A Speech on AS (part 1 of 4)

(Note, if you’ve been reading my OD for any length of time a lot of this is going to be repetitive so you may or may not want to skip it.) 🙂

I happened across this speech last night. It’s a speech given by Carolyn Baird on February 16, 2000, on the topic of Asperger’s Syndrome and Autism. You can find the full thing here: http://hunter.apana.org.au/~cas/autism/speech.html

(note that everything in quotes is a direct quote from the speech)

Reading this brought to light a few of my own behavioral “quirks” that I have that I didn’t realize were related to AS. It also reinforced some that I knew, were. Since I saw myself in a lot of this I thought I would share those pieces that I saw myself in. What I will be doing is taking the parts of this I see myself reflected in and copying them here. I’ll bold the parts that pertain to me and you’ll find my comments of how and why this pertains to me italicized.

I’m doing this for a couple reasons; reason number one is to educate. Through my writings about myself people may see other people they know, it may help them understand someone else that is like me. I also do this for my own personal gain, reading and documenting my personality quirks and problems helps me fix them. There are negative things in here I never knew I was doing because of AS, now I understand this and maybe, just maybe, knowing this will help me grow and change in positive ways. If I can take the neurological makeup I was given and use it to my advantage I think I can get far in this world. People on the Autistic spectrum do tend to be some of the greatest and most unique thinkers in the world after all.

I’ll start by including a portion of the “What is AS?” section from this speech to make sure we’ll all on the same page.

“Asperger syndrome (AS) is considered to be a severe developmental disorder characterized by major difficulties in social interaction, and restricted and unusual patterns of interest and behaviour.

The term Asperger Syndrome was introduced to account for Asperger’s inclusion of individuals with average or above average intelligence so as not to cause additional controversy in the debate over whether lower-functioning autism and higher-functioning autism are the same condition.

It is currently used for those who meet a significant number but not all of the criteria for a diagnosis of Autism. It is more commonly applied though in most cases for older children or adults being diagnosed with the condition for the first time where there is limited or no available evidence of any significant language acquisition delays in their early lives. It is therefore the most common diagnosis that a higher-functioning autistic person will be given so in the real world they mean the same thing.

When I use the term ‘autistic’ I am referring to those diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome and PDD-NOS and not only those with Autism.”

On to sensitivity problems:

“THE EYES: Photophobia with or without scotopic sensitivity. Extremely sensitive to light, these children usually also lack depth perception and may appear to be extremely clumsy or have problems with gross motor activities. They may also prefer to use their peripheral vision for viewing objects or people or maintain their eyes in a lowered position thus giving the appearance that they are avoiding eye-to-eye contact. Wearing sunglasses even indoors or Irlen lenses from an early age can help desensitise the visual system and allow improvements in depth perception. Removing all fluorescent lighting; having walls painted pale blue or grey instead of white or some other colour may also help.”

In this department I’m not quite as sensitive as others I’ve heard about. The flickering of computer screens and fluorescent lighting bothers me. I also tend to wear sunglasses on cloudy days and I keep the light low in rooms that I am in

“THE EARS: Sensitivity to noise. Even at moderate levels – such as the normal human speaking voice – can be extremely painful to an autistic child. Pitch as well as volume can play a part too. If your child gets ‘aggressive’ with some women but not with men who often speak more loudly than women then suspect that it could be the pitch of the woman’s voice that is the source of the problem. Auditory Integration Training is a procedure that has produced some beneficial results for some children with this problem. Otherwise allowing the child to wear ear-phones, ear-plugs or just a beanie pulled down over his ears with or without cotton-wool pads to help filter out excess noise may help. Tone of voice is another aspect of language that many have problems interpreting correctly. Directing sarcasm towards or using intonation to form questions or to convey meaning in any other way that the literal meaning of the words is asking to be misunderstood by an autistic child. These aspects of language have to be explicitly taught – they aren’t automatically acquired through experience regardless of age.”

I know I’ve mentioned this on several occasions. Loud noises hurt. I often pick up sounds in rooms others don’t seem to hear. And as the paragraph says certain pitches are worse than others. Children’s voices tend to be the worst for me. Sara’s barking as a puppy used to pierce right through me. Higher pitched male voices are painful and I cannot stand listening to someone crunch things such as chips.

“THE NOSE: Sensitivity to perfumes or odours is also very common. Avoid using any highly perfumed household or personal products around the home or environment of an autistic child unless you determine first whether he likes the smell or not. If he likes the smell then use it but not if it is overpowering. Also check how your child reacts to the smell of chlorine-based products as opposed to Ammonia-based ones. If the child is sensitive to chlorine-based products then you may have to charcoal-filter your water supply as chlorine is regularly added to it to kill bacteria and algae and ingesting it; washing in it or wearing clothes washed in can induce digestive problems; skin problems (itching or rashes) or just problems from the odour of it (dry throat or just a general feeling of confusion which can bring on an Anxiety Attack).”

I tend to notice smells others don’t. I can tell a smoker from several feet away. I cannot wear, or be around people who wear perfume. I remember well the scent of people I’m around a lot, often, I can tell if they’ve been on an elevator before me or in the bathroom.

Continued in next entry…

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