Once In 10 Years
by Chris Damon-Cronmiller
There I was, sitting in Dania’s car with her on our way to the Massachusetts State House, not knowing in the least what to expect. Dania asked me a couple of days before my first day working as an intern for AANE, whether or not I would like to attend the ceremonial signing of the Autism Commission Bill with her and some of our organization’s other key members. Of course, I had to accept her offer- after all, who wouldn’t, particularly if it was during his or her first day of work? Nonetheless, Read the rest of this post »
July 20, 2010
Posted in: AS Community & Culture, AS News, Events
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The Body Language of Machines
by Chris Damon-Cronmiller
Not too long ago- it must have been just this last week- I was navigating through that nightmarish intersection between Beacon Street and Newton Center when a realization hit me. I realized something that would prove to be an invaluable insight in how I deal with the daily problems of this world.
I was diagnosed with high functioning autism when I was three years old, and I have been autistic for as long as I can remember. I no longer have many of the quirks that distinguished me in my elementary and middle school years. For instance, Read the rest of this post »
July 15, 2010
Posted in: AS Community & Culture, AS Information & Support, Life, Testimonials
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Review of Know Yourself Conference
by Alex
Dear Readers,
On July 18 AANE held their 3rd annual conference for adults with AS entitled Know Yourself: The Key to a Better Life. I attended it to hear the opinions of those speaking and to also write my thoughts on the conference into the blog. The main speaker was Ari Ne’eman, founding president of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network which seeks to advance the principles of the disability rights movement in the world of autism. He had many points about the current state of help that is offered to people on the autism spectrum. Two I felt were the most important. The first is that we as people diagnosed with a disorder don’t always receive the rights given to us by the Disabilities Act. Upon seeing us with no visible disability, most people can’t realize we are different in how we function. When we are discriminated against for how we act in certain environments do to our condition, we are not offered the same treatment as someone with a missing limb might. This thinking must change to allow us fair treatment in the workplace and elsewhere. The second point Ari made was in regards to how some experts, parents, and others view how people mental disabilities. They see us as delinquents unable to fend for ourselves and so they are in charge of decisions regarding us. This outlook must change as well. No one but ourselves knows what we need and these people outside of our perspective cannot make all the right decisions that will affect us positively. We must speak up for ourselves and express a vested interest in how we want to live other whys we’ll have no control. These two points are what I felt were the most important.
After an hour break for lunch, everyone attended two workshop sessions, each lasting for about an hour and a half. The first workshop I went to was entitled “Effective Advocacy and Disclosure” with Stephen Shore as the speaker. He gave a synopsis about how he grew up with Asperger’s Syndrome even there was no diagnosis for it. Afterwards Stephen discussed about disclosure of a persons condition whether it was in the work place or else where. I felt that one idea was most important of them all. If part of a person’s lifestyle is disturbed by certain surroundings it is not necessary to fully disclose your entire condition. The example that was given was when some people work under florescent lighting they get headaches and cannot function properly. In this case, only disclosing the fact that florescent lighting causes you pain is all that is required to get the proper reaction to have the lighting changed. A full discussion on your diagnosis is not needed in this case. The only time you might want to disclose your condition is when nothing is being done to change the lighting in a way that will benefit you.
The second workshop I went to was entitled “Thriving With Aspergers”. The speaker, Paul, also gave a brief description of growing up with Aspergers and how it affects his current daily life. At the moment he is the director of engineering at a high tech company. Paul’s job requires him to manage around 250 to 300 people. He made some interesting points about how he reached this position. One I found most interesting is that whenever a mistake is made, he’ll take responsibility for it regardless if someone else is to blame. This was because Paul didn’t want to sit through three or so hours of bickering between the people he managed about who was actually at fault. As a result more important matters are attended to such as how to fix the problem that occurred. Such a method of operation may have consequences in the long run but if it keeps things running smoothly then no issues should arise.
Overall I felt the conference was a great experience and I learned many new things about the culture in which I am a part of. If you didn’t get a chance to come this year, I hope next year you will as it was certainly enlightening.
August 27, 2009
Posted in: AS Community & Culture, Events
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Fight or Flight
by Lindsay
I heard something somewhere (let me know if you know where this comes from) that people on the spectrum are constantly in a state of ‘fight or flight.’ We get so overloaded with sensory or emotional information that subconscious says either “Get out of here!” or “You wanna fight? Let’s go, I can take you.” When I first read this, it really struck a cord with me, but I pretty much put it out of mind.
However, at a AANE support group last week, we were talking about criticism. (I am paraphrasing this from Miss Debbie Geheran here.) People with AS tend to react much more strongly to criticism or to a raised voice. Yelling tends to make the mind immediately equate it with ‘death.’
That sentiment immediately started to make sense of the way that I react sometimes. A discussion at work where people start getting excited and speak loudly can ruin a day for me, even if only good things were discussed. A general company wide meeting where the CEO says that everyone needs to pay more attention to details and stop making silly mistakes can make me feel like crying. Overhearing the man in our shipping department screaming at the walls in frustration (which he does on a fairly regular basis for some reason) can make me sick to my stomach for the rest of the day.
I have started since paying more attention to this and I’ve noticed that I can’t make the physical reaction go away by acknowledging where it comes from, but I’m able to mentally separate myself from it and, to some extent, not let it completely ruin my day.
Anyone else have problems with this, or any helpful tips?
August 12, 2009
Posted in: Uncategorized
Tags: employment, work issues
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