Hi,

"Thank you for your honest, wise and deeply heartfelt words above. I think they will touch all who read them."
Well, probably not so much wise words; more a way of trying to cope with the frustration of this Autism Awareness Day. Heartfelt, yes, I guess so. Honest, well it's kind of difficult for me not to be.

So far it's quite mild this year. Maybe because of the weekend, or maybe this month thing is spreading the load? I may have to review my assessment of the whole month idea.


I've also read and viewed about half of last year's thread: "A Wish for Autism". It's indeed highly emotional, but not about autism, but about who is right. Do you really think you're doing sons, daughters, nieces and nephews any good that way?

I know it's a general Mudcat issue - I come here to play sometimes because you have the largest field, but it's always full of big boys fighting and girls pulling each-other's hair out, and if I try to play sooner of later someone will start yelling at me. I didn't like it then, and I don't like it now. - and I understand that Autism must be really scary for you that don't experience it yourself, but frankly: You all ought to be ashamed to let that happen to a thread asking for good thoughts!


And, yes, I have Asperger's Syndrome, and, no, I have no problem with people being made more aware about Autism, because I know others are far worse off than me and need all the help they can get. My problem is with having a single, unwisely-picked day where everyone will bombard us with coverage, which also seems to be an excuse to ignore Autism for the rest of the year.

Is Autism a gift or a curse? To an individual it's not a gift, as there's no way to refuse it. To society as a whole it may one day be, yet I wonder if we would keep it. Is it a curse? Whether rightly so or not, society seem to want to get rid of it but be unable, so yes, it's a curse. To me? Automatically, I would say "yes", but it's not that simple: Over-sensitivity to me is in the balance: I have to flee my house sometimes because of the sounds coming from the neighbours, but I wish I could share with the whole world the feeling of cycling out towards the setting sun and then cycling home towards the full moon rising! The mental skills and weaknesses, well, those are what make me who I am, and I have no need to change that. What I want to get rid of is the need to comprehend the hidden (to me) workings of human society. So, to me it might not be a curse in a society able to deal with autism. But can we burden society with ever more systems to deal with those outside the norm; Blind, deaf, lame, autist ..? Or is there a way to create a society that really encompasses everyone?


I do see the advantages of Autism awareness, where it can make or help personal development. Those others that I know of all keep developing through their lives, and it would be good to have support for that. Without such, I tried two studies, but the most difficult course, required for each trimester, always turned out to be "Mysha", and eventually I would flunk that. But, a few years ago I didn't even dare to sing solo, and now Bradfordian has persuaded me to send him a recording of me singing, though not very good and with a cold. And for years vacation could not be different from going cycling, and this year I hope to travel by aeroplane to America. And I'm thinking, if I have any money left afterwards, maybe I'll try the Open University to see of things are better now. Maybe there's a top to how far an autist can develop, but if so, I haven't reached that yet.

Bye,
                                                                Mysha