Autism and old people

Saying goodbye with some anguish and melancholy.

I launched in my micro possibilities a campaign on various sites in favor of some form of assistance for old age aspies .      Many of them have never been diagnosed, many of them don’t even know of the origins of their suffering. If they are so called high functioning, they may have thought, before the revelation, that they were “normal” people even as they had to go through an enormous amount of effort, and a constant feeling that there was something wrong, some sort of self deception and falsity in what they did, in their job and family life, if they had one, which rarely happens. They are normally single and loners. Fatigue was not a help in their  perception of their efforts. In a sense old aspies are left to manage their own winter by themselves. Wisdom is nowadays not commodity requested by society.

 Dependence is an act of begging, which not many can rely on for their insularity. At a certain age they normally have no more families or relatives. “Friends”, or, better, acquaintances disappear. An old aspie cannot protect anybody, and cannot receive protection. Are severe autistics in better condition? Donna Williams maintains that they are less desperate. I don’t know.

A blind, a deaf mute, a limp receive some assistance, if anything by the social services. Aspies are invisible.

 

Parents
  • I sypathise with both abloner and hope.  I don't feel in great shape myself. However my feeling is that we as an ASD community need to do something for ourselves by ourselves.

    There is the autscape conference coming up and there are various lists  and websites where people on the spectrum communicate with each other. My feeling is that we need to develop a positive network that is in parralel to the NAS in that it is "by us for us" but consciously working with all others (parents, families, professionals) in the autism community.

    The stuctures I mentioned above exist, but I hope we can develop something more, along the lines perhaps of what was developed by civil rights, womens and  gay movements.  There have been changes in these areas hopefully there will be changes for us also.

    Whereabouts in the country do you live abloner? Is there an aspie group there.

Reply
  • I sypathise with both abloner and hope.  I don't feel in great shape myself. However my feeling is that we as an ASD community need to do something for ourselves by ourselves.

    There is the autscape conference coming up and there are various lists  and websites where people on the spectrum communicate with each other. My feeling is that we need to develop a positive network that is in parralel to the NAS in that it is "by us for us" but consciously working with all others (parents, families, professionals) in the autism community.

    The stuctures I mentioned above exist, but I hope we can develop something more, along the lines perhaps of what was developed by civil rights, womens and  gay movements.  There have been changes in these areas hopefully there will be changes for us also.

    Whereabouts in the country do you live abloner? Is there an aspie group there.

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