My name is Hop along I am 20 years old and have Asperger’s syndrome, I am an aspiring film maker and I am also a student in the UK I am making a short film about having Asperger’s syndrome and the school experience, I am a specialist trainer in the field of Asperger’s syndrome I visit schools, colleges and Universities to train their staff. Id like to hear about others experience of schools , Don’t feel that you have to answer all the questions some you may feel you don’t want to talk about. Thank you for your help,
NOTE that I have put this in the parents section too.
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AGE: 50
Special ed or mainstream school? - It wasn't a recognized condition at the time. And there was no mainstreaming. You were in the class or else you were schooled at home or in a "special" school.
1. what are your most prominent memories of school? - Constant fear, anxiety, bewilderment at doing the "wrong thing" without knowing it. I was always worried and never really understood at what. And how horrible it was, when older at high school, when it was time to change classes - the crush of people in the hallways and the noise. And not being able to explain why I'd done or not done things to the satisfaction of the high school teachers. Not always understanding, either, why I had or had not.
2.What are/is your worst memory of school - Public reprimands. And the fact that if I got in trouble at school I was in worse trouble by the time I got home. I would be tied in knots if a teacher even looked at me crossly, thinking I was in trouble and going to be in trouble at home. And the uniform. It was hideous, wool, and constantly scratched and itched. And they made me hold my woolen knee socks up with elastic bands, which didn't always fit. My socks would never stay up, primarily because I only had one pair and they got baggy as the week went on before my mom washed them on the weekends and they tightened back up again.
3.what is /are the best memories of school - The windows faced out onto a diciduous forest, and in the autumn the leaves turned the most beautiful colors imaginable. When we had recess I could run out of the building onto a hillside in the fresh air and let the wind blow my hair back, and toss the leaves in the air and watch all the colors flutter to earth, each in their own time. It was lovely.
4.What was most difficult at school ?i.e making friends - Intellectually I was several large steps ahead of most of them. Emotionally, I was several steps behind. I never had a clue why the rules that were in place in our house weren't the rules that were in everyone's house. (My father was also an undiagnosed aspie and we had some really weird rules - we had a lot of "secrets that people shouldn't find out" but it was never mentioned what they were, particularly.) I was also fascinated with and understood things most little girls of the era thought weird. (Computers, geology, astronomy, machinery....)
5. What do you think should be in the film? - A view of how others treat someone with Aspergers, from the viewpoint of the Aspie. And how tremendously confusing things can get, and how horribly wrong with misunderstandings things can go. An example: If you speak the unvarnished truth, people ask you what you mean by that. Like when you say something such as: "Well, I don't see a way to fix this" how it does not mean "gee, I don't like you so I'm not going to help you fix this" or "I think that the philosophical ramifications of trying to address this issue are contrary to my beliefs" or anything of the sort - it means the damned thing is broken and I don't know how it could be fixed. If you follow that.
(People try to read a zillion layers of meaning into something that means exactly what the words actually say. It's really hard when one has to spend half one's day trying to figure out how to phrase things so that people don't take offense. Better to just not talk to them....)
Thank you - No, thank YOU for doing this.
The best of luck to you.
24 Feb 2007, 5:20 pm
