Autism

"He's such a bright little boy!" My mother and her friends said things like that all the time, as they pointed to me when they thought I wasn't paying attention.

Now that I'm grown, I can let them in on a secret: There was never a time when I didn't pay attention to grownups as a kid. I watched them really close, all the time. Read More

On the evidence of a single photo many people think that chimps think like us—but that’s because they are thinking like people, not like chimps.

We can't get a handle on autism - it continues to grow without bounds.  Various genetic and environmental hypotheses about the sources for this disorder in our modern world have not been borne out.  Here's one to consider - that children who become used to video as a main form of entertainment and learning are more susceptible.  In that case, watch out America. Read More

Thanks to modern technology, I now have one more way to seem rude while actually paying incredibly close attention. I made this discovery when my friend Jan invited me to the annual meeting of the Connecticut River Watershed Council. Come on, she said, It will be interesting. I'm feeling more social these days so I decided to go . . Read More

Recently, I wrote a post here about Gary McKinnon, the Scotsman with Asperger's Syndrome who admittedly hacked into 97 US government computers containing sensitive military information. Facing charges that could lead to sixty years in prison if he was convicted in a US court, McKinnon fought against his extradition - claiming that, specifically because of his Asperger's, the trauma of going to trial might make him suicidal. Now his story takes a new twist.

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A Scotsman with Asperger's Syndrome suffered a key setback today in his efforts to avoid extradition to the United States, where he faces charges of hacking into US Defense Department and Napa computers. Gary McKinnon admits having hacked into the 97 computers in 2001 and 2002 and leaving the message "I will continue to disrupt." While the US government charges that this was a deliberate effort to breach defense systems, McKinnon claims he did it merely to seek information on UFOs.  Read More

As PT blogger Michael J. Formica noted, today is the 140th anniversary of the birth of Mohandas K. Gandhi.  In honor of the event, I thought I'd share a post I wrote a few years ago about how his life inspired me to think differently about some of my challenges,  such as my troubles with speech.

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In his most recent post, John Elder Robison asks why many people on the spectrum reject religion. Personally, my relationship with religion has always been highly complex. When I was young, my challenges drove me to a study of people and the human condition. What makes human beings tick? What were the rules for living successfully as a human being? Where do you go to get those answers? Read More

I made the final touches, and put down the makeup brush.  From over my shoulder, someone handed the bride a mirror.   Gulping down a knot of anxiety as she examined my handiwork, I found myself thinking:  After a lifetime of feeling like an outsider in the "girl" world, how did I wind up here? Read More