Archive for January, 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

Collective Checkmate

There is no formal police force of social norms because no such organization is necessary.  From mass society arises a self-enforcing slavery. One might picture a chessboard that sprawls as far as...[Read More]

on 01/31/11 | 1 Comment | Read More

A Year Ago at Shift Journal

Nut grafs or otherwise relevant excerpts from entries which appeared last year at this time. • • • • • • • • 2010 •  Emergence of a Universal Language ...[Read More]

on 01/31/11 | No Comments | Read More

What’s So Funny About Wikileaks and Autism?

Caitlin Wray's essay Be the Change: How to Shift Autism into the Mainstream appeared in this space last August, opening with her declaration that “I have a neighbour who can’t say 'autism.'” We ...[Read More]

on 01/28/11 | 4 Comments | Read More

Social Tips for People with Aspergers

There comes a time in every Aspie's life, that having a life means facing our fears and going out into the world.  I love to sing, do stand up comedy, go to restaurants and sometimes (although very...[Read More]

on 01/27/11 | 1 Comment | Read More

The Dwellers on the Plain

Once upon a time—in the far distant past, or perhaps in a future yet to come—a herd of mountain goats dwelt atop a high plain.  Steep jagged cliffs fell away from this isolated mesa on all sides...[Read More]

on 01/26/11 | 2 Comments | Read More

The Neurodiverse Workforce

The first proposed chapter for my book, tentatively entitled “Neurodiversity at Work: A Manager’s Guide,” is designed to introduce the concept of neurodiversity in a business-friendly context. ...[Read More]

on 01/25/11 | 8 Comments | Read More

Music Preference in Introverts and Extroverts

For the majority of people in the industrialized West, music is primarily a means of social identity and unity.  Millions listen to the same top 25 songs that everyone else is listening to. Of those ...[Read More]

on 01/24/11 | 2 Comments | Read More

A Year Ago at Shift Journal

Nut grafs or otherwise relevant excerpts from entries which appeared last year at this time. • • • • • • • • 2010 •  Ghost Dance Sometimes I feel lik...[Read More]

on 01/24/11 | No Comments | Read More

The Autistic Cohort as a Distributed System

A few weeks ago I proposed that what the autistic cohort and the Wikileaks file-sharing drama had in common was that opposition to both came from centralized systems of power which in turn mistake aut...[Read More]

on 01/21/11 | 2 Comments | Read More

Force of Habit

In response to my post last week about setting the stage for positive changes to happen, Stephanie accurately pointed out that it’s not just a matter of rearranging the environment and waiting to fe...[Read More]

on 01/19/11 | 1 Comment | Read More

Why women aren’t funny (in general), and female autistics are up the creek without a paddle (in general)

After sitting in an idle moment watching one of those terribly popular cooking shows on TV, because someone else wanted to watch it, I have become convinced of my explanation as to why there are so fe...[Read More]

on 01/18/11 | No Comments | Read More

Introverts and Travel

Since introverts carry the most important things within, they can thrive almost anywhere under any circumstances.  They are consumate wanderers. Only one who is self-defined can move unscathed from l...[Read More]

on 01/17/11 | No Comments | Read More

A Year Ago at Shift Journal

Nut grafs or otherwise relevant excerpts from entries which appeared last year at this time. • • • • • • • • 2010 •  Estrogen, Puberty and Autism In...[Read More]

on 01/17/11 | No Comments | Read More

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back?

Just a few quick thoughts while I continue to piece together future posts.  In comments to Sarah Schneider's piece republished here last week (Allen Frances gave us the Asperger’s “epidemic” �...[Read More]

on 01/14/11 | 3 Comments | Read More

Born That Way

In a doctor’s office when M is 18 months old, he is sitting in a corner reciting a book out loud as he turns the pages, giving a convincing impression that he is reading.  The doctor and medical as...[Read More]

on 01/13/11 | 5 Comments | Read More

What’s in the Locker?

I had a dream recently in which I wanted to open a locker but couldn’t remember the combination.  When I mentioned this dream to Mark Stairwalt, he suggested that the locker might be a subconscious...[Read More]

on 01/12/11 | 6 Comments | Read More

Just Be Yourself

I remember hearing those words a lot as a child.  “Just be yourself.”  I would hear those words when we moved and I had to make new friends.  I heard those words again when I started taking int...[Read More]

on 01/11/11 | No Comments | Read More

The Role of Reading for Introverts and Extroverts

To extroverts an activity such as sitting alone for extended periods reading books seems like torture. Certainly, plenty of extroverts read books, but it’s mainly filler for odd moments when ther...[Read More]

on 01/10/11 | No Comments | Read More

A Year Ago at Shift Journal

Nut grafs or otherwise relevant excerpts from entries which appeared last year at this time. • • • • • • • • 2010 •  The Tao of the Alarm Clock I might ...[Read More]

on 01/10/11 | No Comments | Read More

Reclaiming Memory: Searching for Great-Aunt Sarah

In 2009, while searching Ancestry.com for new information to add to my family genealogy, I discovered the existence of a relative about whom no one in the family had ever spoken. She was my paternal g...[Read More]

on 01/7/11 | 5 Comments | Read More

Allen Frances gave us the Asperger’s “epidemic” — just like Al Gore gave us the Internet

NPR ran a story yesterday about the controversy over the exclusion of Asperger’s from the DSM-V.  The story did not really cover the controversy so much as provide a platform for Allen Frances to ...[Read More]

on 01/6/11 | 4 Comments | Read More

Exploring Time

Over the holidays, I spent some time reading a popular book that I got as a Christmas gift: Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert.  It’s about the author’s experiences of spiritual growth and self...[Read More]

on 01/5/11 | 2 Comments | Read More

The Purpose of An Introvert Civilization

One who is perpetually immersed in society takes all of its features for granted and tends not to perceive the forest for all the trees. It takes one who is introverted to remove from the tumult an...[Read More]

on 01/3/11 | 1 Comment | Read More

A Year Ago at Shift Journal

Nut grafs or otherwise relevant excerpts from entries which appeared last year at this time. • • • • • • • • 2010 •  Neurodiversity, Primary Process and...[Read More]

on 01/3/11 | No Comments | Read More