Welcome back! This week we will be looking at a topic that, while it may seem relevant to everyone, really does not hit home unless you are, let’s say, different-abled. When Autistic’s get together the topic tends to follow ‘you know how sometimes when…’ or ‘you know how most times…’ When they are talking about is how confusion creates stress, and how both go hand in hand with chaos. Then it becomes a vicious circle.

SORT OF LIKE THIS, BUT NOT AS DRAMATIC, OR VIOLENT, OR COOL-LOOKING. ALTHOUGH, THIS IS A GOOD REPRESENTATION OF WHAT CHAOS WOULD LOOK LIKE IN OUR MINDS.

Why is it that when it comes to feeling confused, people who are different-abled tend to also feel stressed or overwhelmed? An article from THE ASPERGIAN (their all-caps, not mine. I just type’em) claims that it may have the answer (some where, it goes on a bit about meltdowns). I have my own theory as to why we feel stressed/anxious when confused: our routine is disrupted. Not everyone who is Autistic/Aspie is the same or will react in the same way to the same situation. So say for example when Jean’s routine is disrupted, causing confusion, he may feel some stress about the situation, but not enough to paralyze him for long, or to cause him to react excessively. Rather he keeps a semi-cool head, and tries to figure out how to solve the problem.

Samantha, on the other hand, does not react well to her routine being disrupted and confusion occurs. She either freezes, has a meltdown or leaves the situation. Then tries to calm down before she can deal with it again. In both of these situations, chaos has followed confusion, as confusion has disrupted their sense of normalcy. As you can see, it’s not a simple “oh God, gotta deal with this now” thing for Autistics/Aspies, but (from my experience) get’s better with experience. Which is just a nice way of saying it’ll get easier as you get older.

Now, I don’t mean that the stress of facing chaos gets any less, but rather you learn to deal with it better. If we can go back to the previous examples of Jean and Samantha, we can assume that Jean is some years older than Samantha as he acts like someone who has gone through this many a time before, he knows how to handle it. In geeky terms: the monster is still just as powerful as it was before, but as you progress through the game your stats will increase exponentially, picked up enough magical items and learned some new skills to deal with it, whenever it shows its ugly demonic hide again.

(SIGH), SPRING AND SUMMER. THE TIME WHEN THE LAND IS FULL OF LIFE, THE OUTDOORS ARE GREAT, AND THE YOUNG BEGIN THE NEW RITUAL OF ALWAYS HUNTING FOR WORK.

Well that does it for this weeks post. You may be wondering why I am posting less frequently these days, and I have an excuse ready in hand: work. Lots of work. If you are reading this in Canada, you may know already that it is the summer time, and therefore the time for young people, like me, to find some part time work or two or three or four. Make money for the next post-secondary semester, or to get that car you’ve been pining for, or just because you’re a masochist and hate the idea of rest. Until than, this continues to be, The Audacious Aspie. 

Source:

https://theaspergian.com/2019/05/22/panic-and-confusion/

Welcome back! I have an announcement to make and a couple of things to say. First, the announcement. As some of you are probably already aware, I have been trying to walk the tight rope for a few years of writing posts, not coming down firmly on either the pro-Autism awareness side or Autism acceptance side. Rather I was going to wait on getting a large enough readership first before I publicly went one way or another, so that in the event I did lose some, or a lot, of readership, I would still maintain most of my readership and therefore above water, so to speak.

But it’s my blog and I see no reason why I must continue to try to walk that tight rope, rather I am now stating what side I am for. I, am pro-Autism Acceptance. Awareness can only get us so far, that now is the time for us, the Autistic/ Asperger community to change our slogan (or whatever you wish to call it): we do not need awareness anymore. Now we need acceptance.

Now with the announcement out of the way, I have a few other things that I will need to say as well. Last month I made a mistake in not doing proper research (a major sin on my part, concerning how in university they drill it into your heads to research, research, research. May the gods and goddesses of post-secondary education have mercy on me) and supporting, unknowingly, an organization that is known for being, well, less than supportive of people in the community, even though they claim to support us.

For that I apologize once again, I well do my due diligence in the future. But yet despite my repeated apologies, I am still seen as anti-spectrum. This is far from the truth. Myself being on the spectrum, I know exactly what it’s like. I have readers who are parents of kids on the spectrum, teachers of kids on the spectrum, and people on the spectrum themselves. I don’t speak of my personal experiences because its not what this blog is about. Ask me privately and I may tell you. May being the operative word, as I’m a very private person . On this blog I give opinions of others in order to generate discussions. Sometimes I support these ideas, other times I do not. From now on I will try to say whether I do or do not support the ideas. But either way, we can all learn something from reading them, even if only to further our own private opinions.

Well that does it for this weeks post. Next week, as always, will be a different topic altogether. What topic will that be? You will just have to see, or read in this case. Until than, this continues to be, the Audacious Aspie.

Welcome back! This week I will be talking about my thoughts on the whole Autism/Aspergers spectrum/not a spectrum topic. I know I know, my last message said that I would not be looking into the topic again for a while, but what I meant was that I would not be looking more into the article, or other information on this issue, for a while. Not stop talking about it. See the kind of verbal gymnastics I did there to try and weasel out of trouble? Impressive right? But enough weaseling, or mental gymnasticking (thats a word right?) let's get back to talking about my opinion.

Here is the majestic weasel, an animal known for being used to describe someone who is trying wriggle out of blame for something they may/may not have done.

On the question of the term, some of you say that the term neurodiversity is better sounding, more encompassing and accurate term than spectrum is, and perhaps you are right. Although admittedly, I did not think of the term “spectrum” in the same sense as the colour spectrum, in my view the article makes some good points (from what I have read of it). It does sort of make you think of a sliding Autism/Asperger scale doesn't it? That you are either this much Autistic/Aspie or this much. Either you are a little Autistic/Aspie or a lot, but in my opinion you are either Autistic/Aspie, or you’re not. There is not such thing as “a little Autistic/Aspie” (think of it like this: someone is either a moron or they are not, no one is “a little moronic”. Though in comparison of that person’s moronic actions to another, you’d probably think otherwise).

We, the Autistic/Asperger community, however, must be the ones to decide on a new term if we are to replace the old one. It will have to be one that hits all the marks we deem important, like inclusivity (including all the people whom we want to part of our community, whether it is just those with Autism/Asperger’s or people who are wired differently in general), encourage others acceptance of us and the diversity that resides within our community. I was just spitballing there, but you get the idea. We will need to put a lot of thought into what our new term would be, if we do decide to change it (doesn't that phrase sound disgusting to you? Although it could be worse, it could be “I’m just spitting hot nuegies here).

The phrase “spitballing” or “hot nuegie” is almost as gross as seeing this fly up close, and not wanting to eat it. Except it’s not up close, it’s the size of a small dog, and it is in fact your dinner.

You have probably realized from some of my former posts  that I am advocating for some rather serious changes to some of the names already assigned to us, and doubtless I’m not the only one doing it to. But I think that now is the time we start to seriously consider whether we want to keep the same labels already assigned to us, considering that we, the Autistic/Asperger community, probably were not even asked on how we felt about the terms assigned to us (do you understand what I’m trying to say? I hope so, because while I know what I am trying to say, I’m not always sure how to word it right. Sigh, the curse of being a literally misunderstood artist, it is a cross I must bare).

That’s it for this week. Next week we will for sure for sure move on to a new topic (and no, it won’t be my thoughts on my thoughts. That’s for another date). But until next time, this continues to be, The Audacious Aspie.     

Sources used:

https://theaspergian.com/2019/05/04/its-a-spectrum-doesnt-mean-what-you-think/

Welcome back! This week, we continue our look at the article from the ASPERGAIN (again, there call-caps, not mine) and how the whole spectrum definition might be skewed. Last we left off, I talked a bit about the names of some of the colours of the Autism/Asperger rainbow (Pragmatic, Social Awareness and the rest), along with a possible replacement name for it: instead of spectrum, perhaps we could call them a trait, or an ability, or a skill (The more positive sounding, the better in cases like these). But, enough stalling for now, let's get back to the main event!

Don’t you hate it when people stall? It’s like “common man! I wanna get to the next part already!” I had a buddy of mine right? He stalled for so long right? He stalled for so long, we missed most of the when we finally got in the theater. Another buddy of mine right? We was trying to get to an event right? And he...

So, to harken back to last weeks post abit, if you check all or most of the boxes listed on the article, you are on the...Autistic/Aspie trait list (almost said spectrum). According to the article. But if you check off only one or two of the boxes, than the article says that it’s not Autism/Aspergers  you have, but something else entirely. E.g.: you struggle with communication alone? You have communication disorder. Problems with only movement/control? Dyspraxia/developmental coordination disorder, or you could shorten it to DCD (an amalgam that sounds like CDC, but switch the letters around). Sensory processing issues? Sensory processing disorder. And you get the rest.

Hence the problem with the phrase “we’re all a little autistic” (other than the obvious ones. Oh you are, are you? So tell me, what are YOUR obsessions? Bare in mind that obsessions are not something that we simply enjoy, but something that we enjoy intensely and will attempt to learn EVERYTHING about it. Literally, everything). If you just hate fluorescent lights, or feel awkward in some/all social situations, you are not a little Autistic/Aspie, you just hate fluorescent lights or feel awkward in some/all social situations (that said, you should still probably see your GP, incase you need some form of assistance).

Or another name for GP (General Practitioner, hope I spelled that right), is family doctor. But what if you don’t have a family? What if you are a family of one? Are they then known as a PD, personal doctor? This is an important question folks.

The article put it in another, I think interesting, way: it’s the equivalent of saying “you are dressed ‘a little rainbowy’ when you are wearing only red’” (Aspergian, It’s a spectrum doesn't mean what you think). And, for those of you who may not know this, and at the risk of already repeating what was already said in the last post about the article (the article on it’s own repeats itself in some areas), not every person who is Autistic/Aspie has the exact same traits, and the exact same strengths. While one person may be able to handle themselves very well in social situations, hitting all the right notes and picking up most, if not all, of the social cues. Another person may need a lot of help in the same social situation, a kind of guide or coach. While one may have very few repetitive behaviours, and know what kind are socially acceptable, others may have quite a bit of repetitive behaviours, and/or may not know or understand which ones are okay to do in public. You get the idea.

Well, that does it for this week's post. Next week I will either do one last segment on the article, or move onto another topic to keep things entertaining (and to keep things suspenseful as always, I won’t tell you which one I’ll do! Oh, it’s not that suspenseful? Because in the end you’ll find out anyways and it won’t really affect your world that much? Can you pretend to be in suspense? It’d really help my ratings. Might even get you day or so off work if the boss thinks you are suffering some kind of extreme stress! Or get you simply kicked out from a public space, but that's the risk you take.). But until next time, this continues to be, The Audacious Aspie.     

Sources used:

https://theaspergian.com/2019/05/04/its-a-spectrum-doesnt-mean-what-you-think/