My criticisms of Atypical’s freshman season were certainly no secret, as I shared my feelings both publicly in various news outlets and privately with Robia Rashid, the show’s creator.  At the time, I mentioned that a lot of issues could be fixed, but my biggest problem with season one was the lack of autistic involvement.  To remedy this problem, I suggested that, at the very least, an autistic consultant needed to be hired for season two.  Fortunately my suggestion was taken to heart, and with the addition of autistic consultant David Finch many of the show’s major problems have been addressed.  From the moment I began watching season two, I felt freed from the brackish misrepresentations that distracted me in viewing the first season and I was consequently able to enjoy the show. I even laughed out loud during a few of its funniest moments.

I am very surprised that the show improved as much as it did and while I intend this review of season two to be very positive, I think I will need to go through some of the problems I had with season one in order to fully convey how big of a leap forward the creators took in the show’s sophomore year.

Alex Plank with cast members Keir Gilchrist & Michelle Farrah Huang

Another incident in the first season that I felt was not positive was the depiction of Sam breaking into his therapist’s house to leave her a box of chocolates. In season two, Sam continues talking with his therapist, who surprisingly takes his calls despite his behavior in season one.  I think that she seems accepting of this communication out of guilt over the way she handled things in the first season.

In general, Sam’s relationships in season two are much more realistic and, more importantly, are extremely positive from a standpoint of portraying autism in an accurate and constructive manner. For instance, instead of furthering the myth that those on the spectrum cannot have a romantic relationship, season two goes a step further and features multiple women vying for Sam’s affection. If anything, Sam treats these women with more respect and maturity than they show towards him which is one very enlightening commentary on how being autistic can actually make one more compassionate, not less. 

Season two further explores the one thing I liked most about Atypical in season one, its portrayal of family dynamics. I believe that the viewers who loved season one focused on that part of the show and either forgave the autistic representation issues or did not notice them. I think that’s why a lot of parents were excited about the show while autistic people, even those with a roseate view of the series, could readily point out specific issues that they felt should be fixed in the second season. 

I appreciate that season one resonated with many families who watched and were ecstatic to finally see a family like theirs being represented on television. Thankfully, season two improves even more on that front, as the way that Sam interacts with other characters indicates a positive shift towards his being treated more as a real person and less as simply a diagnosis.   Moreover, the way he is talked about is also more positive. 

Alex with actor Brigette Lundy-Paine (Casey)

Many reviews of Atypical have focused on the plot lines centered on autism. To me, these elements of the show seem like PSAs, and while I appreciate that Robia and her writers felt the need to include these important topics in an effort to teach the audience about things we face in the autism community,  I think the scenes that are designed to deliver exposition information about autism actually end telling us the least about autism. For instance, while I appreciate the intentions behind bringing up the issues of police being untrained when it comes to dealing with autistic people, that storyline seemed a bit forced. In contrast, I felt much more was conveyed about autism with much more depth in the storyline of Casey’s birthday involving a tradition of rituals that Sam adheres to as his way of expressing his love for her. This year, Casey brushes Sam off and expresses frustration due to a belief that Sam is obsessing over these birthday rituals from a place of selfishness when she clearly is trying to deal with other issues. However, the resolution of this conflict, and Casey’s realization regarding Sam’s true intentions, stands out as the most beautiful moment of season two. 

Alex with Atypical Creator Robia Rashid

In conclusion, the second season of Atypical far exceeded my expectations, and, if it continues going in such a positive direction, by the third season I think it could more than make up for the problematic representations from season one. Robia’s receptiveness to suggestions makes me excited to see how she further includes autistics in season three. 

In that vein I’ll end this piece with my biggest suggestions for season three. First, I think an openly autistic writer should be added to the writer’s room. David Finch, the show’s consultant, who I believe was instrumental in fomenting the major improvements of this season and penned a hilarious  New York Times best-selling memoir, would be a perfect candidate.  I personally served as a consultant on FX’s The Bridge, so I know how difficult a job it is to ensure that autism is fairly and accurately represented while concurrently serving the overall story and tone of a show. David did a remarkable job and I think those on the spectrum who’ve been critical of season two fail to acknowledge how difficult a job it was to improve the representation of a character who had already been developed for an entire season. Atypical accomplishes this with a character arc that fixed the issues gradually while not changing him drastically enough to betray the underlying character viewers had come to expect. 

Finally, I want to see even more autistic characters in season three and I want to see another autistic character with a bigger role. Autism is often thought of only in reference to kids or teens. If Atypical wrote in an adult autistic character, perhaps one Sam could see as a role model, I think that would be a powerful addition to a show that I’m actually really starting to dig. And if you’re looking for an autistic actor to play him, contact my agent. I think I have some availability.

The post Atypical’s 2nd Season is a Step Forward in Autism Representation appeared first on Wrong Planet.

For many autistics on the spectrum, moving out from your parents house and living independently can seem like a daunting task. We like routines and familiarity so any change can be hard to handle. But I think we need to embrace growth, even at the expense of comfort. Since college, I’ve lived in a variety of different places, but I’ve made a point of always living away from home.

Alex in his Dorm Room

Living in dorms is a great way to prepare you for living more independent after you graduate. But I would recommend getting a single room because sharing a room for an autistic person is the worst possible thing I can think of. I need my own space. Fortunately my University had accommodations for individuals with disabilities and I was able to get a single room.

Even with a single room, I quickly had to learn to deal with issues like noise that come with living in dorms (and apartments). I have a sound sensitivity so the bass from other people playing music was hard to deal with. I’ve written about the importance of noise canceling headphones, but I didn’t have those at the time. I’ve also developed simple strategies for improving sound over time like using foam to seal the door frame and even a jacket on the door to block sound, and having a white noise machine, fan, or AC to make it harder to hear outside sounds.

I moved from the original dorm into a four bedroom apartment style dorm I shared with three other people. This brought up new issues I had to deal with, such as keeping the common areas clean and sharing the space. An autistic friend of mine commented that the most important thing you can do with roommates is to keep things clean. If you can do that, there won’t be many other problems.

In the summer after my freshman year, I got an internship at AOL headquarters in northern Virginia. Since I could only live in the dorms during the school year, I lived at my grandparents’ house which was close to the metro. I could take a train some of the way and a bus the rest of the way. But the whole trip, including transfers, took an hour and a half (see my article on the benefits of driving & autism).

After a while, I decided to rent a room from an engineer at AOL who worked on my team. I was able to carpool with him every day or we could ride bikes along the bike trail from the house to our work. This was much better because driving with him cut out an hour an 15 minutes for me (saving 2.5 hours a day). Living with someone older taught me a lot of things that would help me in the future for living with roommates. I learned the importance of helping to clean (doing things like sweeping and vacuuming, for example). The next summer, I rented the basement of a house in Washington, DC. I picked a home a block from the subway so I could easily get to work. Living independently in a city is much easier if you don’t have a car so this experience was great for me.

I started dating a girl in college while I was living in DC. We eventually decided to move in together. Living with a significant other brings a whole new set of issues, some great, and some challenging. We decided to rent a house. While the relationship didn’t last, I learned a lot about living with a partner and the importance of having your own space. I do recommend making sure you have your own space if you’re going to live with a partner. A studio apartment might be challenging!

When I graduated from college, I lived with my grandfather again for a little bit and then moved to western Massachusetts where I lived with my friend John Elder Robison. After almost a year, I decided to move to Los Angeles. This was one of the scariest moves for me because I’d be leaving the east coast where I had my support system of friends and family. I went on Craigslist to find an apartment in Los Angeles and I still live there. Making the move to LA was one of the best decisions in my life. It gave me countless opportunities that I didn’t ever have on the east coast.

While I had to go out of my comfort zone in order to become increasingly independent, doing so has given me many opportunities and has increased my quality of life. I’ve also gained confidence knowing that I’m living on my own, supporting myself. While some people may think living at home is the best option, I urge you to at least give living on your own a shot. After all, if it doesn’t work out, you can always move back home and you’ll merely be back to where you were. After all, life is about experimenting, trying new things, sometimes failing, and sometimes succeeding. But without trying, you’ll never grow.

The post Leaving Home & Living Independently on the Autism Spectrum appeared first on Wrong Planet.

We discuss the inspirational parts of their book as well as the troubling periods of autism history and the shocking discoveries they made about Hans Asperger. We also talk about LSD experiments involving autistics.  Their book is extensive and covers the politics and history of autism in over 500 pages. It even includes a chapter about me, your favorite autism webmaster and tv personality, Alex Plank.

Additionally, they cover the first person diagnosed with autism, Donald Triplett, in great detail.
This book is incredibly fascinating to read and I highly recommend that you buy a copy if you haven’t read it already.

Donvan and Zucker are currently enjoying touring the country to promote their book and educate individuals about their discoveries. I recently had the good fortune to run into them at the ASA conference in New Orleans where they delivered a keynote together.

The post In a Different Key – Interview with John Donvan and Caren Zucker appeared first on Wrong Planet.

My name is Matt Aber and I’m a new columnist on WrongPlanet.net. I will cover the subjects of physical fitness, nutrition, healthy lifestyle, and college life, and how they relate to people with Asperger’s Syndome. I’m a 21-year-old college student currently on extended vacation in Hawaii.

My three biggest accomplishments so far have been receiving my Associate of Arts Degree, High School Diploma, and rising to a level of physical fitness I never thought I could reach. I like many of you on this site am an Aspergian, and this is my story:

Read on for Matthew’s article!
When I was 10-years-old, I was a vulnerable fourth grader with Aspergers in public school. I was clinically depressed, overweight, had little endurance, strength, or muscle tone. I was picked on a lot due to my “strange” and inappropriate behaviors. My fourth grade teacher believed that having the diagnosis of Asperger’s Syndrome was simply a license to be a defiant child. She was constantly criticizing me and my self-esteem suffered greatly. I hated school with a passion.

Even though being in the classroom was very difficult and stressful, the most torturous time of the day was P.E. I was correctly place in adaptive P.E. until fourth grade when I insisted on joining the “normal” kids in a regular class and this was a big mistake. I couldn’t run around the field without losing my breath after only a few minutes. I was not only in poor cardiovascular condition, but I was also never taught the concept of pacing. I had both fine and gross motor skill delays and was uncoordinated which made playing sports impossible. I also have a hard time with my auditory processing so following and remembering directions was very difficult. The cleaning lady, whom they made P.E. teacher, didn’t understand the concept of building a fitness base BEFORE having the students participate in sports (just an appraisal). Like my fourth grade teacher, she also believed that I was a defiant child. She didn’t believe that I couldn’t touch my toes or not play soccer as well as the other kids. This experience switched me off to athletics for many years.

By age thirteen, I was a very sedentary, depressed, stressed teenager and I had a hard time falling asleep at night. My parents encouraged me to join their gym and this was my initial exposure to the health and fitness world. I began with a basic workout routine of thirty minutes of cardio on the stair master every other day. However, like with running, I didn’t understand the concept of pacing and I would sometimes burn myself out before my thirty minutes were up. Before long, I noticed a considerable improvement in my sleep patterns and my stress levels decreased slightly. By age fourteen, I incorporated weights into my routine. I followed the 3×10 rule or 3 sets of ten repetitions that I learned from my dad.

I also enjoyed walks through our neighborhood in Scotts Valley which involved very steep inclines and some flat terrain. I think the beauty of the pines and nature was a great distraction and motivated me to keep walking. Over time, I built up enough endurance to trek the steepest hills with modest effort. These experiences are what helped teach me the value of pacing oneself in order to get from point A to point B in a reasonable amount of time.

When I was sixteen, my family and I moved to a neighborhood adjacent to Henry Cowell State Park, a hiker’s paradise with many miles of trails through the lush and rugged Santa Cruz Mountains. It was here where I refined my hiking by spending countless hours trekking the steep mountains and hills of the park. I began hiking the main and longest trail, Pipeline Road. Eventually, I started throwing in other trails to increase my mileage in addition to improving my endurance. The natural beauty of the redwoods, the San Lorenzo River, the wildlife and the sounds of nature inspired me to return often where I could escape into a meditative landscape.

By age twenty, I had already done some running on the treadmill; however, I had never seriously run any of the trails in the park. One morning after a large serving of pancakes, I felt a little more energized than usual and I decided I wanted to run the trails instead of hiking. I challenged myself to run ten miles through the steep terrain of Henry Cowell. I surprised myself when I managed to run that without even stopping. I knew I was ready to seriously pursue trail running and take my workouts to the next level. I began to study nutrition and focus more on what I ate. I wanted everything that I ate to nourish my body and so I decided to minimize refined carbohydrates, empty calories and saturated fats. I focused on consuming a Mediterranean diet consisting of whole grains, organic fruits and vegetables, fish and poultry and unsaturated fats. I also developed a more consistent and balanced workout regimen as opposed to extremes of doing too much of one exercise one day and nothing the next.

My parents knew I was serious about my physical fitness and diet when I completed the Forest of Nisene Marks Half Marathon on June 6, 2009. I had trained exhaustively for this race, running up to forty miles a week on the trails of Henry Cowell. My discipline and hard work paid off, I placed 13th out of 167 runners with a time of 1:41:25. This then inspired me to tackle an even more challenging trail race. I felt that the half marathon wasn’t quite challenging enough, however, I knew that a full marathon would just about kill me. I wanted to find a race somewhere in between. I did some research and was eventually drawn to the 29k (18 miles) race through the Santa Cruz Mountains. I embarked on an even more intense training regimen, running sometimes up to sixteen miles in a given day. On one occasion, I managed to push myself to run approximately 23 miles through Nisene Marks State Forest. Again my hard work and Aspergian focus paid off, I completed The Santa Cruz Mountains 29k in 2:43:27 and I placed 10th out of 82 runners. It was the most brutal and intense run of my life, some hills were so steep and sandy, that they turned me and most of the other runners into hikers for a while. By the time I completed the race, I was voracious, dehydrated and exhausted but what a feeling of accomplishment!

Four months later in January while on vacation in Hawaii, my family and I were all struck by Swine Flu. We were all sick for a month and I was unable to train. When I finally recovered, the virus took a toll on my physical condition and I was unable to run for even three miles without getting out of breath. As the months went by, I built up a considerable amount of endurance but I was not quite as cardiovascularly fit as I was before I was infected with Swine Flu. I was so blinded by my desire to run like I did before that I wasn’t working out productively to get myself back there.

I eventually realized that there had to be a more efficient way to train for long distance races than doing long slow runs every other day for 10 – 14 miles. I did some research and realized that it was how many miles PER WEEK that you run which really matters, not how much you do in a single run. I shortened my weekly mileage from 40+ miles per week to 24. I also increased the speed of my runs and mixed in very intense strength training. In three weeks, I felt even better than I did before I had Swine Flu.

I moved to Maui with my family in June 2010 and soon heard about the world famous Maui Marathon that was to take place in September. I decided I was once again, ready for my next challenge. I had a crystal clear objective: I wanted to run it under three hours and thirty minutes. Sixteen days before the race I embarked on an intense pre-race training regimen. I ran a total of forty miles the first week and thirty the following week. I was sure to relax two days before the race with no training in order to give my muscles a rest. The day before the race I consumed all the complex carbohydrates and protein I could, and had a blast indulging on all the whole wheat spaghetti, grapes, yogurt, and barbequed chicken I wanted.

The marathon began at 5:30 A.M., well before sunrise, so I had to get up at 2:00 AM. But that didn’t matter, I had gone to bed early the night before and I felt that every muscle in my body had been rested, regenerated, and energized for this race. I was on a mission to complete the Maui Marathon under 3:30. I wore my watch to help me with my pace and it worked like a charm. I departed from Lahaina to Kahaluhi on a bus provided by the race sponsers. There were a little over thirty other runners on the bus and I could feel the excitement and energy in the air. When we finally reached the Queen Kaahumanu Center Mall in Kahaluhi, I was playing a waiting game for over an hour. While everyone was chatting with one another and taking their sweet time, I was anxious to begin the race. FINALLY, at 5:10, they had us all line up in designated sections according to what our expected race time was. There was a traditional Hawaiian dance show ten minutes before we all took off, which included the use of pyrotechnics. It was fun but and I just wanted to run!

When we finally took off at 5:30, most people were running very fast, as if they were running a short 5k race. People passed me up and I was tempted to run faster to try and pass them up but I didn’t let my ego get the best of me. I knew I would burn myself out early if I was not carefully pacing myself throughout the entire race. As the mile markers got higher, a lot of the smug sprinters at the beginning of the race got slower. One by one, mile marker by mile marker, I managed to pass up most of the people who took off ahead of me. Unlike most of the NT runners, I wasn’t noticing the natural beauty around me. I was focused on only four factors: my overall race time, maintaining a comfortable pace, checking my watch to see when it was time to consume another energy bar, and staying hydrated throughout the race. By the time I reached the finish line, I didn’t run the marathon under 3:30 or over 3:30; I ran it in EXACTLY 3:30! My timing was so precise I didn’t believe it initially. It wasn’t until I checked the official race results that I realized that my timing was that exact.

That night, I went to the post-marathon dinner celebration at the Westin Maui Resort in Lahaina. There was a band playing some great rock n’ roll classics and an impressive pizza and beer buffet. I was very surprised when I received an award for finishing in second place for the male age group 20-24. Currently, I reside in Lahaina, Hawaii with my parents. I plan on running the Phoenix Half Marathon in January 2011 and I hope to begin attending Arizona State University in the spring.

The post The Running Man – Wrong Planet’s New Health Column appeared first on Wrong Planet.

Wrong Planet has acquired autism organization Autism Speaks for $80 million dollars. The deal was completed early tuesday morning and marks a turning point in the campaign by autistics who feel that their needs were not represented by an organization that is run without any input from people with Autism.

“We decided to announce the deal today because this is the first day of Autism Awareness Month” said Wrong Planet founder Alex Plank. “I am planning on completely restructuring the organization to meet the needs of people with autism for the first time” he said.

Since Autism Speaks was founded by Bob and Suzanne Wright in 2005, the organization has not employed any autistic individuals. Plank says this will change once he is able to restructure the foundation. “I am planning on firing everyone on the Autism Speaks board and replacing them with actual autistic individuals.”

Autism Speaks has been under constant criticism by autistics ever since being founded. Some autistics are worried that the organization will not be salvagable, even after all its board members are replaced with autistic individuals. Wrong Planet member Katie Miller expressed concern about the fate of the organization. “I just don’t think it will be easy to get rid of [Autism Speaks'] negative image in the media and turn it into an organization that supports people with autism. But if anyone can do it, it will be Wrong Planet and Alex Plank.”

Plank acknowledges the obstacles he faces but has an optimistic outlook on the deal. “I understand that Autism Speaks is a horrible organization but that’s why I purchased it. I think we can convince all the parents who currently belong to Autism Speaks to change their views. Perhaps they will even start to see autistics like myself as humans, not just diseases that need to be cured.”

Many people in the autistic community are happy that Allison Tepper Singer is being fired from her role as vice president. “The woman is absolutely horrible” Miller said of Singer. Allison Singer had only one thing to say about the Wrong Planet acquisition. “I think it’s hurtful that people with autism are actually standing up for themselves. It’s absolutely disgusting. Now I’m going to have to find another outlet to express my hatred of people with autism.”

According to Plank, Autistics will finally be able to have a role in their own determination. “I think the best part of this is that instead of only permitting parents to take part in an autism organization, people with autism will actually begin to have a chance to determine their goals. ”

Plank thinks there is a lot that will happen in the coming years. “Who knows, maybe we’ll even raise enough money to finally cure NTs.”

(April Fools)

The post Wrong Planet Acquires Autism Speaks appeared first on Wrong Planet.

Plank, who has been interviewed about the site by “Good Morning America,” “Geraldo at Large,” and the Washington Post is an articulate young Internet enthusiast, who has Asperger’s Syndrome himself. He has a funny, breezy interview style and a good perspective on autistic people. To book an interview, call Alex Plank at (213) 325-2152.

The post International Support Site for Autistic People Shows Record Growth appeared first on Wrong Planet.

Tonight, starting at 11:00 PM EST, we are migrating everything to a new, more expensive, but much faster site with a much better LayeredTech high performance data network.

As a result of the migration, the site may go down and at some point the forums will be locked to prevent changes while the database migration is ocurring. If you can’t get to WP during this time, don’t worry; we’ll be back soon.

If you’re a geek, read on for the server specifications. Otherwise, scroll down on the main page and read Kassianne’s article.
Wrong Planet’s amazing dedicated server
* AMD 3000+ Barton Processor
* 512KB L2 Cache
* 333MHz FSB
* 54.3 million transistors!!!
* 1GB RAM
* 160GB Hard Drive
* Red Hat Enterprise Linux

Picture of the CPU:

The post Outage: Wrong Planet will be moving to new lightening-fast server appeared first on Wrong Planet.

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After seeing the great work he did for the Drunken Blog, WrongPlanet decided to hire the amazing designer David Lanham to create an official desktop background for WrongPlanet members. We wanted an offbeat space theme which played up the bizzare (although, very friendly) alien and human “first encounter.”

The desktop image has now been completed and it’s totally awesome. You can see David’s interpretation of the WrongPlanet.net alien in the middle holding a hybrid multicolored space chicken. I hope everyone will enjoy making this into their wallpaper!

Read on to see the preview of the full image and download the right size for your computer.

Sizes: 1024×768, 800×600, 1280 wide, 1680×1050, 1920 wide

You can purchase prints of the art from David’s WrongPlanet Desktop Online Store

The post Announcing the official WrongPlanet.net Desktop! appeared first on Wrong Planet.

Submission is easy. Put your question in a Personal Message (PM), and send it to GroovyDruid or send an email to dearaspie@wrongplanet.net. Please be concise. Questions of a personal nature may be submitted anonymously, though printing a user name is preferred. “Dear Aspie” reserves the privilege of editing for spelling and clarity.

Thanks very much for your submissions!

The post Introducing our new Weekly Column, Dear Aspie appeared first on Wrong Planet.