I'm Making a Documentary About Autism and Aspergers

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What's 'Getting the Truth Out'? (I tried Googling it, but my internet connection is being strange so I couldn't click on many links, and those that I did try were to sites that wouldn't connect.)

In a nutshell

ITs basically americain autistics voicing against the americain autism association and their official views on various issues to do with autism within the united states.

Basically the yanks have not got a clue how to deal with autism because their medical establishment can't actually concieve what Hans Asperger or Kanner were actually describing. Because of this lack of understanding they revert back to what is called "the medical model" and basically as a consequence the bottom line is the people who suffer are autistics on all walks of the spectrum.

Im an opinionated limey so its totally biased but that is a british perspective

anbuend, is John Best, Jr. autistic? Is his blog out of some sort of self-hatred or a general hate for autism?

I would not even hazard a guess, whatever he is he's a piece of work.

And regarding the two people thing... at one point at this place I went to regularly, I saw this one person a lot, and, then I saw all three of her in one spot, and realized that "she" was actually three different people that I thought were all the same person because I never saw them all at once. So I did kind of the opposite of what you just said.

Ok, basic questions, for anyone who feels like answering them, and who wouldn't mind being quoted:

1, Which ASD do you have?

2, "Being (aspergic/autistic/HFA/other/please state which) means ..." (complete the sentence, with what it means to you individually.)

3, How did you find out that you had it, and how long ago - how did the process of getting diagnosed go, and how would you say it affected you?

4, What would you say are the bad aspects of it, and which do you find the worst?

5, Do you think there are good aspects? If so, what are they? Best thing about it?

6, Do you think people on the sectrum are misrepresented or underrepresented in the media? If so, how?


Feel free to add anything if you want to, and to ignore any questions you'd rather not answer or that are not applicable to you.

Cheers.

Laz, I'll ask you to just send me typed information now, although I might want you to record some segments of it later into a voice file, if that's ok with you?

If you could answer the above, and/or talk a bit about

a) Diagnosis, how its changed since 1992 and how the current diagnosis criteria are flawed
b) diagnosed at 10 through to the age of 25

that would be great. If you want to answer the previously listed questions and draw on any of the other stuff you mentioned in your post, then that's also good, although I don't want to impose or make people feel that they're being asked to do huge amounts of typing.

Unfortunately I also don't know exactly what to ask until I've heard something of what a person wants to talk about, so I'm going to have to be slightly vague and try to encourage people to talk about what _they_ feel is important. The main point of the project is to communicate to the public that there's sometimes a difference between the common perception/misconception of what autism is, and what it actually is. So anything around that area is fine, and probably useable. (The counter to that is that it's a rather short time allowance, so I'll apologise in advance to anyone who sends me reams of useful material only to see a small percentage of it in the documentary.)

Good idea, Fraya. Thanks.

Everyone else:

How do you think your condition makes you different from others, from your point of view?

*timid bump*

Louise:
I haven't seen your treatment, so I don't know what you're planning, but were I to make something like this, and especially having seen what the TV people do, I'd segment your work a little more....remember, this is a life-long affliction, there are all sorts of facets to it, and all sorts of angles. On this board, you're talking mostly to adults. What about children (read the parents forum if you want some perspective). If you've only got 5 minutes, that's rough, but if you really want to do a significant piece, you've got some digging to do, especially when you get an answer to your question about how it affects ones life like "it doesn't affect my life. It is my life, and I'm happy with my life, thank you." And then, of course, there's the other extreme.
Good luck.
btdt