Went to the block manager because I have concerns about paying service costs, what to do when something in my place falls apart, etc. He said he didn’t know about service costs so I should go to the SSHN main office for this, and didn’t comment on the something falling apart question. Then, he went [...]
Archive for August, 2007
Block Manager Frustration
Posted in Independent Living, Personal on August 30, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
College and Autism Update and Musings about Having a Dual Disability
Posted in Autism, Blindness, College / University, Personal on August 29, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
Went to university today for another meeting for autistic students and their buddies. This time, it was meant to get started the process of the buddy system. I had to fill out a checklist of things I might have problems with, so Andrea (who is my buddy) can see what I need help with. I [...]
Why Perseverations Aren’t So Bad After All
Posted in Autism on August 28, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
Too often, psychiatrists and other professionals working with autistics believe that having perseverations is a bad thing. In the DSM-IV, this autistic trait is worded as an “encompassing preoccupation with one or more stereotyped and restricted patterns of interest that is abnormal either in intensity or focus”. Consequently, many parents and professionals believe they should [...]
Some Updates on University and Living in Nijmegen
Posted in Behavioral Difficulties, College / University, Independent Living, Personal on August 24, 2007 | 1 Comment »
This past week was quite difficult despite the fact that everyone’s been trying their best to help me get through it. On Monday, I had my first day of freshman introduction, which at first went quite well but then it turned out I’d bought the wrong book for one course, so I freaked out at [...]
College and Autism Informational Meeting
Posted in Autism, College / University, Personal on August 20, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
Yesterday, I went to university for an informational meeting about going to college with an autism spectrum disorder. At first, a person from an autism agency talked about what problems students with autism might face, from a kind of medicalized, theoretical point of view. Even so, it was an interesting talk. After this, a woman [...]
I’m in Malden over the Week-End
Posted in Independent Living, Personal on August 17, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
So, I’m in a living facility in Malden near Nijmegen and will stay here over the week-end. The reason is that last week went very badly and I seriously freaked out, most seriously yesterday. This is likely partly cause I decreased my risperdal dosage cause of those panic attack like symptoms, and partly cause of [...]
Hidden Autistic Intelligence
Posted in Autism on August 14, 2007 | 2 Comments »
In this week’s Newsweek, there’s a report about autistics showing higher IQs when given a non-interactive test than on the standard Wechsler scale. This means that autistics may be labeled retarded because they don’t show their intelligence on a Wechsler IQ test, when actually the problem is their lack of social interaction. Consequently, [...]
Type the Italic Text into the Box to Prove You Aren’t a Robot… or Blind
Posted in Autism, Blindness, Disability Advocacy on August 7, 2007 | 6 Comments »
I’m used to visual word verifications by now. Usually, I avoid websites that have them on their member registration or content submission pages. I stopped attempting to create Yahoo! groups for this reason – and mine are never particularly active anyway -, and join them via E-mail, cause I still haven’t figured out how their [...]
Girl Put in Timeout for 3 1/2 Hours
Posted in Autism, Disability Advocacy, Special Education on August 6, 2007 | 1 Comment »
An autistic child was placed in a timeout room for 3 1/2 hours and it’s wondered whether this is appropriate. Well, no! As several experts in the article say, while timeout can be effective, there is no point in placing a child in seclusion for more than half an hour. Besides, the child repeatedly tried [...]
