Navigating Love and Autism - When kissing feels like "mashing your face against someone else’s" and you experience mindblindness, how do you build a relationship? Is it even possible?
posted by tomswift
on Dec 26, 2011 -
71 comments
Just wait till we're alone together. Then I will tell you something new, something cold, something sleepy, something of cease and peace and the long bright curve of space. Go upstairs to your room. I will be waiting for you... As a rare October blizzard drifts a blanket of white across the Northeast just before Halloween, what better time to settle in and read (or watch)
Conrad Aiken's most famous short story,
"Silent Snow, Secret Snow." About a small boy who increasingly slips into an ominous fantasy of isolation and endless snow, it could be viewed as a metaphor about autism, Asperger's syndrome, and even schizophrenia before such conditions even had names. In addition to the 1934 short story, the tale has also been adapted as a
creepy 1966 black-and-white
short film (also at
the Internet Archive) and as a
Night Gallery episode (
1,
2) narrated by Orson Welles. Or for a more academic take, see the essay
"The Delicious Progress" examining Aiken's use of white as a symbol of psychological regression.
posted by Rhaomi
on Oct 29, 2011 -
9 comments
It's long been
thought that there is a high incidence of autism (and autism-related disorders like Asperger's) in IT fields. Now one company is
looking to turn that into sales.
[more inside]
posted by Chrysostom
on Sep 22, 2011 -
33 comments
Autistic and Seeking a Place in the World. Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter Amy Harmon spent a year observing a young man with autism named Justin Canha, who took part in a new kind of “transition to adulthood” program for special education students at Montclair High School in NJ. The experimental program was intended to ready him for an independent life as an adult and integrate him into the community.
[more inside]
posted by zarq
on Sep 18, 2011 -
26 comments
Seth Mnookin courageously fought heroin addiction and re-launched himself as a well-regarded writer. His new book
The Panic Virus raised several questions about the science behind claims that vaccinations contribute to autism, and that the consequences of doing so resulted in the reemergence of formerly eradicated diseases such as measles and whooping cough. In that light, he recently criticized a new
PBS Series which, despite strong scientific evidence to the contrary, again suggests the vaccination-autism connection. This led to a
classless attack on Mnookin's former struggles with addiction. His pained
response.
posted by littlemanclan
on Apr 22, 2011 -
80 comments
From an early age, it was clear that Carly Fleishmann had autism. Furthermore, she couldn't speak, and professionals who had diagnosed her considered her moderately to severely cognitively impaired. Therapy helped, but she still wasn't able to speak. Then at age ten, working with a computer equipped with pictures and symbols, she started typing and spelling words. She started with single words, then wrote sentences,
describing how she felt, and how she wanted people to treat her.
Her story has been presented on a variety of shows, often with insight provided by Carly that
she typed with one finger. As her writing ability has improved over the years,
she has shared her thoughts through her blog (and
as a guest on Larry King's blog), on her own
Twitter feed, and
Facebook page. Now 16, she recently
appeared again on TV, talking through her writing (
transcript).
[more inside]
posted by filthy light thief
on Apr 21, 2011 -
46 comments
"To Whom it May Concern: If this letter has been opened and is being read, it is because I have been seriously injured or killed by my son, Sky Walker." [...snip...] "I do not want him to be punished for actions for which he is not responsible."
[more inside]
posted by FunkyHelix
on Dec 7, 2009 -
88 comments
"We were concerned that the study would raise a lot of controversy and be misused," Pardo said. "We were right." Some practitioners treat autistic children with the anti-inflammatory
intravenous immunoglobulin, citing
a study by Carlos Pardo, et al. showing inflammation in the brains of deceased autistic patients. Pardo:
"modulators of immune reactions (e.g. intravenous immunoglobulins, IVIG) WOULD NOT HAVE a significant effect." Others, following the work of Simon Baron-Cohen on
autism and the male brain,
treat autistic children with testosterone inhibitors, a prospect which Baron-Cohen says "fills me with horror." Another anti-inflammatory treatment, hyperbaric therapy, is supported by
one recent clinical trial, but looks bad in
another. Side effects include
horrible death by fire.
(via the Chicago Tribune)
posted by escabeche
on Nov 23, 2009 -
49 comments
MIT researchers can reverse some symptoms of autism and mental retardation in mice by suppressing a specific enzyme. The research, conducted at the
Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, is due to be posted on
PNAS Online some time this week.
Here is the MIT article. The specific symptoms reversed included hyperactivity, purposeless/repetitive movements, attention deficits and learning/memory challenges. The research was funded by the
FRAXA Foundation,
the Simons Foundation,
the Wellcome Trust, and
the National Institutes of Health. According to the CDC, the genetic causes treated by this particular technique (called
FXS) affects one in 4,000 males and one in 6,000 females of all races and ethnic groups. I would be interested in hearing about reactions that might be taking place in the various autism-related communities.
posted by christopherious
on Jun 26, 2007 -
25 comments
