I have just posted a YouTube video ( Adult Asperger's Syndrome -- Gorus #31 ) wherein I describe, from my perspective, what attending a GRASP support group was like. Although I struggled with anxiety and self-sabotage, escalating as the time drew near, I found the gumption to just go. It was my first meeting, and I was pleasantly surprised. Anyway, the details are in the video. After watching the video, I would be very curious to hear…

I would really like to be able to dance.  I love physical movement and exercise.  If I could just process and remember the movements, I'm pretty sure that physically I'm completely capable of executing them.  But I can't seem to follow along in classes.  Most recently, I took a beginning swing dance class, and by the third class (of six), I was too much of a liability to the other people in the class to continue.  I also tried Zumba a few times, which was easier in a way since there is no…

55-year-old who bore an invisible mark of Cain while growing up.  Always felt like I had some kind of "invisible disability".  Learned many ways to try to hide and cope with it, not all of which are effective.  Have led the examined life.  Over the past few months, have been vlogging a bit on Youtube under gryffynda1 on various topics pertaining to Asperger's syndrome.

I am frequently annoyed by the lack of context or depth of understanding called forth when a person-on-the-street assesses another's behavior, especially when I'm the one being assessed in this way. That is, it often seems that only my overt behavior is taken into account -- the symptoms, the mannerisms, the physical movements, the style of speaking. In other words, what can be observed.

This is probably a remnant of…

Over land and under sea

teaming over with possibility;

In all of Divine creation

I chose to be me!

I have just posted a YouTube video (Adult Asperger's Syndrome -- Gorus #18 ) that you may find interesting. I almost did not post it because I found it pretty intense when I played it back for myself. I feel I may be revealing more of myself than I ought to, but then I remember the point of these videos is to be honest and to not color or doctor, in any way, my experiences of Asperger's in the real world. It is very…

Now and then I visit the Main Chat room here on the Grasp page, and notice someone has visited, and left a "Hello" with no returning answer.

There is just something a little sad about this, I find. When I first began to check out the website here, just this past January, I would also seek to find someone to visit with - but often may have just missed another person with a similar quest.

Sometimes I would connect with another person,in the chat room, and this was such a great…

Within my immediately previous blog post, I concluded by saying: 

"If we wish to be the best that we can be, we must be fully human--and that includes integrating every example of so-called disability that ever occurs, in ways that are genuinely supportive, effective, and empowering.  It is never a question of 'do it my way' but rather of 'how can we make it possible for you to do it?'  In the meantime, I pray that faith in the ingenuity and compassion of others and of ourselves is…

Hi Everyone,

Today I began what I hope will be a series of YouTube videos aimed at people who were diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome as middle-aged adults, like I was. I want to document my self-discovery of this hidden quality that profoundly shaped my life. I suspected I had AS a couple of years back, but not until just a couple of weeks ago did I fully accept it. With this awareness, my life has changed in what I feel is a positive direction. I discovered I had been living with an…

If by whatever means I had recently been rendered blind, there are resources for learning to read Braille, move from place to place with a white cane, work with a guide dog, and make use of a vast spectrum of technological assistance devices (everything from screen reading software to personal voice recorders with Braille-identified controls).  Two months of intense searching, however, has shown that because I have autism, satisfying my personal needs for food, clothing, shelter, social…

I hear a lot about how those with AS are mathematical geniuses.  But it seems I am the opposite.  Math, especially any kind of abstract math is extremely difficult, if not impossible for me to comprehend.  I changed my major in college because I couldn't do the math.  Algebra makes no sense to me at all.  Words are symbols...and yet they make sense to me.  I can use them and manipulate them and want to know everything about how letters together form a message.  

Yet when it comes to…

There are no directions for the emerging butterfly--”apply pressure here...cut along this line...keep this end up...”  Which way is up anyway, when you’ve spent all winter hanging upside down?  Do descriptions of up and down even make sense once one has finally launched one’s self into limitless space?  Why must the butterfly’s entire life be so without any clear sense of family, beyond the rarest of moments?  Why doesn’t any of this prevent the butterfly’s wings from being so beautiful that…

As we prepare for the 2013 GRASP benefit on Tuesday, May 14 at DCTV on 87 Lafayette Street in New York City, we want to showcase the recipients of our three awards. This is the third of these three posts.  

The 2013 Divine Neurotypical Award (the "DNA"): Dr. Barry M. Prizant  …

As we prepare for the 2013 GRASP benefit on Tuesday, May 14 at DCTV on 87 Lafayette Street in New York City, we want to showcase the recipients of our three awards. This is the second of these three posts.

The 2013 Distinguished Spectrumite Medal (the "DSM"):

Bob Hedin

 …

surlyfries.blogspot.com

How very long the night seems to linger; how cold the dark breeze when I reach out and find no one there.  I have heard of a day that is coming, of a family that I will find there that is so different from the one knew already years ago, and of the man I will become when that new day’s light has filled the earth--free of all demands to be or believe or act according to that which I am not.  Faith is that perhaps foolish hope that the words I heard, will not be disappointed.  Yet only time…

St. Patrick’s Day and Spring Equinox are behind us. Passover and Easter celebrations will be here soon. March is a time of changing seasons as days lengthen and winter turns into spring.

Here at GRASP we have a lot of changes as well. As most of you know, GRASP has a new…

Hi GRASP members,

I'm a reporter with the New York Times. I interviewed many GRASP members and attended a few meetings for a story I did in 2004 about being diagnosed late in life. You all helped shape my interest and perspective on the challenges faced by people on the spectrum, and also on how much people on the spectrum can teach NTs about their own challenges. In that sense you were very much the inspiration for my short ebook, published this week,…

The chat room discussion group which meets Monday and Thursday,  in the chat room has changed the start time to allow for some time differences, due to the shift to daylight savings time.

We will continue to meet every Monday and Thursday, but now at the new times of 9 P.M. EST/  8 P.M. CST/  7 P.M. MST/  and 6 P.M. PST. This will be effective as of this Monday, March 18.

The discussion group is a loosely organized group of members who found that by setting a time to meet it…