previous incidents have also been taken out of context to characterise him as a violent weirdo too. I've lashed out at people before that were very provacative, I can see this lad doing the same. He's been made a scapegoat. The judge even did the courtesy of setting him up as media-fodder to make an appeal by his parents even harder; he superimposed the situation as a sexual attack even though the pathologist said there was nothing to suggest that.

"I feel so sad, so lonely." "Why is that Lucas?" "Because I am the only Autistic in the village!" "I'm sure there's lots of Autistics in the village." "No, I am the only one; a tragic and persecuted minority!" "What about Mrs Chapman's son? He's got ADHD." "That doesn't count!!!" "What about that man that can count all those cards?" "He's just weird." "And the nursing home has a girl that can't speak." "That doesn't mean she's Autistic!!!" "There's nothing else wrong with her." "She proberley CAN speak, she's just being awkward, just doing this to offend me." "Now why do you think that?" "Because I and only I am the only Autistic in the village!" "Do obsessive-compulsive people count?" "NO!"

Autism is only a 'label' because it is stigmatised as such, that's what I'm trying to stop.

A lot of Autistics that are able to will fight to the death for those things for all Autistics, but only if they are Autistic, remain Autistic and are valued as Autistics.