I met Tony Attwood today!!

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Tony Attwood is currently touring the UK and today he was giving a talk to Professor Baron-Cohen research group. I tagged along and wow was there a lot of autism expertise in that room.

I was lucky enough to be introdeuced to him by SBC. He is incredibly friendly and i even persuaded him to sign my book.

I secretly recorded his talk. I'll convert it to an mp3 file when i have some free time so if anyones interested give me a pm in a month or so. He talks a lot about women and asperger's which i understand is his area of expertise.

Wow, Baron-Cohen and Attwood's autographs in less than a month.

I'm glad you did that. I love that he is so focused on women and asperger's now. We really need a voice out there. Misdiagnosis of women is so rampant! We just have a totally different presentation than men do. Realizing that has been a result of Attwood's work.

I don't have a totally different presentation. I don't believe all women have a presentation that alters significantly from the males.

The difference may be more in subjects we choose to focus on but the presentation is not that different. We still have problems making friends, we have trouble conforming to the stereotype for our gender, we still dream about and focus on a special interest. I would say there is not much difference between the traits I have and those diagnosed in the opposite gender.

It's also very important not to misdiagnose someone. It's a matter of how do you tell. For a diagnoses of AS you MUST be social but awkward or have problems making friends. If you are effortlessly making friends, IMO you don't have this specific diagnosis.

cool


i met temple grandin last week at a conference about autism. she was one of the speakers at the conference.

she autographed her new book for me

Cool. I'd like to meet someone famous like that, but sadly I haven't.

Ive met a famous person not tony but hopefully when you do meet that famous person they dont come across as stuck up snobs.

Dr. Tony Attwood is truly "not a snob"...and I consider myself lucky that he has been able to respond to my e-mails. He recently told me that he will be returning to my community in Upstate New York to participate in some workshops and I look forward to meeting him. I missed his visit to Syracuse, New York in July, 2008 sponsored by the Kelberman Center for Autism.

If you want to know if Dr. Attwood will be in YOUR part of the world, go to HIS website and look for the listing of his schedule.
Dr. Attwood's website address is: WWW. TONYATTWOOD.COM.AU

that is wonderful you don't. good luck to you on the journey of life.

I don't think many who are running around "effortlessly making friends" are going to walk into Minds and Hearts Clinic in Brisbane (Attwood's clinic an hour and a half up the road) and be diagnosed with Aspeger's!)

For what it is worth, I thought i did present somewhat differently - and yet the specialist clinician I see said it was painfully obvious within the first half of the session I was a woman with undiagnosed AS. (lack of eye contact, stimming occurs in me, very longwinded monologuing and a verbose use of vocabulary when talking, going off on tangents....)

I also know it took 46 years for a dx in spite of being in the mental health and drug and alcohol and welfare systems in my country for the bulk of my adult life. The issue has been lack of education about ASD's. Instead i was told i was all sorts of other things.
I am glad tony and his team are making headway on the issue for some women who may have a milder presentation than mine.

This is normal presentation in males, too.


That's because AS is a relatively new diagnosis and it was due to a lack of education, not so much your presentation.

I just worry about misdiagnosis. Isn't growing up difficult enough without someone forcing a misguided label on you?

How about if you effortlessly make friends, and then lose them just as effortlessly?

Tony Attwood is alright, I have read one of his text books and he did take the time to mail me back when I mailed him with a question about AS. So I think that he is an OK person.

That falls under the umbrella term "problems socializing". Since they vary I use an umbrella term.
Okay, example time. Let's say the Prom Queen. Popular with a solid group of friends throughout her school years. Can we say she is AS but just presents differently? I think not...

I am very interested in this talk; I am fascinated by women and AS at the moment. But knowing me, I think that in 1 month´s time I would forget to pm you. Can I get my dibs in now?

Huh? yes. i know all of that. of course i know all that. i know all about the history of AS and its reinvigoration by Lorna Wing in 1989 and then others a little later. If you read my post you will note i make it clear i present with an obvious expression of AS - and the point i was making is not dissimilar from your's actually, when I reflect on my own "case."

and i do agree misdiagnosis can be an issue and it is also "flavour of the month" at present!
Those who run around saying they have AS and then whoopee it up at college and at parties and have a social whirl of a time will get sick of the tag and move on and find another bandwagon.
Those of is with it, have lived with it long before a dx was even available and the label gives answers but does not really change anything much. still the same person in the same skin with the same difficulties and joys from it.

What I am saying is there may well be a host of other women with a milder presentation of mine who may benefit from a broadening of the criteria and who may have learned some social skills but still live in a state of pain and confusion.
And if a few are misdiagnosed along the way...i do not really care about it that much.

Kids are the ones they are wanting to diagnos. Adults need one too, but from my understanding, it's girls who aren't getting diagnosed in childhood and that's the main issue. Girls are underdiagnosed at a higher percentage than boys.
Which is why I offer my suggestion. I want to help out. The best way to tell if your child might have AS is listen to what other kids are saying about your child. Other kids can always tell when a peer is different from them. They often will not accept this peer the way they accept other kids. If you tune in you can easily figure out who has AS and who doesn't. Male or female.

Last edited by ooOoOoOAnaOoOoOoo on 13 May 2009, 4:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.

awesome! did he mention WP?