Suggestion: "I Have Asperger's Syndrome" campaign

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Just a suggestion to counterbalance the sociopathic killer thing that's going on right now. What about putting together a media kit with profiles of a dozen or so people with Asperger's Syndrome whom the public would otherwise never get to know? Show how they're just like everyone else in society, with different levels of achievement, different careers, and so on. Make a more human face to a condition that is not well understood. Then this could be a resource the media could use when they're reporting on AS.

Temple Grandin may be an example of a high-functioning adult, but her choice of profession working in slaughterhouses is something that, frankly, most people would not want to read about. Profiles with more warm fuzzy feelings would be helpful. People say Bill Gates has autism, but he's almost a model business sociopath in how he ran Microsoft. People may admire his money, but he is not a warm fuzzy person who inspires personal trust and confidence. (Except insofar as he's trying to spend money to change his image now.)

Anyhow, profiles would have to be short and to the point. Also notice what I do here in this sample to make a connection with everyday life:

"The Trencher has worked over 18 years with technology, and currently is engaged with a highly specialized leading-edge platform for developing and deploying mainframe software. Clients of his company include Fortune 500 companies, household name brands, and government agencies. Because of The Trencher, your taxes are lower and you get better government service."

Maybe accompanied by a picture... I wish I had taken a picture when I got dressed up for a meeting the other week. I didn't even recognize myself.

I'd be interested in taking part.

Are we sending the response to you directly or are you representing someone else ?

Aye! Good golly no.

This is the worst timing for anything like this.

All this would do is stir things up even more. We don't even know for sure yet he actually had Asperger Syndrome.

As anyone even considered yet how all this uproar will look if it turns out he'd actually never even been diagnosed?

I don't have any problem at all with educational efforts to improve true autisme awareness, but to use this tragic event as a launching platform? It's too exploitive.

No. No way. Count me out.

Why don't we just wait for the facts to come out first, then figure out what to do, or not to do?

[Moved from General Autism to Autism Politics, Activism, and Media Representation]

I agree. This incident has been so tragic for the for the children and people who lost their lives and their families. It's not about us. Don't make it about us. It's better to speak up about gun control laws and better mental health services.

I think disclosing is a good thing, when it feels right.

Now, personally, when I disclose to people that I self-diagnose as being on the Autism Spectrum, I think I tend to overexplain, their eyes glaze over, and I think they end of thinking that I'm schizophrenic or bipolar because "obviously" I'm not autistic since I talk so well! And not that there's anything wrong with being schizophrenic or bipolar but that's just not where I'm at.

And Trencher, please be aware that you have the advantage of being successful in technology which a little bit is a mental map people are starting to get regarding the spectrum. For myself, I'm more of a social studies type of nerd.

+1

Count me out. Normally I'd be all over this kind of thing, but right now it's just bad timing.

You should hold off this kind of thing until April of next year, at the very earliest.

He is not a sociopath. You could says this also about Mark Zuckerberg who founded Facebook or the late Steve Jobs and Apple. Unlike most people who claim that their neighbour or husband is a sociopath, I really met sociopaths. I mean the real deals. I know them well and understand their thinking. And if I compare them to Gates, Zuckerberg or Jobs, none of the latter said gentlemans appear to be really antisocial. They may be ruthless in the jobs because it is necessary when you have such a big company. It´s like politics - you cannot break through if you are weak and nice to your competitors. Business ruthlesness has nothing to do with sociopathy. The three guys would have to show another signs of ASPD to be effectively qualified as sociopaths.

I would also doubt that Steve Jobs ever had Aspergers. Mark zuckerberg is, however, a classic case, and so is Gates. Have you seen him rocking back at forth at the press and business conferences? Behaving awkwardly, having the same expression n their faces all the time? Also their voices are very monotonous. That is not what NTs usually do or how they appear.


Believe me, Bill gates does not do the charity to impress somebody. There is a point at your life (when you are as rich as he is), when you feel the need to give the money you earned to other people who need them. What would you do with the, anyway? None of his grand-grand-grand-grand children won´t need to work, because his fortune is so vast that it could feed a small state for few months or years.

Three cheers for SoftKitty! You nailed it.

+2

Bad idea. And very self serving.

Thanks for all the feedback. The consensus is that I laid an egg on this one. Out of every 100 ideas people come up with, maybe 1 will be worthwhile.

Common sense isn't always as uncommon as we think it is.

I think most of us understand the motivation behind the idea. The motivation isn't bad in itself, but a movement like this at this point in time could backfire badly if it's seen as a reaction to the tragedy. If we were going to do anything like this, it should be for very different reasons.

You should know though, that even if the reasons are far better, there are still a lot of us that would prefer to have no part of it.

You're right it's not about us, but the public don't care, they're going to blame whatever they think caused it regardless of what experts say right now. It's already started in numerous places and it won't end until we speak up and tell people they're wrong, better to catch it now than to let their fear and ignorance make things worse for us.