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Living With Autism

LIVING WITH AUTISM IN A WORLD MADE FOR OTHERS

When I walk into her apartment, Amanda Baggs makes no eye contact. She doesn't come to the door or raise her hand to greet visitors. In fact, I'm having a hard time discerning whether she even knows I'm there. I say Hello and introduce myself, but she remains silent, sitting at her desk, staring out the window, rocking slightly back and Ref. Source

Autism Living

Wow, what an interesting story. Probably if a person did not know this woman they would think she is mentally retarded because she rocks herself and does not make eye contact yet she indeed can communicate through a computer. It really touched me when she said:

Living With Autism Health & Special Psychology

The interesting thing about Autism is that there are so many symptoms of it that you will basically have to know each individual child's needs / habits / actions. In other words you cannot just say "Oh he has autism" and know exactly what all the implications are with that child or the parents involved.

Autism Living

As soon as I left college, I got a job working as a carer in a residential home working with adults with learning difficulties; I wanted to get straight out there and "give back" to society.

Among the residents, some of them had Autism. One older gentleman in particular, experienced quite severe Autism.

I found it massively rewarding and fascinating to support him. The way his mind worked was so interesting, but at times upsetting. His thinking was centred around one main focus: schedule. He had to do what he going to do precisely on time; anything that interfered with his set plan was so terrfying for him, so unable to accept that he could build himself up into immense fits of rage.

I have recently started working for the Police, and as part of my training I attended a course on disability awareness. The trainer had a great way to describe autism - I will attempt to re-create what he said:

"Imagine you are an autistic person - you have no visible physical disability. You go shopping every Wednesday for your weekly food supply, you have to arrive at the supermarket within 5pm, and enter the supermarket through the left hand entrance, using your right foot first, and avoiding eye contact with anyone as you don't seem to understand social situations. You have to follow the same route around the supermarket, starting with fruit and veg aisle. As you approach the aisle a teenager that works in the supermarket blocks your path with a pallete of apples - you are forced to change direction and you suddenly find yourself facing a path that is completely alien to you - you are becoming distressed but tell your self it's ok; some of the near-by shoppers are now watching you. You manage to get to the bread section but by now you are afraid and very distressed. You reach to pick up the loaf of bread that you have been buying for five years only to notice that it is not their anymore. More and more people are staring now that you are visably distressed. A shop assistant approaches you to see if you are OK, placing their arm on your shoulder as you are bent over, staring at where your bread should be. With this touch to your shoulder from behind you, you swing round, terrified, and knock the shop assistant to the floor. By this time, security guards that have been watching you on CCTV are running dow the aisle - you become white with fear as three men storm towards you and tackle you to the ground - your world has been turned upside down and your thoughts have gone into overload"


This helped give us an insight into the thought process of some Autistic people and perhaps how to identify the warning signals that someone may be becoming distressed. Autism is a very complicated and mysterious condition; happily many people with Autism can lead full and happy lives.

Autism Living

Autism Battle

We're going to take you into the world of autism tonight. Autism is a neurological disorder that affects children's social interactions and overall communication. The study of the disorder has spiked controversy, and we're going to take a look at one aspect of it: What causes autism? A small group of parents of autistic children believe that the mercury in vaccines given to their children contributed to the onset of the autism. Most of the scientific community that studies the disease gives little or no weight to the argument, but a father-son research team has rallied to the side of the parents, convinced that there is a link. The father, once a respected M.D., is now considered a "fringe" scientist. John Donvan talks with the father and son about what they believe causes autism, how they say they can treat it, and how that squares with the overwhelming science that punches holes in their findings.
Ref. ABC Nightline

Living With Autism

High functioning Autism. I just saw that term used on a show I am watching. The mother described the condition as being one where the son actually has a higher IQ than most but struggles with the most basic social issues. Interestingly the father of the boy was at a museum and his son just would not listen so he got angry with him - the son ran away and went missing.

As a result, people started to watch the father strangely. The police came and started to question the father in a sarcastic tone because of reports of the way he reacted to his son (people did not watch the son's behavior). The policeman said that he understood how the father was reacting, and then the father interrupted and quickly said, "I am pretty sure you do not understand".

It is very hard for people to understand what really happens when you have to deal with a child that has autism.

Living Autism

High Functioning Autism is another name for Asperger Syndrome. Basically these children are autistic (they fall inside the Austism Spectrum Disorders), but their IQ's are usually normal and do not have speech problems. The only problem they seriously face is socializing with people face to face (I believe we have a thread about it).

Most kids with autism though (80%) have some form of mental retardation.

Living Autism Psychology Special & Health

Here is an update on the story...

The police were investigating and found that after years of trying to raise his son well in the last week the father suddenly took on a different mood. The reason was later found that the Autistic child was actually not his (extra marital affair). Now what made the father mad is not only the lies, but that his other son had been suffering from a certain amount of neglect because of the amount of time that they needed to invest in the Autistic boy. The father thought to himself that all these years and hardship they have been dealing with a problem that is 'not his'.

How would you feel? Would you take it this way? The father sought to put the child in a special institution.