I need your help please!

Post Reply New Topic

Hey everyone. This is my first post and I have a huge favor to ask. No, this isn't spam...I am a legitimate person, I promise.

I am a freelance writer and writer/photographer for Jacksonville.com. I am working on a piece for a parenting magazine about Asperger's Syndrome. The story will detail the symptoms, treatments and will contain lots of information from experts and folks who live with it.

The latter part is where you come in. I am looking for someone with Asperger's that I could interview. I just want to know how daily life is for you; What, if any, challenges you face and how, if at all, you overcome them. I wouldn't need to call you or meet you in person if you don't prefer. An e-mail interview would be more than sufficient.

I sincerely hope you are willing to assist me. I really would like to have a first-hand account of Asperger's to help make readers more aware of its effects.

Also, anyone else with any information or other experiences with Asperger's: I welcome your input too! If you have a story or any experience to share I'd like to hear from you!

Thanks for reading and you may PM me if you prefer not to respond in this thread.

Welcome to WP!

Tim

Welcome!

If you're looking for experiences from people with Asperger's, try exploring the forums a little. Chances are you're bound to come across many aspie experiences!

Have fun!

lol



And in response to the post post. . . has it occurred to you that it's a wee bit redundant to ask for

how daily life is for you; What, if any, challenges you face and how, if at all, you overcome them

and

a first-hand account of Asperger's to help make readers more aware of its effects

on a forum with large sections dedicated to these topics, and which, in a general sense, is completely dedicated to these topics?


I believe it would make a better and more authentic story if you took the trouble to read the forum ( ) a bit, and get a legitimate feel for what you're writing about before you choose a single individual's experience to represent everyone with the diagnosis.

You're a registered user; you can read the haven, the parenting forum, all of it. Regularly posts appear that are articulate and compelling, even heart wrenching- particularly with regards to difficulties.

Why not read, then PM those individuals who you might wish to quote?

If you really want the "this individual" angle, go to the profiles of candidates and look at all their recent posts; you can then get in touch with them and supplement with an interview, giving a somewhat more multifaceted viewpoint.

Sorry if I'm prickly, but ten second media can not fail to misrepresent. I don't think the quick and dirty version of what it is to be Aspie is neccesarily something I want to contribute to, if you aren't even willing to come half way.

Oh no, you're absolutely right. And I HAVE found a wealth of information in just a few minutes, actually. BUT, as a journalist, I can't attribute a username and a forum post and expect to be treated as a serious writer. Direct quotations are how I must present vital information.

Also, this is going to be far from quick and dirty. I don't know where I gave you the impression that I was going to do some sort of half-ass 200-word blurb about Asperger's. This is going to be a 1,500 to 2,000 FEATURE article designed to help parents recognize the symptoms in their children and how to cope...for themselves and the children. I am a professional, and I want nothing more than to properly represent Asperger's in a fair and clear way.

If I were to read experiences and ask people to be interviewed, I would end up barking up quite a few wrong trees. I might as well just ask who wants to be interviewed and let them go ahead and come forward. And by the way, I've already received 2 pm's

Here's a taste of AS for you; I'm not your friend, and I can't really say this taunt has convinced me that you're much of a professional.

For example, if you'd read my post with any closeness- and by this I mean, not continental philosophy closeness, but rather, sixth grader closeness- you might have noticed that I suggested contacting the individuals you wished to quote. I don't see where this implies "attributing a username and a forum post," whatever the hell that's supposed to mean. (Perhaps "attributing my information to a username on a forum post?)

While directly drawing on the conversations had on these topics by aspies among themselves seems an entirely legitimate practice in this context, and while the poignancy of the material may well compensate for the vagueness of it's source, that, alone, is not what I'm suggesting.

What I am suggesting is that you get in touch with the individuals, who may or may not remain anonymous, based on how they are able to articulate the aspects of life with AS you most wish to convey.

Furthermore, I don't see that a two page article flanked by adverts for anxiety medications constitutes in-depth coverage of a topic so complex. The best you can hope for is a bare bones diagnostic primer, some basic idea of how people cope, and perhaps(one would hope) a sidebar of references to more and better than you were able to provide.

Having been raised in a large family in which at least half the members were AS, I can promise you that two pages is not even a drop in the bucket.

I wouldn't deny anyone the right to tell you their story, nor would I deny that there will surely here, as anywhere, be people who wish to talk about themselves to the world. Perhaps here more than anywhere; this is a place where many come to be heard by the only world that will, at times, understand them at all- and they desperately wish to be heard.

You offer them a comparative megaphone in a football stadium, and not a "wrong" planet football stadium- a "real" planet one, full of those mysterious NTs who so often make so many of us feel so completely invisible.

Of course people will respond.

If you consider a preliminary understanding of who it is you wish to quote and interview to be a waste of time, I can only consider it to be your own comment on that professionalism you're so proud of.

I speak for myself. I am sure others will do the same on their own respective parts.

Not volunteering, Army taught me that one, among others.

I would suggest something, a couple of things to keep in mind. Generalized to be sure.

There is a difference between those of the younger set then we of the older. I'm 57, had a bunch of life not knowing. As you can see by my join date, it wasn't that long ago I found out. Both age groups and anything in between is very valid. I do think times have changed some and I'm glad in so many ways. However, growing up during the 50's and 60's and the Vietnam era is something else again, it was for everybody. I grind my own axe with the Vets Admin, but you should already know about that mess. You couldn't cover that experience with your word limit.

There are no two of us alike.

Last edited by postpaleo on 17 Oct 2007, 11:52 am, edited 1 time in total.

interview:
Alex, he runs WP
Lemon, she is a painter
Inventor, this man rules
Sinsbodly, very nice lady
Cockney rebel, another interesting lady
the kid who published a book, can't remember his username


damn, I was thinking about more people but now that I want to, I can't remember them! :S
*sigh*

Squier, about 14, wrote, Through My Eyes, lulu press? some dot com. I got it through Barnes and Nobel on line.

He has self published, done TV, and is a very good spokesperson. I found his book to be an eye opener, and I was with postpaleo when dirt was invented. We did not think it would last, and stayed with rocks.

From the point of a Parents magazine, squier is the poster boy of a good kid, which all parents hope for, that AS is not the worst thing that could happen.

For the real deal, smelena, Aussie, wonderful lady, three boys with AS, and connected with the Tony Attwood Clinic, which is the best try so far of understanding. She is a neurotypical, NT, Garden Varity human, medical professional, and fairly recent member here, who has helped many. She is so good with parents.

From the mother, wife, child, point of view, a Parents Magazine, smelena is the coolest mum. She has more of a real world view on this than anyone else. She also has the lastest in facts, links from Attwood's Clinic, and expresses herself well. She also has mastered belly dancing. Has a Black Belt in macrame.

AS is an undefined condition, which is kept undefined by changing the definition. It was invented in 1944, by the wrong people, National Socialist Workers Party, they had a Leader, he had a Wunderwaffen, that's us. It only became a medical condition here in 1994. No one is sure of the symtoms, or if they have any meaning, there is not a treatment or pill, smart people with quirks defines it.

Wrong Planet is not a type, we do have something in common, I love this place, but after that, we have as much range as Planet-X.

Of the 2,000,000 of us in the US, most do not know. They just go about programing computers, designing microprocessors, teaching College, and excelling in skillls that take dedication and concentration. The talents in math, science, music, are legendary. Tesla is classic us. Maybe more for me, all of the other Patent holders I have met would fit in here.

Yes we have problems with eye contact, reading faces, body language, If I met you at the office, then saw you an hour later on the street, I would have no idea who you were, and why you were taking to me. I am face blind. I am also a photographer, that many have said, my picture was the real them, the best ever. We do see something. We adapt, the Bride is the one in the white dress.

Yes we have a few quirks, but we also have some great skills.

The founder of Wrong Planet is Alex Plank, he does interviews. For someone of college age he has done a lot of good for the world. Most of what is known, and is being developed, passes through here. Before alex, there was no center, now we have a rapidly growing world.

So Squier at 14, alex at 21? smelena with three boys, a good mum age, and for a girl, lightning88, she is so sweet, and smart, and into the world. Did I mention talented and good looking? She is finishing high school, another important parenting time.

The Kids' Crater is off limits to the likes of you, except through smelena, usual rules.

It is not a hopeless horror, some common sense will get you through. The hard part has been the game of gossip, we say something, which a teacher relates to a social worker, who talks to a therapist, who tells a Psycologist, who tells mother that we cannot be understood. Someone did not understand someone, but it was not us.

Tony Attwood is good because he listens directly, and it is no big deal.

We are rule following, known for being law abiding, hard working, and have done much to benefit the world, now stop jabbing us with pointed sticks.

I do hope this helps, parents, mostly mothers, worry about their children, there is a lot of propaganda from people who spread propaganda, to raise money, to spread more propaganda. their message, "Killl them, Kill them all!" Does not reflect the reality.

If the Wall Street Journal did the story on them, it would be about a group that wants to get rid of, IT, Accounting, R&D, and the Art and Media Departments. We are few in number, but a large part of the world.

So talk to alex, visit around, I know 1200 words is going to be hard. But for mother's worries, I can see the need.

Welcome Molsen! Welcome to Wrong Planet!

I don't know how or where I taunted you and I'm sorry you feel that way. But your attitude is not appreciated. And I told you why I can't just contact people I want to interview. I could contact 100 people and no one respond. If I ask "who wants to share their story?" I get responses...WILLING participants. I NEVER said I wasn't reading up on it and reading others' experiences, as you insinuated. And now that someone has given me a list of people who might want to be interviewed, that's another good place to start.

I do, however, appreciate your frankness with me about the scope of Asperger's, and will take that into account when writing my article. In the future, I would appreciate it if you don't jump to conclusions about me or put words in my mouth. I don't do that to you.

Last edited by Molsen on 17 Oct 2007, 10:42 am, edited 1 time in total.

wonderful! thanks!

Hmn. . .

I would think that- for the context of AS as a current medical condition- the diagnostic criteria in DSM IV would be the definition. ..

And neither that, nor the associated "quirks" or "symptoms" necessarily include intelligence.

Oh- and computerlove is all kinds of right about cockneyrebel and sinsboldly. Particularly good calls there.

I realize I'm out of my element here. Most people here are experiencing something I don't and maybe never will. I appreciate the responses I have gotten so far. I should know better than to take offense to some of the responses, however. I can only imagine how frustrating it must be seeing someone like me showing up wanting to know all there is to know about Asperger's. Obviously, I can't know all there is to know. I realize I would have to write an entire book to even begin to cover the full scope off this. But that is not my goal.

The article HAS to be narrowed down somehow. So the goal of my article is help parents identify AS in their children, to give them ways to cope and to help their children cope, and to let them know where they can go to find more resources. I could have written an article on adults with AS, or any other number of angles, but this is the angle I chose to take

So please understand that I AM only representing a small piece of the pie. I am doing that on purpose. I would want nothing more than to be able to cover the entire range and aspects, but AS is too broad of a subject to write a single article on. If I get enough information, I may write two articles -- maybe three -- each covering a different realm. But for now, please understand my focus and don't get offended that I can't possibly cover the entire range of this.

Yea, I would be happy to do the interview. I even come up to Jacksonville monthly on work. Email me at [email protected].

I'm pretty sure you can look through my posts as well, and you'll definitely find snippets of my experience and such all over them. As of now, I can't recall anything that sticks out in particular, so just have a look through my other posts if you need it.