How would you explain yourself to society?

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"Won't someone please think of the children?! !" -- Helen Lovejoy, "The Simpsons"

That's what their parents are for.

@Willard - it's funny you should mention Temperance "Bones" Brennan as being on the spectrum. I just read on Wikipedia that the creator of the series has stated that the character was never labeled as having the syndrome in order to increase the appeal of the show on network television.

No doubt, that would be the same reason they don't mention Sheldon as also being on the spectrum.

And that is our dilemma, BTW. Do we create characters in novels who are on the spectrum and label them as such but risk getting ignored by the book buying public?

I, too, wrote a novel where the main character has undiagnosed autism, but I'm still tossing and turning over whether to say that or just leave it be. His symptoms are obvious so he just comes off as being quirky.

A more relative example is the novel 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime." This is the synopsis from Amazon:

"Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. He relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotions. He cannot stand to be touched. And he detests the color yellow. This improbable story of Christopher's quest to investigate the suspicious death of a neighborhood dog makes for one of the most captivating, unusual, and widely heralded novels in recent years."

No where is there a mention of him being on the spectrum. Furthermore, in Amazon's review, they also don't mention him being autistic.

Based on examples like these, and the fact that authors want their novels to be accepted in a larger context than a fringe autism novel, they might leave out the bits in the synopsis about autism.

I think educating the children is the best long term plan. Children are more receptive to new ideas than adults, and once you explain, they are more accepting. My child's school are very good at educating his classmates about what makes Autism different and special. Its a long route to take but these kids are the future, and their attitudes will help shape the world my child will grow up into.

Of course now that big bang theory and bones are highly popular shows there is no reason the writers can't 'out' the characters as being Aspergers! I've not seen either show as I don't bother much with TV, but any popular character discovering they have Aspergers would make for interesting viewing.

I don't see what the big deal is. Every parent should be able to teach ther children to accept and respect other people. Regardless if 'other perople' are black, white, green, gay, straight, asexual, trans, in a wheel chair, stimming, jewish, muslim, christian, long hair, short hair, rocker, goth, country, whatever. It's not rocket science.

I think eventually enough is enough and we just have to stand up for what's right no matter what.

FNORD- if their parents misunderstand us then they are a vital part of the problem. It is the job of the parents, but whose job is it to make sure they know about autism?

That's why schools should be doing the educating - parents are often either ignorant of the problem or don't care enough to do anything about it.

Take it or leave it.

I am the system admin at my son's elementary school. I have a good audience. I float to the other 8 schools in the county. My strength is in getting into people's head and swaying their minds.

I'm looking for help with what should go in the ears of people that can and will effect children for years to come. The district ASD department is in my school.

As long this world/humanity has to offer things like wars, extreme lots of violence, and countless of retarted other kind of behaviours. I see no reason to explain myself.

<* Casting Maximum Regression Spell *>

God.

To advocate for autism personally, every time someone brings up autism and they didn't know I had it beforehand, I would say, "As a person with autism....". They are quite curious to hear my feelings on the topic, having found out that that is the condition that I have, and I would talk about stuff like it's neurological not psychological, it's a developmental disability that causes this and that of an issue - for example, challenges with focusing, out of skew in terms of senses, and the things I personally live with.

And then I get to talking about issues in facing the autistic community, if they are still hearing me.

Imagine the following scenario:

When someone hears, for example, a New York accent for the first time they may ask " why does that person talk like that?"
The response would be something like "they're from New York that's how they talk."
"Oh ok" might be the response and the person may pay attention for a bit but eventually they will recognize people with this accent as from New York, rather than strange or different.

Scenario 2:
Person A-
"Why does Bob never look at me and retreat to the corner after pacing the room? I mean he works hard, but he can be kinda short sometimes."

Person B- "Bob has Aspergers."

Person A- "Oooooh, ok."

How do we get to "oh, he's just autistic"?

But I didn't write a novel about Autism, I wrote a horror novel and the Autistic character is just a supporting role, its not even his story. I don't see that as driving away readers. I do think beating audiences over the head with advocacy will bore them silly and I don't recommend that. I'm talking about NORMALIZING the condition until its just an everyday, unremarkable thing to encounter and everybody knows exactly what it is. Right now the general public knows the WORD Autism, but they have no clue what it means.

Not to draw parallels, but this is exactly what gay activists did, starting in the early 70s and they've been quite successful at going from a marginalized, fringe minority to becoming a recognized part of modern culture, even among those who still reject them on principle.

I think drawing parallels with the gay community is helpful. They make excellent role models of both activism and of living true to yourself but also integrated into society at large. [As a BAP I would be analogous to a bisexual person.] The Castro and Fire Island (in the U.S.) even hold up as templates for Aspergia which is often talked about but never acted upon. (Rent en masse. That's how you act on it.) Fiction makes an excellent venue for giving people a little understanding. Back in the day, novels and movies with gay characters were often mainly about the fact of being gay. That gets the conversation started but it doesn't really normalize things and those novels and movies haven't held up well. I think the same is true for novels and movies that are about being autistic. Advocacy novels feel like lessons that you read out of educational duty, not for enjoyment.

I like your approach better. It has become a common approach for gay characters too, like you say. It weaves that facet of a character into the plot but it is not the whole of the plot. This really does normalize it. There is still a culture war about homosexuality and it is not uniformly accepted, but there are significant pockets of the globe where it is no big deal and just one facet of a person. This can happen with autism too.

BTW, if you don't already have a publisher, you can let Amazon be your publisher and put out a kindle book. They make self publishing pretty easy. I would buy your book. I like horror novels.

I am myself. If you need something then ask. Otherwise, leave me alone.