Maxine Aston and other researchers

Post Reply New Topic

Since she can make up a diagnosis out of blue without appropriate repercussions, I"m just gonna blithely diagnose her as being a professional sociopath with an axe to grind. I'm reading this currently:



"Small-time" sociopaths target us with fervor and I see her as one. I recommend anyone on the spectrum to read this; it gives one a clear picture of the kind of people who torment us and turn us into scapegoats.

I apologize for the terseness of my post; the thought of people like that profitting off of us and degrading us is disturbing.

"I"m just gonna blithely diagnose her as being a professional sociopath with an axe to grind"

lmao!


I think you've made a good choice of reading material. And I think that the fact that we attract sociopaths, deserves more recognition....

I don't know if I would call Maxine that. She isn't really a sociopath. She was married to someone with autism and now she's sharing her experiences through her marriage counseling gig which in itself isn't a bad thing.
Bad relationships leave people feeling bitter and angry, at least it did me. I have had many bad experiences with others and it is one of the things that keeps me distant from them. This is why I think she is too narrow. I am on the autistic spectrum and some of the CADD criteria I can apply to myself. Learned helplessness is a pattern that's very hard to break. Why does she think this wouldn't affect anyone (not just NTs)?
Cassandra Affective Deprivation Disorder is a bit too much. It's like she's saying: "My husband has a disorder I have to have one too" even if that disorder is really a depression. If she called it depression it might go over better.
She has this positive reinforcement so it's not going to be easy for her to abandon the Cassandra Affective Deprivation Disorder idea. She has built her own industry complete with workshops.
She should tone down her AS rhetoric and remember it's a bad idea to stereotype anyone. AS is one slice of the overall pie, maybe two, instead of four or five.
It's another example of someone becoming completely consumed by AS and forgetting that it's not the only issue in the world.
I think her workshop would benefit anyone who has terrible experiences with people over a long period of time so why narrow it down to spouses of AS or people with AS parents?

Ana,

That's a very insightful comment and I think about says it all.

Wouldn't it be great if Mr Aston replied to this thread. Being an Aspie he must have checked out this forum before.

I haven't seen any evidence whatsoever that Aston's ex was Autistic.

It's almost certain he wasn't - and her first knowledge of Autism came through her degree study.

M.Aston's own words:-

"I was once married to a very special man who was affected by Asperger syndrome, unfortunately he was not diagnosed 'til long after our divorce. Diagnosis came too late for us, it has always been my hope that my work will give couples and families the chance that we never had."

I can't believe M. Aston is a Relate councelleor, let alone councelling people with Aspergers!!
This woman married my friend within a couple of months of meeting him after living as a lesbien for the previous twenty years and having three children by artificial insemination whilst being 'married' to a trans-sexual! The only experience she has of hetro marriage with the short time she was married to my friend who she later 'diagnosed' as having Aspergurs, after reading about it, as an excuse for her own failings in the marriage.
And she is QUALIFIED to give advise???????

Still don't get it.

Right i'm a touch aspie (proper diagnosed etc) - so I get that I ocasionally really piss off most people who know me. Not not everybody all the time, but if I know you I will eventually piss you off. Some people deal with this by not being my friend anymore, some by chalking it down to an off day.

I've no problem with this. Its cool, people I know can chose to be my friend or not, I don't really care either way.

The one exception to this is my family. On the whole they feel they have to continue to be in touch with me, invite me to things, 'phone me of in the case of my wife live with me and put up with me 24/7.

I'm not going to change who I am. My wife knows this and she tells me that she loves me the way I am and doesn't want me to change. I'm honest, I cook and clean when people come over (granted because I'm escaping) and her friends are forever commenting that they wish their other half would do so much around the house (a bit obsesive about that).

But I do get that I really piss her off sometimes. I wont have anything to do with her family - and I cant stop myself from commenting on them. I genuinly despise some of her friends and I have political/social views that I know make her cross, but I cant not tell her.

She wont change eithor, she constantly tries to tell me what people are doing, who is happy/sad, and expects me to recognise people and know their names etc.

What she does irritates me, what I do irritates her.

I know why she does what she does, she knows why I do what I do.

Her behaviour won't have a long term affect on me, I just ignore her when I dont want to listen.

But I can understand that my actions sometimes may have an affect on her - and that repeatedly doing the things I do (ignoring her, getting cross about leaving things in the wrong place etc) over a long time and for no aparent reason would have an affect on her.

So what is wrong with NTs (be that FAAAS or Maxine) getting together to share their woes about their Aspie other halves?

If they feel like having a support group for themselves and giving themselves a collective name, whatever. Doesn't affect/bother me - let them crack on.

Whats the problem? As I said, I don't get it