Wonderful Asperger Poster

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Her sample size could be small too. As for small sample size it is farfetched that I and all the people I knew would just happen to have short hair if this were not just another thing people apply to everyone who has 'autism'. And how does autistic women with long hair have anything to do with what she was implying which was I guess for autistics to have an aversion for it which Isn't true.

So far I have never done that either Alan...but tomorrow is another day...

Trying to think of all the Aspies and Auties I know...male and female (quite a lot when I think about it)...and there is no real pattern...except that the shaved head and the buzzcut are absent...and hippy length hair on men is a little more prevalent than in the general population, but I don't think that is necessarily AS related...

But does it really matter?

It is a wonderful, stereotype breaking image of a real Aspie...

I agree it is a beautiful, very striking image.

As for the haircut, or lack of it, for many aspies their sensory sensitivities can make having a haircut an uncomfortable or even painful experience. Going to a salon can be overwhelming because of the physical and social contact, and the noise and smells can simply be too much to handle.

No, no and no. Unless you have some added aversive phobia none of this actually happens to people like me. The only reason otherwise I can think of is that they are told that it is the case about themselves at which point they believe it and it comes true. Going to a salon or hairsdresser's for me or my friends or a barber's has never been an overwhelming experience. I could only imagine that it would otherwise happen to a kid who was mollycoddled. Psychological conditioning is more to blame for our problems than any inherent disorder.

No doubt it's not true for you or your friends, but are you really suggesting that mollycoddling causes sensory issues in people diagnosed with Aspergers that are born with these issues? It's not a fear issue, it's a neurological sensory issue that some are born with. It's part of the new diagnosistic criteria for the DSMV.

She wasn't suggesting this applies to all Aspies, but sensory issues are an understood inherent part of the condition for some, that isn't caused by mollycoddling.

It would be impossible for anyone to understand it, unless they actually experienced the sensory difficulties. But, they are real and unavoidable for the people that have these inherent issues that experience them; fortunately many can accommodate them through adaptations.

How would you define Aspergers; the part that you don't consider to be psychologically programmed? I'm open to the idea that environment can make it a disabling condition for some, and not disabling for others. The statistics that we see like 90% inability to maintain employment and 80% failed relationships are based on those people that have actually gone in for a diagnosis, as a result of impairments that affect life functioning.

No doubt that there are many others with similar traits that are adapting, and may never get diagnosed. Perhaps many of those that are diagnosed are the one's with sensory difficulties; no one really knows for sure why some can adapt and some can't.

http://life-with-aspergers.blogspot.com ... yment.html
You're passing lies over.

www.aspergerfoundation.org.uk/infosheet ... oyment.pdf
Go down to the bit where it says about having fits. Seems discrimination plays a large part in the problem, not anything to do with asperger's. I hope you remember that.

Looking back three years later, I think that it's a great poster and it doesn't look emo to me. It's just how you'd expect an average person to look, except that person is a talented person who's on the spectrum. I like it a lot.

The scientifically supported statistics we see like the 6% of people in the UK, presented by your second link that do not maintain fulltime employment, are based on people with official diagnoses. The first link you provided was an informal survey, with no method of confirming whether or not a person was actually diagnosed with Aspergers or not.

These type of statistics are limited in the same way as the general statistics on Aspergers are limited. We don't have a full report, because of awareness, and limited diagnoses in the adult population.

As I stated it is likely that many people people with Autistic traits, undiagnosed, are successfully functioning in life. It is likely that some of those individuals were measured in the informal survey from the blogger, that you presented.

Discrimination in the workplace is part of the environment that can prevent a person that has been diagnosed Aspergers from maintaining employment, so I think I am in agreement with you on that part.

People with Aspergers in their workplace have been discriminated against whether or not they report that they have aspergers in the workplace, because of differences in behavioral traits.

Discrimination among people with Aspergers in the workplace, is indeed, directly related to Aspergers because it often involves differences in behavioral impairments that are specific to Aspergers, such as impairment in social interaction, communication, and sensory issues that don't apply to others in the workplace.

There are plenty of case references in the legal system, that clearly identify that this kind of discrimination directly related to the differences associated with Aspergers occurs.

In the US, an employer would be ignorant of facts to state they would not hire someone because of a disability, in reference to traits that don't apply to that disability, it would provide grounds for a discrimination lawsuit in the US. (like the example in the resource about people with Aspergers having "fits".)

Although discrimination due to disability in hiring is illegal here in the US, it happens, but it is a subtle process not an overt one, unless the employer is ignorant of facts or wants to risk a lawsuit.

Many people avoid getting a diagnosis if they can, because it is commonly understood that discrimination in hiring the disabled occurs, whether or not it is legal or not.

However, if a person is in a job, at least in the US, and are being discriminated against because of specific behavioral traits associated with Aspergers, one can be protected by the American's with Disabilities Act, if they want take action to save their job.

Its an eye catching eye poster yes but catching what it is to be an aspie? not somuch, he/she is looking at you in the eyes.

as for the hair cuts. I dont like my hair cut I only get it cut two times a year maybe 5 if I have to look good.

No offence taken. I would never make the mistake of prejudging that all aspies have long hair or that my own experience mirrors everyone else's. I did say many aspies do not like having their hair cut and this follows several conversations I have had with parents of children with autism who have experienced difficulties in them having haircuts. I do think it is to do with sensory issues, from my own and my son's experience - not only the noise of the scissors but also someone feeling your hair and the hair falling on your skin.

The problem is that I have never had any such weird issues. At most I just think 'quit being paranoid' and that dispels my problems. Some times it takes focus, but I feel the reason why I don't have a problem with it because I was told such things wouldn't harm me.

But you are only one boy, not many people with Aspergers, nor even representative of the majority of us.

My perception is that people on the spectrum vary alot and some have sensory issues and others don't. There is no one way of being so how I or my son responds to something is as valid as how you respond. I don't think that the response to haircuts is about paranoia - it is quite real in a physical sense. I am pleased that you don't have the problem but hope that you can see that others can have different problems.

My feeling is that alot of problems experienced by aspies is that people don't understand how they perceive the world and that this may be different at different times. So, for example, sensory issues can be much worse when someone is stressed - what I might find unbearable today I may find easier tomorrow if I am prepared for it, have coping mechanisms and am generally feeling more relaxed.

I am sorry but to be honest I just applied a bit of tough love to myself and it worked. Whether you think I am being intrusive or not I don't know, but telling you may be worth getting over the problem of having a son with an aversion to haircutting.

How could you possibly know what the physical sensory issues of another individual are compared to yours, it's a neurological issue that is different among individuals, tough love may work fine for you, but if you had the sensory issues of another individual, it might not work at all; in fact it might make it worse. There are approved therapies for sensory integration issues, but tough love is not one of them.

It's like telling a person confined in a wheelchair to stand up and get over it, be a man. Easy to say, if one doesn't fully understand paralysis, but harder to do if one is the individual on the receiving end of the comment that is paralyzed.

Any reason to believe that physical sensory issues are the same among people with Autism, and the same solutions to adapt, work for everyone? I don't think you believe that, but your response here, makes it sound that way.

Well there's a problem with saying how could I possibly know: Because I had some. Don't tell me that just because I mean tough love that means brutalizing the child. That means telling them straight. The power of conscious thought is more important than us because we haven't got, well... an automatic clutch as it were. Also as for your therapies I don't think that just because something is approved that it will actually bring someone out of a problem, which it did with me. So don't give me a tone of having no understanding of the problem. I understand my own body aghogday.