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Just Be Yourself

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 intere... [Read More]

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 there�... [Read More]

on 01/10/11 | No Comments | Read More

A Year Ago at Shift Journal

Nut grafs or otherwise relevant excerpts from entries which appeared last year at this time. • • • • • • • ... [Read More]

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]

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 pr... [Read More]

on 01/6/11 | 4 Comments | Read More

Exploring Time

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]

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 and t... [Read More]

on 01/3/11 | 1 Comment | Read More

A Year Ago at Shift Journal

Nut grafs or otherwise relevant excerpts from entries which appeared last year at this time. • • • • • • • ... [Read More]

on 01/3/11 | No Comments | Read More

Our Christmas - Some Things Never Change

Hubby and I have had some all-autistic Christmas Days, and also some Christmases in the company of non-autistic people (or to be completely correct, non-autists and an autist who has unsuccessfully de... [Read More]

on 12/31/10 | 3 Comments | Read More

Does Christmas Miss the Mark?

I am going to try not to stress too much in this article how silly I think Christmas is, holidays in general, and New Years eve most of all. The fact of the matter is, here in the western hemisphere, ... [Read More]

on 12/31/10 | No Comments | Read More

The Anthropology of Nerd Societies (IV)

An examination of nerds and their surrounding environment is by necessity a study in anthropology. In this situation an entirely new society with different if not directly conflicting values forms wit... [Read More]

on 12/31/10 | No Comments | Read More

The Anthropology of Nerd Societies (III)

Nerds possess a great deal of knowledge, some of which makes them highly competitive in the workplace. However, they tend to lack people skills and have more trouble than average doing well at intervi... [Read More]

on 12/30/10 | No Comments | Read More

The Anthropology of Nerd Societies (II)

Nerds are a phenomenon that results from the structure of Western industrialized civilization. It is in this society that children spend most of their time around other kids in their age group rather ... [Read More]

on 12/29/10 | No Comments | Read More

The Anthropology of Nerd Societies: Formation of New Group Identities Within Industrialized Civilization (I)

It is not uncommon that those immersed in the culture of sci fi and twenty sided dice are subjected to a high degree of skepticism and even outright disgust. It strikes many as strange and even offens... [Read More]

on 12/28/10 | No Comments | Read More

The Ones Who Make a Brighter Day

The story continues, and it just gets more magical. In the days that followed my meeting with Bud’s classmates, every afternoon yielded a new surprise as I unpacked Bud’s backpack and unearthed th... [Read More]

on 12/27/10 | No Comments | Read More

A Year Ago at Shift Journal

Nut grafs or otherwise relevant excerpts from entries which appeared last year at this time. • • • • • • • ... [Read More]

on 12/27/10 | No Comments | Read More

Did the Autistic Cohort Beget Wikileaks?

It’s been said that analogy is the weakest form of logic, to which I’ve always wanted to reply, “And Hallelujah for it.” If analogy is the red-headed stepchild of logicians it finds its true ... [Read More]

on 12/24/10 | 14 Comments | Read More

How far can autistic culture develop without excluding neurotypical people? (Redux)

How far can autistic culture develop without excluding neurotypical people? For many years I have been married (to the same guy). It’s obvious to me that we are both on the autistic spectrum, even ... [Read More]

on 12/23/10 | No Comments | Read More

Why people with Aspergers seem so awkward around others

Non-autistic people or neurotypicals see safety in numbers. We see threat. Unless we are shipwrecked and have been floating at sea in a dinghy for four days with no food we don’t see safety in othe... [Read More]

on 12/23/10 | 2 Comments | Read More

More to Ask, More to Tell

I got an email from President Obama on Saturday; it was one of the periodic updates he sends out to his mailing list of campaign supporters. In announcing the repeal of the Don’t Ask, Don’... [Read More]

on 12/22/10 | 3 Comments | Read More

Introverts: Creatures of the Night

“You’re looking tired.” “You look like you just got up.” “Why don’t you go to bed earlier.” These are frequent comments an introvert hears in the morning at work/school/whatever place ... [Read More]

on 12/21/10 | 2 Comments | Read More

Survival in the Void

For one who begins life beneath the surface of the Main Stream of social conventions, there is the constant problem of Human Interaction Deficiency, a chronic source of pain that makes functioning in ... [Read More]

on 12/21/10 | 1 Comment | Read More

Wrapping Up and Moving On

I wrapped up my presentation by thanking the kids for inviting me in to talk with them, and I asked if they had any questions. “Is ‘The Upside Down Show’ a real show?” Noelle asked. “It sure... [Read More]

on 12/20/10 | No Comments | Read More

A Year Ago at Shift Journal

Nut grafs or otherwise relevant excerpts from entries which appeared last year at this time. • • • • • • • ... [Read More]

on 12/20/10 | No Comments | Read More

A Haunting Photo

I want to share a photo of my father. In the photo, he is about eight or nine years old, and he’s kneeling behind his younger twin siblings. Except for a photo taken of him as an infant, it’s the ... [Read More]

on 12/17/10 | 2 Comments | Read More

Redirection

I am reading through the parent handbook provided by our son’s speech therapist and I reach the section that begins, “Autistic children do not know how to play.” Although I cringe when I read st... [Read More]

on 12/16/10 | 2 Comments | Read More

Working

Fargo, North Dakota, August 2163 Like many people these days, Callie Forsyth was a telecommuter. She went to work by means of a virtual reality interface, its precise connections to her brain making ... [Read More]

on 12/15/10 | 2 Comments | Read More

Rulers of Celephais

There was once a story by H.P. Lovecraft that particularly stirred me. It was about a man who ruled over a fantastic kingdom in his mind yet seemed a half-mad beggar to all those who saw him fumbling ... [Read More]

on 12/14/10 | No Comments | Read More

With a Little Help from My Friends

“The last question that many of you asked,” I said, “was my favorite question: How can I help? “I’ve already given you some ideas – talking slowly, giving Bud lots of time to answer questi... [Read More]

on 12/13/10 | No Comments | Read More

A Year Ago at Shift Journal

Nut grafs or otherwise relevant excerpts from entries which appeared last year at this time. • • • • • • • ... [Read More]

on 12/13/10 | No Comments | Read More

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