Friends & Relationships

Kirsten has this to say:

Bullying is a problem that affects nearly everyone, autistic or neurotypical, children or adults. At one point or another we’ve all faced a bully, or been a bully ourselves. Bullying and the damage it can cause is a popular topic of debate right now—we’re finally leaving behind the archaic “it builds character” mentality—but for those on the autism spectrum bullying can be even more difficult to...

The following post is written by our female aspie blogger Kirsten Lindsmith:

It's that time again, folks! Another rambling blog post! Today's topic will be one I see discussed quite often on WP: dating. I want to begin by stating that no, I am not Alex's "new girlfriend"—and is that a question that would ever be asked of a male blogger?—I am just a person. I'm writing this blog because I work with Alex, and I like writing. I've also...

I sat down with Liz Laugeson of UCLA's PEERS program to talk about how to make friends. Making friends can be hard for individuals with Autism / Asperger's because we have a hard time figuring out social cues.

A lot of the social skills training I've run across focus on concrete skills like introducing yourself. These skills are great in theory but autistics like myself often struggle with figuring out what actually works in practice. ...

Kirsten, our female aspie blogger, has this to say!

Gender is a pretty big issue in the autiverse. Are there more aspie girls than we realize? If so, why? Do girls really present symptoms differently than boys? Do aspie girls just have "hyper-masculine" brains, as is often suggested? What's the deal with gender and autism?

As many of you may have realized, I am female. I've been an on-and-off tomboy, but on the whole I have had no...

Hi Wrong Planet Readers,

I’m Theo Pauline Nestor, author of How to Sleep Alone in a King-Size Bed and writer of numerous articles on the topic of relationships. This is my first post on this site, and I’m excited to be a part of this community and to receive your questions about relationships, which I will do my best to answer.

Today I want to talk about what I believe is one of the keys to getting a new relationship off the ground:...

Joanne Houldsworth is a new columnist for WrongPlanet.net. She covers autism through the perspective of a mother of a young son with Aspergers Syndrome. She writes a weekly blog, entitled Aspergers: A Mom’s Eye View, where this article was originally posted.

I am the mother of three great kids, aged 7-12, who are mostly the joys of my life and sometimes the bane of my existence! My now 10 year old son, Gregory, was finally diagnosed...

Psychologist Dr. Robert Naseef is a new columnist for WrongPlanet.net. He covers autism through the perspective of a professional in independent practice and a parent of someone on the spectrum. This is the first of his columns.

I thought I could never accept my baby's autism. After 29 years there are times when I still wonder who my son might have been. Yet it seems like only yesterday when I held Tariq for the first time. My heart...

One common characteristic of people with Asperger's is that we are more or less blind to the non verbal communications of others. As a result, we find ourselves forever saying and doing the wrong thing, with the best of intentions. We're described as arrogant, aloof, uncaring and inconsiderate.

I contend that we are none of those things. I believe we are simply blind, emotionally.

Read on for the full article!

If You Could Say it in Words is a great new film about an autistic protagonist Nelson and his experience with love. The film is premiering at the Derby City Film Festival on October 8, 2008 at 9:00 PM. I wrote about my initial impressions of the movie and conducted an interview in February. You will also find clips from the movie in my previous article.

The film explores Nelson's Asperger's Syndrome without mentioning the diagnosis. The...

Dear Aspie:

"I'm a 20 year old guy with Asperger's who'd really like to have some kind of romantic relationship, but I'm finding a lot of barriers in my path and I wonder if you could shed some light on my situation. I'm utterly at a loss to understand how to flirt... The suggestions I've been given set off alarm bells in my head of intrusive behavior and being otherwise imposing or even creepy, despite being told point blank that it's...