Aspie Narrative

The Short Bus: A Journey Beyond Normal by Jonathon Mooney portrayed the real meaning behind the definition of “normal”. Throughout Jonathon’s life, he suffered from the denial of teachers, family members, and himself when it came to his academic success. Despite the odds, he overcame his label of “learning disabled” and graduated from Brown University with a 4.0 GPA. Many other students labeled with a disability also suffer from the same aspects as Jonathon. In his book, Jonathon showed the mistreatment that not only he experienced in school, but he also showed how others struggled with an unsupportive school system. After college, Jonathon decided that he wanted to change the meaning of “learning disability” by taking back the symbol of his school days that segregated him from the other students: the short bus.

Furthermore, not until in 1943, when Leo Kanner published his paper ‘Autistic Disturbance of Affective Contact’ were people identified and recognised with a similar definition of what we consider autism to be today [2]. However, for many years Autism Spectrum Disorder was included under the umbrella term of schizophrenia and beforehand they were classified as simply having mental retardation [3]. Consequently, throughout

Conspiracy theories are widely known in the society that we live in today. Webster’s definition of a conspiracy theory is a theory that explains an event or situation as the result of a secret plan by usually powerful people or groups. Conspiracy theories are accepted by many people in the world that we live in today. A recent conspiracy theory involves the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting. On December 14, 2012, Adam Lanza shot and killed twenty students. Americans were devastated by this tragedy. People were shocked that such a tragic event could take place and immediately had to find a place to push the blame. This blame got placed on the United States Government. Society buys into the Sandy Hook conspiracy theory because of the mindset on

Life can be separated into two equal parts totally independent from one another. The inner self, being the innermost thoughts and feelings of the individual, and the outer self, how the individual decides to conduct itself around the others in society. Often times one of these parts takes control of the other, suppressing its partner. The suppression is often not of equal frequency because of the obligation humans feel to be liked and to fit in causes the outermost self to be given the most thought and worry. Eventually the suppression of the inner self builds a desire to express the individual’s true feelings. The urge to express oneself is at its core, a right, and is not unlike one of the most

In the essay, “Deafness/Disability - problematising notions of identity, culture and structure, Mairian Corker focuses on the tension between Deaf and disabled people. As Corker analyzes the division between Deaf and disabled people she reflects on Margaret Archer’s views. Corker explains that Margaret Archer viewed “ the structural (‘parts’) and cultural (‘people’) domains are substantively different, as well as being relatively autonomous from each other” (Corker 2002). Throughout her essay Corker talks about the different theories in Deaf studies and disability studies to explain the same issues. These issues include identity, culture,

Autism is a brain development disorder characterized by continuous problems in social communication and interaction, besides with restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior, interests or activities. ASD stands for Autism Spectrum Disorder and can sometimes be referred to as Autistic Spectrum Disorder. As stated by the Medical News Today (2015), Autism Spectrum Disorder is a wide-spectrum disorder. This means that there will be no same people who will have the exact and same symptoms. And as well as experiencing altering combinations of symptoms, because some people will have mild symptoms while others will have severe ones. With the word spectrum, people with autism spectrum disorder may have challenges that may run the range from mild to severe, with different levels of ability and disability.

I was struggling to find out why I was losing sight of my favorite trait: being a social butterfly. When I first entered college, I was so energetic and spontaneous with all the people I met. But, after my sophomore year, I realized something changed within me. I stopped trying to keep friendships alive and barely surrounded myself with others, besides those who are close to me. Through this course and backpacking trip, I was able to gain insights on why I was like this. I believed it was the realization of knowing that because I was a social butterfly, it created plenty of problems with my past relationship. As time went by, I realized that I allowed a person who was no longer in my life affect my persona. During the backpacking trip, I took some time to stargaze and reflected on this issue. I am so grateful that I had the chance to do this since it has already starting to help me accept my social butterfly-ness. I am now more socially active with strangers and old friends in

One of the reasons I want to become an Occupational Therapist Assistant is to help people who have been diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome. Albert Einstein once said “Everybody is a genius, but if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” People with Asperger’s syndrome are often misjudged because of their “disabilities.”

Fitting in has always been difficult for me which is why I have always had a difficult time getting to meet new people. Whether it 's in a new college, high school, middle school, elementary school, church school, soccer team, etc., I always seem to be the “quiet” one of the bunch and it never fails to draw people 's attention. I believe I was shy and not very talkative because of my height, my teeth (before I had braces), and because of my past speech issues, to name a few, but most of this has changed ever since. I no longer have crooked teeth or a stutter in my speech and I am now able to speak to a large group of people without getting nervous or scared, or so I thought. Moving from Victorville to Riverside taught me that the people you once called friends can leave you in a heartbeat just because you moved 52 miles away from them. Many did not remember to text or call me, I was forgotten by most and it hurt me because all this time trying to fit in with them has gone to waste; I now had to start all over and create my journey once more.

Fitting in. In other words “to fit in.” How can two simple words influence society and hold such weight over adolescents and even adults? Though my mind can’t understand the idea of what this phrase truly means, these words genuinely took a toll on me for a period of time during my semester here at Stony. If someone asked me what fitting in meant two years ago, I would have responded stating that “in order to “fit in,” you must have a lot of friends, do things you might not be comfortable with in order to please someone or a group, be skinny, wear make-up, wearing expensive clothing so that you won’t be considered a bump, etc. On the other hand, if someone asked me what fitting in means today, I would say there is no need to go through all of

Autism in psychology is a mental condition characterized by great difficulty in communicating with others and in using language and abstract concepts (Fredericks, 2008). The book “There’s a boy in here” the author is Judy Barron and Sean Barron. It recounts a strange point by a mother and her son, passing the painful years the son underwent through the painful years and the son suffered from autism and his remarkable convalesce. Ron and Judy were a young couple that gave birth to a son who had very different emotional needs.

Imagine being viewed by the world as different. Wouldn’t you want the people around you to understand?

I have experienced being under many labels. With all of these labels the excruciating painful times were harder when I was just finding out that I was adopted wondering “do my birth parents even love me”, “who is my real parent”, and “why didn’t she want me”. When I was in elementary school I was labeled with a speech disability. School became a big issue in my life. I was so hurt when I had to present in front of the class. Students would make fun of me but what left a laceration on my heart, mind, and soul was when my teachers would say “you will never make it” and “you are retarded”. Teachers would exclude me from activities because they thought I wasn’t smart enough. Have you ever been lost and hurt at the same time?

There are many common diseases that modify the functions of the human body. Neurological diseases, for example, could affect anyone at any time. The worst kinds of neurological diseases are those which can affect the functions of the human brain. A well-known example is autism, and it has become a widespread disease among children. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 1 of every 68 children in the U.S would have autism spectrum disorder; moreover, the study shows that 1 in 42 boys and 1 in 189 girls would have autism spectrum disorder (1). Autism is a disorder in the nerves that makes the human brain socially inactive, and in order to understand it, several main aspects must be considered.

The first time I saw Mary and Max, I didn’t like it as it made me very sad. Mary and Max is a very deep bittersweet film about the friendship of two very incomplete souls. The second and subsequent times I watch it, I begin to understand the film a little better and are made more aware of people with mental illness and their world. This world is a rather cruel place. When people do not fully understand something, they prefer to take the cognitive shortcut and just brush off the complicated grey areas. In general, people prefer to look the other way rather than face the awkwardness to deal with individuals whom they deemed as “incomplete”. Mary and Max is about the unlikely friendship between an 8-year old girl who lives in Melbourne and a 44-year old man in New York. They both have their degrees of instability. Their friendship started when Mary got Max’s name and address from a phone book at the post office and writes to Max to ask him where babies comes from in New York. This started a friendship that lasts decades. Max is a 6 feet 352 pounds obese man. He goes to Overeaters Anonymous every Thursdays to try and lose weight because his psychiatrist says a healthy body