There is no formal police force of social norms because no such organization is necessary. From mass society arises a self-enforcing slavery. One might picture a chessboard that sprawls as far as...[Read More]
Archive for January, 2011
your dreams will be reduced down to breathing, and you will be grateful
The thing about not-being-a-person is: They will say those people and the price of being a person is to nod and agree that yes, those people aren’t people at all. They will have no idea who they are talking to. You yourself will start to forget, too. They will say a million small things that sow the seeds for violence done against you, and you will smile and let them. You will do math, constantly. How much do I want to be a person today? How much do I want this project to succeed? How much honesty can I afford? How much dishonesty will kill me? What is the cost of coming out? Is there a way to delay, soften, transmute? How long can I survive as half a person? Ever since the world ended ... I don't go out as much. People that I once befriended, just don't bother to stay in touch. Things that used to seem so splendid, don't really matter today. It's just as well the world ended -- it wasn't working anyway. Your dreams will be reduced down to breathing. [Read More]
Julia Bascom on 03/5/12 | 2 Comments | Read More
Nut grafs or otherwise relevant excerpts from entries which appeared last year at this time. • • • • • • • • 2010 • Emergence of a Universal Language ...[Read More]
Mark Stairwalt on 01/31/11 | No Comments | Read More
What’s So Funny About Wikileaks and Autism?
Caitlin Wray's essay Be the Change: How to Shift Autism into the Mainstream appeared in this space last August, opening with her declaration that “I have a neighbour who can’t say 'autism.'” We ...[Read More]
Mark Stairwalt on 01/28/11 | 4 Comments | Read More
Social Tips for People with Aspergers
There comes a time in every Aspie's life, that having a life means facing our fears and going out into the world. I love to sing, do stand up comedy, go to restaurants and sometimes (although very...[Read More]
Rudy Simone on 01/27/11 | 1 Comment | Read More
Once upon a time—in the far distant past, or perhaps in a future yet to come—a herd of mountain goats dwelt atop a high plain. Steep jagged cliffs fell away from this isolated mesa on all sides...[Read More]
Gwen McKay on 01/26/11 | 2 Comments | Read More
The first proposed chapter for my book, tentatively entitled “Neurodiversity at Work: A Manager’s Guide,” is designed to introduce the concept of neurodiversity in a business-friendly context. ...[Read More]
Stephanie Allen Crist on 01/25/11 | 8 Comments | Read More
Music Preference in Introverts and Extroverts
For the majority of people in the industrialized West, music is primarily a means of social identity and unity. Millions listen to the same top 25 songs that everyone else is listening to. Of those ...[Read More]
Zygmunt on 01/24/11 | 2 Comments | Read More
Nut grafs or otherwise relevant excerpts from entries which appeared last year at this time. • • • • • • • • 2010 • Ghost Dance Sometimes I feel lik...[Read More]
Mark Stairwalt on 01/24/11 | No Comments | Read More
The Autistic Cohort as a Distributed System
A few weeks ago I proposed that what the autistic cohort and the Wikileaks file-sharing drama had in common was that opposition to both came from centralized systems of power which in turn mistake aut...[Read More]
Mark Stairwalt on 01/21/11 | 2 Comments | Read More
In response to my post last week about setting the stage for positive changes to happen, Stephanie accurately pointed out that it’s not just a matter of rearranging the environment and waiting to fe...[Read More]
Gwen McKay on 01/19/11 | 1 Comment | Read More
After sitting in an idle moment watching one of those terribly popular cooking shows on TV, because someone else wanted to watch it, I have become convinced of my explanation as to why there are so fe...[Read More]
Lili Marlene on 01/18/11 | No Comments | Read More
Since introverts carry the most important things within, they can thrive almost anywhere under any circumstances. They are consumate wanderers. Only one who is self-defined can move unscathed from l...[Read More]
Zygmunt on 01/17/11 | No Comments | Read More
Nut grafs or otherwise relevant excerpts from entries which appeared last year at this time. • • • • • • • • 2010 • Estrogen, Puberty and Autism In...[Read More]
Mark Stairwalt on 01/17/11 | No Comments | Read More
One Step Forward, Two Steps Back?
Just a few quick thoughts while I continue to piece together future posts. In comments to Sarah Schneider's piece republished here last week (Allen Frances gave us the Asperger’s “epidemic” �...[Read More]
Mark Stairwalt on 01/14/11 | 3 Comments | Read More
In a doctor’s office when M is 18 months old, he is sitting in a corner reciting a book out loud as he turns the pages, giving a convincing impression that he is reading. The doctor and medical as...[Read More]
Sarah Schneider on 01/13/11 | 5 Comments | Read More
I had a dream recently in which I wanted to open a locker but couldn’t remember the combination. When I mentioned this dream to Mark Stairwalt, he suggested that the locker might be a subconscious...[Read More]
Gwen McKay on 01/12/11 | 6 Comments | Read More
I remember hearing those words a lot as a child. “Just be yourself.” I would hear those words when we moved and I had to make new friends. I heard those words again when I started taking int...[Read More]
Stephanie Allen Crist on 01/11/11 | No Comments | Read More
The Role of Reading for Introverts and Extroverts
To extroverts an activity such as sitting alone for extended periods reading books seems like torture. Certainly, plenty of extroverts read books, but it’s mainly filler for odd moments when ther...[Read More]
Zygmunt on 01/10/11 | No Comments | Read More
Nut grafs or otherwise relevant excerpts from entries which appeared last year at this time. • • • • • • • • 2010 • The Tao of the Alarm Clock I might ...[Read More]
Mark Stairwalt on 01/10/11 | No Comments | Read More
Reclaiming Memory: Searching for Great-Aunt Sarah
In 2009, while searching Ancestry.com for new information to add to my family genealogy, I discovered the existence of a relative about whom no one in the family had ever spoken. She was my paternal g...[Read More]
Rachel Cohen-Rottenberg on 01/7/11 | 5 Comments | Read More
Allen Frances gave us the Asperger’s “epidemic” — just like Al Gore gave us the Internet
NPR ran a story yesterday about the controversy over the exclusion of Asperger’s from the DSM-V. The story did not really cover the controversy so much as provide a platform for Allen Frances to ...[Read More]
Sarah Schneider on 01/6/11 | 4 Comments | Read More
Over the holidays, I spent some time reading a popular book that I got as a Christmas gift: Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. It’s about the author’s experiences of spiritual growth and self...[Read More]
Gwen McKay on 01/5/11 | 2 Comments | Read More
The Purpose of An Introvert Civilization
One who is perpetually immersed in society takes all of its features for granted and tends not to perceive the forest for all the trees. It takes one who is introverted to remove from the tumult an...[Read More]
Nut grafs or otherwise relevant excerpts from entries which appeared last year at this time. • • • • • • • • 2010 • Neurodiversity, Primary Process and...[Read More]
Mark Stairwalt on 01/3/11 | No Comments | Read More
