Neurodiversity

On Literal Thinking

I’m always very interested in the observations of parents regarding the literal nature of their autistic children’s thinking. I’ve read many tales of children who take idiomatic expressions lit[Read More]

Rachel Cohen-Rottenberg on 07/8/11 | 13 Comments | Read More

Protecting Yourself Against Psychopaths in the Workplace

Once you suspect that you are working with or for (and in some cases above) a sociopath/psychopath/ASPD person the next step is protecting yourself. This protection goes beyond just keeping your job [Read More]

Scott Shea on 07/7/11 | No Comments | Read More

The Eternal Song, Part Eleven: Scout

The morning sun seemed too bright to Iwai’s mistrustful eyes as he emerged from the thick fog surrounding the forest. He had gone hunting with his brother many times on these grasslands and had pla[Read More]

Gwen McKay on 07/6/11 | No Comments | Read More

Thank You, Mr. Sauer, You’ll Be Missed

Late last week, a local friend posted on Facebook that retired Central High School teacher Jim Sauer had passed away. This made me more than a little sad because Jim had become a daily fixture at the[Read More]

Rochelle Hartman on 07/5/11 | 4 Comments | Read More

Why a True Introvert Will Never Change

Introverts have wished many, many times that we could be more extroverted, that life in society could be just a little easier. We tell ourselves again and again that we ought to ‘get out more’. Ma[Read More]

Zygmunt on 07/4/11 | 2 Comments | Read More

Autism and Empathy: Dispelling Myths and Breaking Stereotypes (Introductions)

Identifying a need and then filling it is said to be a core skill of the business entrepreneur, but there are needs far and wide which are best met with the payment not of money but of attention to ev[Read More]

Mark Stairwalt on 07/1/11 | 3 Comments | Read More

Spotting Psychopaths in the Workplace

One of my favorite books is Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe: A Novel. There is a chapter that starts out talking about how a complete stranger is the only person to spot that an antago[Read More]

Scott Shea on 06/30/11 | 20 Comments | Read More

Conflict in the workplace: Introduction to Psychopaths, Sociopaths and Narcissistic Personality Disorder

Psychopath. Sociopath. Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD). Whatever you want to call it, in the workplace, these individuals are poison and prey upon their coworkers as means to get an end … [Read More]

Scott Shea on 06/30/11 | 3 Comments | Read More

The Eternal Song, Part Ten: Lost

Broken sobs woke Wiilu again, finding their way into dreams of fear and pain that dissolved into the heavy midnight air and left only fragments behind. “The Gods have left us. We are lost.” Wiilu[Read More]

Gwen McKay on 06/29/11 | No Comments | Read More

Autism’s Mirror

There was nothing but the roaring sound of rubber spinning on asphalt at a hundred and ten kilometres per hour. In Perth everyone lives as far away from everyone as they possibly can. So it was anot[Read More]

Dan Haggard on 06/28/11 | 1 Comment | Read More

Can Extroverts Be Beaten at Their Own Game?

Not likely. Extroverts are very, very good at what they do. Competitive social interaction is what they have a talent for, what they’re passionate about, and what they put all of their time and ene[Read More]

Zygmunt on 06/27/11 | No Comments | Read More

Music and the Positive Side of Auditory Processing Disorder

Most of you know my challenges with my auditory processing condition: difficulties filtering sound, fatigue when trying to carry on a conversation with too much ambient noise, words getting jumbled i[Read More]

Rachel Cohen-Rottenberg on 06/24/11 | 2 Comments | Read More

The Eternal Song, Part Nine: Mountain

The stony ground under Riadne’s feet seemed almost as familiar to her as her lost home, although she had marked no path through the stunted trees and thorny bushes. Where the light tread of her lea[Read More]

Gwen McKay on 06/22/11 | No Comments | Read More

The Prof put on the spot - a recent interview with Professor Simon Baron-Cohen about his latest book

Kim Wombles has done a long and interesting email interview with the controversial Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, a professor at Cambridge and a Director of the powerful and prestigious Autism Research [Read More]

Lili Marlene on 06/21/11 | 7 Comments | Read More

Introvert vs. Extrovert: Mental Health

As an introvert I have been made to feel many times that my ways are unhealthy or that I am even borderline mentally ill. My values and priorities are so alien to them that they naturally assume some[Read More]

Zygmunt on 06/20/11 | 2 Comments | Read More

Of Spice, Epicureanism, and Masochism: Confessions of an Aspergian Food Lover

One day this past week, my fiancé and I went to Lotus Grill, a Chinese eatery that is near where I work. A few weeks back, the owner’s son had given us a Chinese menu, which is a little different [Read More]

Nicole Nicholson on 06/17/11 | 5 Comments | Read More

A Strange Encounter

A stranger observed the playground. The scene was perfectly normal and just a little bit odd at the same time. It was a bit too quiet for a playground filled with so many children. A nine year old [Read More]

Guest on 06/16/11 | No Comments | Read More

The Eternal Song, Part Eight: Forest

Overhead the tree rats chittered, hidden by a thick canopy of laurel leaves. Birds chirped and trilled. A light drizzle fell, its soft patter a near-constant background noise that went almost unnotice[Read More]

Gwen McKay on 06/15/11 | No Comments | Read More

Normal? No Thanks.

When we try to push our ASD kids into normal or NT behaviours, what does that mean? After all there’s plenty of NT kids and adults I don’t want my children to act like. Rude, aggressive, selfish[Read More]

Guest on 06/14/11 | 3 Comments | Read More

The Myth of Introvert Weakness

Weak, shy, sheltered, spineless, head in the clouds, detached from ‘reality.’ These are the things extroverts tend to assume about someone who does not immediately compete for attention. All such[Read More]

Zygmunt on 06/13/11 | 3 Comments | Read More

Greetings, members of NATO. We are Anonymous.

What follows here is to be read in the light of an earlier entry that looked at conflicts between autistic and corporate culture, An Autistic Ethos: It’s All About Respect. In that post, it was sug[Read More]

Mark Stairwalt on 06/13/11 | 4 Comments | Read More

Neurodiversity, Grief, and the Normal Minority, Part Two

Leaving behind one’s own normality Having an autistic child means that an able-bodied parent can no longer lay claim to being normal. I don’t care if that autistic child grows up to win the Nobel [Read More]

Rachel Cohen-Rottenberg on 06/10/11 | 2 Comments | Read More

Neurodiversity, Grief, and the Normal Minority, Part One

“The worlds created by the human imagination are far more coherent and structured than the real social systems in which we live, and the mental constructs by which we make sense of society are only [Read More]

Rachel Cohen-Rottenberg on 06/9/11 | No Comments | Read More

The Eternal Song, Part Seven: Shards and Dust

Leaving Wiilu to raise the alarm, Riadne took a short detour to her potter’s shed just outside the village. The long shelves held jars, bowls, and other crockery. She spared them no more than a br[Read More]

Gwen McKay on 06/8/11 | 3 Comments | Read More

Friction of Association and Social Selectivity

According to present tendencies: -The more people in society, the less personal it becomes. -The more mechanical it becomes, the more sophisticated formal rules and red tape required to maintain order[Read More]

Zygmunt on 06/6/11 | No Comments | Read More

The “Intense World Syndrome” Theory of Autism

In an October, 2007 article, Henry Markram, Tania Rinaldi, and Kamila Markram of the Brain Mind Institute, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland, posit a new theory about how [Read More]

Rachel Cohen-Rottenberg on 06/3/11 | 7 Comments | Read More

The Eternal Song, Part Six: Warning

The berry bushes on the slope of the valley had produced a good crop this season. Wiilu dropped another big juicy handful into her basket, which was close to overflowing. Because the weather had bee[Read More]

Gwen McKay on 06/1/11 | 6 Comments | Read More

It Is Never Okay

What does this have to do with autistic advocacy? Well, nothing, except in that autistic children are at a higher risk of sexual abuse than neurotypical children (not because they are “damaged” by[Read More]

Guest on 05/31/11 | No Comments | Read More

the Subtle sense of humor

When exposed to group humor, one who doesn’t quite belong must always be under pressure to dissimulate and hide behind a smile. Not only is there nothing to laugh at, it is just another potential so[Read More]

Zygmunt on 05/30/11 | No Comments | Read More

Disorder in Society, Disorder in Self

Some years ago, I took a two-year training course in Jewish shamanic healing. I came away understanding a great deal about the many ways in which ancient Jewish culture was similar to many other indig[Read More]

Rachel Cohen-Rottenberg on 05/27/11 | 2 Comments | Read More