Editorial #270: Boston Bombing – An Act of Cowardice

Autism Politico thinks the Boston bombing was an act of cowardice.

Everything about it was cowardly. The perpetrator(s) snuck the bombs onto the marathon route, he, she or they hid the bombs, and then he, she, or they snuck away.

Possibly, to the person or persons who orchestrated this massacre, they justify this act to themselves by believing it’s an act of asymmetrical warfare in response to some perceived affront.

If this was an act of foreign terrorism, the terrorists ought to consider that there are venues for solving ideological differences, and one of them is in something called a discussion. However, it should also be noted that  governments generally discuss ideological differences with other governments, not with groups of people who live under the auspices of a government. Thus if foreign terrorists are responsible for this attack, and if they are not state sponsored, then technically they have no right to speak for anyone but themselves, and they are unlikely to be received by any other government than their own. If a door gets slammed in their face when they ask for an audience with the US, that’s the way it works.

If this is an act of domestic terrorism, the act not only demonstrates cowardice, but a lack of respect for the will of the majority. If the government is doing something that upsets an individual, or a group of individuals, that individual or group of individuals is given means by law which allows them to take their grievances to the government, and challenge the government. If they are too lazy to make the challenge, that is their fault. If they make the challenge and lose, that is the way it works under the system of government in the United States.

Even so, recourses still exist. They can lawfully change the system of government, they can lawfully appeal the decisions made against them. And if they continually lose, they can like it or leave.

As autistics, we should all set an example for other people by behaving honorably, obeying the law, and respecting our appointed government officials. Not all autistics set such an example, however.

Autism Politico wonders why that is.

Replies to this editorial are welcome.

Editorial #264: The Dreaded DSM V

Autism Politico is aware that the DSM V is going to be revised. Soon, it will lump the five autism categories into one, thereby voiding previous diagnoses.

While we think this is an excellent way to get rid of people who don’t deserve to be spectrumized (such as people diagnosed by school psychologists for the purpose of getting funding for special needs students who are not really on the spectrum) our greater concern is about the people advocating for a reinstatement of the spectrum categories.

In looking at the self-diagnosed individuals who are in an uproar over this, Autism Politico thinks they should butt out. They haven’t been officially diagnosed yet, ergo nothing that happens in regard to the DSM V is of interest to them.

The good news for them is this: Now that the DSM V is introducing one broad sweeping category for autism, it should be easier than ever for self-diagnosed people to finally get diagnosed. If they fail to get a diagnosis once the DSM V goes into effect, then we can pretty much toss them off our radar for good, don’t you think?

Replies to this editorial are welcome.

 

 

Editorial #263: Holmes And Asperger Syndrome? Part II

The following is editorial satire meant to make people THINK about how silly they sound when they support both alleged criminal behavior and actual criminal behavior, and use a diagnosis (real or imagined) to justify those behaviors. In no way is anything written here meant to mock or make light of the actual crimes (alleged or proven in court to have taken place). If anything, it is meant to provide empathy and support to those who have been victims of criminal behavior.

Neither this editorial or the previous one are meant to make fun of a particular person or a particular segment of society.

Autism Politico

Dear Autism Politico readers… The breeze of letters that has found its way into our mailbox regarding the alleged mass-shooting by suspect James Holmes continues….

Dear Newspaper,

If accused shooting suspect James Holmes was a Brit, we wouldn’t extradite him either.

Signed, an avid Gary McKinnon supporter.

Dear Newspaper,

I am the founder and face of ASS. ASS stands for Aspies Against Sense. As the leader of this organization, it is my duty to write a letter in which I offer sympathy to the victims of James Holmes, deny that Holmes was an Aspie, and cry about the plight of media mis-representation about Asperger Syndrome on television.

As I write this, I know that I am a hypocrite. As soon as I send this letter off, I am going to go into Facebook and hint that there is a possibility that James Holmes was a member of my organization’s online forums, and then put up a link to those forums. I’m going to do this because I know it will draw new members to my organization.

Next, when a bunch of concerned parents and concerned Aspies on Facebook point out my hypocrisy, I am going to get a bunch of my organization’s members to cite them for “Spamming” so that Facebook will delete their accounts. After that, I am going to find out their offline names, home addresses, and home phones, and run a concentrated conspiracy to harass them and their children.

I am writing this letter publicly so that there is no doubt in the minds of my organization’s members as to where I truly stand even though I may APPEAR to stand in the opposite corner. I don’t need to do this, really. My hypocrisy has been in existence as long as my organization has been in existence. But, some of the people that belong to my organization have crap for brains, and might get confused if they feel I have shifted my mandate, which is, in a few short words: to bolster my own ego, and also to get people to hit their Paypal button and donate money to my own pocketbook.

Signed:

The President of ASS.

Dear Newspaper,

This is a letter which doesn’t actually say anything and is designed to make it look like people with my point of view have the majority opinion regarding the James Holmes shooting. If people like me spam your newspaper, our agenda will succeed.

Signed:

An ASS.

P.S. What’s your phone number? I want to call you.

Dear Newspaper,

I think it is important to explain why it is that we self-diagnosed Aspies react negatively when supposed educated readers cite facts and sources to support their arguments.

As you all know, whenever we -that is to say, people who are self-diagnosed, like myself- support mass shooting suspects, it’s because we can fall back on newspaper articles and editorials, where unqualified people have offered vague, unsubstantiated opinions, and we can draw on those opinions to support our arguments. And so, if some NBC commentator suggests that James Holmes is an Aspie, we sail in and support Holmes by saying such things as “In 2006, a newspaper article reported that, in a survey, a high percentage of Aspies become violent when feeling repressed by society and so we shouldn’t blame Holmes, but should blame society.”

And when we make that statement, we make it a point to avoid stating that the newspaper article wasn’t an article at all, but a letter to the editor, in which someone claiming to be an authority in the area of autism spectrum disorders made a statement without citing sources. Further, we fail to state that the person who wrote the letter was a member of an autistic advocacy organization, a person who never actually went to college, never studied autism spectrum disorders, was never diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder, but claims to be self-diagnosed on his or her blog.

Facts and sources are a threat to us because they cannot easily be disputed. How can we self-diagnosed Aspies collect enough money to fund a study that combats the hundreds of other studies which disprove our theories. Instead, we must meet these threats head-on by saying things that sound good, but are as tasty to our brains as air is to soft-serve ice-cream. If we SOUND intelligent, by using words such as “percent”, “article,” and “study” but never cite the source, or use the true value of the percentage, people won’t bother to look up our sources and percentages when REAL scientists and researchers cite REAL facts and give REAL percentages, because the soundbites that we have given sound sufficient.

For example: Which sounds better?

“In 2006, a newspaper article reported that, in a survey, a high percentage of Aspies become violent when feeling repressed by society, and so we shouldn’t blame Holmes, but should blame society.”

Or…

“In 2006 in the the Fowler’s Corner Gazette, a letter to the editor, written by Aspies Against Sense (ASS for short) stated that a phone survey among five ASS members resulted in one person saying that he became violent when feeling repressed by society, and so we shouldn’t blame Holmes, but should blame society.”

You people need to understand that we are selfish individuals who cannot accept what research really shows, and so when you quote the American Psychological Association at us, or the Centers for Disease Control, or the like, it’s really a problem for us because it threatens everything we hold dear.

If, for example, it can be demonstrated through studies that the majority of people with Asperger Syndrome grow up to find jobs, have relationships, purchase, homes, etc., it means that those of us who are too lazy to do any of the above can’t as easily ask for handouts from sappy ignorant fools like the kind who support our organization. It means that, unless we can continue to perpetuate negative stereotypes about ourselves, we will be forced to do what society does, i.e. go to school and get good grades, get jobs, get married, earn money, plan for our retirement, obey the law, obey society’s rules, etc.

And this is not something we like doing.

And so when someone like James Holmes goes on the rampage, this is why we try and leverage it to our advantage. In fact, just to make things more clear, we rage like maniacs because:

1) It perpetuates the idea that we are rude and don’t have empathy when we use a mass-shooting to leverage our own goals.
2) People might give us what we want, either out of fear, or out of pity.

Signed:

Someone who likes to abuse the system.

Dear Newspaper,

In 2006, a newspaper article reported that, in a survey, a high percentage of Aspies become violent when feeling repressed by society, and so we shouldn’t blame Holmes, but should blame society.”

Signed,

An ASS member.

Dear Newspaper,

James Holmes isn’t Aspie. Did Rainman ever go on a shooting spree and kill a dozen people? No. He can’t even make toast. Watch the movie, you putz.

Signed:

Yet another ASS.

Dear Newspaper,

All this stuff about James Holmes is causing people in my house to want to watch the TV. This cuts into my gaming time because my PS3 is wired to the television set.

So shut up already.

Signed:

A spectrumite (maybe).

Dear Newspaper,

For all you idiots who believe that World of Warcraft was responsible for James Holmes’s violent behavior and failure in some of life’s more common ventures, you should shut up.

I’m 29 years old and play World of Warcraft all the time. My recent job loss, my girlfriend walking out on me, my failing out of university… Those things were not related to World of Warcraft at all. I know this because those things all happened AFTER my mom took my video gaming access away from me last month, and threw me and my girlfriend out of the house last week.

To address the issue of violence…YES I’ve gotten angry with people, and maybe I shouldn’t have done some of the things I did last week, but my anger stems from my mother telling me that I have to start paying rent if I want to move back in and that she’s going to stop paying for my auto insurance no matter what. 

So it’s all separate. Don’t start blaming World of Warcraft.

Also, I’ve just been self-diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome, so quit picking on me. If you keep it up, I will sue you for discrimination on the basis of the fact that I’m handicapped…And only I can use the word handicapped, because that’s what I am, but if YOU use the word, it’s offensive and politically incorrect.    

Signed:

The King of Warcraft

Dear Newspaper,

Here’s a word of advice to anyone who has been charged with a crime. The time to use Asperger Syndrome as a defense is quickly running out. Originally, when AS was first used as a defense, 1 in 166 people had it. Now it’s down to 1 in 80 or so. Some even say 1 in 50.

Well, if the draw for a potential jury panel is 50, there is a 1 in 50 shot that one member of your jury panel might have AS. If that Aspie is a law-abiding citizen, you’re screwed, because that Aspie will KNOW that people with AS are perfectly capable of obeying the law.

Further, there’s a good chance that, with all these diagnoses going on, other jury members might know someone who has AS, in which case you are equally screwed, because THEY will have seen Aspies behaving lawfully. They will either know, or intuit that statistically speaking, the majority of AS people don’t commit crimes.

So, basically, if you’re using AS for your criminal behavior, you might want to consider another diagnosis. Maybe another rare mental health diagnosis.

Here’s some good news: The DSM V is coming out with some new diagnoses we’ve never heard of before. Choose from there.

Signed,

A convicted criminal who used AS as a defense.

Dear Newspaper,

Ass Pees gud. Wood rite mor, butt cant spell.

Sined:

Self-digenossed Ass Pee.

Dear Newspaper,

I just want to write and say that despite the fact that many ASS members have criminal records, we should not distrust them, because their recidivist rate has been fairly low.

Another ASS member.

Dear Newspaper,

As a member of the neurodiversity movement, I must take exception to those of you who have spoken against mass-murder suspect James Holmes. In my opinion, Holmes was the victim of a society which fails to recognize the virtues of people who bravely shirk societal responsibilities in favor of computer games.

Without people who are addicted to gaming, whole corporations, like Sony and SEGA, would go out of business and lots of people would be out of work.

If you’ve read a lot of newspaper articles like I have, you know that it is believed that gaming is responsible for an upswing in juvenile diabetes and morbid obesity, because too many kids these days are sitting around playing video games and drinking soda pop instead of exercising. Do you people want to put an end to doctors by restricting computer gaming usage among our nation’s youth?

Now about this Asberger Syndrome thing…

It only makes sense that gamers are more likely to have Asbergers because… think of the way the name sounds. Ass and bergers. Gamers sit on their asses, and they probably eat a lot of hambergers. Hence, Asbergers.

Also, the spelling of the world Asberger is like a conjunction between Ass and berger.

Signed:

Another ASS.

Dear Newspaper,

I hope my letter puts an end to all this fussing about James Holmes.

I am an authority in the Aspie Rights political movement, and have made a name for myself by winning Dairy Queen’s award for eating the most ice cream cones before the onset of an ice cream headache, said award included allowing me to parade through town on a gigantic ice cream float while no one watched or cared.

Here are the facts about Asperger Syndrome:

As we all know, Asperger Syndrome was named in 1731 for Joe Asperger, an Italian Asperagus grower who was raised by fish in the canals of Venice.

When Asperger finally decided to come out of the water, he flapped his hands incessantly in a type of dog-paddle that has come to characterize the sort of stimming behaviors we see in some Aspies.

Is it any wonder that putting guns in the hands of such people would result in other people getting shot?

People don’t kill people. Guns kill people.

So give James Holmes a break if he’s an Aspie. If he’s not an Aspie, execute him.

Signed:

An ASS.

Replies to this editorial are welcome.

Editorial #249: On Penelope Trunk

Autism Politico wants its readers to know that we do not agree with part of  this statement by Penelope Trunk:

I think I probably never had a clue about how people date, because I have Asperger Syndrome.

The part we don’t agree with is the “because I have Asperger Syndrome” part. We at Autism Politico all have Asperger Syndrome, and none of us have dating problems, so we are just saying that her statement holds true for her, perhaps, but not for us.

Autism Politico wants its readers to know that we do not agree with this statement by Penelope Trunk:

I am very easy to get into bed because the dance people do before getting to the sex part does not make sense to me.

While this may hold true for her, it does not hold true for us. We are hard to get into bed, primarily because our morals and values (some of which we were taught, and some of which we learned for ourselves) keeps us from sleeping around, and also, the “dance” people do “before getting to the sex part” makes absolute sense to us. We like to think that all of this is true for us because we have Asperger Syndrome, and because we have it, have a better understanding of human behavior than most.

Autism Politico wants its readers to know that we do not agree with this statement by Penelope Trunk regarding sending nude photos of oneself to someone:

 It’s not that big a deal. You know how I know? Because the state of Vermont, (and other states as well) is trying to pass a lawthat decriminalizes sending nude photos of oneself if you are underage. That’s right: For years, even though kids were sending nude photos of themselves to someone they wanted to show it to, the act was illegal—an act of trafficking in child pornography.

But sending nude photos is so common today that lawmakers are forced to treat it as a mainstream courting ritual and legalize it for all ages.

We just think that kids doing it ought to be illegal and adults doing it ought to be immoral. But that’s our opinion, and does not correspond in any way to autism advocate Penelope Trunk, or ASAN’s Meg Evans (Board Member), who writes porn stories for her Ventura33 website, or ASAN and GRASPs Chapter Director Mark Haller who proofreads porn on www.asstr.org, or GRASPS Nick Dubin who admitted to downloading child porn.

If these Asperger Advocates want to make it out that they know better than anyone else about AS and represent AS people in this fashion, let them, especially because it doesn’t seem the autism community really gives a damn anyway.

Replies to this editorial are welcome.

Editorial #248: Government Healthcare and What It Means for Quack Therapy Believers

Autism Politico can’t wait until national healthcare comes into effect in the US because it will mean that all the curbies who believe in quack treatments will be required to buy health insurance which will not pay for the treatments they want to get for the autistics they supposedly love and care for.

It’s adding insult to injury and boy does it feel good!

Won’t it be great to see them lobby the government for legitimizing those treatments and see the government turn a deaf ear on their pleas? Won’t it be great to see the more militant among their numbers being labeled as “threats”? It’s a good way to shut up these people, and hopefully it will put an end to the quack treatments too.

Replies to this editorial are welcome.

Editorial #247: Military for McKinnon?

While Autism Activists over in the UK whine that Asperger Syndrome ought to exempt Gary McKinnon from extradition to the US for allegedly hacking into databases even though other people with Aspergers say that people with AS have no trouble telling right from wrong, perhaps the United States would like to make history by using its military to solve the problem.

The Department of Justice has concluded that cyberattacks, like hacking, stealing information, or taking down networks, could prompt a physical military response, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.

In a Bin Laden style raid, the US military could capture McKinnon and bring him to the US for trial.

By doing this, the US could kill two birds with one stone. First, it could finally bring McKinnon to justice (whether that means conviction or an acquittal) and second, they could show that the United States believes in the DSM IV, which has nothing in it to suggest that anyone with Asperger Syndrome is more compelled than any other person to commit a crime just because the have  AS, and which has nothing in it to suggest that AS people have a problem telling right from wrong.

One could argue that because McKinnon allegedly did the hacking before this new policy went into effect that he should be excused from the terms of this new policy, but the problem is, McKinnon’s activists continue to keep the issue in the forefront with their incessant nattering, making McKinnon out to be representative of every autistic, as though autism itself is on trial here.

What it seems like to Autism Politico is that autism activists are using the McKinnon situation as a way to gain notoriety for themselves really. People out to quit donating to people who behave in this manner. But getting back to the point, since McKinnon is trying to avoid extradition, and autism activists are trying to prevent McKinnon from having his day in court (which is a metaphorical crime in itself) perhaps the American military ought to force the issue, and the sooner the better.

Autism Politico thinks maybe a petition ought to be started to THAT effect.

Replies to this editorial are welcome.

Editorial #246: Getting Autistics Off the Dole

Think about this carefully. Schools are diagnosing autism where autism doesn’t exist so they can get funding to care for special needs students which may not really be special needs.  Some of these kids may be diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders and are growing up to claim that because they have these disorders, they are disabled and cannot work.

So our tax dollars are going to pay for these people to be on disability.

Autism Politico’s opinion is that everyone who is diagnosed with any kind of disability for which they may become eligible for disability payments needs to have a thorough exam by accredited medical professionals to determine whether they even have that disability. 

If it turns out that the people claiming certain disabilities do not have them, then they should be denied disability payments, and the school districts which applied for funds on their behalf should be required to return them to the federal government. Also, given that people with these falsely diagnosed disabilities benefitted from special accommodations made by the school, they should be made to pay some compensation, perhaps even going as far as to retake school courses without assistance to see if they can achieve the same results without accommodations, like every other student who does not get them.

Also, people falsely diagnosed should have the right to sue their schools for compensation after being exploited for so long, and they should have the right to sue their parents for being complicit in such activities.

It is time to stop favoring people who are falsely diagnosed. It will save taxpayers money, get people off the government dole, and cause falsely diagnosed people to work harder for a living.

Replies to this editorial are welcome.

Editorial #245: Personal Privacy Breach

Autism Politico would just like to point out the hypocrisy of the people within the autism rights movement who bemoan the breach of privacy that occurred when an autism organization’s laptop was stolen but continue to ignore the autism registry in New Jersey which compels doctors to register autistics without their consent.

In yet another data breach, it was recently discovered that a laptop containing sensitive information about 80 children with Asperger’s syndrome was stolen from Asperger’s Children and Carers Together (ACCT).

It has also been learned that the laptop was stolen from an employee’s house last December, and that it carried names, addresses and key medical information about these children.

Not surprisingly, the Information Commissioner’s office reacted quite sharply by calling the incident a violation of the Data Protection laws, and asked the charity to ensure that in the future “information is encrypted”.

Autism Politico almost wishes that the stolen personal information belonged to the people at the Autistic Self Advocacy Network who supported the New Jersey autism registry. Lots of children are having THEIR privacy rights violated by having them signed up for the registry without their consent, but no one cares.

And if you’re reading this and do nothing about it, you don’t care either.

Replies to this editorial are welcome.

Editorial #243: Are schools your friend?

Autism Politico would like its readers to carefully the implications of schools diagnosing children with any disorder.

If a child has a disorder, a child may be entitled to additional funding to meet the educational needs of this special needs child. Autism Politico agrees that all children are entitled to an education and that all special needs students are entitled to whatever funding they may be entitled to under the law.

But Autism Politico also questions whether or not schools are qualified to make a diagnosis of any kind. They are not medical professionals. As far as autism goes, there are, under the DSM IV, different kinds of autism, and a medical diagnosis can take years, rather than hours or days to reach and accurate diagnose.

If a school can identify a child with special needs, then they must develop an IEP for that child within a specific time period, and they may apply for certain kinds of funding, depending on where these schools are situated. The amount of funding they are entitled to is also dependent on what the laws are in their locality.

In a time when cuts in funding are made to education, it seems that schools have additional motivation to secure funding wherever they can, and so the question arises as to whether or not children who are quickly diagnosed are properly diagnosed, or whether or not a diagnosis even exists.

While we as taxpayers can rest easy when we know our tax dollars are used for good purposes, when we see the number of autism diagnosis climb dramatically over a period of years, and when we see most of these diagnoses being made by schools rather than qualified medical professionals, can we continue to rest easily?

Could it be that schools are diagnosing special needs children so that they can make up for cuts in funding to regular education elsewhere?

A diagnosis follows someone the rest of their life the same way a conviction for a crime follows them for the rest of their lives.

Isn’t a false diagnosis under these circumstances the equivalent of exploitation of children for monetary gain? In which case, are schools our friends?

Keep in mind that when a child is diagnosed falsely, the parent of that child may believe the diagnosis and subject that child to all manner of legitimate and quack cures, causing themselves considerable expense, and causing their own child considerable trauma. All so that schools can make money.

Is this what we want from out schools?

Replies to this editorial are welcome.

Editorial #242: Jail Gary McKinnon

Autism Politico is tired of hearing autism activists whine about how poorly Gary McKinnon is being treated. Due to the intricacies of diplomacy, he seems to be treated with kid gloves.

But no more, thank goodness!

Campaigners had hoped the President would halt the legal proceedings because of the Asperger’s sufferer’s precarious mental state.

But Mr Obama – despite previously saying he wanted to find an ‘appropriate solution’ to end the computer hacker’s ordeal – effectively endorsed the extradition process.

Some autistics believe that autism is a minority, not a disability, not a diagnosis. terrific! Then let justice take its course and try McKinnon as any other person of any racial or ethnic background would be tried.

Autistics know right from wrong don’t they? Or is not knowing right or wrong something particular to their “minority?”

Perhaps it is time from autistics the world over to write those autism advocates who support McKinnon and tell them to stop before they give all autistics a bad name.

Replies to this editorial are welcome.