My plan to promote awareness worldwide for Asperger's

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How about this as a political slogan:

We are all middle-functioning.

I mean, I have patchy social skills, I think good in some areas, not so good in others (and like anything, hard to be aware of what you're not aware of).

At times, my stimming helps me in which I think it gives kind of an alpha state meditation where I can process things. At other times, the need to stim, which I can usually put off, can get in the way.

I am more sensitive than the average person to buzzing fluorescent lights and stupid repetitive announcements. This has caused problems in some job environments. But I think this helps make me a better artist. For example, I think I have a keen ear for dialogue and tone of voice.

This is a very good point. I like this general approach. Yes, when possible, we should help people with their goals and access to their interests.

I call that approach, the Bettelheim approach.

whats the connection to betteleheim,bettelheim was old fashioned and super freudian.not that i am saying i agree or even disagree with the above mentioned approach but where is bruno bettelheim in all that just out of curiosity.

Old fashioned ideas are coming up again. Such as the denying that difficulties caused by neurological conditions which entail disability are due to actual neurological problems in the brain, and blaming the difficulties on those who care for those with the difficulties. If Bettelheim was implying neglect as a cause of problems, it's similar to claim that someone's lack of functioning is due to nobody interacting with them and helping them. A lot of those who are around the low-functioning, including parents, have worked tirelessly to interact with them and get them access to opportunities. Claims to the opposite of that would be just as absurd as Bettelheim's theories concerning the mothers.

fair explaination.the fact that bettelheim was a holocaust survivor always made him think all differences in people where caused by traumatic abuse.bettelheim himself was accused of abusing children at a home for wayward youth he ran before commiting suicide in 1990.quite a troubled individual himself

Bettelheim is a dragon we will probably need to slay from time to time.

First off, he would frequently beat the children.

And then, Bruno Bettelheim was a fraud. He did not have the credentials he claimed to have. He is almost too easy to criticize. The really damning criticism is that other Chicago-area psychiatrists referred to him as 'Brutalheim.' That is, they knew what was going on, but they didn't do anything.

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Page 77, a quote from Newsweek magazine, Sept. 10, 1990:

http://books.google.com/books?id=lmae5a ... CDgQ6AEwAA

"There are indications that at least the local psychiatric community knew exactly what was going on, and did nothing."

Last edited by AardvarkGoodSwimmer on 24 Jun 2012, 2:33 am, edited 1 time in total.

And They Call It Help: The Psychiatric Policing of America's Children, by Louise Armstrong, 1993, chapter 3 "Bart Simpson Meets Bruno Bettelheim".

From page 75, a very brave Alida J. who first wrote a "Name Withheld" letter to the alternative news weekly Chicago Reader, and then went public:

http://books.google.com/books?id=lmae5a ... _text&cd=1

"One minute he could be smiling and joking, the next minute he could be exploding.  Almost anything I did could be construed as a form of rebellion or as a type of behavior that had to be changed.  One time I made the mistake of telling Bettelheim in a quiet tone of voice, that I thought there were too many restrictions at the school.  Bettelheim beat me for that.  Another time he dragged me out of the shower with no clothes on and beat me in front of a roomful of people."

Wow that is a lot of assumptions I guess I better explain myself then

-Where did I deny that difficulties caused by neurological conditions which entail disability are due to actual neurological problems in the brain? I never once indicated that and I am well aware neurological problems obviously cause problems.

-I was not blaming the disorder on those who care for the disabled(though I don't know if the care takers always do really care about the disabled.) Anyways the point was even someone with autism has some room to develop....so treating them as someone who can never do anything or develop in any way might lead to them ending up more low functioning than they would be if maybe someone took the time to really try and open some communication and find out what that individuals interests are what they like, what they don't like what they might want to learn ect. I am saying it is a factor in the severity of autism.....whether the autistic has a supportive environment in which to grow or if their wants, interests and such are ignored because the care-takers assume they can't feel anything, think anything and don't know anything makes a difference in my opinion.

-Oh and did you know when a neurotypical child is neglected they actually can develop autism like symptoms? So neglect can actually cause problems believe it or not....or it can contribute to problems, for people who already have problems. I am sure an autistic would turn out more low functioning than high functioning if no ones really interacting with them or helping and I am sure it does happen...we can't just assume every parent or care-taker of someone with low functioning autism really is trying their best...even if many of them are. The ones that really do make all that effort I do respect......and its not like if their child does not become high functioning I think its their fault. I would be glad even though that individual is low functioning they have a comfortable environment and people who care to help them manage. I mean I don't expect low functioning autism can be cured simply with more interaction or at all necessarily, just that having a postive environment to grow in and people who genuinely care about their well-being would help them function to their full abilities whatever that is for them........as opposed to a negative environment which would just add to the problems they have.

-How vile of me to suggest the environment and how the care takers treats the individual might have an effect on them

Yes, the help, support, sane environment, acceptance, and appreciation so each person can function at his or her full abilities, whatever that might mean to them.

i agree.
social envirement does not cause autism but good nurturing can definatley improve things

As a person on the Autism Spectrum, I have my difficulties. And I can see how it might even be harder to be a parent of a child on the spectrum, and hope upon hope that this child will become normal, because everything you've been anticipating for the child, friends at school, a family later on, etc, etc, is predicated on your child being 'normal.' And it can take a while to shift gears, hey, my child can have a rich life with all kinds of experiences and connections, it's just going go be a different life from what I had been anticipating.

I would like us to have Asperger's-Autism Spectrum resource centers to provide parents and others with one more good set of available resources. For example, we could have resources available to teach sign language as a perfectly valid way to communicate, just like Italian, French, Russian, English, Chinese are perfectly valid ways to communicate. And I'd like us to promote the idea that typing on a laptop has less flickering light than typing on a desktop (for some people this might make a big difference).

I remember a book where this guy talked about his younger autistic brother. And his mother pointed out that there were plenty of people who wanted to cure him, but not many people who wanted to help care for him. And each one of these 'cure' attempts is going to be abrupt, dramatic, non-sane environment.

And the example of math, often it's not a matter of trying harder, but trying in a different direction.

Or let's say there's a new coach who comes to a high school, and there's a young person who's a hurdler. The coach may watch for three days or a week before he or she offers any suggestions at all. And then if the suggestion doesn't work, back off graciously and maybe try something else, because everyone's joints and ligaments are a little different, and even a 'good' suggestion is not necessarily going to work for everyone. And this is even more true for brains and how we perceive the world and how our senses work.

They have care providers who have been trying to help them develop. They have been trying to communicate with them. Supportive environments have been made even though they don't know exactly what to do when they can't help them. And when inevitably the problems persist, the parents often are devastated. They often try tirelessly to get their children to improve.


You need to consider what you're saying and what it hints at. Neglect isn't a factor in the substantial level of those who remain low-functioning. Occasional instances of malfeasance by families don't have anything to do with conditions that the legitimate medical community knows full well aren't caused by neglect.

I take what Sweetleaf is saying, although many families of autistic persons are excellent, some are not so excellent. And also that we do better to stay open to what interests a child actually has, what a child likes, what a child doesn't like, what a child might want to learn. This (and I'm adding this part) instead of judging things so rigidly against a benchmark of what is quote-unquote 'normal.'

And I personally would also add the concept of a parent overtrying, putting all this pressure on the child, and then getting frustrated. And what this parent is missing out on is the approach of keeping a light touch and easily trying a variety of things and rolling with what seems to be working if only a little bit, as well as remaining open to trying additional things which also seem positive.