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Albert Einstein |
Bill Gates |
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart |
NOTE: Courses and training offered here is not run by nor endorsed by the Foundation. However, the Foundation is pleased to be able to offer this web space to other support organisations to help them reach you.
For the first time in New Zealand, an ASD Guideline will provide evidence-based information for health, disability and education professionals as well as social service agencies, for the provision of services for people with ASD, their families and whanau.
The ASD Guideline is a ground breaking example of health, education and disability service leaders working together for the benefit of people with ASD.
The draft ASD Guideline is now available for consultation. The closing date for submissions is 28 February 2007. The draft ASD Guideline is firmly founded on evidence rather than opinion. Therefore the consultation submission booklet invites people to supply any evidence (rather than opinion) that has been overlooked.
Full details are available here: http://www.moh.govt.nz/autismspectrumdisorder
Sue Larkey is coming to New Zealand in 2007. For anyone that saw her at the Autism NZ conference you will know how dynamic she is. Her workshops are of interest to parents, teachers, professionals, all with an interest in
ASD. I can't recommend her enough and she sells brilliant resources. I think she will sell out soon so I suggest you book ASAP!
For a registration form please email training@autismnz.org.nz
Sue Larkey is an International Author, Autism Spectrum Specialist and Teacher.
This one day seminar will be held from 9am to 3pm in:
Christchurch 5th March 2007
Wellington 6th March 2007
Auckland 7th March 2007
You can view her website at: http://www.suelarkey.com/
An International Leadership Training programme for people with intellectual disabilities and their parents.
The training is designed to educate and empower participants and to achieve policy and systems change involving persons with intellectual disabilities and their families.
For further information call Audrey Buel on 09 378 7046
Course content: Understanding of self advocacy, independent living and parent movements, inclusive education, effective strategies for meetings and government processes, importance of whole life planning and knowledge of family support, supportive employment, Identifying critical disability issues at local and national levels.
The course is free of charge and expenses are paid, the commitment from you is the time and passion, it's runs over 8 months, once a month starting on a Friday lunchtime ending on Saturday at 3.00pm. The course starts in April and ends in November 2007 and is a total of 128 hours. The base will be Wellington and travel costs are included.
Please have a look at the brochure this is a brilliant and exciting course, if anyone wants to know more I am happy to share my experience, I am currently on the course, our last session is in February 2007
Download the brochure from: http://www.sams.org.nz/publications/Partners_and_Policymaking_Brochure.2006.pdf
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Albert Einstein |
Bill Gates |
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart |
What do these 3 elite achievers have in common apart from their genius?
Asperger Syndrome!!!
No not Asparagus Syndrome....Asperger Syndrome!
About this point in time you will be thinking.... 'Well, What the hell is that?'
The syndrome was named after an Austrian psychologist called Hans Asperger, who identified a cluster of unusual characteristics in several of his patients.
According to a support foundation called Cloud 9, A.S., is a condition distinguished by
• poor Social interaction skills....meaning the person who has the condition is not aware or can not understand the norms of interaction with others, especially when it comes to his or her peers or age group.
• poor Communication skills...meaning difficulty with communicating with others especially if words are said the wrong way or an A.S. Becomes frustrated, stressed or worried.
• poor Imagination skills...meaning delayed imagination or narrow imagination in areas of interest to the A.S. Person.
• Clumsiness. Some people with the condition have difficulty with balance.
• Sensory sensitivity... meaning that your five senses, touch, smell, hearing, vision and taste are all hyper-sensitive.
• Special interests like Ancient Egyptian History and regular routines like asking for reassurance to try to lessen the anxiety experienced during the course of a normal day.
The reason why.... I have chosen this particular topic is because I have Asperger Syndrome, and I would like to flesh out what some of these things described by the Cloud 9 Foundation mean to an Aspie.
Poor social interaction skills – the way you let someone know you want to have a conversation with them is absorbed by non-Aspies just by observing others – there's eye contact, maybe a smile, maybe one or two words about the weather, and the waiting and watching for a response. It's so automatic for non-Aspies, they are aware of what is happening – what they are doing and what the other person is doing in response. But all this is completely lost on an Aspie – we do not have the skills nor can we learn by observation how to begin a conversation. It has to be taught to us like reading or maths.
Here is a good example. On my 10th birthday, my parents were taking me and a group of boys to McDonalds. On the way I handed around chocolate I had been given and said “let's remove all these headrests so we can see one another” My parents were delighted to hear me using such good social skills. BUT THEN, as the boys began to talk about the latest international one day cricket game, I turned to the boy next to me and said “Who do you think is the best leader – Helen Clark, Winston Peters or Jim Bolger?”
Likewise, our speech, particularly in childhood can be stilted and illogical. I had quite a problem when I was little, speaking to other people. I called a camera a “look, see baby” and on a swing once I yelled out to my mother, “am I bigger this high?” Fortunately she knew it meant am I going higher than those trees over there?” Another time, I asked my mother if the queen “called out ball parties” Again she knew I meant “does the queen send invitations to balls”. But you can imagine the problem other people had understanding me sometimes.
I have a poor imagination – I never enjoyed made up stories when I was little, much preferring to read true stories, particularly about people in history. When I was very little, I did not understand that if I hit someone, and I did not feel any pain, they could. My parents had to explain to me that even if I felt no pain, other people could and that is why they cried. My social interaction improved very much after learning that!!
Although many Aspies are clumsy – I have been spared this to a certain extent. Which is the other important thing to remember about Aspergers Syndrome – that is that there is no typical person. We have aspects of the condition but not necessarily all of them.
I do have sensory sensitivity – which for me has been one of the hardest things to do deal with. There are certain foods that are so awful for me – like mushrooms – that I actually feel sick, their taste to me is so revolting. A sudden burst of sunlight can make me feel sick, as can loud noises like a room crammed with people, material that other people have no problem with like certain woolen jumpers, drives me crazy because it feels prickly and certain smells that other people have no problem with, make me want to be sick.
I have also had a lifetime of focused interests. At the time of my 10th birthday, it would not surprise you to learn, I had become extremely interested in politics. I could not understand why those other boys preferred to talk about cricket rather than political leaders!
Over the years my interests have extended as the syndrome has less and less affect on me.
One particular focus which is really important to me is: humanitarian issues.
Don't get me wrong, Politics is still one of my favs but it is now not as important as humanitarian issues.
Asperger Syndrome gives me the gift to be enthusiastic about helping others who are worse off than I and I am now respected for what I stand for and do. Today I can even be brave enough to go out and interact when I am campaigning for human rights and social justice. It is a passion for me.
When I was 6 and the syndrome was at its worst, if I was asked the question is Aspergers a curse or a gift, my reply would have been 'an evil curse' but now I say that Asperger Syndrome is a gift because it makes me unique.
The mere fact that it is widely believed that Albert Einstein and Wolfgang Mozart had traits of the condition is proof enough for you that Asperger Syndrome is a gift and not a curse. Look how successful Bill Gates is as an I.T. Giant, and despite other possibly “unpleasant” characteristics, look how brilliant another suspected Aspie, Michael Jackson, was as the king of Pop.
Other famous notable people from the past and present who might have had or might have traits of the condition are: writers such as Jane Austen and Virginia Woolf, musicians such as Bob Dylan and Beethoven, inventors such as Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell and finally scientists such as Sir Issace Newton and John Nash.
The Cloud 9 Foundation brochure states that the interests, or focus subject that an Aspie may have can actually work to the advantage of that particular person because he or she is an expert. For example if any of you watch 'Boston Legal' you would have noticed an eccentric law expert called 'Hands', this is his nickname because he very rarely lifts his hands from his thighs. He is incredibly awkward when communicating with others and shows low self-esteem hence the hands firmly stuck to his thighs, however despite his eccentricities he has a special interest and in his own words he said that (quote) “Law is my life”and he earns $300,000.00!!. Because of the intellectual single-focused capabilities of an Aspie like Bill Gates or Albert Einstein, they achieved, financially and socially beyond the wildest dreams of others. According to a BBC research project done by two leading professors from Oxford and Cambridge universities, it is their belief that both Einstein and Newton showed signs of incredible focus and passion for their subject areas and were both hopeless in social interaction, however both became ultimately known worldwide for their achievements. Issac Newton discovered gravity and Albert Einstein discovered relativity.
Finally, a BBC online article titled 'What Aspergers has done for us', states that (quote) “this reflects the positive side of this gene, that people with it (meaning A.S.) can contribute in many ways. Being single-minded, it gives them the chance to focus on something which interests them. Their talents are not diluted by the everyday interactions that take up so much time for the rest of us” (unquote).
In conclusion I would like to reiterate that Asperger Syndrome is a gift not a curse.
Thank you.
BBC News. Health. Einstein and Newton 'had autism'. (April, 2003). British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved May 29th 2006 from
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/health/2988647.stm
BBC News. Magazine. What Asperger's syndrome has done for us. (June, 2004). British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved May 29th 2006 from
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/magazine/3766697.stm
Cloud 9. Brochure. Keeping the dream alive for children with Asperger Syndrome. (n.d.). Cloud 9, Children's Foundation New Zealand. Wellington, New Zealand