Tag Archives: activism

Mister Spock, Autism, and How My Logic Ruined the Magic of Christmas

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Now before I go on with this blog post I need to put up a rather big disclaimer. I do not think Spock is on the spectrum and nor will this blog post be used to try to prove that. Also, please forgive me for any inaccuracies in my part of trying to describe Spock and the Star Trek universe, I rarely watched the series and these observations are based more on the recent movies. I do however believe there are some uncanny similarities between his logic driven through process and the thought process of someone on the spectrum. Now die hard Star Trek fans who understand some of the challenges of a person with Autism will instantly know what comparisons I’m going to make but to those who don’t understand, allow me to elaborate. In Star Trek, the character of Spock is half human and half Vulcan. Spock however develops based on his Vulcan heritage. His race suppresses all emotion in favor of logic. Logic drives their thoughts and their actions and how they approach situations. Spock is no different in this regard and his logic based approach to various challenges drive certain plot lines in the series as well as his interactions and relationships with the rest of the cast. Continue reading →

Those Days Where Your Best Doesn’t Feel Like it’s Good Enough

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So one day I’m at an arcade playing DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) and as usual, a crowd forms around me because it isn’t everyday that they see people who could move so fast with such precision. When the song is said and done with, everyone applauds and is totally floored by my performance. Everyone is in awe and people think it’s the greatest thing they’ve seen. Everyone watching believes it was incredibly stellar, everyone except me. You see, every seems to be in awe that I managed to hit about 490/500+ steps in one song. I on the other hand am in awe that I missed those ten arrows and should have been able to hit them. While everyone is in awe about what they just saw, I’m sitting there analyzing EVERYTHING I did wrong. There is no longer “I did the best I could”, there is only “that totally sucked, I can do so much better, that was pathetic”. In those moments I realized that I ‘m perfectionist and that I seem t never take what I can get. Continue reading →

Holding Onto Anger is like Drinking Poison and Expecting the Other Person to Die

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A wise person once said that “Holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die”. What would happen if despite some of your best efforts there are times where  you can’t help but continue to take sips of that poison because long after the fact you’ve been hurt, the memory can sometimes drive you mad, it stares you in your face like a nasty scar. The wound maybe closed but the memories will always remain. You continue to sip that poison because some days the memory hurts so badly that you feel as if the crime justifies the hate. Continue reading →

That Thing Where I Get Too Focused On A Task

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Imagine that you’re watching a really good movie or maybe you’re engrossed in a really good novel. Maybe all your attention is on your significant other or maybe you’re engaged in a task the requires all of your attention like fixing something or assembling it. Maybe you’re at work and you would hope that should anyone decide to call you between the hours of 9-5 that it’s going to be something worth putting aside a task for. You’re so far into whatever zone or moment you’re in that any distraction such as a phone call or someone who completely disregards the fact that you’re completely occupied is enough for you to get extremely frustrated because either the said distraction has now taken you out of the zone of mental focus you so desperately required to complete your task efficiently or instead of progressing the said movie or book or even video game you’ve been putting so much energy into you’re now completely thrown out of what ever zone of immersion that made the experience enjoyable. Maybe it was a phone call, maybe someone came storming into whatever room you were in and become enough of a distraction to completely kill what ever moment you were in and in those moments a part of you knows damn well that if what ever someone blatantly killed your focus for isn’t urgent, important, relevant, or time sensitive enough to warrant taking you out of your zone, you’re all of a sudden a hair a away from giving them the dirtiest look you’ve ever given anyone in years and maybe even getting annoyed if this be comes too much of a common re-occurrence. Amplify this focus feeling of annoyance when the said focus is broken and you have my complex and sometimes whacked out mind. Continue reading →

That Place Where Everyone Is Just As Broken As You

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WARNING: SOME STRONG LANGUAGE! READER DISCRETION IS ADVISED!

Ugh, it’s that time again, that time that comes every one to three months where I have to take the walk of shame but to where you ask? It’s sometimes the last place you’d like to be, especially when it because the reason you’re there in the first place involves a rather sensitive issue that I’ve covered in a few blogs. As you take that walk you try to recount where you’ve been emotionally the last few months and if you happen to encounter any “triggers” in your travels through the minefield known as life. It is in those moments this you remember that once again it’s time to see your psychiatrist.
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The Hoarders of Sometimes Useless Knowledge

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You ever work with someone on the Autism spectrum only to find out they they seem to obsess over that one thing, that one thing that they just can’t go without talking about that is of far more importance to them than it is to you, that one thing that after hearing about for a while you’ll want to blow your brains out yet you’ll hear us talk about it long after you’ve blown your brains out?

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Does Autism Speaks Really Speak for me? #2: Obviously Not and Today they Gave Me a New Reason Why….

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They say nothing says momentum, milking, and capitalizing on acclaim and attention like making a sequel to your critically acclaimed work. Nothing says ‘Highly Anticipated” like making a sequel to a highly praised movie or a multi-platinum album. Just recently, Eminem released a sequel to his critically acclaimed “The Marshall Mathers LP” and album that made parents everywhere cringe, an album I begged my mother for with no success, an album that I had to sneak into my house in the form of a burnt copy thanks to the dawn of commercially available CD burners in that day. Movie studios are notorious for making sequels for the sake of capitalizing on a films success however, few will make sequels for the sake of expanding a universe that has a lot of potential to grow and most importantly, resolve any conflicts that were unresolved in the previous film.

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Life Seems to Have this Sick Way of Not Allowing Room for Error

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Okay show of hands, Who watches Parenthood and most importantly who watched this week’s episode? For those who do watch the show and for those who did watch Thursday’s episode then you probably already have an idea what this blog is going to be about but for those who don’t watch the show here’s a bit of a synopsis. Parenthood follows four siblings and their individual families each with their own unique dynamics and predicaments. Now one of those families has a teenager named Max who has Aspergers and though this isn’t the central focus of the entire show, Max does contribute heavily to a decent amount of the central plot lines in the series. Max is somewhat of a texbook Aspie (routine dependent, oblivious to social cues, has trouble coping with drastic change, hyperfocused in a particular subject for him being reptiles, very literal in how he conveys and receives information, and has no filter). Continue reading →

But If Autism Doesn’t Look Like the Kid that Drools or that Kid With the Blank Stare, What DOES it Look Like?

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It’s been a while since the last time I delivered a masterpiece in the form of a blog post. I have spent the last week and a half recovering from a cold but I’m back and ready to kick ass and take names, in a figurative sort of way. Now the purpose of this blog has always been to change the way we as a society look at Autism but this post is really going to change the way you look at the disorder. This post will take everything you know about Autism and completely shatter it into more pieces than the hardest jigsaw puzzle you’ve ever done. Now in the much older post “You’re Autistic? But You’re So Smart…” I ranted about the way Autism is presented to those may be unfamiliar with the disorder or need to be told what to look for. Now in that blog post I put The May Institute on blast for the portrayal of Autism in a rather PSA that goes viral on the MBTA trains during Autism Awareness month and beyond. Those who ride the trains or are anywhere in Boston will know exactly what I’m talking about but for those who don’t, here is are some visuals. Continue reading →

Hold On, So You’re Saying I Made a Difference In Your Child’s Life? Nah, You Must Have the Wrong Person.

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For the longest time I never really thought of myself beyond just another person floating around on this planet just living life. I never really went out of my way to make a difference in anyone’s life. I woke up, played video games, watched tv, watched movies, occasionally went out and when the summer came, I worked as a camp counselor at Easter Seals Explorers Camp. I never went above and beyond, I just did what was expected so you would understand why I was so baffled to find out recently that I was the reason one of our former campers decided to become a counselor or that I’m the reason why a camper I had from the previous year wanted to come back and even went as far as telling his mother and our ABA therapist that as long as I was there then everything would be fine. Continue reading →