Young Libertarian Fights for Autistic Friend

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Young Libertarian Fights to Save Autistic Friend From School Administrator
by RS Davis
The Freedom Files



Hello, Freedomphiles! As the father of a child with Asperger's Syndrome, a high functioning form of Autism, one of my greatest fears is that he will grow up and live a solitary life, devoid of the benefits of a close group of friends with whom to share his life's journey.

You see, Aspies have trouble making friends, especially with neuro-typical people. Their bluntness and honesty can be unsettling, and their inability to read social cues makes them sometimes awkward and off-putting. They go through life, hearing only a quarter of the conversation, because they only hear the words - they don't interpret tone of voice, body posture, facial expressions - things you and I do automatically and without thought.

It's a lot like spending your life conversing with people through email, but without the handy emoticons to convey the meanings which aren't always apparent in the written word.

I fear that because of this, my son won't know what it is like to have a posse that he can share his feelings with, who will accept him for who he is and have his back when he really needs it.

I only hope that my son is lucky enough to have friends like the ones who rallied around and supported Joshua White (pictured above) in his time of need....

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RSDavis, you know I like your posts, but this one seems a lot more political to me than having anything to do with AS. It's just coincidence that the child involved was AS. There isn't anything else to point to this as an AS issue, just a libertarian one. Maybe PPR is the better forum, or Autism, Politics, and the Media.

Uhm...not to put too fine a point on the obvious, but...you have heard the phrase "preaching to the choir"? Also, our problems reading nonverbal signals are a 'developmental disorder' - a DIS ability, rather than an IN ability - trust me, your son will pick up a lot of those things as he gets older, it'll just take a lot longer than with a NT child (at the cost of much embarrassment and humiliation to himself) and he may never be smooth at it, but he'll get it eventually.

The bluntness and honesty problem however, is a hard habit to break - and its hard on the ol' resume - employers, even those who ask for suggestions and input, do not appreciate blunt honesty.




Well, he will make friends, mostly those like himself who are outside the circles of convention.

People who rally around and support him in times of need? Don't hold your breath. Once he turns 18, he will disappear from everyone's social radar as if he never existed. No one seriously even believes its possible for adults to have autism, unless they're so severely affected they have to be institutionalized. Barring that, society seems to feel, they can't have enough of a problem to worry about, so they should just suck it up and quit whining. Sorry to have to tell you that, but its that damned Aspergian bluntness and honesty. And plenty of bitter experience.

I do not understand why political affiliation was brought up. I propose the original post be removed until it is rephrased in a non-political way.

Or if you would like to talk about politics we can talk about how those who are disabled and rely on government funding (people with autism who require assistance included) would be living in abject poverty on the streets if libertarians had their way because of some psychological delusion that suddenly people would become more charitable and private charities will rise to the occasion of providing the nations disabled with a stable income...if you wish this board to become incendiary.

Yeah, I guess you're right. Sorry. Maybe a mod can move it for me.

Well, hopefully, with all this newfound awareness, things will be different for his generation.

Our poster has an AS child and does write about AS issues in his blog at times, but he is also Libertarian and separately writes a lot about those issues in his blog. In this case there was a little bit of both and I guess as a parent he thought we might like to hear about NT kids sticking up for an AS kid (which is good). But, I agree that the politics is really the heart of the article this time.

Since he agreed a couple of posts above that maybe a different forum would be better, I'm going to move it.

You are exactly right. Thanks for moving it. I had no idea you were a mod.

I WORKED as a Para-educator at one point. My reaction would have been "Cool hair dude." Honestly I never saw the point of the massively restrictive dress codes most schools have. Had I been there I would have advised the kids that the food fight plan is counterproductive and the walkouts are best saved for a last resort when no other form of protest has worked. Might have shown up with blue hair myself.

Isn't email significantly clearer than ordinary conversation, and the best way to communicate? Seriously, I really do communicate almost entirely over the internet. I've developed close relationships this way. I don't see why this would be a bad thing.

You do realise you're talking to a whole forum full of people with autism or related conditions. There's no need to explain the conditon to us.

You and I? Maybe you. But not most of us.

It seems to have been copied from their blog post. They may have to explain to people who aren't us.

Hahaha, yeah, I know. This was an article I wrote for the general population.

I agree. I am mostly a Libertarian conservative myself since I think we (our Congress) enjoy creating laws too often. I do wish that people on the autism spectrum would be glad to join the generousity of conservatives over a handout. I also support increased awareness of Asperger's and using some people who's communication may be better (like Ray Ramono) but who misses the very essence of cues.

I enjoy being a conservative and believing in individual responsibility. I do believe we should be judged equally for the content of our character (MLK). That is earned over time and not just given to you.

Why does he need a "posse"? Where I come from, that's a term relating to street gangs. I don't have a "posse," but I do have acquaintances, former co-workers, family members and a few close friends from way back who would step up for me if I needed them to. Why do you feel that your son needs a clique around him in order to cope with life? True, many Aspies lead a solitary life, but there are those who are content with it.

Posse actually comes from the Old West, not as criminals, but as a group of men, usually, who rounded up the bad guys. Either way, all I was saying is that I hope he has a close group of friends like Josh. From what I understand, though, the whole school stood up for him.

- R