Sheila Schoonmaker

Those who have more money (usually the white-collar workers) or someone else’s money to spend (e.g., government controlled health insurance), don’t seem to know how some of us on the other side think.

I’m not complaining about having less money to spend than others or about not having man’s health insurance (God’s plan isn’t corrupted). I am actually quite thankful for my lot in life. The Prayer of Agur¹ might not be popular, but what can you expect when there are more fools than wise men?

I’m reading Michael John Carley’s book Asperger’s from the Inside Out. Like most books, it needs to be read cautiously. I can understand why he says what he does. Most Aspies would think and feel like he does, but not all do. I won’t get into every part of his book where I deviate, but I will bring up one statement though. It bugs me whenever I see subjective claims being expressed as objective ones. Here is an example:

I agree, support groups can create good feelings. I don’t agree with Carley’s blanket statement (on page 54) that Aspies need individualized therapy. Aspies can want this and maybe non-Christian Aspies do need it, but he should not speak for me. God only knows what I need and He always faithfully reveals it to me. When other agents enforce upon me what it is they think I need, they create problems in my life and then leave me to clean up the mess.

Whenever people corral others into their penned opinion, they can cause problems for those who are of a different herd. What makes this especially upsetting is the problem behind who gets to decide who are the appropriate therapists.² Yes, people get to choose their therapists, doctors, dentists, etc. (usually, but not always!). But… politics get the upper hand behind the scene. [Look at how the government's schools deal with issues they won't admit being unable to handle.] Laws get made like the Senate bill 6527-B, which directs the Commissioner of Heath to establish best practice protocols for the early screening of children for autism spectrum disorders (this was passed on July 27, 2008). I don’t know about anybody else, but to me, I see a lot of loop-holes here and vagueness that opens the door wide for people (who love money) to use people. Add to that potential chaos, misdiagnoses and hastily prescribed meds.³ What if it can be proven later that Aspergers does not belong on the Autism Spectrum and Aspie children are forced into the same treatment mold as Autie children?…then what? The repercussions could be enormous.

I can see that those (e.g., psychologist) who have it (i.e., money) don’t get it (comprehend) when you try to tell them you can’t afford to pay them what they are asking for. Usually they want $100 an hour, but they may settle for $40 instead if they think they’re not going to get the amount they’d like. That’s fine, but what isn’t okay is to assume that $40 a week (how many weeks is enough?) wouldn’t be missed from the ‘grocery’ money. Only the people living in the household know if $40/wk would be cutting into the entrée rather than desserts. It’s not for someone else to decide.

I know some (maybe all?) of what I’ve said here will be taken the wrong way, but I can’t do anything about that. To whoever may be upset by my words, I don’t mean to step on your toes. However, keep in mind I have just as many toes as any other person and they have feelings too.

Now that I’ve written this post, I’d like to delete it because of seeing all the different ways my words can get twisted around and used against me. No wonder I can get stuck editing the same thing over and over again! Sorry folks… it’s all part of the package when you don’t want me to quit writing. This ‘ol hamster wants to go find another wheel to run in.

¹Proverbs 30:7-9,
“Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die:
Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me:
Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.”

²Those who know the blessings learned in Psalm 1:1→ “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly.” ← would not find appropriate therapy in humanistic psychology for their life… useful information yes, therapy no.

³Long-term effects will reveal mistakes when the pharmaceutical industry doesn’t want to.

In a way, name calling isn’t restricted to childhood. It usually becomes more subtle with age, but lately it seems to be escalating back to an immature level. To be blunt, names like: retard, bitch, or idiot, are used. Toned-down name calling would be to use terms like: knucklehead or blockhead. Sophisticated name calling crops up under the guise of words like: Asperger Syndrome, Autistic, or the now less heard phrase (but once upon a time accepted) Deaf and Dumb.¹ It’s the socially acceptable sophisticated names that are at risk for being abused. That’s what causes most people who are different to hide their other names.² 

I prefer to use the word name rather than diagnose to make my final point in this post.

The verb diagnose carries a negative connotation behind it. Personal names, like Mary or Mike, typically remain neutral. No parent choses a name for their daughter or son based on diagnosing whether or not they show symptoms of having Mary’s Syndrome or Mike’s Syndrome. However, too many psychologists (and psychiatrists) choose a name for their client (or patient) based on what they would like to use as a reference for describing the differences they observe about him as compared to how they perceive the rest of society. Once these names get registered into the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) and are made available to the public, others end up tapping into what they begin. What is especially destructive is the fact that first impressions last (unless of course they’re fought hard to destroy) and the DSM does repeatly alter certain descriptions after they’ve become widely used and accepted. I’ve already ranted about the DSM in my Hidden Expressions post back in March. I’m not saying a DSM book is useless, but what I am saying is that it has the potential to ruin lives and families just like it does to help them. This is especially so for gifted children and adults and is pointed out in the book Misdiagnosis and Dual Diagnoses of Gifted Children and Adults.

Now comes my final point:

Because the awareness of Aspergers and Autism began in the same century (combined with the lack of knowledge to know how much they differ), Aspergers has become rooted and entangled into the Autism Spectrum category. High Functioning Autism is commonly used synonymously with Aspergers. Few people even question this, since not enough information is available to the public. Even for myself, I have to accept Aspergers as being a form of Autism in order for me to begin learning more about this in depth, regardless of whether or not I agree.

As I’m learning about the ways in which Aspergers is not Autism, I’m also realizing why the mental health profession is reluctant to be more open about the risks behind incorporating Aspergers into the Autism Spectrum.

The American Psychiatric Association is presently redefining these categories in their DSM book. I’m sure it will have to continue being edited over time. If, and only after, the truthful facts get sorted out can they leave this chapter of their book closed. We will know that day has arrived when we no longer see Aspergers named as being a mental disorder (disorder in the subjective sense).

Given that those at the top level of the mental health profession cannot agree upon whether or not Aspergers is a form of Autism — plus, the fact that too many of them cannot make correct diagnoses often times³ — they are not going to want to make things more difficult by adding the responsibility of separating Aspies from Auties on top of it all!

I want to focus time and energy specifically upon Aspergers and all that relates to it. That means I want to keep my involvement with Autism down to the minimal level necessary to untangle this mess for my own benefit primarily.

¹Because syndrome has two different meanings (a complex of concurrent things vs. a pattern of symptoms indicative of some disease) like the word dumb does, it must be removed or at least replaced with something neutral or positive (not something that is acceptably abused!). Too many kids today (hopefully not adults too) probably don’t even know that dumb also means unable to speak.

²I’m an odd duck who can’t be bothered to hide my identity. I like all my names so long as they remain used as neutral tools for identity (not used negatively and/or abused), and are as equally respected as their counterparts: Woman (vs. man), Introverted (vs. Extroverted), Calvinist (vs. Arminian), Christian (vs. Christ-less), Conservative (vs. Liberal), Honest (vs. Deceptive), Republican (vs. Democrat), Finn (vs. non-Finn), Aspie (vs. Neurotypical), Aspergian (vs. NTgian), etc. For each new label I could add to my list, I would increase the percentage of society who will hate me. [Don't take the way I constructed this list as me making a dig. My intent is not be malicious, but rather to show how easy it is to play mind games with words and admittedly have a little fun while doing it.]

³Naturally, the Psychiatric Association will never humbly admit how often they fail at their job. Their failure rate gets exposed by those who finally receive a correct diagnoses (evaluation/name) due to persistently seeking after the truth. They then share this knowledge (of having been repeatedly misdiagnosed) with others (either online like at WrongPlanet.net or offline among family and/or friends).

I’ve been struggling to gain a deeper comprehension of how Aspergers might or might not belong on the Autism Spectrum. Revelations are beginning to finally arrive for me. Now that they are, I will be doing a lot of editing on my blog. My concern is that these new insights remain consistent! Time will tell, because truth always reveals itself in a harmonious way.

Ever since I first learned about Aspergers, my inability to see what Autism has to do with Aspergers bothered me. I didn’t think it was worth making a big deal about it. After all, most people seem to simply accept Aspergers as being High Functioning Autism.

An Aspie acquaintance recently shared something interesting he learned from his trip to Alaska. He told me that some school districts there do not classify Aspergers as belonging in the Autism category.

I have read some articles expressing differences and similarities found between the Aspie (Asperger) and Autie (Autism) communities, but I didn’t really concentrate on them. I think I just needed time for what I read to percolate in my mind.

For others who also might think it’s not a big deal to know how much Autism resides in Aspergers (or visa versa), you may be surprised to see how it could actually end up being very important to differentiate. Because I want to investigate this option seriously does not mean I want to get involved in debating and/or arguing over it. I merely want to learn what I can for my own information and to share it with others who might not have the same opportunities to evaluate this as I do.

An example of a significant change in thinking is reflected in my first edit to my post My Life Before Asperger Awareness. I right-shifted the margin for what I’ve edited so far to make it quicker to find. 

I apologize for whatever confusion I’ve created from the way I construct my posts. Everyone has their own way of doing things and mine just happens to be different than most.

People say you shouldn’t wait until you feel you have things near perfect before you start something like writing a book or blog. My guess is that people who seem to make less mistakes, tend to make things adjust to how they want everything to be. It seems only natural that those of us who do the reverse (he who progressively adjusts himself to how things really are), have to travel a bumpier road before appearing to go smoothly along a steady course.