Hey there.

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Greetings.

This is as good a place as any to say hello. I'm Kirie. I'm many things, among them, I am an Aspie. Despite the best efforts of my soon to be ex husband, I acquired my official diagnosis, escaped his mental abuse and ignorance, and managed to have a beautiful baby girl who just turned one last March. It is still mildly irritating to have to endure my ADHD-confirmed and uncontrolled-by-any-means ex hop up and down screaming I am a "diseased" person - he can't even spell Asperger's, and apparently can't pay his lawyer enough to proofread documents, heh.

I am also a full time student, defying aforementioned idiot's threat that an education would be wasted on me, and find that I have a predisposition towards Anthropology. I already learn culture the "hard way", and apparently have very few ethnocentricities that would inhibit me from thoroughly enjoying any culture I turn my mind to. I am currently fascinated with Eastern Asia, and all countries therein, as a part of my education.

Sometimes I care about people, sometimes I don't - it is situational, and I am not as detached or attached as I ought to be.

There is the brighter side of things.. my daughter and I are safe, and, I am engaged to the most wonderful man. My best friend of five years, who has stood by my side, understood every joke and obscure reference I've ever cracked, who instinctively knows what I need.. how I think, and what I'm feeling without even having to say it. He's a phenomenal person, and we both suspect he is AS as well. He even understands my hypersensitive skin and synesthesia! Anyway, off topic and probably getting TOO personal...

I quilt, I bead, I sculpt, I pretty much like getting my hands on art projects and trying to duplicate what I see with mediums other than drawing. I see music, and I see words, but not like most other people see them. It is pretty funny trying to explain to the rest of the quilting community what my synesthesia-inspired piece "Calendar" is.

I listen to just about any music I want to, my baby apparently enjoys what I'd call club music, so, that's in my car's CD player the most. I do not enjoy country, and I do not enjoy rap. It is my opinion that rap died when Blondie stopped producing it. Flame me if you wish, I am entitled to my opinion. ;p

My current obsession, besides anything fox, raven, New Zealand, or anthropology-related, is saving my future husband.

The Army has refused to diagnose him, or even provide him with adequate counselling. I've appealed to every knowledgeable adult I know, and still I'm turning up empty handed for help. Believe me, that's a LOT of people I've appealed to, including ranked Army officers on my campus. I am highly disturbed by the very strong NT-only drive in the Army, you'd think if you weren't NT, they'd be happy to let you go home with a salute and a general discharge / honorable discharge? Nope. They want to keep you, because you're very smart, and if only you'd just stop it with the needing stability, and the stupid social games of ignorance you're playing, everything would be just fine..

Yes, I told him not to join the Army. Yes, I told him structure, reliability, and lack of drama were an illusion told by recruiters to get you to sign on. No, he did not listen.

He's currently deployed in Iraq, and it is my most sincere hope that somehow, the Army becomes aware that it is monetarily more efficient to psychologically evaluate their future soldiers before investing millions into training... only to find out, oops, they can't cope with the social situations nor stress of being in a combat situation. It'd be too much to hope they'd think of the individuals, but at least they could think of dollars, right? Goodness forbid the Army might actually place a soldier where that soldier's talents would do best!

Somehow. I'm getting fed up with us being walked over, and I will find a way to champion our rights. See, I did find a way to tie my soap box rant back into being "about me". Tomorrow or ten years from now, when I figure out the right path and venue to do so, I will. We need more voices, and we all need to be heard. Heck, maybe we need anthropologists to bridge the gap between AS and NT worlds.

More than a few people laugh when they ask me where I'm from, the reply has been for a very long time, a decade and a half, "I hail from Planet Autism, greetings."

Questions? Feel free to ask. I don't bite people I don't know intimately, so you're all safe from me, at least. I'm not terribly good at volunteering anything that isn't immediately pressing or bothering me.

Welcome to Wrong Planet, Kirie!

Welcome, sorry about your husband. Congratulations on your baby:)

Welcome, Kirie, to the Wrong Planet community.

Hi Kirie - welcome to WP!

Congratulations on getting out of a bad situation & taking charge of your life!

Re: the Army - from personal experience, it isn't all that bad for some Aspies (deployment in Iraq, notwithstanding.) Some of us actually preferred the rigid social structure of the military to the chaotic social structure of civilian life. I guess it all comes down to how he feels about it. (Back in the '90s, I knew a couple guys who failed drug tests & got sent home with general discharges - I suppose it depends on the attitude of the company commander.)

Best of luck!

To WrongPlanet!! !

Welcome to Wrong Planet!

Thank you!

The Army wasn't all bad at all. The promise of a more structured life is what appealed to him. Unfortunately, he is in an Engineering unit (54th, to be exact, if you watch the news, yes it's THAT unit) - apologies for any offense to any Army Engineers out there, but it isn't the best nor the smartest unit in the world. There is very little intelligent conversation, and it is difficult at best to attempt to socially reach someone who can't tell their butt from a hole in the ground half the time. (Durr, my internet no werkz! ... did you try plugging in the ethernet? OH YAH THX!) Goodness forbid, I had to listen to the tirade when they completely messed up the internet cable system he had carefully and painstakingly run and wired himself before he went on leave... and for no good reason, either, they did it. Then told him to fix it. Lack of logical and predictable, even rational, behavior is a major issue.

The problem really rose up when they messed up his legs before deploying him, and called him a liar on it, refused him medical treatment. It was months until someone decided to finally look at his legs and found out, indeed, they were permanently messed up. Once trust is gone, it is pretty well gone for good. I don't know about you, but once hurt, I will forever be waiting for that person to hurt me again. I can only assume he is in a similar behavior pattern.

More recently, since August of 08, we have been requesting a psychological evaluation, to find out if he is indeed on the autistic spectrum with the rest of us. I got a 168 (out of 200, 200 being the most AS person out there, and 0 - 75 being a NT range) on an internet test for AS, he got a 177. I have a confirmed diagnosis, at long last. Most folks we know got 40 - 60. Someone even got a 28. Anyway - the army ignored it. They called him fat, swore at him, and told him to STFU and that he had egotistical behavior issues, and he should just suck it up. I can only imagine what they told poor Sgt Russel, the poor poor guy, he's a friend of my fiancee. It takes a lot to push a human being to the breaking point, and the Army sure did it.

I am angry because the Army is sticking its head in the dirt, with people suffering from stress, PTSD, and other possible "disorders" that slip in the recruitment doors unnoticed... and then wonders why people die. When weapons are not properly treated and cared for, they will misfire and malfunction. I dunno about you, but if someone laughed at me when I asked for help, I'd be pretty darn angry. Oh wait, story of my life.