Has anyone here known an autistic person?

[drumwolf]

And what was that person like? How did he/she behave, manage to function, etc.?

[redqueen]

1. I've known a few

One is only very mildly autistic, and he's a pretty damn good mechanical engineer. One is my neighbor's daughter, and she is very limited due to being pretty badly afflicted.

[No2W2004]

2. My brother is autisitc.

He's 31 and lives at home with our mom and dad. He can take care of his basic needs, and as long as his schedual isn't interupted behaves like anyone else. He is totally closed off to us, and there isn't any kind of relationship with him. He just doesn't relate to the rest of us. He will never be able to live alone, as he can't do things like pay bills, drive a car, or get himself any help he might need.

He is truly in his own world even if he is sitting next to you.

[Demobrat]

5. You just described my brother perfectly.

He will say a few words to me, though, once he gets used to me, since I'm not around much now but did spend a lot of time with him as a child. He's eight years younger than me, so I did a lot of child care. He functions very well on a daily basis, takes two buses to his "job" every day, and can even read a little, if it's something he cares about, like fast food menus or the TV guide when he wants to know when his favorite show comes on. He's a very sweet man who has never, to my knowledge, ever hurt a fly.

[notadmblnd]

3. My son's best f riend has a brother who is autistic

he is about 18 years old. His behaviour is erratic, he expects a certian order of things and when things are out of order he becomes upset. As an example, his mother and he were at my house one day (this kid is obsessed with computers and music), so while we were visiting I let the boy sit at my computer to keep him occupied. Well he expected his ISP service and when he could not reach it in his normal manner, he started getting excited and his mother has to calm him down. Sometimes he wanders off and on more than one occasion his family has had to search for him. Sometimes he goes down to the gas station and takes things (apparently he has no concept of money) and his little brother will have to take money down to pay for the things that were taken. The owner is understanding and aware of Theos special needs. I fear for Theo if something happens outside of our immediate neighborhood, others might not be so understanding.

I worry about Theo and his parents, they're starting to get old. I often wonder what will happen to him when his parents are dead and gone. Theo has a little brother and an older sister who is currently in college. I wonder if it is fair that their lives will be more difficult because they will need to provide constant supervision for Theo when their parents are dead and gone.

I asked his mother once if this was always Theos condition, She told me that he appeared to be a normal baby until he was about two or three. I asked her if she thought immunizations had anything to do woth the changes in Theos behavior. She said she does belive that they did have something to do with it.

[Brotherjohn]

8. The CDC states that "The weight of currently available scientific ...

... evidence does not support the hypothesis that vaccines cause autism."

Autism's causes are unknown at this point. As a result, parents want to latch onto a "blame factor" in an attempt to understand why their children are not "normal". It is only natural that they will look to things that happpened to their child around the same time they started to realize something was not right.

[Sticky]

4. My foster child has autism

She's lived with me for 9 years. There are been many Diagnoses over the years but the final DX is Pervasive Developmental Disorder.

She has a few strange behaviours but most of them are easy to live with.
Most of her problems are social. In her comfort zone she's fine but the anxiety of new surroundings and unfamiliar faces can cause her to become overly stimulated. We do our best to prepare her for new experiences and avoid spontaneity whenever possible.

She's a smart, well-rounded and funny individual who keeps our household fun and happy. She will never be our definition of normal but she can be her own brand of normal and that's fine.

http://www.nichcy.org/pubs/factshe/fs1txt.htm

[Brotherjohn]

6. Depends on the severity, as evidenced by the first two posts.

One works successfully at a job, and the other could never, and cannot even relate to his family in a normal way.

My nephew has classic autism (he is 8). The best we hope for him is that he might someday be able to hold some sort of very limited job. But more likely, he'll need to live at home (or a garage apartment, for example) and rely on family for a great amount of day-to-day assistance. On the plus side, though, he is very capable of relating and expressing feeling. He just has his own way of doing it, and often does drift off into his own world.

My son (4) has Asperger's Syndrome, which some classify as a very mild form of high-functioning autism. He has many many quirks, and obsessive behaviors. He has trouble communicating and is prone to fits where he bites, pinches, etc. But school and therapy (speech, PT, OT) has done wonders for him. Our hope is that he will simply grow up to be, well, quirky (aren't we all?). But were it not for early intervention, it is likely that he would likely be more like his cousin now.

The good news is that today, with better and earlier treatment and recognition, fewer people with autism spectrum disorders will grow up to be like the example in the second post (or like Dustin Hoffman's character in "Rainman"). But the key is EARLY INTERVENTION, and pursue ALL treatments available to you. It is easy to think your child will "grow out of it" and that they're just a "late bloomer", until it's too late. If your doctor(s) are telling you something else might be going on, LISTEN. Of course, educate yourself and make sure your doctor knows what they're doing, too.

[No2W2004]

10. good points there,

Early diagnosis and early childhood development programs are key.

When my parents first noticed that something was wrong, they saw Dr. after Dr. This was the early 70s and few had even heard of autism. It was 2 years before he was even diagnosed, and then few people could say how to help him. My mom and dad had to fight for everything he was entitled to. With School districts, with govt. agencies, with doctors. He was mainstreamed into school, and did fine with a very limited schedule. He can talk, he can write, he can do mathmatics, but can't relate to you on the most basic level. Anything that takes any kind of abstact thought is beyond his grasp. He is obsessed with game shows, and maintains a ridgid schedule. The only time he gets upset is when this schedule is messed up.

One thing I will say is the current "explosion" of cases. I feel that this is due more to classifying more mental conditions as autism then an actual rise in autism. I've met people classified as autistic who were in no way anything like what I know as autistic.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

7. My mother taught SEVERELY autistic kids for 10 years

They were mostly unresponsive to just about everything.

[Brotherjohn]

9. A more specific response to your question, though...

People with autism spectrum disorders like STRUCTURE. They like things to be organized and defined. They DO NOT like to be thrown curveballs.

They like LOW STIMULATION environments.

They can be VERY obsessive.

They can be (and often are) very intelligent. They simply have problems using that intelligence in practical ways.

They often go off into their "own world". This is not because they can't see or hear you. The problem with autism seems to be a problem with communication, between the autistic person and the outside world. They do not see/hear/feel the way we do, and as a result, they communicate in very different ways. They try, but it can be very frustrating for THEM (not just for us). A way to view it is they are on Mars, trying to communicate with us on Earth. They WANT to. It is simply difficult for them.

[regularguy]

11. My wife's cousin has severe Autism.

Doesn't communicate or engage in any sort of interaction at all. His parents are living saints to me. They just deal one day at a time and manage to create as normal a family as possible under the circumstances. The problem is now that he's older (and stronger) he's becoming quite a handful.

A woman I work with has a son whose Autism is much less severe. He just seems a little goofy and a little immature.

[Raven]

12. Severely autistic son of a good friend.

He is 16 now. Cannot be toilet trained, does not use utencils when he eats. Does not speak coherantly...he perciverates(sp?) ...says certain words over and over. He is also manic/depressive and obsessive/compulsive. He is about 6'4", 250 pounds and can become violent when his schedule is upended or when the weather changes or when the menia takes over. He is very sensitive to touch, sound and light and he is also very sensitive to drugs.

My friends kept him at home until last year. He is now in a group home in a nearby town and he is doing quite well there. I knew him when he was a baby and for the first 18 months or so, he seemed perfectly normal. Then he began to withdraw. When he learned to speak he would repeat the names of cars over and over again. He knew the name of every car on the planet (savant?). His baby drawings were also incredibly detailed. I remember one of a forest where he had every vein of every leaf drawn in in beautiful detail.

This boy was not finally diagnosed until he was about three years old.

Autism used to be blamed on the "refrigerator mother". It was thought that the mother had failed to bond with and nurture the baby. It was also considered a "mental" disorder. Now it is recognized that the condition is due to neurological causes and is a physical condition that manifests itself in many different ways. There has been a huge increase in the number of children diagnosed with some form of autism. Some people blame the environment, some think that these children are not aborted because the condition cannot be detected before birth.

Sorry for the length of this!

[KamaAina]

13. Uh, yeah, half of DU

Who knew? That crazy guy from Hawai'i -- no, not Opihi, silly, the other one -- has autism. :hi:

What is that person like? How does he behave? How does he manage to function?

Well, at Yale, he managed to function quite a bit better than, let's say, George W. Bush '68; he made cum laude while Bush* piled up the C's. He is also the chair of a state council relating to developmental disability (and was re-appointed to said council by the same repuke governor he savages so heavily on these pages!)

How does he behave? Rather rudely, if repukes are around, but otherwise only slightly standoffish, particularly to males. Females are generally seen as worth approaching, unless they're Ann Coulter, Lynne Cheney, Mary Matalin, etc. He cannot memorize anybody's RBI stats from 1954, or count cards or toothpicks, or tell you what day of the week June 11, 2056 will be, however. Advice: Do not sneak up behind him in his cubicle, 'specially if he's posting to DU when he probably shouldn't be, like now. :-)

What is he like? Good question. The Socratic dictum is perhaps harder for him to follow than most. He loves cats, who were his friends many years before humans were; he reads extensively (just finished a William Gibson/Bruce Sterling collaboration, "The Difference Engine"; time to work on "Dude, Where's My Country?" next); he used to listen to music up through about the grunge period, after which the corporate noise became unbearable. He's constantly poring over maps, almanacs, etc., in an effort to find some kind of opening for the Big Score.

Disclaimer: Obviously this individual is not representative of all people with autism. I have even met some people with autism who are die-hard repukes! Having had quite a bit of experience at a school and day program back in NYC that served people with more typical forms of autism (whatever that means), I can tell you that there's a lot of talent and potential out there that's not being utilized because we're seen as simply too "different". Sound familiar?

[drumwolf]

14. autistic kids and repugs.....

Funny you should mention autism and being a Republican. There was one article in the San Francisco Chronicle about the life of an autistic young man. Before he was born, his parents were Reagan Republicans (the family lives in California's Central Valley, which is pretty heavily right-wing), but they were turned into liberals by their ordeal.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/07/27/LV278056.DTL&type=news

Yes, Jay is unapologetically liberal. It reflects his family's political leanings. But he doesn't just parrot the family line. "No," his brother, Jon, 21, says, "he's more liberal than us. I listen to his crackpot political theories."

Jay's autism - and the family's long fight to get even a modicum of social and educational services for their son - has transformed both Central Valley-reared parents from Reagan Republicans to activist Democrats. It shows how Jay's autism has affected all aspects of family life.

"We gave up on religion after Jay was born," Julie said. "We'd go to church and people would tell us, "It's God's will that Jay's this way.' Bull.... If that's the way God works, we can't stick with that faith."

[ceile]

15. I work with one

She shreds our confidential documents. She functions well. Sometimes what she says makes no sense, but then she'll tell you how old you are and when your birthday is. She has a great memory for repeating what people say (careful what you say around her). But she can't go out alone, ride the bus, etc.

[TrogL]

16. I have Asperger's Syndrome

...a form of autism.

I function just fine until I get into a heavy duty social situation where I haven't memorized the script, or one of my obsessions goes over the edge.