19 Jun 2011, 3:59 pm
I expected that this would lead to heavy discrimination against autism, but I was very surprised when I came here to find just the opposite. In fact, there is a very broad acceptance of people being "different" in any way. I don't think there are many diagnoses of autism or other neurological conditions at all. There are also very few people in wheelchairs, but many more people on crutches or walking with canes. I think what happened is, people who might be put in a wheelchair in the west instead found ways to get around without a wheelchair if it was at all possible. And nobody wanted their loved ones to be declared useless and put away, so people just broadened their definition of "normal" to include all kind of strange behavior.
I've met several people in my time here who I am absolutely convinced have some sort of ASD, but no one seems to notice or care. The most people say is "yeah, that guy is pretty unique." Even my closest friend here I am 100% positive has asperger syndrome, but when I brought the topic up with him he was very surprised. No one ever told him his behavior is unusual or inappropriate. He always did fairly well in school and had plenty of friends. His whole life he's always just adapted to the situation as required, accepting whatever difficulties he faced as a normal part of life. I explained the condition to him and told him about some of my experiences, and he admitted that yes, that does describe him pretty well, but that was the end of it. He's not concerned about labeling himself just because he's a bit odd, since it really doesn't cause him any major problems.
The most positive upshot of all this is that while I was lonely and bullied in the US, never had any friends growing up, here I had no trouble at all. Within a month of moving here, where I knew absolutely no one, I had a glorious array of intelligent and interesting friends, none of whom has the slightest problem with me.
So I guess the short version of all that is... This place is pretty friendly. And don't worry, they don't put people away for being in wheelchairs anymore.
Czech Republic. You made me suddenly think about Milan Kundera and Franz Kafka.
Both are my favourite writers. And I am really touched by your warm, gentle post.
Nothing like the cold and cruel Soviet Union. But pastoral....
20 Jun 2011, 2:42 am
20 Jun 2011, 11:53 am
20 Jun 2011, 12:37 pm
I can provide some information about Turkey and Uzmanlar. My name is Petek Ozgul and i am the founder of Uzmanlar in Turkey. We are just starting so there is very little i can tell you about Uzmanlar. Currently i am trying to raise funding through government (as a research and development project) and through European Union. Hopefully soon i will have more things to tell about Uzmanlar.
About Turkey in general, it is a democratic republic. We just had our elections. Most of the people living in Turkey are Muslims but the country is secular.
About Asperger, there are few organizations. One of them is ASPERDER, an association for Aspergers. (Please search for Asperger Sendromu ve Otizmle Hayat Dernegi in Google) They do not have the site in English yet, but you can use Google Translate and check out the projects they are working on.
Other than that there are may foundations and organizations about autism. They are mostly concentrated on the early, pre-school and shool education. Some are interested in employment but Uzmanlar would be something completely new to the autism community in Turkey. I have the links but i am not allowed to post them for the moment. So i am giving you the keywords.
Search for tohum otizm vakfi (also in English)
Search for todev (in Turkish, but there are nice videos for the public to know more about autism)
Search for otizm platformu (in Turkish)
Please do not hesitate to ask questions. I would be happy to answer. And i would like to thank Scott from Job Sink for being a friend and supporter of Uzmanlar.
New epoch! "completely new to the autism commutity in Turkey". I am really surprised.
I am nearly sure you will talk more about Uzmanlar soon
Waiting for good news
Heartly good luck.
23 Jun 2011, 7:58 am
24 Jun 2011, 11:46 am
SpongeBobRocksMao
Veteran
Joined: 18 Oct 2008
Age: 31
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,774
Location: SpongeBob's Pineapple (England really!)
25 Jun 2011, 4:22 pm
25 Jun 2011, 9:56 pm
hello,
I believe I have found that generation gaps may be making it harder for me to relate to some people. Or tell people about my autistic brain. I have noticed that my grandmother's, and parents' generations must have been taught that anything related to austism, and mental illness is a bad thing. Even though the family is littered with mental health issues. I see the labeling and stereotyping they have picked up, by me watching bits and pieces of the old 30's-50's movies they grew up with. I believe my grandparents learned about what they called "crazy" people through those movies and old propaganda. Then, after passing it to my parents' generation...it still lingers in their minds that AS(being unique) is a sign of weakness? Could this be one possibility?? I am 34 with a few month old diagnosis. I also don't know a lot about the books of the 1800's. But I do enjoy bible stories from time to time and they too are enough to confuse people's minds. But I am an article reader, and not a book reader. And won't take things too literally if/when I can help it. So, how can we all find ways to stop buying what people are always selling??? What a tangled web we weave... 
25 Jun 2011, 10:00 pm
28 Jun 2011, 3:15 pm
01 Jul 2011, 1:01 pm
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