Why I'm not sure that AS Identification was a good thing

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I practically had to learn it all out of the textbook for that reason. I've wondered how many doctors were Aspies for that very reason. I am almost certain that one of mine was an Aspie.

I am 42...I think I know what your getting at and it can be used as an excuse to not have to deal with environments that effect tactile sensitivities or social situations that increase anxiety or depression when you fail at them...however,it isnt unique to AS...If it was...there wouldnt be so many self-help books dealing with "feel the fear and do it anyway"themes...I was convinced by the "professionals that all my issues stemmed from being adopted,bad brain chemistry and that I would likely never be "normal"...welll they had that part right....I think all the "therapy" and focussing on my childhood(and nonexistent sexual abuse),kept me stuck in a victem role...which never really fit.people dont need a DX to cop out on facing lifes challenges...we are very creative....many people can find "excuses" for not doing more with their lives....I dont see AS as an excuse but an explaination and information to logically solve challenges.It's also important to remember the "spectrum" element of the DX....Some have much more extream sensitivities and you cant judge them as copping out based on your ability to over come your level of sensitivities or social phobias...etc...Personally I am glad I wasnt railroaded into some special ed classes(like I didnt have have enough self-esteem issues and intolerence from peers)but I could have found it helpful to have an oppotunity to learn in a quiter environment or had my mom get off my back about making friends with the cheerleadrs in my neighborhood(yeah,that was going to happen!)...

Nah my theory on doctors is they cant remember how to spell the long complex drug names and dont want to admit it so they just fake it with illegible handwriting

dude i never could and still cany understand my own hand writing, i forget my birthdau and dont know my 3 phone numbers, i dont understand what is being said to me...but i sat through 6 fricking years of lectures, just absorbing information and thank f i passed.
i really dunno how i passed, i couldnt write notes, i was always hung over, i didnt understand what was being said, when i asked a class mate to explain they would tell me the wrong answer just to put me down......but i fricking passed, i cant believe it.
and i was an undiagnosed aspie.

No I never heard of Academic Fluency Disorder.

Yeah I had dyspraxia(motor skills problems), dysgraphia(bad hand writing I
guess just a subset of dyspraxia), dyslexia(I can not spell)and inattentive ADHD
(I rather just daydream).

As far as note taking I could not read my handwriting either, but my theory is
handwriting is brain writing. The act of writing something down etches it on your
brain. I rarely ever reviewed my notes (they were unreadable! ) . If I could just
stay focus on what the teacher said and scratch some notes out I could make a
B in any class. If I put in effort I could make an A in any class.

I was diagnosed with Very High Functioning Autism, at the age of five. I was thrown into Special Education classes and I've felt that I wasn't being challenged enough in Elementary School. To make matters even worse, I was thown into a Special Education room in a Regular School. I've felt like a Loser through Grades Kindergarden to Grade 7. When the Regular Kids walked passed the two different rooms that I was in, through Elemetary School, they would make themselves sound really dopey and say, "ret*d Class!" The extra "Help" that I didn't really need, made me feel like an Underachiever. I still feel that way. It doesn't help to have one parents who thinks that having AS is like having Down Syndrome. I learn differently and that's about it! In fact, I find that I learn slightly faster than some of my Family and Relatives and no, those people are not ret*d...they're Average! At least it didn't take me long to learn to treat people the way that I want to be treated, or to learn that it's not proper to Tease or Bully people who are different. At least I was fast to learn that people are all Individuals and everybody has a right to Freedom and Happiness. Well, most people anyways.

Oi am I kinda sad/glad I did this rant before I found this thread...
http://www.wrongplanet.net/asperger.htm ... ic&t=16880

Howdy y'awllll! I found an article today by pure chance that I've been keeping an eye out for for oh, well, since it came out. Joy! I've been wanting to do a rant on this topic for years. Want cookie-cutter? Dig this...
http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/hp/frames.htm

"A Prussian served as Washington's aide during the Revolutionary War, and so many German-speaking people had settled here by 1795 that Congress considered publishing a German-language edition of the federal laws. But what shocks is that we should so eagerly have adopted one of the very worst aspects of Prussian culture: an educational system deliberately designed to produce mediocre intellects, to hamstring the inner life, to deny students appreciable leadership skills, and to ensure docile and incomplete citizens 11 in order to render the populace "manageable.""

The most sickening and purely hurtful thing in this? The truth of course...
"In short, the idea is to help things along by consciously attempting to improve the breeding stock. Schools are meant to tag the unfit - with poor grades, remedial placement, and other punishments - clearly enough that their peers will accept them as inferior and effectively bar them from the reproductive sweepstakes. That's what all those little humiliations from first grade onward were intended to do: wash the dirt down the drain."

Honesty: I've got tears in my eyes and right now I'd snarl coldly at their dying pains. You know of whom I speak. Ending soundtrack for the night: Screamin' Eric - I Wanna Bad Girl. No, hold that thought... ending song? Nick Drake - One of These Things First"

I could have been a sailor, could have been a cook
A real live lover, could have been a book.
I could have been a signpost, could have been a clock
As simple as a kettle, steady as a rock.
I could be
Here and now
I would be, I should be
But how?
I could have been
One of these things first
I could have been
One of these things first.

'tomicat

I can certainly see the point being made in the original post, and I can't say that it isn't true. After all, I think we've all met people (NTs) who say stupid stuff like "It's not my fault, I have ADD" as an excuse for EVERYTHING they do (or don't do).

On the other hand, I wasn't diagnosed with AS until this year (I'm 27). During my childhood and teen years, this was misdiagnosed as a myriad of mental illnesses, and I was subjected to all sorts of "treatments" for my supposed mental illnesses. I was hospitalized (mental hospital) 4 times when I was young, and eventually put into a "Residental Treatment Center" for over a year, which was just about the worst place in the world for an aspie.

If I had been properly diagnosed back then, I could have avoided all of that. Instead I was labeled as "being difficult" and "not wanting/trying to get better." Of course, I can't entirely blame them for misdiagnosing me, since a lot of this occurred in the early 90's, and AS wasn't an official diagnosis until 1994.

I only learned about AS when I was 36 (I'm 42 now). I always felt I was wierd, always tried to figure out what was wrong with me. If I had been dxed then, I probably have been "put away" But I loved to read and to learn; school actually became my refuge ( I was lucky to be in well-ordered, quiet classes mostly). My grades were mostly low average in grade school, tho I knew I was smarter than most other kids. Then I aced a standardized test and got put in honors classes; I was in heaven! I had found people who believed in me, so I rose to the occassion. My teachers encouraged me to go to college (my mom wanted me to be a waitress & have kids). Socially it still struggled, but with a goal to work for, I succeeded. I made it all the way to a master's degree in math (my favorite obsession).

Now I have a son with AS. Everybody tried to say he had autism (in the early '90's) When I learned about AS, I was able to get him accommodations to help his weaknesses (like a notetaker, shorter assignments and extra time on tests), but I also encourage him in his strengths (he's an incredible creative writer and had a keen sense of humor
I'v tried to explain AS to him, but he just doesn't see himself as having it. More power to him!
My experiences help me understand him, and encourage him to be himself.

[quote="JDawg"]I was going to reply to the quote below from another thread, but instead of hijacking the existing thread, I decided to create a new one:quote]

JDawg warn me next time before you take my post and start a new thread. Everyone has made such wonderful comments and now I am behind in the conversation having not known it was going on. I was at work when this started which brings up another point. First I don't want any of the youngsters or those not working to get their feathers ruffled and think I'm a big meanie. I see this topic come up and its amazing how people will get mad including parents. It perturbs me how such amazing intelligent people will embrace their genius as a disability. I think its good that parents understand why their kids act a certain way, but then talking to these parents including a couple I know in person, they remind the kids every day that theywill never amount to anything in life. What person is going to go to college after hearing throughout childhood? That to me is almost emotional abuse-though I know that isn't the parents intention obviously.

Labels hurt people. When people such as Aspies are born with great intelligence it is their duty to go out in the world and share their logic. There are many ways of doing this. I think a lot of doctors are Aspies. They say Einstein was an Aspie. Einstein was also a guy- so guys with AS do not have the excuse that only girl Aspies can survive in the real world.

Not knowing I was disabled I ended up in college. I did get a later start than NT's on working and dating because my parents always did coddle and overprotect me. However I finally found my way in the world and out of my father's house. Now living nearly 2000 miles away from my family I am happy for first time in my life. So I'm saying people its worth all the scary interactions and ordeals to get your own place and work. Parents quite reminding your kids constantly that they are disabled. I don't think people missing limbs are told this by their parents. Encourage them to strive to learn to deal with their Aspieness. Otherwise don't complain when they are still at home at 35. Personally I couldn't live on SSI checks. I've heard what people get and it wouldn't pay even half my rent and utilities in a month.

I don't know about the validity of learning disorders being an excuse not to be an adult. I was told I have ADD and Dyslexia and also rather obvious to me that I had/have Dyspaxia yet I went to college, drive and work. The Aspies that have a spouse and kids that own a house and have a really high paying job are my role models. I still have my issues especially with not watching my finances and having an untidy place but its part of what I am striving to overcome. I still want to find a life partner and adopt kids and go back to school for a change in career. That's my next goals.

Every day of my life my brain has been analyzing every second of life from bad interactions with people and why it happened to how I ended up having a meltdown in public. But that has lead me to figure out how to deal with the world and to understand myself. Its a new struggle every day. But its better than hiding at home. Personally I think I would have gone insane if I lived with my dad much longer. I like my privacy and you just don't get that living at home.

I think the best thing parents can do for the next generation of Aspies is stop coddling them and help them succeed because you do have little geniuses on your hands! Help them to succeed by addressing things that hamper their concentration and ability to withstand the constant overstimulation of the world. I don't think many people know that all Autistics have dietary problems with extensive food allergies and needing higher amounts of certain nutrients because of malabsorption problems. Things like L-Glutathione, B vitamins, ALA and Fish oil do help us. So all you brainy people start doing some research on nutrients.

Now this is so long don't know if anyone will bother reading it, but hope at least some will. Cheers to all my Aspie brothers and sisters!

I really enjoyed reading the Gatto link....sounds like he was reccomending that parents incourage some of the traits that get aspies in so much trouble.....logical,crittical thought,questioning "authority",
incouraging creative thought,indvidualism,nonmaterialism,respecting need for solitude over shallow relationships and the need for constant external stimulation(rather then self stimulation....uhmmm,maybe a better word for that ..sounds alittle racey)...problem is...aspies already have these attributes and are constantly "punished" for them in school,social relations,and work.Maybe the better suggestion is how we can create a society that "embraces"(without actually touching,please)these individuals instead of treating them with hostility.I do find it somewhat heartening that even with the messed up educational system and other social ills....at least half the Americans who bothered to vote(Alquada hates our freedom and democracy...Seems like alot of Americans dont think much of it either since they couldnt bother to vote)anyway....about half who did...could see what a lunatic G Bush is....(even if they didnt really like the alternative either)....

And on a side note...I always saw video games as a silly waste of time...rather be reading or playing with my cats,,,until....I played Resident Evil....Me kill Zombies....FUN....I enjoyed the brain challenges and having an on screen self that could kick booty...

There is really nothing wrong with being ided as AS. I mean I accept it and it really don't have a problem with it. Some things I tell my phycologist of what happened during the days that I'm not there. He beings to tell me that AS people do this and this this way and that way. I know what I am just because I don't seem to be to his liking of what AS is he must not know me really well. I even tell him what my obessions are and he told me of his hobbies pointing out that they're the same. I had to keep my mouth shut from yelling at him that it isn't the same. Hobbies and obession aren't the same when it the only thing you do. Obessions of my are life long. 3 that's been my obessions for a long time and I haven't called them a hobby.
Sorry for my little ranting off the subject

So don't think that just because you are ided with AS doesn't mean you can't do anything for me its just that I'm not really ready for a job. I don't think I have much skills for it. That's why I want to go to a voc rehab center to learn skills.