Re: Naming of the group-- behind the scenes

[Guest guest]

wrote:

<<

> CZ, if you (or any one of the other two members here currently <g>) wish

> to invite someone you think would be a good addition to the list, please

> do so.

>>

I like the name also, by the way, nice to get more whimsical and also I

tend to lean to agreeing with the split hair's difference b/t Aspergers &

autism..

Thanks for the offer to invite others, . Should I (we) send the

names to you or just write them ourselves?

Nanne

[Guest guest]

<< The higher VIQ and hyperlexic writing style " should

have " been a strong sign of AS vis-a-vis autism, but the language delay

messed that up and forced a diagnosis of autism. If he had not met the

other more stringent criteria for autism other than the language delay,

he would have been PDD-NOS, even though he clearly shows traits of AS,

the language delay notwithstanding.

>>

The language-delay seems arbitrary.

A dear friend who didn't speak at all until she was 6 years old, when

asked why, said simply, " Nobody had been saying anything interesting worth

responding to. "

Nanne

[Guest guest]

Antryg Windrose wrote:

>

> Hi.

>

> I am here. Hopefully I will be able to write more soon, after my

> current and

> seemingly increasing stresses have lessened.

I hope they do so soon. I am always here if you need to express

yourself, of course.

> P.S. , how did you think of the name for this list?

Well, when I decided I was going to make up a new list, I got as far as

the first question on the Yahoogroups form, which was the list name. I

decided that I did not want to use " AS " in there, since I am sort of

getting away from the distinction between AS and autism proper (if there

even is such a distinction), and I decided that something with " autistic

spectrum " would be most appropriate. Then I thought of how AS-PEOPLE

was a sort of boring name, and Aspenlight-Safehaven is a bit cumbersome

and not all that cheery... so I wanted something sort of whimsical and

playful. Soon the image of a treehouse popped into my mind, and I put

it into the group-name field before I thought twice about it.

>

>

[Guest guest]

Hi.

> Well, when I decided I was going to make up a new list, I got as far as

> the first question on the Yahoogroups form, which was the list name. I

> decided that I did not want to use " AS " in there, since I am sort of

> getting away from the distinction between AS and autism proper (if there

> even is such a distinction), and I decided that something with " autistic

> spectrum " would be most appropriate. Then I thought of how AS-PEOPLE

> was a sort of boring name, and Aspenlight-Safehaven is a bit cumbersome

> and not all that cheery... so I wanted something sort of whimsical and

> playful. Soon the image of a treehouse popped into my mind, and I put

> it into the group-name field before I thought twice about it.

I like climbing trees when I am well enough, so I like the name. I never did

have a tree house though. I just like to climb up them on the branches and

recline up there.

> CZ, if you (or any one of the other two members here currently <g>) wish

> to invite someone you think would be a good addition to the list, please

> do so.

At the moment, I cannot think of anyone with whom I have conversed regularly

(not lately anyway) other than you and Nanne. I tend not to meet new people

very often but I will let you know if I do meet anyone that I would like to

see on this list.

Bye for now,

CZ

[Guest guest]

ViridianThumm@... wrote:

> I like the name also, by the way, nice to get more whimsical and

> also I

> tend to lean to agreeing with the split hair's difference b/t

> Aspergers &

> autism..

After CZ and I discussed that several months ago on AL-SH, I did some

research to see if I could figure out what the difference really was.

The only thing I determined was that the AS criteria were very similar

to the autism criteria, except that AS criteria specify less language

impairment. Not surprisingly, adolescents diagnosed with the existing

AS criteria tended to have higher verbal IQ than performance IQ, whereas

the group diagnosed with the autism criteria had the reverse trend in

evidence. In other words, it does not establish whether AS and HFA are

different. It only shows that changing the criteria will also change

the characteristics of the people that fit into that group.

Another thing I found really fascinating was the case of one person,

diagnosed as HFA, who has a page on the web. He exhibits the same

hyperverbal writing style that I do, and according to what he wrote, his

VIQ is some twenty points higher than his PIQ. That seems to be a

pretty good case for AS... except that he did not talk until he was

seven years old. A diagnosis of AS requires " no clinically significant

delay in speech. " The higher VIQ and hyperlexic writing style " should

have " been a strong sign of AS vis-a-vis autism, but the language delay

messed that up and forced a diagnosis of autism. If he had not met the

other more stringent criteria for autism other than the language delay,

he would have been PDD-NOS, even though he clearly shows traits of AS,

the language delay notwithstanding.

That's when I concluded that the existing criteria are not terribly

useful, especially in classifying adults. I am not afraid of the term

" autistic, " and as a matter of fact, I prefer it to " person with

Asperger's Syndrome. " " Aspie " is not really analogous to " autistic, "

since " aspie " is a nickname term, more like " autie. " I do not need to

euphemise a term describing me... a fact is a fact no matter what you

call it.

> Thanks for the offer to invite others, . Should I (we) send

> the

> names to you or just write them ourselves?

Either way you want to do it is fine by me.

[Guest guest]

wrote:

> I am not afraid of the term

> " autistic, " and as a matter of fact, I prefer it to " person with

> Asperger's Syndrome. "

So do I! To me it is just a difference in terminology. An autistic by any

other name is still an autistic in my book. I refer to myself as an Aspie

online mostly because it is simple and easier to type, like shorthand.

In 3-D I tell people I am autistic. I do not tell them that I have

" Asperger's Syndrome " or that I am an " Aspie " .

Gail :-)

[Guest guest]

Add me to the " list " ... I also think of myself simply as " autistic " or more

informally, as my " aspie-self. " I never think of it in terms as Asperger

Syndrome or AS which seems " foreign " to me.

OTOH, the word " autism " still scares me! ;-)

(that was a kind of joke).

Marria

ps .. would it be OK if I invited ?

on 9/19/01 5:13 AM, Dick & Gail Pennington at rep@... wrote:

>> wrote:

>> I am not afraid of the term

>> " autistic, " and as a matter of fact, I prefer it to " person with

>> Asperger's Syndrome. "

>

> So do I! To me it is just a difference in terminology. An autistic by any

> other name is still an autistic in my book. I refer to myself as an Aspie

> online mostly because it is simple and easier to type, like shorthand.

>

> In 3-D I tell people I am autistic. I do not tell them that I have

> " Asperger's Syndrome " or that I am an " Aspie " .

[Guest guest]

Dick & Gail Pennington wrote:

> So do I! To me it is just a difference in terminology. An autistic by

> any

> other name is still an autistic in my book. I refer to myself as an

> Aspie

> online mostly because it is simple and easier to type, like shorthand.

>

> In 3-D I tell people I am autistic. I do not tell them that I have

> " Asperger's Syndrome " or that I am an " Aspie " .

I've never actually told anyone in person. When I saw it being

discussed at one point, I thought it would be really easy to " spill it, "

but as it turns out, it is not so easy. It's almost like giving people

a reason to marginalize you and to consider your opinions to be

irrelevant.

[Guest guest]

wrote:

> I've never actually told anyone in person. When I saw it being

> discussed at one point, I thought it would be really easy to " spill it, "

> but as it turns out, it is not so easy. It's almost like giving people

> a reason to marginalize you and to consider your opinions to be

> irrelevant.

Since I have been marginalized and my opinions considered irrelevant all of

my life already, it really does not make that much of a difference to me if

people use it as another excuse to do more of the same. :-)

The people I tell are usually those who have known me for years. I just want

them to understand me better. Like, not thinking of me as a person with

" severe emotional problems " , or " demon-possessed/oppressed " (usually get

this one from fellow Christians), when they misinterpert my behavoirs.

I tell them that I am *autistic* dammit, not emotionally disturbed,

retarded, stupid, space shot, or any of the other lovely things I have been

called over the years. ;-)

Gail :-)

[Guest guest]

on 9/21/01 6:18 AM, Dick & Gail Pennington at rep@... wrote:

> " *autistic* dammit, "

oh, I am kind of liking this term better than Asperger Syndome, Autistic or

even aspie.... it's that dammit part at the end that seems to work... ;-0

Marria