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Articles to Read if You Think You Have Aspergers

Submitted by Landon Bryce on Sun, 11/14/2010 - 06:35
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There is no shortage of good articles and short essays about autism. You can come back to this site every day and find interesting pieces about people on the autism spectrum and the challenges of our lives. The articles I'm listing here are ones that I have found most helpful and inspiring.

Click here to read my recommendations.

Exclusive: First Autistic Presidential Appointee Speaks Out by Steve Silberman

We need to stop making autism advocacy about trying to create a world where there aren’t any autistic people, and start building one in which autistic people have the rights and support they deserve. That’s the goal of groups like ASAN, Autism Network International, and of the neurodiversity movement as a whole.

Ari Ne'eman is the most eloquent speaker for the autistic civil rights movement; Steve Silberman is the journalist who best understands autism.  This article is essential reading.

Click here to read it.

Are Aspies Capable of Love? by Gavin Bollard

The sad thing about this is that in an NT/Aspie relationship, since neither partner has the same view of love, they give eachother what they need, instead of what their partner needs. Aspies don't need unwavering respect and commitment, they need smiles and hugs. Of course, when the aspie greets/reassures his or her partner with a smile and a hug instead of words/promises and kisses they're likely to offend. The same is true for NT partners who shout or scowl a lot.

This entry from Gavin's blog Life with Aspergers is the wisest and most useful thing I have read about love and autism.

Click here to read the rest.

Parallel Play by Tim Page

We are informally referred to as “Aspies,” and if we are not very, very good at something we tend to do it very poorly. Little in life comes naturally—except for our random, inexplicable, and often uncontrollable gifts—and, even more than most children, we assemble our personalities unevenly, piece by piece, almost robotically, from models we admire. (I remember the deliberate decision to appropriate one teacher’s mischievous grin and darting eyes, which I found so charming that I thought they might work for me, too.)
 

Tim Page is a brilliant critic who has Aspergers.  This essay, even better than his book-length extension of it, explore the isolations and the joys of his unique, but typically Aspergian, mind.

Click here to read the essay.