Re: Intro

[Guest guest]

> >I feel that I really am on the spectrum, but

> >I don't feel an expert would agree. I would

> >be tossed out before I even had a chance

> >to make my case. At least that's the way it

> >seems to me.

> Yes, this is how I feel. I asked my shrink about it, and he laughed at

> me.

A shrink giving a response like that not only has no clue about autism,

but has a *major* problem in professionalism.

I once was reading a book by Temple Grandin at a shrink's office and he

said, " Pervasive developmental disorders, come on, we don't want any of

those. " I never talked to him about autism again, although it turned

out he'd suspected I was autistic.

> >And then there would be the

> >question, " why do you want to know

> >this? " , to which I would reply, " I just want

> >to know where I stand. " But I keep feeling

> >that I am going to be perceived as using a

> >diagnosis as a copout.

> Yeah, he told me not to be so quick to " label " myself. But what's wrong

> with a label if it helps you to understand yourself better?

Ask him if he minds the words " woman " and " human " as they apply to you.

If not, ask why " autistic " should be any different. If he thinks it

*is* radically different, he probably puts some sort of weird value

judgement on it.

, who thinks words are descriptive labels that can be both

frustrating and infuriating but when they're *useful* they serve a

purpose, and any word can be used correctly or misused

--

" If a cat does something, we call it instinct; if we do the same thing,

for the same reason, we call it intelligence. " -Will Cuppy

[Guest guest]

wrote:

>> Yes, this is how I feel. I asked my shrink about it, and he laughed at me.

>>

>

> A shrink giving a response like that not only has no clue about autism, but

> has a *major* problem in professionalism.

I heard from a man who learned of AS as an adult, and found that the description

fit him quite well, so he called our old friend Bernie Rimland at the Autism

Research Institute in San Diego, California, to ask for advice. Ol' Bernie

replied that he could not have AS, because he was talking too well on the phone

to possibly have it. This same Bernard Rimland was the keynote speaker at the

autism conference in which I participated as a panelist, and was introduced as

" [my] hero " by the president of the Greater Phoenix ASA. This is a man taken by

many as the foremost authority on autism.

On the good side, Dr. Rimland was one of the earliest people to criticize and

largely disprove the " refrigerator mother " hypothesis regarding autism, which

was a big contribution in understanding the condition (Larry Lyons take note--

the refrigerator mother theory has been wholly disproven). He cofounded ASA

(Autism Society of America) in 1963 or '64, if I recall. He certainly has paid

his dues, so to speak. He has not, though, kept up with the huge influx of new

information on autism... the opinions he had may have been great in 1964, but

relatively unchanged as they are since then, they are now way out of date.

> I once was reading a book by Temple Grandin at a shrink's office and he said,

> " Pervasive developmental disorders, come on, we don't want any of those. "

Oh, of course we do! I would rather have the PDD I have rather than anything

else one generally consults a shrink about (or neurotypical disorder, 666.0 in

the DSM, which generally goes untreated in a tragically high percentage of

sufferers <g>).

I think that the majority of things people come to see a shrink about would fit

under the " we don't want " umbrella. Isn't that the point-- you don't want it,

whatever your mental ailment may be, so you go to the shrink to get rid of it?

> I never talked to him about autism again, although it turned out he'd

> suspected I was autistic.

So what one wants influences what she has? How does that work? Can you want a

million dollars and begin to have them, or does it only work in the other

direction?

[Guest guest]

> wrote:

> >> Yes, this is how I feel. I asked my shrink about it, and he laughed at me.

> > A shrink giving a response like that not only has no clue about autism, but

> > has a *major* problem in professionalism.

> I heard from a man who learned of AS as an adult, and found that the

description

> fit him quite well, so he called our old friend Bernie Rimland at the Autism

> Research Institute in San Diego, California, to ask for advice. Ol' Bernie

> replied that he could not have AS, because he was talking too well on the

phone

> to possibly have it. This same Bernard Rimland was the keynote speaker at the

> autism conference in which I participated as a panelist, and was introduced as

> " [my] hero " by the president of the Greater Phoenix ASA. This is a man taken

by

> many as the foremost authority on autism.

This doesn't surprise me at all. An autistic woman I know had the exact

same experience, only it was with some receptionist at the Autism

Society of America.

> On the good side, Dr. Rimland was one of the earliest people to criticize and

> largely disprove the " refrigerator mother " hypothesis regarding autism, which

> was a big contribution in understanding the condition (Larry Lyons take note--

> the refrigerator mother theory has been wholly disproven). He cofounded ASA

> (Autism Society of America) in 1963 or '64, if I recall. He certainly has

paid

> his dues, so to speak. He has not, though, kept up with the huge influx of

new

> information on autism... the opinions he had may have been great in 1964, but

> relatively unchanged as they are since then, they are now way out of date.

Yes, especially his opinions on institutions, and his apparent belief

that " institutions " and " neglect " are the only two options. (Talk about

black-and-white thinking.)

I personally think he gets way more credit than he deserves. He did one

good thing, a long time ago, and a pretty self-serving good thing at

that. That doesn't make him an expert today, and it doesn't even make

the theories he replaced the old ones with particularly feasible (some

probably are and some probably aren't, but simply overthrowing something

doesn't mean the replacement is automatically the truth).

I once had a conversation with an NT parent who was as enraged by his

current opinions as I was, and we ended up deciding the best description

was " educated a**hole " . (She had called him an a**hole and I said, " But

he's an *educated* a**hole so people listen to him. " )

This, given my sometimes-visual mode of thought, resulted immediately in

a picture of a butt with a graduation cap sitting on top of it, which is

*still* what I see in my head every time I think of him. Which is

actually a good thing, because it makes me laugh rather than burn with

rage.

> > I once was reading a book by Temple Grandin at a shrink's office and he

said,

> > " Pervasive developmental disorders, come on, we don't want any of those. "

> Oh, of course we do! I would rather have the PDD I have rather than anything

> else one generally consults a shrink about (or neurotypical disorder, 666.0 in

> the DSM, which generally goes untreated in a tragically high percentage of

> sufferers <g>).

<grin>

> I think that the majority of things people come to see a shrink about would

fit

> under the " we don't want " umbrella. Isn't that the point-- you don't want it,

> whatever your mental ailment may be, so you go to the shrink to get rid of it?

I was required to see this shrink, but basically, yeah.

> > I never talked to him about autism again, although it turned out he'd

> > suspected I was autistic.

> So what one wants influences what she has? How does that work? Can you want

a

> million dollars and begin to have them, or does it only work in the other

> direction?

Exactly.

This guy *did* grudgingly give me a PDD-NOS label at one point, but

refused to label me any further because he claimed that PDD-NOS wasn't

as much of a label as autism was. (I fit the criteria for autism, and

he knew it, but he didn't want " insurance liability " if he screwed up --

this is also why he refused to erase " psychosis " from my record despite

evidence that I wasn't out of touch with reality. My other doctor at

the time diagnosed autism, which is a good thing because I needed that

" horrible label " for services and PDD-NOS is a doctor-generated copout

anyway.)

--

" I will not dismantle small animals on the kitchen floor. " -The Bad

Kitty List

[Guest guest]

Lori wrote:

>Yeah, he told me not to be so quick to " label " myself. But what's wrong

>with a label if it helps you to understand yourself better?

Welcome. There's a short essay on " Why label " on my web

site: http://staff.washington.edu/mjane

Jane

[Guest guest]

>Welcome. There's a short essay on " Why

>label " on my web site:

>http://staff.washington.edu/mjane

>Jane

Thanx Jane :^) Your articles are very interesting. I will have to take

a picture of the bears I made. Mine are knitted.

Lori

[Guest guest]

Lori wrote:

>Thanx Jane :^) Your articles are very interesting. I will have to take

>a picture of the bears I made. Mine are knitted.

:-) I don't knit, but I do have one knit bear, made

by my oldest sister: a wonderul polar bear.

Jane

[Guest guest]

Margaret, I'm sure you will be getting lots of attention about the fact that your 4s has lessened. I just wanted to send a quick thanks to let us know it can get better. You're the first person I have heard this from. It's a glimmer of hope for those of us who currently suffer (currently...). Margaret wrote: Hi, I just stumbled onto this group. Thanks for letting me join.I didn't know this was an actual condition. I just thought that I

wasincredibly over sensitive. I am also realizing, reading other people'sletters, that it really doesn't bother me much anymore. It wasespecially the sounds of eating that bothered me. Someone crunching andslurping on an apple just made me feel crazy, like I was about to havean anxiety attack!I will have to put some serious thought into when, where and how I gotbetter. Maybe I can be of help to other sufferers. It does make lifemiserable.Regards,Margaret

Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now.

[Guest guest]

Margaret,

We are VERY MUCH looking forward to hearing about how you feel you

recovered.

> Margaret,

> I'm sure you will be getting lots of attention about the fact that your 4s

has lessened. I just wanted to send a quick thanks to let us know it can get

better. You're the first person I have heard this from. It's a glimmer of hope

for those of us who currently suffer (currently...).

>

>

> Margaret wrote:

> Hi, I just stumbled onto this group. Thanks for letting me join.

>

> I didn't know this was an actual condition. I just thought that I was

> incredibly over sensitive. I am also realizing, reading other people's

> letters, that it really doesn't bother me much anymore. It was

> especially the sounds of eating that bothered me. Someone crunching and

> slurping on an apple just made me feel crazy, like I was about to have

> an anxiety attack!

>

> I will have to put some serious thought into when, where and how I got

> better. Maybe I can be of help to other sufferers. It does make life

> miserable.

>

> Regards,

> Margaret

>

>

>

>

>

>

> ---------------------------------

> Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it

now.

>

> !DSPAM:47c05a50538805368818224!

>