Autism Awareness Month - Again!

This is my boilerplate response:

What part of FLAPFLAPFLAP ARRRRGHGGGG!!!!!! do you STILL not understand?

What Part Of flapflapflap ARRRGHH.... by webcarve
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My Last Autism Awareness Post.

Aspie Kid T-Shirt
by

webcarve

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Yep. The whole thing fits on that t-shirt.

"Thank you for your input. Your interaction with my parent has added significantly to the body of my thesis."

My parents are dead - but speaking as an AS person and as step-parent to an AS person, I'm so down with that.

Neurodiverse "Unpuzzled" image for you to use.

Simply click the image to get the link code. If the largest version is NOT big enough for your needs (print applications, etc,) I'll be glad to email you a large PNG that will be sharp enough for any application you have in mind.

Video Exclusive of John Best's victory!

Neurodiversity says "No Mas"

Joseph, one of the leaders of Neurodiversity, conceeded defeat tonight. He was discussing Kathleen Seidel's deranged attacks on decent people when I confronted him with the truth. A couple of the usual nitwits chimed in with the typical insults and it seemed to be a normal foray into Neuronitwit territory. Then Joseph took major offense to what I had to say about Kathleen's inane attacks on decent people and started quoting some terms of service crap at me. I guess he thought that would scare me away.

Exciting stuff! And thanks to the magic of the internet, we found coverage on You-Tube. (How could it be exclusive, you ask? Because only we are that rude. Well, except for John, and he's not that funny.)

Anyway, without further adeu; a prophetic dramatization of the conflict between Joseph, that nattering nabob of neurodiversity, and The Black Knight. I mean, John Best.



...But... But... The Black Knight is Invincible!

I Am Kathleen Seidel

If you are an aspie, an autie, a blogger or just an informed citizen with a desire to inform the public about an issue you are familiar with against the wishes of some powerful interests, then the SLAPP supoena against Kathleen Seidel and her site, Neurodiversity, might as well have been aimed at you.

Yes, I'm on about this again. And about Zazzle. So it's doubly annoying - but what part of "aspie" was unclear to you?

Therefore, I'm suggesting that all interested parties express their interest. The idea came from discussion at Aspies for Freedom, who suggested we take a hint from the classic movie "Sparticus," declaring "I Am Kathleen Seidel" for reasons parallel to the reasons captured slaves stood up to declare "I Am Sparticus."

How about an I am Spartacus type thing with loads of people buying up domain names I-am-Kathleen-Seidel-1.com, I-am-Kathleen-Seidel-2.com, I-am-Kathleen-Seidel-3.com, I-am-Kathleen-Seidel-4.com, I-am-Kathleen-Seidel-5.com, I-am-Kathleen-Seidel-6.com, etc etc etc etc etc etc?

That's a great idea, well worth doing and I wish I could afford to. If you do it, you don't need to create a whole new blog - just alias the url to your own blog. I use godaddy.com, and it takes just a few minutes to do, and a couple more to go live, typically. Pretty painless.

The precedent of permitting this action against Seidel by a firm that stands to profit greatly should she and other contrary voices be silenced should be every bit as worrying to "pro cure" activists. Consider what happens if this action works.

There are a LOT of deep pockets on all sides here. And while it seems wildly improbable that Merck or Bayer is funding Seidel, it's certain that if it becomes needful to keep people who support their view of the evidence online, they will be forced to do so. And then the bullshit will really pile up, and I suggest that to refer to that as "counterproductive" would be rather an understatement.

This is not about supporting what Kathleen has to say. This is about her right and YOUR right to share an informed, supportable opinion in public without fear of frivolous and abusive litigation aimed at shutting you up. Now, one part of the SLAPP subpoena was to try and get Kathleen to cough up all correspondence to everyone on her blogroll, and any related documentation about her relationship to them. It was literally aimed at everyone who'd ever linked to her and could even be read as aimed at anyone who's IP address showed up in her logs.

So, yes, YOU are Kathleen Seidel. I am Kathleen Seidel. We are all Kathleen Seidel. So put the graphic on your blog, or make your own. Make a t-shirt if you walk about in public (kind of pointless for me to do that, but obviously it's going onto my blog.)

Seriously though, I'm not asking you to buy this. If you do - since for some reason I cannot set a zero profit - I'm going to send the proceeds to Kathleen anyhow, but I ask you to send her five bucks via the donation button in her right sidebar.

Now, we are going to do a little tutorial on how to link to this and use it purely as a blog graphic (with proper credit) even if you are morally opposed to my sort of semi-successful capitalist piggery.

First - observe the deliberate choice of model and shirt color. You see, when people click thru, they have their choice with this particular design - they can link to the "product image" - as shown in this case - or they can link to the design. And with a white t-shirt, it ends up looking like this:

Now, mouse over that. There's no affiliate link there, at all. Why?

Well, it's because Zazzle provides a naked image code for you to use, in case your platform doesn't like embedding the full html link, or what-have you. Go to the product page, and look for "link to this" - it will summon a popup, so you have to permit that, and that popup contains all the link codes.

You can of course download the graphic from that link if you like.

There's a catch, of course. You must have registered with Zazzle to be an affiliate in order to get these codes. (Absent me handing them out, to be sure.) Ideally, you will set up your own store. But there are serious advantages to this - not the least of which being that it allows you to create a blog graphic as good as this with licensed type fonts in less then twenty minutes, on the fly. If it's a compelling design, you might just sell a few. My "No whining" graphic does quite well, but that is beside the point here. What you are setting up is a graphic that is keyworded and categorized to link to an issue. It will start appearing in Google Image searches, and if you use it in a post - that graphic will refer to your post, not to the Google-discounted sales page. I'm not sure if that's true if you use MY product image, so I would actually suggest that you take the time to set up a Zazzle store of your own. I find it incredibly handy as a way of combining graphics and text quickly, without having to be on any particular computer.

And if I don't happen to have time to do that, I just have to do a quick search to have my choice of images. For instance - keyword "Diversity" results in a ton of images, all neatly set up for me to use. I always use the full html, and then try to remember to kick the text link down to the bottom of the post as a credit line. It's only fair, remember you are getting the use of some dazzlingly expert images (see diversity.) And if you are looking for horrible counterexamples - well, you can show the "other side" without linking to 'em, because of the "image only" code capability.

It would be great if Kathleen Siedel was an equally broad category. And don't forget SLAPP and "Clifford Shoemaker"

Credit: Illustrations above: I am Kathleen Seidel - Onsie by webcarve

And here's another:

Credit: I am Kathleen Siedel T-Shirt by graphictruth

Celebrate Neurodiversity Monogram Mug

I just noticed new glass mugs on Zazzle and I know how great my work looks on frosted glass.

Check THIS out:

Celebrate Neurodiversity Monogrammed Mug by webcarve Get this custom mug at Zazzle

You can create a monogrammed mug of this design for everyone in the office with a few easy clicks.

Well, so much for the "Plague" eh?

One of the "one in one hundred and sixty-six" statistic shares her experiences.

Asperger's: My life as an Earthbound alien - CNN.com: "ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Recently, at 48 years of age, I was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome. For most of my life, I knew that I was 'other,' not quite like everyone else. I searched for years for answers and found none, until an assignment at work required me to research autism. During that research, I found in the lives of other people with Asperger's threads of similarity that led to the diagnosis. Although having the diagnosis has been cathartic, it does not change the 'otherness.' It only confirms it."

Please note that she is a manager for CNN. Not homeless. Not a burden on society. And certainly, considering her occupation, able to communicate quite well, thank you.

Oh, and her desire for a cure? Nonexistent.

Don't pity me or try to cure or change me. If you could live in my head for just one day, you might weep at how much beauty I perceive in the world with my exquisite senses. I would not trade one small bit of that beauty, as overwhelming and powerful as it can be, for "normalcy."

Like her, I've never wanted to be "the same." I would have loved to have been accepted for myself, rather than being punished and abused for it. I'd have probably ended up in some equivalent position too, so it was poor judgment on the part of educators and parents alike to try and "normalize me." Which they most certainly did, although I was not diagnosed as AS to the best of my knowledge.

What I really wish had happened was an education tailored to my learning style, my intelligence and, of course, all the things I have to actually learn that "normal" people seem to pick up from context. But I'm still pretty happy being me - and frankly, the parts that I'm unhappy about have mostly been the result of other people who could not or would not respond to me as I am.



Image Credit:

Celebrate Neurodiversity by webcarve Get this custom sticker at Zazzle

Pissing on Puzzle Pieces - It's Autism Awareness Time again.

It's April, and that time of year that rubs our noses in all the patronizing, clueless "concern" tends to drive me bugfuck. Some - even most - is well-meaning, but it's driven and influenced by those who view everyone on the spectrum as a "plague victim" who is unsuited for life.

Ah, the "the love that dare not speak it's name" has become loquacious indeed, but the Normalcy Police have not given up on creating fear and loathing of difference.

In this, I reference Autism Hub's "Don't Speak for Me" petition campaign, which is in turn a response to Autisim Speak's odius 2006 anti-autistic propaganda film, "Autism Every Day."

This film was alleged to depict the realities of autism, described by the film's Producer Lauren Thierry as:

"At this point we need to be showing the world what the vast reality truly is. [Lauren says]…that reality includes images of kids not sleeping through the night, banging their heads against the wall or running into traffic – not images of kids setting basketball records or passionately playing the violin."

It later transpired that the film had been 'set up' and that Thierry had purposefully attempted to display the worst possible view to the world:

"Thierry told her subjects not to do their hair, vacuum or bring in the therapists. She showed up with her crew at their homes sight unseen and kept the cameras rolling as a mom literally wrestled with her son to get him to brush his teeth, as a 9-year-old had a public meltdown, as a 5-year-old had his diaper changed. And, as moms revealed dark and uncomfortable truths about living with autism. The result is a window into an exhausting world of interminable work."

The film itself contained a segment where one of the mothers interviewed said that:

"I remember that was a scary moment for me when I realized I had sat in the car for about 15 minutes and actually contemplated putting Jody in the car and driving off the George Washington Bridge. That would be preferable to having to put her in one of these schools."

The mother in question made this statement whilst her autistic daughter was in the room with her. She further added that the only reason she didn't kill her autistic child and herself was the thought of her non-disabled daughter.

Producer Thierry called this section 'gutsy and courageous' and added that:

"If most mothers of autistic children…look hard enough within themselves they will find that they have played out a similar scenario in their minds. If this is not your reality, then God bless you."

The above makes me want to chew nails and spit bullets. But instead, I decided to put my autistic savant nature to work, perseverated a while, and came up with this graphic. It is copyleft, you may grab it and use it as you wish, so long as the copyleft remains intact and the graphic itself is not altered. (You can embed it in a larger graphic, for instance.)

From Autism Awaren...

This year, I'm hoping that the combination of skill, beauty and frankness will help to change a few minds. So stay tuned, as they say - I'm uploading several versions, both to Zazzle, and to the Picassa folder this comes from. What I am encouraging people to do is to use these images to fund-raise. More on that in a separate post.

You see, I simply cannot afford to support all the wonderful sites that do battle with the forces of curebie hatred every day. I personally admire their courage, but I have enough difficulty dealing with ordinary Republicans. Oh, and yes, there is (or at least once was) a linkage between Cure Autism Now and Free Republic. It's kind of the same mindset.

Think on that, then consider the odds in trying reason with them. What you have to do is to apply reason to those they are trying to stampede to their advantage.

Amanda Baggs: in My Language

Watch this all the way through - and then realize this is the sort of thing Lennie Schaefer fears so much he'd like to eliminate it entirely, through genetic screening, abortion and if need be, the torture that behaviorist approaches can be.

As for the social issues that autistics to all degrees suffer - I think what we really need to do is cure this:

IWasFelt (14 hours ago)

blah blah blah whatever, retard

(Reply) (Spam)

tag: anti-cure, curebie, autistics.org, common decency, AM Baggs

The Wizard Theory; Aspergers within the cultural matrix.

I took the aspie quiz which you can find here, along with the Neanderthal theory of Autism.

Very interesting, both of them. By the by, my results:

Different does not mean Broken Small Poster

Your Aspie score: 179 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 25 of 200
You are very likely an Aspie, it concludes; meaning I'm very likely diagnosable as being on the AS spectrum. I'd say certainly, as the quiz is composed of the sorts of questions used to diagnose Aspergers - but it all comes down to whether the person with the sheepskin on the wall agrees. So far, I haven't felt the need for the outlay.

The questions and their implications explain a great deal, whether or not you are Aspie, or even interested in aspergers - because they imply a radically different being in terms of social organization, connections, interests and thought processes.

While the Neanderthal theory of origin is interesting - even fascinating - it does not explain how or why the genetic legacy was preserved to this day - I mean, other than the obvious, that people were attracted, mated and had successufl offspring.

What we need to look at is how and why they were successful.

I would suggest that the niches for Aspies, prior to the Enlightenment would be Wizard, Priest and Bard. Those niches did not disappear, though to some degree they evolved and mutated.

But we seek out caves and cloisters, comfortable routine and time to pursue our own thoughts. In return, we collect vast reams of data and make unusual and valuable correlations. We also have the ability - or some would say the poor taste - to be honest as a default state. Lying is a learned skill for us, and usually deception or misdirection is used to lead an NT to an understanding they could not directly reach if just told the truth.

Today, you will find Aspies concentrated in industries and fields that permit them to be alone in their offices with the tools of their trades; commonly computers, but more broadly they are brain-oriented tasks. Temple Grandin has referred to NASA as "the world's largest sheltered workshop."

This is true enough, viewed through the perception that there's something wrong with being aspie or autistic, when in fact, there are ancient and practical ways of living quite well as an Aspie. Most of those ways create a situation that is comfortable for the aspies, establishes a class of person to interface with neurotypicals on the behalf of the aspies and of course, puts up barriers in the way of the nearly irresistible urge of NT's to poke us to see if we are paying attention, have noticed their status or like them as persons.

I'm not saying that Aspies are better than neurotypicals - there are many things we are not better at, and frankly shouldn't even attempt. Most sports, for example. Competitive environments. Politics. Social policy.

When you need someone to put several facts together and come up with new facts, without giving two hoots as to whether those facts are welcome, that's what Aspies do best. An objective approach comes naturally to us; we do not tend to work toward a preordained conclusion, so we are pretty good engineers, researchers, archivists; knowledge workers in general. We do not reason emotionally because - well, emotion isn't accessible to us that way.

That's a huge disadvantage if we are at a cocktail party or trying to influence people in large groups for political reasons, it's a great advantage if you need to know why your attempt to influence a large group failed, or more likely, what would be the most elegant solution to an engineering problem.

Every social structure requires reliable, objective, knowledgeable advice on a wide range of topics in order to succeed, and to the extent that it organizes itself to accommodate Aspergers and other neurodiverse persons, it will dramatically increase it's chances for success.

It's wise to remember that Microsoft has made billions by being Aspie-friendly.

The trick, of course, is having the will to overcome the very strong neurotypical tendency to react toward people who are fundamentally different in a xenophobic way and to resist the temptation to manage aspies as one would manage neurotypicals.

One only needs to read the websites of the "curebie" crowd to realize they are xenophobes - and particularly terrified ones.

But "different is not broken," nor is differenced dangerous by definition.

So don't poke the aspies. And don't fuss about the horrible prospect of an Aspie Diagnosis in your child. Invest in it. That college fund could pay off big time.

tag: aspergers, aspergers syndrome, aspie, autistic, autism, neurotypical, autistic pride,