Did college just get harder for those with AS?

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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23847510/

I fear that this will lead to harrassment of people on the spectrum. If college undergraduates, cafeteria workers, and janitors are now being encouraged to report "strange behavior" to committees that have this kind of power, I fear that college will soon get significantly more difficult for people with AS. It sounds like random people that have absolutely no knowledge of AS whatsoever will soon be encouraged to report any behavior they find odd or strange to committees that will likely also be made up of people that know nothing about AS.

Are students and employees with Aspergers going to end up on watch lists and be ordered to report to these committees every time a NT thinks it's strange to stim in public?

It seems to me that persons with AS and their NT friends and family members should speak out against this.

With all the recent school shootings (Columbine, Virginia Tech, Illinois ) anyone who behaves strangely is coming under suspicion these days...

As long as "suspicous activity" doesn't include normal stimming activities tugging your hair while thinking or bouncing your body off a wall or rocking slightly. That's just stupid. I just hope they are specific with what's "suspicious activity" so NTs won't use our "suspicous behaviors" as an excuse to get us in trouble. -Power Girl

The word 'thoughtcrime' comes to mind... now they can take disciplinary action against you based on something as simple as a look.

Seriously... a student sleeping in a car is something we ought to be concerned about?

If anyone here attends the University of Iowa, be warned that your school may have already adopted policies like this... Last year I got in trouble with my Hall Coordinator based on a laundry list of reports that had been passed along to her about some of my harmless AS-like behaviors. Isn't it scary that you don't even have to do anything wrong or break any rules to get in trouble anymore?

Funny, I thought the exact same thing when I saw that article. Glad I'm all done with college for the time being.

It's absolutely ridiculous.

When I was at UC Irvine, they handed out safety flyers with little diagrams on them to all the new students.

This diagram accompanied the phrase: "What to do if you see a suspicious person:"



This opens the door for 911 calls based on all kinds of social prejudices. Talk about vague. I mean according to their chosen graphic, "suspicious" apparently means dressing like a Bogart-esque detective from a 1940's film noir movie.

Universities have always been full of 'strange' people - mostly the lecturers, researchers, Deans, etc.

More seriously, we are living in times where irrational fear is ruling the world, in 2005 some 44,599 people were killed on the roads in the US that is 122 a day! It would more productive to report suspicious behavior on the roads. But that is not what this is about.

We have become a risk driven culture, and risk adversity tends to be driven by irrationality (go back a few hundred years to witches, demons, and evil spirits).

At such times any group that is not within the 'norm' of the dominant culture (in this case right-wing white Anglo-Saxon 'Christian' males) e.g., Jews, different races, Muslims, gays, Aspies, etc., will become merely 'collateral damage' from the imposition actions based on their beliefs. In statistical terms it is merely a 'returning to the mean' (of the dominant cultural beliefs in power at the time).

So yes - highly possible that Universities will become Aspie unfriendly (which is disappointing because it is one of the few places they have often fitted in well).

When I was going to college, "suspicious behavior" was doing what people used to go to college to do-study, get good grades, and work for the future, whether that future included marriage or a career. Today, anyone who doesn't participate in the social aspects of university life (drinking, drugs, sex, etc.) is considered "weird." Granted, I probably did some things that were pretty immature when compared to others of my age and intelligence, but I don't think I deserved some of the treatment I got. There were a lot of good programs for people with disabilities, but since I didn't have a recognized learning disability, it was assumed I was just crazy.

Those with an ASD who "appear" withdrawn and uninterested in social interaction will probably be pointed out; that'll just make the person with the ASD that manifests as such feel just grand, especially if they care for social interaction, but they cannot do it.

It's not the "stims" people fear--it's the "loner" that they fear.

I've had a few problems with living situations on campus. Last year, I had to switch rooms because the other people in my suite were freaked out by my behavior, especially my meltdowns but also my stimming and pacing and lack of social contact with them. I was then blackmailed into signing a release form to contact my parents, or risk losing housing. This year, I've managed to upset the people near me with meltdowns again. A few weeks ago I was told that one girl a few doors down was so upset by a meltdown (admittedly at 2 in the morning) that she was "afraid to leave her room to go to the bathroom." Of course, she was under the mistaken impression I was in the hallway. Argh. I was told she had "probably figured out there's something medical going on at this point" but that she was "too scared to approach me." Great. A few days ago I decided to try to rectify a situation by sending an e-mail to the people on my corridor explaining the situation and talking a little bit about what Asperger's Syndrome is. I don't know what effect, if any, that's had, but if something happens again I'll have to move so I wanted to take pre-empetive action. (The text of the letter is posted in the School & College section if anyone's interested.) In the past I've tried telling some of these kinds of people about AS, but it didn't really work. Hopefully the written format helped.

It does anger me that my neighbors (now and in the past) have made so little attempt to even try to understand me, and how it feels as though they are scrutinizing and judging my every move, even things which are quite harmless. Pacing does not equate to a fit of rage. My therapist pointed out to me that the girl might just have been scared by my meltdown (which admittedly included screaming), especially because of the Virginia Tech shooting. I pointed out that there aren't any recorded instances of women school shooters, as far as I know, so her fear was pretty unfounded. Besides, she could have looked out of the peep hole in her door and she would have seen perfectly well I wasn't there. If she seriously believed herself, me, or someone else to be in danger then why on earth did she not call campus security? All she did was write a whining e-mail to someone who wouldn't read it for at least another six or seven hours. She could have tried to contact me by writing a note, but all she did was complain about being "scared" and it annoys me. And if she realizes this is something "medical," then why hasn't she been more understanding? (Are we supposed to be the ones lacking empathy?)

This thread is certainly very timely. I do understand why some of my behavior is disturbing to others, but I just loathe the feeling of people judging and reading into everything I do when they've never even attempted to get to know me. It maddens me that my college will hold forums on racial and economic discrimination every other week, but never even considers diversity of neurological make-up, or any other disability-related issue. (I am not saying that racial/economic discrimination isn't important.) The academics here have been great and I've even had more success with friends than in high school, but the living situation simply doesn't seem equitable to people on the spectrum to me. I never break the rules, unlike most people, and yet I somehow fall under extra scrutiny.

When I was in Uni, suspicious behavior meant you were acting 'stoned'.

they should not be picking on loners, since there are lots of them at college.
and why do people consider you weird when you are actually doing schoolwork?

here aspies thrive at university, since weirdness and being absorbed in your work is encouraged. i read an article about an autism support service that helps people that are autistic find a job. lots of them have PHDs but have trouble transfering that into employment.

I was just thinking that if people are going to be under suspicion for displaying autistic traits, most of my lecturers would've been screwed...

I've been getting this feeling too. The article confirms it.

I'm doing my Master's at the same uni I got my Bachelor's.

As an undergrad student I was isolated from the most part. In class I'd sit alone and in breaks I'd find myself a corner away from everyone to just sit on the ground - usually between floors on the stairs or some place like that. People didn't think I was cool enough to hang out with them even anyway whenever I was in the mood to approach and some actively worked to isolate me further. I didn't go to any party or dinner and when my degree was ready I physically went to get it at some office, outside of which I waited, said kthxbye to whoever was behind the door ajar and disappeared not to be heard of again. I was the one without a team in group projects and had often to be forced into one. I failed to go to a lot of classes and many times I failed to study and because of this I failed subjects no one failes while doing well in whatever caught my interest for whatever reasons; that in itself rose an eyebrow here and there. . . after all they had given me a small scholarship to begin with. . .

Fast forwad a few years. Shortly after the Virginia Tech incident I find out they opened a counseling department run by a certain professor I'm not directly acquainted with - I make the connection in my mind. . . for varying reasons.
One day I have to go to one of the undergrad classes building. This professor is leaving as I enter - first time I see her in real life; she recognized me. She looked as if she was seeing f*****g Bin Laden strolling into the building.

I'm not sure why don't they just make a move and call me or kick me out instead of making things worse by being weird and paranoid about me.

I agree. I haven't had one problem at all in college due to all of my stimmy behaviors. Sure I seem really "out there" and weird... uncomfortable when others talk to me, of course, but it isn't the same type of behavior they are looking for... at least in my area it doesn't seem to be so.

Not many will talk to me, granted, but I don't see 'em pounding on the doors of the offices either to report me.

Isn't it the ones who are able to 'connect' with someone quickly that are a real threat? I'm thinking of Ted Bundy who was able to hoodwink young women into thinking he was crippled and needed their help?
Aren't NT's really the problem???