I Want to Help Aspies!! !!

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You r all so KewL!! ! I luv u all! taht's why it makes me so sad to hear ur stories of mistreatment and all the other probelms you have.

I want too help out the aspeger's community...most of the ppl i know r so shallow but i haven't seen a shallow person here yet! Even though I don't have asperger's learning about it has touched me 4ever and its totaly changed my life too!

These r the ideas I have so far.
1. Tell ppl in sk00l not to pick on the autistic ppl and tell the autistic ppl that I know about there disease adn sympathize
2. donate to curing autism
3. become a speaker about the struggles of Aspies I love cheer leading!!
4. volunteer after school with autistic kids

does any1 else got any ideas?

i think you'll find that many people here are against curing autistism, princesschristina. one way you could help is to check in with aspies about what they'd actually want you to do.

and i truly admire your wishing to help - that's great, so thank you

Just be careful with your choice of words.

1) Autism is not a disease.

2) A cure is impossibe because autism affects the brain's structure, such a cure would often be used without informed consent to treatment thus makking it unethical, and most the majority of people with AS/HFA don't want a cure. If you insist on donating money to an Autism-related cause, give it to a school instead of some cure group.

3&4) This is good as long as you are careful not to control of the agenda of the organization.

Yeah, when talking about "cure" it's actually talking about "prevention". Cause once it's there, it's there. However, as vetivert said, a good majority of those with an ASD are against finding a cure (though I don't think as many would be against "cures" for the comorbid disorders like depression or anxiety, etc.).

But it's great that you want to help. Best way to understand Autistic people and therefore be better able to help them is exactly what you're doing now: talking to the people who have it.

I can't read your posts.

It's not a disease.

Maybe instead of just Aspies and Auties, you should help prevent other people being picked on, too. Like people with mental disorders (unlike autism), like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and pyschosis.

It's great that you want to help people, and you should go for it. If you have a livejournal check out the community, thehumanproject (http://livejournal.com/community/thehumanproject). I would love to hear your ideas.

I agree with everything else everyone has said here, including hale_bopp's "I can't read your posts."

Good luck!

I think the biggest point here is to help people accept differences period... doesn't have to be because of being on the autism spectrum or some other mental disorder... why not acceptance of differences in general? Maybe that's the bigger goal because if differences in general can be accepted, it makes it easier to accept the more specific differences.

And yeah I agree, often I've skimmed over your posts simply due to the lack of clarity in ease of reading it. Too much use of color, numbers where letters should be. I think my old English teacher in high school would have a heart attack just reading it.

Exactly.

Almost like trying to understand another language, but one I have not yet studied...

Christina (you don't mind if I call you that, do you?), it's great that you want to help and I think your last two ideas are good. If you really want to, I would encourage you to volunteer some time, perhaps helping autistic kids with homework or other things. Also, if you have a website or a blog, you can post a link to WP. That way, if anyone wants to know more, they can stop by here.

http://www.mouthmag.com/mythrescue.htm

I'm going to throw some sand into the wheels here.

While I agree that Asperger's is not a disease, the term disease can be a very broad term that encompases usually almost any biological problem. Most people, however, think of a disease as an introduction of some pathogen into the system or similar scenario. People generally do not stick to this definition, though, for all cases. A good example of a condition that most people would call a disease but it is technically not a disease would be cancer. Cancer is more a disruption of normal operation that can be but is not necessarily caused by a pathogen. Technically cancer is more akin to a broken bone or a heart attack than a disease. Yet not only is cancer considered a disease by most people, the vocabulary that revolves around cancer is the vocabulary of a disease (which is natural because while not a disease in itself it has many disease-like characteristics).

What's the point? The point is that I hate language. Communication through abstract symbol is always subjective. Unfortunately, I know that there is no other way to communicate short of photographing everything, and even then there would be too many limits. An example would be if Anne, Bob, and I were talking, and Anne tells us about a dog that she had seen on the way to the restaurant. She says "I saw this dog by the side of the road. He looked so sad." There is a single symbol here that is of interest: dog. Anne's idea of the term "dog" in this case is the correct term because she saw the dog and she knows what she's talking about. Not only is the dog that Bob and I thinking about not the same dog that Anne is talking about, both Bob and I have different dogs in mind. One symbol, three ideas.

It would be nice if we could all speak a common language -- if we could all have a common set of symbols and have a matching definition for those symbols. Unfortunately this is something that is not going to happen. I know a lot of people here are big on spelling, but I'm worse because I'm one of those people who are also big on punctuation. But I also understand that a lot of people don't know, and a lot of people don't care. (Interesting side note: I didn't use contractions until I was 25, and even then I started using them simply because people complained that I talked like Data from Star Trek.) I find it atrocious that in my own writing I do not use proper punctuation. But I know that this is something that is not going to happen. People cannot just transfer the contents of their brain into another person. And the definition of a word for a particular person is based not only the learned meaning of the word but also the context of that meaning to the particular person. I hate language. I just wish we were all psychic. Privacy would be shot to hell, but at least we would be able to understand each other.

What is the point of this? Data is cool. I think we should make him an honorary Aspie. Rock on!

This is off-topic a little bit, but if you check out the Television and Entertainment area of the forum, there's a list of aspie characters in books and movies that you could refer to. And if Data's not on the list yet and hasn't been mentioned in the discussion that usually follows each nominee, I suggest you nominate him.

By the way, interesting link, anbuend.

Get to know some in person if you don't already...

A good start would be to ask people if they actually need, or even want, your help, rather than assuming that your assistance is required.

Your enthusiasm and compassion are admirable in a day and age where many people do not care for their fellow humans, but beware of making the assumption that people with AS or other ASDs require anything special from you.

If you want to do something practical in the here and now, then be clear and direct in your communication with others, avoid vagueness and idioms. Also please be aware that because of my particular neurology, I find it very very difficult to understand 'textspeak' or whatever it's called. I am sure it gives an impression of cuteness, but due to some of my communication difficulties, it is incomprehensible to me.

I understand that many people are dyslexic and have trouble with spelling - it's not that I'm referring to, but all the numbers which seem to be randomly inserted into words instead of letters! Leaves me feeling really confused.

Thank you.

Personally, I think doing the little things, like referring people to WP if they have any questions, can make the most difference. Many people (and this goes for other "disabilities" as well) have learned to cope well enough to make it on their own and would probably feel awkward accepting help from someone else, especially someone who they do not know well.

If you have a friend or family member with AS or autism, they might not take as much offence if you offer to help them. It's awesome that you're so enthusiastic, but many people (myself included) don't like getting help from other people.



Thank you for bringing this up. I would have said something earlier, but did not know the proper words to use.



I wouldn't go as far to tell them not to pick on the autistic people. How about asking them not to pick on people in general, especially those who are different than they are. People are bullied for a number of different reasons and only one of the reasons is autism. Also, I'd be careful mentioning autism to people who pick on others.

If a friend or classmate tells you they are autistic, then I think it'd be appropriate to sympathize a little bit (but be careful not to overdo it!). Also, you can tell people about WP if they ask.

PrincessChristina Im an aspie from Pittsburgh thats been throwing around the idea of starting a support group would you like to help out?