Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

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KateyJaneSyndrome....I think I get the point. The point is that "once you've met one autistic, you've met one autistic". Meaning that we don't all exhibit the same set of symptoms. We don't fall into a cookie cutter NT world easily. I think the point was that it's not that something is "wrong with us" but wrong with a world that can't just accept us as we are. Tics, obsessiveness and all. Remember that officially...autism is autism and is characterized by the variety of people and behaviours (and/or symptoms) that do not fit into any other category.
I think this also qualifies as a reason to not "pick your favourite symptom" to discount the presence of being on the spectrum.

Please don't jump me....I'm just offering a summary of what I think jjstarr was trying to get across. If you don't agree or you think I'm an idiot that's fine. But I think the point was that we are individuals, too, we just don't fit into that square box that everyone keeps trying to put us into.

And the other part of the point was that Asperger's is very difficult to diagnose and to pinpoint. There are things out there that are tons more "socially" acceptable that autism. There is such a stigma to the spectrum. Not that I want to que up and join a "socially acceptable" line, but for me at almost 40 and having a teenage son with AS, it was nice to hear that all of the feelings that I've had of always being different had a name. There are other people that have the same thing that I have. There are other people that are experiencing the world in much the same way as I do. I AM NOT ALONE. It was a blessing and a gift to be able to have this name to give to my son. He does not have to experience the world as I did and spend all of his time trying to figure it out. He has resources. He doesn't have to have the depression and the agony of thinking that something is wrong with him. Rather, he gets to say that something is right and he can be accepting of who he is and what it takes to laugh at this world.

I agree about the labels. I hate them, too. However, I look at it this way. The school has to have a label to service my son appropriately. So I don't care if the call it "blue with purple and yellow spots disease", "you're a dick and you're too dumb to know it" or whatever else. As long as they give my son what he needs to function in a school setting. That's what is important.

Sorry. I don't subscribe to that POV at all. It's like saying to women, it's all your fault you're being raped. You don't want to be raped, don't be a woman! Or to a black, you're too sensitive about your race. It you're that sensitive don't mix with other races. I really don't think you understand wtf I am talking about. Instead of getting angry, I'm gonna do something else - So here I will end this communicato.

No it wasn't you Icarus. BTW - it's not reading comprehension per se - it's reading LONG TEXTS' comprehension. I get incredibly restless if the text isn't perking up my mind in some way. That said - I think I read 3 books from start to finish in my whole lifetime - and about 20,000 back to start, middle to end, skipping paras all the way and some never even finishing. 20,000. That's a lot, eh.

Anyway I digress. It's just too much info. All around.

Graelwyn wrote:

I honestly wasn't meaning anyone in particular. I don't mind long posts, just I often have such a chaotic and fast swinging concentration that the words end up becoming a mass on the page. Most annoying.

Oh! I honestly didn't think you were referring especially to me or anyone, or even complaining at all. But of course I am one of those tortured souls who feels compelled to express himself with lots and lots of words; hyperverbosity, I dub it, and it is quite a disability to have to struggle with; and I do have a tendency to not make good use of paragraph breaks as much as I should.

I'll just take it as a point of general constructive feedback, directed at people who might happen to write in large blobs sometimes. And since I would like for you to be able to read my long posts (assuming you'd like to), it is a small matter for me to consider more liberal use of paragraphs if it will help as you suggested it would. Thus, I meant what I said; no slight was taken, and none was meant in return.

(I just hope that it wasn't me who was making fun of JJ's reading comprehension ; I do not recall doing so, but as you know people have complained more than once about the length of some of my posts, and if I'm in a foul temper such might elicit a snippy response on my part.)

Good fortune,

- Icarus appreciates feedback...

Yep. You got it. Signed, sealed and delivered.

jj