A major question about a big general problem

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As several of you know I am an Aspie and a published writer based in Asheville, NC, USA and I have a major pet peeve that has been growing since I was diagnosed as an adult after a major suicide attempt in med school. (For those who want to know I shot myself and am willing to discuss that experience only privately with other potential suicides.)My peeve is this. There is very little help for Aspies in adulthood in this country and apparently in several others. In fact in some US states government aid for Aspies and other PDD/autism disorders ends at age 21! I find this completely outrageous.

I am already a member of several informal Asheville and Western North Carolina online and print based awareness groups that would like to spread the word that Asperger's Syndrome and most other PDD/Autism spectrum disorders are NOT childhood diseases that fade away or can be easily cured (although as a former premed student, I have hopes for some nutritional therapies being helpful to some people). Lifelong help support and therapy may be needed. Suicide attempts are not unknown and that really needs to stop.

Anyway to make a long post a bit shorter members of Asheville TEACCH and OASIS online have approached me about the possibility of writing a book for and by Aspies and their parents, friends, gaurdians, and spouses as well as a list of helpful websites, forums, etc at the back of the book.

The general format would be part guide book, like the wonderful Navigating the Social World, and part life stories and tips from actual Aspies and possibly high functioning Kanners autistics.

I want to know how many of you think this book would be helpful, and how many would want to contribute - since many of us here on WP seem to be writers, published and otherwise.

If I did this I would want to give full writers credits and copyrite with pay to any contributing authors, under real names or psuedonyms and I would do everything under my power to make thisw happen. I will also privately offer advice to any would be published authers on the subject of writing itself, and want to start a website or forum for aspiring writers somewhere, but the Aspie book takes precedence.

Those interested in either idea but especially the book possibility can post here or write me privately as prefered.

I also want to hear from people who feel it might be a bad idea with their reasons why.

So thanks in advance to all respondants.

I would be willing to help, but I'm only avaliable to talk via e-mail. I am a young, unpublished author (but someday I'd like to be published!).

Namiko, thank you and fine by me. I only correspond in email and print myself. Feel free to contact me with any thoughts and critique any of mine. I really hope to make this project work.
Thanks also to Odeon (sp?) for the interest. I will keep an eye on posts here and try to keep a progress report going as well.

This sounds like a really good idea. I have depression in addition to AS, and I think this is fairly common . . . too common. Anything that will help make our lives a bit easier, or help others to understand us, has to be a good thing.

I would be very interested in contributing a piece of writing for this book, but this is a very bad time due to things happening in my life at the moment.

Love to help, I'll PM you my email for now.

Remember to stick to factual information when you make statements like thinking that depression is common with aspergers you should have a statistic to back it up. If there isn't one well 60% of statistics are made up anyway, but you could always carry out your own survey of an asperger population in the states.

My emphasis would be to state very clearly and as bluntly as possible that you are a person with aspergers which has had depression inflicted on your by your treatment in society. I.e. your depression was given to you not a part of the whole package of aspergers.

I am a writer in Asheville, NC, USA, thinking of writing a book for the purpose of aiding and assisting Aspie adults. I intend to include facts and stories with full writers credits and copyrite from those interesting in contributing either to the fact gathering process or in telling their stories. So far 5 people have from WP have expressed an interest in either the existence of such a book or in aiding in its creation (see General Forum: A Major Question About A Big General Problem for info).
The purpose of this post is to continue exploring interest and to start gathering facts and stories from those who want to share. I guarantee confidentiality for those who want it and will gladly accept anecdotes under pseudonyms or anonymously. I myself am a very private person who only reluctantly offers my opinions under normal circumstances so I fully understand a need for discretion.
However, I also guarantee full credit to those who want it.
Interested Aspies may contact me by post or by private message or email as they see fit. My email is decalderin@gmail.com.
People who wish to tell me I am an idiot or express criticism of the idea are also welcome.
That all restated...
I intend to begin my further researches thus:
I will be reading several academic books on the subject recommended to me by therapists in the field, I will be reading a personal account by a now tragically deceased Aspie named Marc Segar tjhat was made available to me by OASIS online, I will be reading An Anthropologist On Mars by Oliver Sacks recommended by Asheville TEEACH head Katherine Faherety about Kanner autistic (Dr. Temple Graindin, PhD and architect), and a book called Songs of the Gorilla Nation" My Journey through Autism by Dawn-Prince Hughs, PhD. Then I will be attending a seminar hosted by local psychologist Dr. Tony Attwood starting March 21, 2006 at UNC-Asheville, called Asperger's Syndrome: A Guide for Parents and Professionals where I will also be interviewing willing Aspies, their parents, and their doctors.
I am frankly scared excrementless but feel that this is something I need to do, even so I will be very nervous so I am trying to plan ahead to avoid mistakes. So feel free to critique my plan, offer questions you feel I should ask people, or books I should read. Also tell me if you have a story you want to tell.
Finally since this project is going to take up a huge amount of space, I will only post to forums in relation to this project if asked specific questions...all documentation will go partially into the journal I have started here and into my journal at my private webpage at saint-leibowitz.deviantart.com.
Thanks in advance for all thoughts positive or negative.

I think it’s a great Idea. As an aspie teen I think someone should write a book from our eye-view.

I'm interested. I have stories on this site that could be published with some revision, and I have a few poems that could be considered AS related.

http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Conditions_comorbid_to_autism_spectrum_disorders
http://www.aspennj.org/psych.html
http://www.knowledgerush.com/kr/encyclopedia/Asperger's_syndrome_rename_page
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conditions_comorbid_to_autism_spectrum_disorders

All of those articles have somewhere a place where it says that Aspies commonly have depression. The statistic is about half of AS people are affected by depression and/or anxiety. All of this should back up the claim of AS being related to depression.

Would you take poems and/or songs about Autism/Aspergers? I have one I can contribute and I can write several more...

Let's see. potentially rude but I'll answer several questions at once.

I do want to include ONE chapter on Aspie artists, poets, sogwriters, and musicians BUT the main goal here is a guide on how to cope and where to find help that includes stories of actual life experiences.

If you are an artist, writer, etc who wants to show off your work, I will gladly review it but what I can place in my book will probably be limited - which is sad. Therefore I encourage all Aspie artists and writers to post to the forums provided here for that purpose and if you wish to potentially make some money off your work to register for a free account with www.deviantart.com which

a) allows psuedonyms
b) has sites allowing visual, photographic and computer artists to sell their works
c) allows writers, poets, and other written media people a chance to meet publishers and soon (they claim) to sell their works
and d) allows comments to and from all members on all topics as desired.

If you write non-fiction, try www.constant-content.com to sell your works.

Next issue - I intend to research everything throughly and will gladly accept corrections on issues of accuracy.

Next - to those offering help and stories I will be in touch with all of you to discuss my goals and yours. I am not interested in misleading anyone as to my seriousness, progress, or intentions. If your goals and mine are different that is perfectly acceptable and I will still value you as writers and potential friends. I am not interested in get-rich-quick-scams or in ego trippers. If that is your thing, please take it elsewhere. I intend to be brutally honest in all my dealings, public, private, business, or personal.

And I guess that is it. Please see my journals here or at saint-leibowitz.deviantart.com for the heavy details. I consider these forums a place for personal growth and sharing not business and I do not wish to overburden our genourous hosts or their servers.

But please feel free to contact me anytime at decalderin@gmail.com or thru DevArt by addressing messages to saint-leibowitz.

The issue isn't whether or not we have depression, but *why* we have depression. Even though half of us are affected by depression, that doesn't mean that AS causes depression or that depression could be categorized as a comorbid disorder. After all, AS is with you for your whole life and is incurable, whereas depression occurs later in life, generally has specific identifiable causes and responds to treatment.

Oops. Well.... uh....... I guess I need to read more carefully.

Depression is comorbid though according to some of the sources(i think) but that does not tell us exactly about its nature.

Hmmmmm?

I am going to pry into you casket for the moment!
As I sift through the bones answer if you choose!

Writer.....What were you published as? Book, magazine, ect...?
What caused the sucide attempt? And what year in college?
Hmmmm? Did you graduate regardless?
If not a a MD, then as what?



Oooops! I didn't read this part! Sorry!

feeling ashamed(Ghosthunter)



Hmmmmmm! Tell me about it. I was outed at 38 by my employer and
looked for services. It was on this board(w.p) that I found out about
Minnesota stuff and that is why I am here for the interim until completions
are made regarding where all this leads to.



Nothing I can add there. You said alot, Hmmm? How old are you? I say 30.



Ok!



Covers alot of areas! Good!



and fanmade video makers:

Sinatra

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Show Must Go On

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Harry Triumphant

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Gypsy

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Beyond the Invisible

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Thing That Should not Be

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Space overture

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Eternity Road

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Higher and Higher

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Hermoine Haunted

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrBLDCggx64



Ok! go on........Hmmmm?

Those interested in either idea but especially the book possibility can post here or write me privately as prefered.

I also want to hear from people who feel it might be a bad idea with their reasons why.

So thanks in advance to all respondants.
[/quote]
HMmmmmm? A noble project and hope to hear more about it!

Sincerely,
Ghosthunter

I was published in two scifi/fantasy zines - that is to say unsyndicated magazines published for select readers. One The Existential Anthropomorph Occasionally is based here in Asheville, NC. The othe whose name temporarily escapes me was published in York, PA. I also have a story under consideration by Asimov magazine. I suspect it will be rejected but one can hope. I have also sold two stories to private webmasters.

The suicide attempt was caused by accumulated stress. I started college early as part of the North Carolina Talent Identification Program and AG/AP. I had been disowned by my family and I had no real friends plus I was getting beat up a lot.

It was my third year in college. And for the record I have gone to three. Duke Universitywhere I was pre med, Asheville Tech Comm College where I finished a largely honorary degree in Psychology, and McDowell Tech where I finished two years for a certificate in Diplomacy and where I then taught for two semesters teaching World Religions.

Do I have an official accreditted degree? No. What I have is an honorary degree bestowed upon me by some of my professors, and a certificate of completion.

And I'm 28. I'll be 29 in May.

And those are my somewhat dubious profession titles and accomplishments.