Archive for March, 2011

your dreams will be reduced down to breathing, and you will be grateful

The thing about not-being-a-person is: They will say those people and the price of being a person is to nod and agree that yes, those people aren’t people at all. They will have no idea who they are talking to. You yourself will start to forget, too. They will say a million small things that sow the seeds for violence done against you, and you will smile and let them. You will do math, constantly. How much do I want to be a person today? How much do I want this project to succeed? How much honesty can I afford? How much dishonesty will kill me? What is the cost of coming out? Is there a way to delay, soften, transmute? How long can I survive as half a person? Ever since the world ended ... I don't go out as much. People that I once befriended, just don't bother to stay in touch. Things that used to seem so splendid, don't really matter today. It's just as well the world ended -- it wasn't working anyway. Your dreams will be reduced down to breathing. [Read More]

on 03/5/12 | 2 Comments | Read More

When Objects Resonate with Memory

Over at Kitaiska Sandwich, Sarah has a great post about the upset that her autistic son feels when things get broken or spilled.  In reflecting upon the reasons for M’s upset, she finds that his ...[Read More]

on 03/31/11 | 1 Comment | Read More

Aspergers and Employment

All of a sudden everyone's talking about the issue of employment and Asperger Syndrome, a subject which I wrote about last year in my book, Asperger's on the Job. People on the spectrum make great emp...[Read More]

on 03/31/11 | No Comments | Read More

Review: All Cats Have Asperger Syndrome

Both my children are on the autism spectrum.  Since my son Nicholas is almost twelve and higher functioning professionals who meet him for the first time always assume he has Asperger Syndrome.  ...[Read More]

on 03/31/11 | No Comments | Read More

How To Have A Successful Relationship When One Or Both Partners Has Aspergers

Of course it is possible to be on the autism spectrum, or to be in love with someone on the spectrum and have a happy, successful love life. However, while all relationships are complex, there are u...[Read More]

on 03/31/11 | 1 Comment | Read More

Empathy Awareness

Popular actress Kate Winslet has announced that she is writing a book to promote autism awareness and to raise money for an autism charity she founded, the Golden Hat Foundation. The book will featur...[Read More]

on 03/30/11 | No Comments | Read More

The Introvert as an Observer

While introverts do not like to constantly interact with people they strongly gravitate towards observing others. Watching intently what people do in crowds or social situations demands no input f...[Read More]

on 03/28/11 | No Comments | Read More

From the Link Cellar This Week

Fresh, resurrected, or newly discovered links from across the internet and the dusty reaches of Shift Journal's archives. • • • • • • • via Steve Silberman on Twi...[Read More]

on 03/28/11 | No Comments | Read More

Theories of Autism: Lessons from Dr. House

I've just been watching House.  I say watching.  To be honest, the details of this week's plot passed me by as I was trying to follow it whilst simultaneously eating my dinner and having a conver...[Read More]

on 03/25/11 | 3 Comments | Read More

False Friends

We’ve all seen it happen many times on the Internet. People with similar interests get together and form a community, sharing their ideas on how to change the world. They find solidarity, friendsh...[Read More]

on 03/23/11 | 3 Comments | Read More

The Grading Card

One might recall how multiple choice tests were graded back in school. The teacher would take a card with holes punched in the appropriate places and lay it over each test sheet. Then each test woul...[Read More]

on 03/21/11 | No Comments | Read More

From the Link Cellar This Week

Fresh, resurrected, or newly discovered links from across the internet and the dusty reaches of Shift Journal's archives. • • • • • • • via Steve Silberman on Twi...[Read More]

on 03/21/11 | No Comments | Read More

Waiting for the Fireworks

It turns out that last Friday's post on Dan Haggard's in-depth movie review The Social Network, the End of Intimacy, and the Birth of Hacker Sensibility went up one day shy of a year since I wrote abo...[Read More]

on 03/18/11 | 3 Comments | Read More

Putting the Pieces Together

When M was two, a spilled glass of water could send him into a meltdown.  We didn’t have a diagnosis yet, and this behavior was one of the early red flags.  His response to a spill (or an object...[Read More]

on 03/17/11 | 1 Comment | Read More

Relationships

My daughter went back to college on Sunday at the end of her spring break, after complaining at great length—both on her Facebook page and to anyone who would listen in real life—that it had been ...[Read More]

on 03/16/11 | 2 Comments | Read More

Wandering: A Dangerous New Proposal

Last week, the ICD-9-CM Coordination and Maintenance Committee met to discuss the future of medical coding in the United States. The ICD-9-CM stands for the International Classification of Diseases, N...[Read More]

on 03/14/11 | 4 Comments | Read More

Sound Familiar?

“I hate to say it but my 11 year old nephew is a real nerd.  He had NO Friends at all and really does not talk to anyone other than his teachers.  He used to be a friendly little boy but liked t...[Read More]

on 03/14/11 | 1 Comment | Read More

From the Link Cellar This Week

Fresh, resurrected, or newly discovered links from across the internet and the dusty reaches of Shift Journal's archives. • • • • • • • via Steve Silberman on Twi...[Read More]

on 03/14/11 | 1 Comment | Read More

Friendship, Intimacy, the Autistic Cohort, and The Social Network

There is a stemwinder of a review of Aaron Sorkin's film The Social Network that surfaced this week at Hacker News, one which manages to weave in many of the themes treated here at Shift by various co...[Read More]

on 03/11/11 | 4 Comments | Read More

Small Changes

The news about my oven is not all stinky, I’m glad to report. I bought a new pair of cloth oven mitts, which arrived in the mail last week. While this may seem a trivial everyday purchase, it wasn...[Read More]

on 03/9/11 | No Comments | Read More

Thoreau the Introvert

One cannot read Walden and be in doubt that its author is a true introvert. Alone much of the time in his small, secluded cottage, Henry David Thoreau used his distance from society to engage in cont...[Read More]

on 03/7/11 | No Comments | Read More

From the Link Cellar This Week

Fresh, resurrected, or newly discovered links from across the internet and the dusty reaches of Shift Journal's archives. • • • • • • • via Steve Silberman on Twi...[Read More]

on 03/7/11 | No Comments | Read More

The Misleading Nature of the Deficit Model

Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who could not hear the music. —Angela Monet I’ve never been shy about my feelings concerning the deficit model of autism.  I object ...[Read More]

on 03/4/11 | 2 Comments | Read More

Clearing the Air

Last week I stunk up my kitchen and house by letting the oven go too long without being cleaned.  I had noticed in December that it was starting to get dirty, but I thought it could wait for a day wa...[Read More]

on 03/2/11 | 5 Comments | Read More