AlleghenyAlmanac

Yes they can!

Startling new evidence that politicians are capable of learning about autism, even in adulthood:

 

Try to overlook the many mistakes they make. They have come a long way and should be encouraged to keep trying. I think each time they focus on this they get a little better and should actually be up to speed with everyone else with plenty of repetition. Remember, this is a novel situation for them and it is expected they will be a little uncoordinated and stumble a little. It is important not to overdo the negative reinforcement when working with them. Emphasize positive reinforcement and things will certainly improve!

Politicians represent an untapped intellectual potential and with the proper environment and understanding I believe they will come a long way toward becoming productive members of society. Already many of them have retired and gone on to independent living without a large support staff to drive them to appointments, make phone calls for them, and help them with their grooming and daily nutrition. Several have written best-selling books, becoming financially emancipated. Nothing is more inspiring than seeing a former politician earning a living and paying his own bills. We can, and should, do this with as many politicians as possible.

The biggest hurdle at the present time is the great cost of educating and training them. Each politician requires millions and millions of dollars of government money in order to function as responsible members of society.

And they still get into trouble because of our misunderstandings. Some actually end up costing the taxpayers even more when they go to jail.

I recommend that incentives be introduced that will encourage family members to take part in the effort to minimize this extravagant and nearly prohibitive cost to the American taxpayer. Education like this may require close one-on-one work that sometimes amounts to round-the-clock, 24/7 care and family members may be in the best position to provide this at a much reduced cost.

Politicians cannot be "cured" and efforts to get them to stop running for office and creating frustrating legislation are probably futile. But this doesn't mean we should give up. If we believe in them and keep working with them regardless of the setbacks, chances are greatly improved that the politician you love and admire will someday emerge and make an important contribution to our society.

Yes, politicians are obnoxious and usually a nuisance to have around. We need to see beneath this and start working with them, rather than against them.

This should be a coordinated national program. The EEAAS estimates that there may be more than 2 million politicians in the United States alone. That means that 1 in every 150 persons is affected, not counting registered voters.

Aspergians are blessed

Jason McElwain scores 20 points in his first basketball game.

Read a review written by Aspergian John Robison of Jason McElwain's biography

While autism may limit or impede certain neurological pathways (see the post called "Alien Autopsy") there may be a compensatory development in specific abilities and talents. For example, Einstein had a small brain, except for one part on the left side that had a higher density of neurons and many more glial cells per neuron than average.  Up to now, we have called this talent  "idiot savant."  I  think this is hogwash, because even though we are saying the person is a savant we are also calling him an idiot.  There is no way these people are idiots!

If a severely autistic person shows remarkable skill at chess, for example, it means he may be capable of more, probably much, much more. We just haven't learned how to teach him. This might be because most autistics are self-learners, no pun intended. A better approach might be to "develop" them, rather than using traditional teaching methods which may be effective with neurotypicals, but can be mystifying to others. If Jason McElwain had never had a basketball to play with, he never would have developed this skill. If a savant chess player was never exposed to a chess board, how would he ever develop this skill? And rather than first insisting on proper socialization, should we first encourage the discovery of talents and then use this as a gateway to socialization? I think we need to ask ourselves if we are treating the autistic or the just the people around the autistic.

One approach might be to learn what the autistic does well, on his own, and then removing any barriers that might be in his way to develop this ability.

Many parents have been told in the past that their autistic children will never talk. This frequently turns out not to be the case. Appearances and rates of development can be deceiving when autistic children are compared to the rest of the population. Abnormality in development does not always equal pathology and does not always mean a poor prognosis. Benign abnormalities should be tolerated, despite our inability to understand them.

Please don't cure this man!

Neurotypicals see this as pathology. The Nobel Prize Committee sees it as advancing the human race.

From the Dept. of Humor: A guy was giving his girlfriend a ride on his motorcycle. "It's awful cold with all the wind," she told him. He pulled the bike over and gave her his black leather jacket. "Put it on backwards so the collar will keep your neck warm," he told her. She put the  jacket on backwards and  he zipped  up  the jacket on her back so it would fit nice and snug. They got back on the motorcycle and roared off around a mountain curve.  Suddenly a big truck swerved into their path and the guy and the girl ran straight into it. They were thrown violently by the collision. A reporter asked one of the emergency pesonnel about the fatalities. "The motorcycle driver was killed instantly," he said. "What about the passenger?" the reporter asked. "Oh, she was fine--until we turned her head around."