Today I received an interesting comment from an anonymous poster who pointed out that a previous comment on my site was spam. That exchange jogged my memory of a very kind comment, definitely not spam, that I received a few weeks ago from Stephanie Lynn Keil , an autistic person who, unlike some of the persons who frequent the media circuit alleging that "autistics" do not want to be cured or treated, has a different point of view.
Stephanie has been severely autistic, now considers herself moderately autistic, and lived an institutional life for many years. She provides a realistic perspective on the challenges facing the moderately and severely autistic and offers her perspective on Amanda Baggs and the media circuit autistic celebrities. Stephanie also speaks about her artistic talent which can be seen at her site Stephanie Lynn Keil.
Stephanie's kind, and informative, words to me, which were previously posted on the Study Suggests Post-Natal, Environmental Causes of Autism comment , follow:
autism
Hello! I just wanted to let you know that I love your blog. I'm 20 and I have severe autism (well, "moderate" now) and it's nice to finally find someone rational. I came to the online world hoping to find others like me but I was very disappointed to find I was one of the very few who actually has autism.
Anyway, I talk very little and have great difficulty with it but can obviously type well so my doctors are now thinking I may have some kind of verbal-oral apraxia. I live with my father and barely leave my house and the only people I communicate with are my family and I barely communicate with them (I recieve disability). I spent years in institutions literally lost in "my own world," hurting myself, pacing all day listening to my headphones, had rigid routines, talking only when spoken to and using words and phrases I borrowed, until I was 18. A doctor told me that at around 17-20 the fronal lobes begin to activate and that this probably helped to contribute to my "breakthrough," along with treatment and helpful people. Makes sense to me since autistic people obviously develop at a much different rate. I call it my "awakening."
Anyway, Conor is lucky to have such a smart and loving father. I'm very naive and I first I believed that Amanda Baggs was telling the truth, but then I realized that it was obviously a fraud. Low-functioning autistic people able to type exist, but Amanda isn't one of them. It's completely illogical and I don't understand why so-called "aspies" and "auties" believe it. Maybe it's because they aren't autistic enough to see the obvious logic and instead want to be a part of a "social movement." I don't even understand Neurodiversity: I don't understand politics or anything social and can't understand how all of these "severely" autistic people understand it either. What's the point? "Autistic community" is an oxymoron. I can't get past that.
Anyway, I go to the local mental health center for treatment (God forbid I get treatment) and am hoping to move into my own supervised community apartment soon. I'm also a savant, which means that everyone in "aspie-land" hates me. I didn't even know I was talented until I was 18, until my "awakening." I never told anyone what I was thinking, it never occured to me because I thought everyone was exactly like me and knew what I was thinking. So, obviously, no one knew and they assumed I was mildly retarded. My favorite thing is art (I also have music, language, hyperlexia and memory) and I'm planning on being a painter because I can't make money doing anything else; art is my passion, or in clinical terms, "obsession." I realize how lucky I am to have savant talents and it makes me sad that no one likes me for it.
Your blog is one of the few autism blogs I read because yours is actually rational. You have a severely autistic child but you're not part of the "mercury" parents and you love your son for who he is and make sure that he recieves good treatment so that he can have the best life possible. Sadly I've found this is a rare occurance. I have a severely autistic couisn whose mother has fallen prey to dangerous treatments. I like your blog so much I may make a painting for young Conor.