Sunday, June 8, 2008

More about Asperger Syndrome

Faithful readers of my old blog over at WordPress will know that I am a self-diagnosed Aspie (a shorthand term for a person who has Aspergers). I have not been as active in the autism rights movement as I probably should have; blame it on my lack of time. Still, there are a few things that bear comment:

1. Jenny McCarthy's "Green Vaccine" movement.
Honestly, I have never seen anything so ridiculous as anti-vaccinationist movement. The fact that Jenny McCarthy, essentially a stripper who hit the lottery, is recognized as a leader of this movement just goes to show how intellectually bankrupt it is.

2. "The Autism Rights Movement", New York Magazine, 25 May 2008
The author, Andrew Solomon, tried to be even-handed to all sides of the debate. All in all, I think it was a good article, though there were a couple of points where I have problems.

I do wish Solomon had left John Best out of his article. His "Hating Autism" blog is something to be read while holding one's nose. There is no reason to give him any more publicity.

Solomon seems to be fairly "neurotypical". His tone is one of bafflement that people would want to remain autistic and not have many close relationships with other people. Speaking for myself, I am very satisfied with my relationships. I prefer to deal with people on my own terms, which often means that I seem isolated from the rest of the world. Like many aspies, I find social interaction to be tiresome and annoying, unless the topic of conversation is interesting. It takes me a while to "depressurize" myself after I am among people. Solomon finds it hard to understand why anyone would not want to be gregarious. I think that he needs to understand us a bit more.

3. Hillary Clinton
I am not sorry to see her leave the presidential race. The Clintons have exerted a rancid influence on American politics for nearly 20 years, and now it seems that the long nightmare will soon be over.

There are plenty of things wrong with Barack Obama; his notions about economics are simplistic and I am absolutely certain that his foreign policies will be a disaster of Carteresque proportions if he is elected. Even so, he has been supportive of Autism Rights, as part of a larger fabric of Civil Rights. I do appreciate this, and I wish my preferred candidate, John McCain, would embrace this.

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