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My library has beginning display for Autism Month.

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AardvarkGoodSwimmer
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05 Apr 2012, 3:01 pm

My local Harris County library has a display of about nine books. Most of them seem to be advice books for parents, and then there's one book with Temple Grandin on the cover.

I'm glad we have Temple. I would like us to display other living autistic persons, esp adults who have disclosed publicly. The question is what other living autistics have publicly said, yes, I am a human being on the spectrum. I think there's Daryl Hannah. But do you know of other people and can you give me references?

I think I'm going to try to politely speak with one of the library people even before I know this in order to get the ball rolling. But this would be very helpful to know for a second follow-up conversation.



AardvarkGoodSwimmer
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05 Apr 2012, 5:03 pm

I got them to include PARALLEL PLAY by Tim Page in the display. They seem open to including additional books as long as they have them at this location.

I also brought up that (1) they stereotype their regular patrons as either homeless and/or mentally ill, and (2) they seem to believe 1950s stereotypes about mental illness. That is, I tried to engage in a little advocacy of the broader community of people who need to have the library available. I probably went a little too far. I tried to stay both direct and polite. I also asked the two ladies if they could name any famous people on the Asperger's-Autism Spectrum. They could not. I asked if they had heard the nickname 'Aspie.' One lady said she had. In addition to Tim Page's book, I had taken a large biography of former President Jimmy Carter off the shelf and had it with me. I said to them, Do you know that the case can be made that at least four of our U.S. presidents have been on the spectrum. This seemed to be a conversational nonstarter, or they seemed a little put off. Maybe the conversation had gone on long enough.

I had to take a pretty long walk afterwards for stress release.



Jory
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05 Apr 2012, 5:04 pm

AardvarkGoodSwimmer wrote:
The question is what other living autistics have publicly said, yes, I am a human being on the spectrum. I think there's Daryl Hannah. But do you know of other people and can you give me references?


Paddy Considine:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/8440 ... elief.html



CockneyRebel
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05 Apr 2012, 5:14 pm

How about the book, 'Be Different'?


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wokndead
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05 Apr 2012, 6:35 pm

That was a great book. I just read it recently.


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AardvarkGoodSwimmer
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05 Apr 2012, 9:38 pm

I like this part in the article about Paddy:

Quote:
. . . Considine sums it up as “a debilitating sense of detachment” from both the people around him and his surroundings. He struggles on a practical level, too – certain noises, for example, bright lights, and even wallpaper and fabrics can present a problem. In the room where we meet, he looks at the brightly coloured, geometrically striped carpet as if he is a man on the ledge of a skyscraper. “That carpet, for instance, is basically my worst nightmare.

“It’s just too sort of 'there’. Too difficult to ignore. It makes it hard for me to focus on anything else because I get drawn into the colours and the pattern and I get taken off somewhere in my head, other than where I know I ought to be.” . .

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/8440 ... elief.html


(I like it even though sensory issues are probably the least of my issues. More struggles with inappropriate stimming, like when I sometimes talk to myself during walks. A lot of struggles with jobs, writing and tutoring attempts to make money, and with loneliness)


======================

And I assume you mean this book by John Elder Robison

http://books.google.com/books?id=ebfN6X ... nt&f=false

I will try and pick it up! :D