There is no logic there.

What if it was something in the nonverbal realm?

Not like it’s any of your business but my independant living skills suck, I’m just good at stringing words together. So why is that ‘not knowing about autism’ when some people who have a LOT more trouble with this whole WORD thing can fairly easily cope with the daily living thing?

Where’s the logic? You just CAN’T hang all your perceptions on a multifaceted condition on ONE facet, especially one that frankly seems to mean the least (typing, writing, speaking, PECS…they all get the point across…). Can you explain your logic, or is it another “because it supports what I want to think” kind of deal?

Thank you for keeping the discussion civil. Terms such as low and high functioning autism are not arbitrarily designed. The Psychiatrist Laurent Mottron for example uses the term high functioning in describing the subjects of his autism studies almost all of whom are either high functioning or savant.

I am not ashamed of my son’s limitations. To me I would be doing him a disservice if I let internet posters such as kev prevent me from describing life as it really exists for my son. I will not render his autism and his challenges invisibile by succumbing to misguided neurodiversity politicial correctness.

I do wish Mr. Schwartz had explained what he meant by handicaps secondary to autism in the first post. I do not at all accept Kev’s explanation of Mr Schwartz’s comments.

Again I thank you for your civility. This is the only neurodiversity oriented forum on which I have found it possible to have a calm discussion without too much in the way of personal attacks.

You are a functioning on a level which demonstrates an excellent command of language. My son does not have such a command. It is a huge difference between many children such as my son and persons who post on internet forums.

Surely you can underdstand that distinction?

I live with my dad, can’t cook (really really can’t cook), forget to do laundrey, forget to eat, sleep odd hours, but can do my hair, shower, talk about 3/4 of the time, and-oh I bet this is it-blog. And go to gymnastics as OT 3 times a week. Bet that’s it too.

I mean, really, lay out your ever moving criteria.

And a QBE beats a looking in any day. We know what it is to be autistic more than you’ll know, ever.

Mr. Doherty, I really appreciate it when you post about Conor. He reminds me a great deal of Charlie from the photos you post; like you, we have found ABA to be a most effective way to teach Charlie. It would be very easy for me to describe Charlie as severe and I do think that is how many others perceive him. I could easily write blog posts that paint nightmare pictures of autism as regards how I have cleaned the inside of my car and under my fingernails, of our attempts to teach Charlie to read (he has learned 20 words; he is starting to forget some of the ones he knows best), or of the “sacrifice” of moving households numerous times for the sake of Charlie’s education.

I understand that so-called “hfa” persons do share some of the “same life realities” as those deemed “lfa.” These include physical and emotional suffering (if I may use that word) that cannot be expressed in langauge. These include the day to day impunities (if I may use that word) of not understanding social signals and of grave consequences as a result. Some of the individuals I am referring to do have certain abilities that my son does not; as a result, they have been cast out in a world that has not been very kind to them, and that they could have used a little more help in navigating, had their needs been known.

Regarding my analogy to Asian American writers: In reading a number of books by many authors, I learned (also through the teaching of certain professors) much about myself that my parents and family could and would never have taught me. The experiences of the writers in these books were often very different from my own: a 3rd generation Chinese American like myself has little in common with someone who is a refugee from Laos, and yet there are deep, differently tinged, commonalities. To be 3rd generation Chinese American with one’s grandparents from southern China is a very different experience than oneself being 1st generation from Fujian and working in New York City restaurants.

Most of all, I thank you and everyone else for your commenting about these topics here. I learn much from all of you.

So can I infer from that that you do not believe that society can handicap autistic people? Interesting.

“Hopefully, some day, Kev, kassiane and you, will come to understand that high functioning autistic persons do not share the same life realities as lower functioning autistic persons. There are huge differences in cognitive and communication abilities between different points on the spectrum”

Hopefully Mr Doherty, some day you will realise that nobody claims they do.Who can truly say they share the same life realities as anybody else?

What is so very difficult for you to understand about this? Why do you insist on constructing this strawman time and again?

I would wager that in terms of what you call functioning level your son and my daughter are very, very close. Nobody, I repeat, nobody speaks for, or on behalf of my daughter, other than my wife or I. Whilst she cannot speak, we do it for her.

However, it is simply a logical fact that other autistic people have a much more realistic and accurate take on how my daughter (and – like it or not – your son) experiences life. This is irrelevant to their functioning level – something which is in itself a misleading and ever changing state for a lot of autistic people – including your son and my daughter. You should also know by now that there are ‘low functioning’ autistic people who are contributing to this discussion and in general elsewhere. I find it fascinating that you, who believes society does not handicap autistic people, are prepared to handicap people with your ideas on what they are like. I also find it fascinating that you who say that autistic people cannot speak for your son as they don’t know him, believe you know them well enough to assume their functioning level and/or diagnosis and how that affects them or demonstrates itself on any given day.

Are you really so egotistical to assume that we know everything there is to know about the idea of functioning levels in autism? Can you illustrate to me any other area of autism that we know 100%?

Are you really so egotistical that you will state that other autistic people can have no insight into your son’s life, whereas you – an NT adult – understands him perfectly?

I think that somehow you feel threatened but I am bewildered as to what that threat might be. No one, despite your blog entries to the contrary, thinks that autistic people require no help. No one wants to see your son struggle without that help. We’re not your enemy Mr Doherty.

You said:

“By way of analogy, when I was in college, reading books by Asian American writers taught me things about myself that I would not have known from growing up in my household.”

If that analogy referenced my comments then it was not an apt analogy. High functioning autism and Asperger’s are different disorders, although both on the Autism Spectrum, then classic autism disorder.

Many books and articles are written by HFA and Asperger’s persons. The persons with severe autism, some of them living in institutions under custodial care, are not writing too many books or posting acerbic comments on the internet. Many such persons are UNABLE to speak for themselves. Family members who actually care for and live with such persons are best placed and have the practical, moral and legal duty to do so, speak for them not J Sinclair, M Dawson, Kev, Kassiane, or anonymous.

Hopefully, some day, Kev, kassiane and you, will come to understand that high functioning autistic persons do not share the same life realities as lower functioning autistic persons. There are huge differences in cognitive and communication abilities between different points on the spectrum. A book by a high functioning autistic person is not “about” low functioning autistic persons.

I asked 2 straightforward questions of Mr. Schwartz which neither he, nor Kev answered.

Mr. Schwartz stated “That there is an all-important difference between autism per se, and handicaps secondary to autism.

I asked whether “Mr. Schwartz can tell us which “handicaps” are secondary to autism? And on what authority he determines which “handicaps” are primary to autism and which are secondary?”

Despite kev’s statements to the contrary he did not answer the questions. His comments about “society” were not an answer. They were a diversion.

I won’t waste any more time asking such questions of Kev.