Rain Man

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maybe the whole thing about "higher functioning", tallgirl, is the ABILITY to learn to cope.

and perhaps that's the difference between this disability vs diffability thingy - people with autism who are able to live independently and those who are not. most of the kids and adults i've worked with who are autistic, AND those my friend works with (he's at the Hayes Unit here in SW England) could not survive without an awful lot of assistance. and i'm not talking about quality of life here - being able to get a job, a relationship, cope with social situations - i'm talking about SURVIVAL, about not starving to death, about staying alive.

and, let's face it, all kids are "lower-functioning" than adults when it comes to life skills and survival we, as children, have to be taught everything, from crossing the road to feeding ourselves (and not just how to manipulate a spoon).

I am not disputing that there are kids with autism that will probably never be able to be on their own, or if they are able to be on their own, it would never be without assistance. My Mother is an elementary school teacher and has had several autistic kids in her classes, Asperger's kids, who will probably never be able to manage all of of life's complexities on their own. They have aids with them every day, who help keep them on task and to keep them occupied when they finish their work ahead of everyone.

There is one child who is diagnosed Aperger's, but he is a lot more impaired then I ever was as a child. Apparently, his prognosis for a life outside of an adult home is not good and he isn't classified as HFA or LFA, but Asperger's. So, according to his health care providers, no amount of coaching is going to ever make him able to blend in or cope, but can at least let him exist with other people who would probably just think he is weird.

Tallgirl

OK, this topic is really making me think. Which is good.

Having never heard of AS until I was 40 years old, I never considered that I was anything but "normal." OK, maybe I wasn't "normal" but all those oddities were always just chalked up to being gifted. I agree with Tallgirl, by adulthood, I suppose I was well trained (self trained) how to cope and fit into NT social rules and expectations.

I asked my mother about what I was like as a kid. I haven't told her about AS and don't know when/if I ever will. She already thinks I'm nuts because of some life choices I have made contrary to her wishes. Too bad, it's my life.

Anyway, I have virtually no memory of myself before age 6, and very few memories of elementary school beyond a few isolated incidents. Apparently I liked to run up and down the halls and scream when I was very small. And I had so many "nervous habits" (stims???) that I was medicated all through elementary school. Well, that could explain why that chunk of my life is somewhat hazy...
I know I still had some tics in Jr. High (no longer medicated) that I willfully submerged after being teased. Social life through high school? Zero.

And something I thought of that I forgot to ask my mother. I'm wondering if perhaps I did do the hand-flapping when I was small. Now -- and as far back as I can remember -- it's foot-flapping. Much less publicly noticeable, but it serves the same purpose. The reason I was wondering, is that when I got to high school and was put in a public speaking class, in addition to the absolute horror of having to stand up and talk to the whole class about a subject in which I had no interest, I was instructed that hand gestures were a positive and even required part of good public speaking, and that standing there with my hands to my side or clenched onto the podium resulted in a lower grade.
Hand gestures were acceptable??? I remember being completely baffled, and for some reason totally convinced that it was NEVER acceptable to move my hands while communicating with another person!

Maybe I was punished as a child for hand-flapping? (Meanwhile, my right foot wags uncontrollably...)