Glad to be here. My name is Mike

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My name is Mike and I am an autist. Talking through the internet chat room is a wonderful thing for me. It allows me to talk to others. I am an equal here, not seen first as a ret*d individual because of my body issues.

Mom brings me to the chat room to practice my independent typing, so I can communicate without her. I have never really needed or wanted to communicate with others outside my mom. She tells me about my misinterpretations. My body gives me false information sometimes because of my sensory integration problems.

I want to communicate with you though. We share a common bond. We may be able to help each other too with accommodations, adaptations and coping mechanisms. I have a lot of these for the very severe, but not too many like me would make it here.

I have a message too for parents. I was tortured as a child in Lovaas because my senses could not process what was being done. They need to look first to see if a child’s sensory system, as it operates, will support behavior therapy. They knew I had no sense of where my body was in space yet they told me to touch body parts. You have to know where you are at a start point to find where you are going. It was an unfair question and I was made to feel a continuous failure for something that was their failure, not mine.

I say it because I see the same thing here having been done to all of you. You have your different functioning too. To know it is there, people should be able to adapt and accommodate you for it. You wouldn’t expect a man without legs to walk. You give him a wheelchair or artificial legs or you carry him as a friend. It does not make him a lesser person to need the help. Maybe he is actually more the person, stronger for having done it the hard way. You all have my great respect. Do not let others make you feel less a person simply because your personhood is different. To say I am not social because I don’t communicate like you is a misrepresentation. We have to have something of meaning in common to communicate first; otherwise we are just talking at each other. I look forward to talking with you.

Well said! Thanks for helping me out already, by reminding me that it's not an unfair thing to ask for accommodations. I really needed to hear that today.

Welcome!

Kris

Welcome! I hope you find what you need here.
As much as I [i]still[/] can't work out why this place exists it seems absolutely perfect for your needs.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy it around here.

Welcome, Mike!

Very eloquently said! Welcome!

Yes, a warm welcome to you Mike.

Welcome to the tribe Mike. You are normal here.

Welcome, Mike, & thanks for your comments!

Well said mike. Welcome

Ah another interesting mind has entered the fold. Welcome Mike I look forward to hearing more from you

Mike, I'm happy to have you here to contribute to the forum. As the parent of an autistic child, I gain much knowledge from hearing of first-hand experiences of those receiving services.

Welcome to WP Mike!

Welcome, Mike! You make good points. I look forward to reading more from you.

Welcome aboard!!

My thanks for your welcomes. Mom says I can post my ideas here.

Questions about autism are always really about what is wrong, not what is right with it. I am going to start my blog right by telling what is good about autism.

We are all children of God. Autists carry a heavy burden, but also a decided advantage. Life is a matter of service and also appreciation. The autist appreciates things as simple gifts. We do not need elaborate structure or sense enhancements to see the beauty surrounding us.

My name means “is as God”. We are all as God as I am, with all my perceived imperfections. Assumptions as to perfection are wrong. Perfection is as to the whole of God’s plan, not the individual pieces. We are as pieces in a huge puzzle, each interlocking with others. What I lack, another completes. Only by our omissions do we connect. To be complete would be to need no one. God loved us enough to give a son as piece of himself to complete us so we can rejoin him in the end. Service is how we complete each other. Appreciation is our giving thanks.