Skip to main content

Dangerous Assumptions about Autism

a bit of a jumbled post.

I read the blog post Dangerous Assumptions this morning.




This is exactly what is bothering me with society and the Aspie community.

Because we do not talk as much, or do not talk at all we are deemed disabled or retarded. See John Elder Robinson's post.

All of us do not communicate verbally, but not all of us are mentally challenged. Sadly, it is a fact that some of us do not have the mental capability to live on our own. But it is wrong to make assumptions, to place a person in a box and to label them.

When we read Autism Daddy the non-Autistics and Aspies get an insight into the struggle of a non-verbal Autist. The fact that his son does not respond to instruction and learning can make us assume that he is of low intelligence, but are we right in our assumption? Can it be that there is a communication method on a different level? I truly do not know? But I do know that Autism daddy is trying his best to stimulate his child, and there is not doubt that he loves his the King.

But the bottom line is be carefull when you make assumptions!


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Every day you are beaten

I came across this post from Bryan Ward this morning: Every day you are beaten :  Beaten by the leaky sink you keep avoiding. Beaten by the applesauce on the wall you keep not scrubbing off. Beaten by the dent in the drywall you keep putting off fixing. You long to conquer mountains, yet every day you are beaten by molehills. All these little problems… they should be so easily solved. Yet they go on defeating you, day after day, until at last you conclude that you are not a capable man: If you are this easily defeated, “surely” you do not have what it takes to win the bigger fights: to become your fittest self, to create a business empire, to create works of art that will outlast you. Hell, you can’t even fix a leaky sink: might as well f*** off and go watch TV. But you’ve misdiagnosed the problem entirely. … One summer day when I went into the workshop, I saw that the plastic gas cans by the tractor were bulging like balloons. I had left the vents closed, and the hea...

Death and Dying

I had an interesting conversation last Saturday morning with someone that crossed my path. During our chat, it turned out that he is an undertaker, and he is a deeply spiritual person. He told me that every time he conducts a funeral he is reminded of his destination as a human (body).  He does not know where he is on the road, but he (all of us) are getting closer. When old people die, we sort of know that they have reached the end of their road, we are shocked and mourn them, but we expect it. When someone young dies, it comes as a shock, especially when they are about 20 years younger than you. It is more of a shock when you have worked with the person and have seen him every day. When it is a person from the office, you realize that his chair will fore-ever be empty, he will not be there to joke around. Seeing him, huddled over his laptop churning out reports for management and clients, no more. When it is a car-accident, it is sort of acceptable, it happens, there ar...

Cooking Therapy

Recently, (the past year) I started cooking more and more, not only the basic home food, but some complicated dishes as well. And I enjoy it, I find it relaxing. When I am busy preparing something, I do not have time to thing about anything else. Cooking sort of became a necessity because my wife got provincial colours in Taekwondo and is preparing to attend the World Championships. She would take the meat out of the fridge in the afternoon, or start the dish and quite often I would prepare what I like or finish off the dish, ready when they return from their training session in the evening. But my cooking did not start off by accident. I spent two years in Mozambique as an expat where I had to cook for myself, and there I learnt the usefulness of a slow-cooker. Then in June 2014 I experienced a episode of burn-out. Big Time! Burn-out occurs when you are under prolonged stress and is characterised by total exhaustion, (physical, emotional and mental). You tend to loose interest ...