Help others further down the spectrum

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Hi,

I had this idea a few days ago. I had it first some years ago, and now it came back again.

Would it make sense for someone in the Spectrum, with light symptoms, to volunteer to help others, with more severe symptoms?

I ask this because it seems to me that by being in the Spectrum one should better suited to understand and connect with others?

Would it be traumatic for the volunteer?

Thanks.

I can see where you are coming from, and we all need help somehow, sometime, though I can't see that idea working so well, could be intensely stressful for both people, and the differences can be difficult to bridge between each end of the spectrum without specialist training.

I have a theory (just a theory and it's my own) that the core difference between the "high" and "low" parts of the spectrum are due to a number of factors, though possibly the most important of these are possibly biochemchemical and innate. "Low" is often attributed to the cause of low IQ, though I think that may be a mistaken belief based on the reality high misdiagnosis of FX syndrome as ASD (though they can appear together).

The factors that I surmise may be at the heart of the so-called "low" function in a core way are these:
1) the inherited pattern of neurotransmitter function and the volume of each neurotransmitter relative to the others.
2) the inherited neurotransmitters may be adequate though there is a "signalling problem" between them or a conductivity problem.

Help may come from more studies on this in the future. These are neurochemical/biological processes and hard to study, though it is not impossible. What would be interesting to know is: if the major neurotransmitters in the low group were topped up to an adequate level, would that transform low function into higher function? Despite all the neuroscience studies that have gone on, the interaction of neurochemicals that transmit along neural channels in the brain has been largely ignored - though not totally; instead many neuroscientists have used their new technology to try and prove that ASD arises from this or that particular location of the brain, though it has produced nothing useful for any part of the spectrum, and it is far more likely that ASD is related to whole brain function, not this or that mechanical part per se.

I do think you are on the right track in a way though, because people on all parts of the spectrum would IMO find mentoring in different areas extremely useful. We all need help with something; just as NTs do. NT's use business mentors a lot, for example, and take to the idea of mentoring much more readily. I would really like to see mentorship programmes for AS people, particularly on social behaviour like boundaries, on workplace behavior like job interviews, and so on, that could help all parts of the spectrum. Mentor workshops would have been a help to me at various stages of my life.

I mean, would it be tramatic?

I have a friend IRL who has limited speech and less self care skills who would be Considered Lower Functioning,

And im helping a little boy in my cousins summer activities for the local kid, The kid is pretty high functioning but still i was a little more high functioning than him at his age. Its kinda cool, Like it was REALLY loud at one of the activities and i was getting overloaded and i noticed he was stimming (reciting his favourite youtube video) and i decided to let him use my ipad to have a break from the other kids and i think it helped him

Yep....Zombie's definitely doing the right thing.

Sure. It's good to have someone who is accepting and understanding providing assistance. I have heard higher functioning complaining about a situation where they were stuck with being placed with lower functioning and it being intolerable for them. So I would say it depends on a individual's ability to deal with it. I think anyone wanting to, probably has the right temperament for it. If it doesn't work out, at least the effort was made.

I am sure you are good at it.

Continue doing what you were doing, helping others.

Hi. I have mild AS and this summer, I spent seven weeks working at an overnight camp for people of all ages with disabilities. I was a Direct Care Councilor. Due to my personal experience, I would like to say that I think that yes, someone with who is high on the spectrum could be a major help not only to someone who is lower on the spectrum but to others with disabilities in general.

In a given week, with a partner, I would be assigned of two to three campers with varying degrees of different disabilities. Over the course of that week, I would devote the majority of my 110 or more hours to them, seeing to everything from their physical health to ensuring that they had as much fun as possible. Now given, in that amount of time and work, many people, on the spectrum or not, will make progress but I found that there were places where I excelled in unique ways.

I was determined to learn about the people around me as fast as I could in order to do right by them to the best of my abilities. I used years of training myself in trying to figure out how to respond to people in different social situations to my advantage. Yes, the rules have changed for how and why a behavior occurs and what reaction I should have has changed has changed,and figuring out how could often be a guessing game, but I had an advantage that other councilors didn't...I'd been laying social guessing games for years while they were used to acting intuitively. I was often the first to be aware of the reason behind a campers actions and how to respond to them because of this.

On top of this, I tended to lean toward the assumption that everyone likes to be treated like a regular person. I live by the mantra of 'treat others how you want to be treated.' I would give everyone the proper respect that I had learned to give to anyone and make sure that I gave them the maximum amount of freedom they were capable of having. If they had a skill that I didn't I would acknowledge them for it or if I did something wrong that caused them problems, then I would apologize. Many of these people aren't used to being treated like that because others see their disability first and might not try too hard to see the person beyond that. Goodness knows, it drives me crazy, so I assumed it was the same with them.

I also mentioned that people on the high end of the spectrum could benefit from someone else at a similar level being there for them. As someone with extremely mild AS, I have to put up with some people not understanding that I have limitations at all. There are others who write me off as useless because I have it. There is no one who in my life who has been in that position. Those of you who have mild disabilities can relate to how that feels, but how many people have you met in person who understands what that's like? To those who do, consider yourselves lucky. For those who don't, wouldn't it be nice to find someone? For once in my life, at that camp, I was able to find people like that and be that person for them if they wanted, even if it was just a few days.

My most obvious results were with some of the people who were lower functioning on the Autism spectrum with me. Multiple campers behaved in ways that staff (some who had been there 5 years) had never witnessed in them, such as people who usually not liking physical contact initiating hugs or wanting to hold my hand. There were times when I was able to figure out that campers were communicating with us when other councilors thought they were just acting randomly.


While it is obvious that just because two people share a disability, they may not be able to understand each other, there can be an understanding that will not be present with the average person. Because of this, there were times when I found myself understanding things that other councilors would not. I would often try to put situations in perspective for them when this happened. For instance, I found out fairly quickly that councilors would wonder how people who are severely disabled could ever be happy, even if their lives were 'so bad' compared to most people. I pointed out the fact that what they might see as horrible/pitiable was the disabled person's normal, especially if the disability is one they have lived with all their life. That is the standard that they hold their life to and where they
base their ups and downs from. For someone with their own disabilities, I live this even if I am aware that it is not the same as an NTs. An NT person probably does not think about this; why would they have to? Pointing something like this out could reduce the'pity their miserable existance factor that I have noticed with a lot of care givers that can be infuriating to deal with.

I think that a person who is willing to do this type of work needs to be able to acknowledge their own limitations. I feel that I had a few that could be linked to my disability While I feel that there were areas where I excelled at helping, I had very notable weaknesses. The very empathizing that I think helped give me my strength was probably also one of my greatest weaknesses. I was prone to being emotionally overwhelmed compared to many councilors (especially after one of the overnight shifts). I am not as good at concealing my emotions as most of the councilors and actually had a couple meltdowns (although I was able to keep the last out of sight of the campers) Another place where my skills were extremely limited was with activities that required fine motor skills,such as dressing/ undressing an assist lift camper while supporting them or feeding some campers who can't feed themselves and have trouble swallowing. Luckily, I had the support of the other councilors to help me when these problems arose, either to take the reigns or give advice.

People with disabilities don't need to volunteer or pick up a job with disability services to actively help others, either. My first experience of helping someone lower on the spectrum was during an English course in college. The professor was aware we both had AS and the other person was more severe than me. I gave advice about using her interests to encourage her to do her work.

If you want to find a more general piece of evidence that people with disabilities can help each other, look at the site you are reading my post on. WP is designed to help people on the spectrum. Help and support flows in every direction here, low spectrum, high spectrum, NT or other disabilities. Ultimately, I think that yes, a person high on the spectrum who wants to help other people with disabilities can do so in a unique way that most people can't. As with the general person, it's not something that everyone who is high on the spectrum would be good at or interested in but those who are can be excellent at it. No one is going to be perfect but as long as they are willing to cooperate with those around them on top of having a certain level of patience and empathy, they can help others.

I am thinking about helping others with autism/Asperger's syndrome someday.

I would like to do that as well.

RubyWings91 created a great post.

It's not condescending to want to help people. Everybody's good at something.

I would bet that some of the "low-functioning" people could help out some of the "high-functioning" people with something. It could be a two-way street.

I's like my stupid OCD support thread ^^^^^^^

I agree, we can all help one another. I know some "low-functioning" autistic people can have better coping mechanisms at times than "higher-functioning" people.

And people with Down Syndrome can help extremely academically-smart people with autism gain some perspective and some social skills.

Down Syndrome people are known for their relatively good social skills.

And people with William's Syndrome . I love those guys/girls!

I don't doubt that in the least. Many of the people with disabilities were also some of the most caring people I've met and are willing to help others whenever they can. If someone needed comforting, it was likely that another camper would be there for them before a councilor made it to them. There was a time when a kid brought an expensive watch and lost it and it was another camper who found it and gave it to him. I learned some sign language by getting help from three different campers who were ecstatic to help me.

I also think that some people could learn real lessons about having a positive outlook on life from hanging with some of the people who are more severely disabled. One person that stands out in my mind was a teenager who was non vocal and almost immobile with the exception of being able to flex his arms, yet he was always smiling, laughing and played jokes whenever he got the opportunity. He was curious about the world around him and loved to play if he could.

I wish I could have met that kid ^^^^^^