Marriage and Family & Asperger's

[Guest guest]

I haven't even

> > dated anyone since Jimmy Carter was president.

 

Actually it was in 1981. During Ronald Reagan's first

year in office

 

In

> my

> > case due to Asperger's syndrome, a social

> disability,

> > partially related to autism that severly affects a

> lot

> > of social skills.

>

> How amazing! I was in fact referring to people with

> Aspergers!

> I could tell you why off line, if you'd like.

 

yes. please do!!

 

> I urge other members of our list to learn a little

> more about this syndrome.

> More and more young people are being diagnosed with

> it. Many older adults

> are undiagnosed and often terribly misunderstood.

>

 

As I was growing up I was mis-diagnosed with

everything from mental illness ("an emotionally ill

child" to quote my 4th grade teacher), to learning

disabled. I had numerous bad experiences with

psychiatrists who were barking up the wrong tree. I

didn't even find out about Asperger's until I was 35

years old. Almost everything I've learned about it,

I've discovered on the internet.

 

Asperger's isn't unknown in India. I saved an article

on Asperger's from the Times of India (Mumbai edition)

that appeared in 2000. I could send it off-line, if

interested. I don't think it is still available on

the Times of India's web site.

 

I wonder if I were Indian, would I have been forced

into an arranged marriage, and how would I have

handled it? In fact, many people with Asperger's do

have boyfriends/girlfriends or get married -- not

necessarily to another person with Aspergers. But for

me it is about as likely as Christopher Reeve being

able to walk.

 

BTW, one of the unique features of asperger's, noted

in Dr. Asperger's original research in the 1940s, is a

fascination with transportation: automobiles, trains,

planes, etc.. I certainly had this as a child and

even now I am a train junkie. My India project

(before I met Amma, so don't ask me about Amritapuri

since I didn't go there!!!) was as much of a spiritual

pilgrimage as a railfan's dream. Earlier this month I

insisted on going Amtrak between Amma's New York and

Rhode Island programs! (and I met a few fellow

devotees at Penn Station!!)

 

Even if I couldn't bond with my biological parents as

I was growing up, Asperger's doesn't stop me from

experiencing Amma's love. My Amma doll has also

helped with the bonding process, and to break down

some ironclad gender barriers about what boys are not

expected to express in public.

 

Keval

 

 

 

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