Not just another researcher

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Hi,
My name is Lydia and I am very interested in learning more about the people who contribute to this message board. I am a doctoral student in Educational Psychology who is in the dissertation stage. What differentiates me from other researchers is that I also had once been diagnosed with autism when I was 3 years in 1974. I was involved in the Young Autism Project from UCLA, so I have also been on the “subject” end of a study from an early age. I look forward to meeting anyone who wishes to talk with me here.
Thank You

hiya lydia
welcome to la cosa aspie nostra
ya got any specific questions for any of us? i'm eager to be helpful.

Welcome Lnb1771 - I'm a PhD student as well........

Heh heh......This just made my day Wrong Planet, aka The Illuminati.

Back to your query - just a thought: I imagine you'd like Stephen Shore research! He's an American PhD in Education at Adelphi University (USA) and an Aspie with a most unusal childhood background. His work would be most insightful for you - check him out. Best of luck to you and you'll do very well here.

The research I'm most interested in is that magnetic thing that temporarily "cured" some high-profile aspies, such as John Elder Robison. Of course, that is a bit of a pipe dream.

This makes it sound like you don't have autism now, and they only thought you did at the time. So, are you on the spectrum now?

I agree that is what it sounds like. I just figure that if something is diagnosed based on a series of behaviors that are outwardly exhibited, then I do not meet that criteria. However, when I was a child I exhibited those behaviors that were consistent with an autistic diagnosis by a neuropsychiatric institute in Los Angeles (the exact name escape me). This institute was not affiliated with the study. People are certainly free to argue about the methodology of the study (higher functioning were "hand picked" to be in the treatment group, etc). Ultimately, I have had to come to some kind of way to sort this out for my own identity. I see myself who has some challenges that may (or may not) be residual from my childhood. However, I don't know if there is really a category or label for someone like that. Recovered sounds like cure, but I'm learning that they're not the same. It's just too much work trying to figure out a good label for me because I have gotten nowhere except frustrated with that line of inquiry. I just acknowledge that I had a diagnosis, was in a study, was deemed "recovered" and here I am.

My challenges include getting easily overwhelmed by sounds and people. I have great difficulty tracking conversation when two people are talking simultaneously and/or interrupting a lot. I have had issues with expressions of anger which I have only recently been able to deal with more appropriately with medication and experience and with learning how to recognize when I began to feel angry. I can be quite shy when meeting new people. I can usually "pass" for normal (whatever that means exactly), but if I'm tired or otherwise compromised then my behaviors can seem odd to others (so I've been told).
There is more, but I hope I've made my point.
Thanks for asking,
Lydia

Welkome to WP!

Mick

To WrongPlanet!! !

Once an aspie, always an aspie. I hold the view that the "cure" is impossible (and morally offensive). The thing which makes a person autistic is having a brain wired up differently to a typical (NT) brain. While an aspie might learn how to act normal to the point that they can pass as a NT, they will still be non-NT.

The second post by the OP suggests that she is still an aspie.

Welcome to the club, I am not sure which I would rather be in the "la cosa aspie nostra" or the Illuminati. The former sounds like a organised crime society while the second is a hidden religous group. The problem with being an aspie is that we do not have secret handshake like the freemasons have. The problem is that if I post what I think the secret symbol should be then it will no longer be a secret symbol.

it is rough italian for "this aspie thing of ours." as for secret society stuff, to borrow from another field, rock hudson back in the 1950s would discreetly inquire about the gay quotient of particular men by asking friends, "do you think he's musical?" for aspies we could say something like that.

Welcome!

LoL Re: secret handshake
I appreciate the once an aspie always an aspie sentiment. Neurologically speaking, that seems to ring true. However, it does seem to benefit a certain segment of society to suggest that cure/recovery is possible because that is how they get funding etc. (That sounds horribly cynical I know). Anyway, I already feel as though I belong here so thanks to everyone for the warm welcome.

I'll admit that I didn't come back right away because I had to sort out my feelings about the questions I was asked. Even though I (thought I) had stopped trying to find a nice, tidy label for myself, it's still hard for me at times to discuss these issues because they center around personal issues of identity, as I'm sure many of you can appreciate.
Thanks again for the welcome!
Lydia