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News- Page 39
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Various Articles : History Makers Suffered Extreme Form of Autism
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Posted by Sylvia on Friday, January 09, 2004 (09:29:08)
Scotsman.com 08/01/2004
By Victoria Ward
Well-known historical figures including Socrates, Charles Darwin and Andy Warhol almost certainly suffered from an extreme form of autism, a leading specialist claimed today.
It has already been suggested that Newton and Einstein displayed symptoms of Asperger’s syndrome – a severe strain of the condition which usually affects men.
But Michael Fitzgerald, a professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at Trinity College, Dublin suggested the number of high profile individuals with Asperger’s is much higher than previously thought.
“The number of people being diagnosed with Asperger’s has significantly increased because doctors are recognising it more,†he said.
“What we have realised is that a small number of those are extremely creative and may have changed the course of history.â€
In a retrospective diagnosis, taken by examining the biographies of certain historical figures and comparing their behavioural patterns with his own patients, Prof Fitzgerald claims that W.B. Yeats, Lewis Carroll and former Irish prime minister Eamon de Valera all had autism disorders.
“Asperger’s syndrome provides a plus – it makes people more creative,†he said.
“People with it are generally hyper-focused, very persistent workaholics who tend to see things from detail to global rather than looking at the bigger picture first and then working backwards, as most people do.
“W.B. Yeats for example, had problems with reading and writing and did very poorly at school.
“He failed to get into Trinity College and was described by his teachers as ’pedestrian and demoralised’. His parents were told he would never amount to anything.
“This is typical of people with the condition. They don’t fit in, are odd and eccentric and relate poorly with others. Most are bullied at school, as Yeats was.â€
Prof Fitzgerald said it was Yeats’s “monumental imagination†and his tendency to be aloof which characterised his Asperger’s.
Andy Warhol was also a “classic 100% case“, he said.
“He was extremely odd, his relationships were very unusual, his art was very unusual.
“He was a massive collector of articles, but didn’t even take them out of the packaging – his house was like a mausoleum – and he had the same difficulties at school,†he added.
Deficits in the social sphere are often compensated by exceptional analytic and mechanical ability, said Prof Fitzgerald.
“The possibility that autistic individuals made their mark on history, despite often being miserable and misunderstood, offers hope to those whose lives are touched by Asperger’s syndrome.
“It proves that we should accept eccentrics and be tolerant of them.
“The nation is pushed forward by engineers, mathematicians and scientists.â€
The claims are made in Prof Fitzgerald’s new book: In Autism and Creativity: Is There a Link Between Autism in Men and Exceptional Ability?
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Various Articles : 'Gloomy' turnout for issue-based play
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Posted by Sylvia on Saturday, January 03, 2004 (21:29:30)
The Times of India.com 22/12/2003
by Sanjay Pendse
PUNE, India - English language theatre in the city is not exactly bustling with activity. But when a reasonably good production, however rarely, comes along, the audience fails to show up in good numbers. The story was sadly repeated at Vijjay Nair’s Gloomy Rabbit at the Nehru memorial hall on Sunday evening.
Agreed, the name Gloomy Rabbit does not go well with the merry spirit of the season, but even a rare chance to see acclaimed Bangalore playwright Mahesh Dattani in action did not prove a big draw in a city that takes pride in its theatre tradition. May be a bedroom farce would have been in order. In any case, who wants to be bothered with a serious subject like autism.
Apparently, a little over 100 people did and they did not return disappointed.
What exactly is autism? Why are these souls so lost in their own world? Is it hereditary? Is one’s child at risk? If yes, what do you do? A crisp script unravels answers to such tough questions without lecturing or sermonising.
With style and sense of humour intact despite the seriousness of the subject, the play makes a plea for compassion and understanding and the need to recognise our own mental bugbears, or shall we say gloomy rabbits, while judging those of others.
With this play, Nair, who has earned recognition within a short span of time, breaks free of the "very serious" label acquired with Scars in my Memory, The Window and Weeds.
The response has been more hearty at previous stops — Ahmedabad and New Delhi . And the next show in Mumbai on Christmas Eve will hopefully see more happy rabbits walk out of the Sophia auditorium after the show.
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Various Articles : Grant Helps Autism Program Ride On With New 12-Seat Van
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Posted by Sylvia on Saturday, January 03, 2004 (21:24:34)
ZWIRE.com 18/12/2003
by Robert Brodsky
Queens (USA) residents with autism are enjoying a more comfortable ride to their therapeutic appointments and programs.
The Quality Services for the Autism Community was recently granted state funding to purchase a new 12-seat 2004 Chevy Express.
An oversized key to the van was presented to the non-profit organization by Queens Borough President Helen Marshall outside Borough Hall on Monday.
According to QSAC Executive Director Gary Maffei, the van will be utilized two-fold. In the morning, the vehicle will transport adults in the group’s Day Habilitation program to and from QSAC’s centers in Astoria, Whitestone and Hollis.
In the afternoons, the van will pick up children—including five-year-old William Choe, who attended the van dedication ceremony with his mother, Inyoon Lee—from area schools and take them to centers.
Last year, QSAC was selected by the Federal Transit Administration’s Section 5310 program to receive capital funding to purchase the van.
The $24,384 grant, administered by the Department of Transportation, encompasses 80 percent of the cost of the vehicle. In addition, the Queens Chapter of the Autism Society donated more than $6,000 to fund the remaining cost of the van.
Maffei said that QSAC is currently experiencing a three-year waiting list. The donation of the new van, he said, will allow the group to divert its funding elsewhere.
“We can now direct funding to teachers’ salaries,†he said.
Established in 1978, QSAC serves more than 700 members of the autism community in Queens, Brooklyn and Long Island.
Among the organization’s services are a day school for children between the ages of 5 and 21, an early intervention program for children under the age of 3 and a family reimbursement program and emergency respite fund, which provides compensation to parents for goods and services, transportation costs and emergency respite related to the care of a person with autism.
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Various Articles : Child's autism inspires creation of support centre
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Posted by Sylvia on Saturday, January 03, 2004 (20:30:46)
Toronto, Canada The Star.com 29/12/2003
by Tess Kalinowski
Zachary Graham isn't even aware of the impact his life has had on hundreds of Durham Region children.
The 10-year-old autistic boy is the inspiration behind Precious Minds, a charitable organization that has provided money, professional resources and respite to more than 500 families of children with learning disabilities in North Durham.
The creation of four determined mothers, including Zachary's, Precious Minds has been operating since 1999, offering advice, resources and financial aid to parents, and therapy and a little fun to children who struggle in school. The charity has had to rent space for its workshops and camps. Now it's set to build a permanent home by renovating an existing building in Scugog Township, about 15 kilometres north of Port Perry.
Although Precious Minds received a $75,000 grant from the Trillium Foundation, a provincial agency affiliated with the Ministry of Culture, for the project, a fundraising campaign called Centred to Help, Centred for Hope has a goal of $440,000.
The new, permanent facility will be a support hub for learning-disabled children and their families, a set-up that typically doesn't exist in rural communities.
From the time Zachary was a baby, Elisabeth Graham, Precious Minds' co-founder and executive director, said she sensed there was something different in her son's behaviour but her doctor didn't believe her.
"We knew something was not right. You're told boys are slower than girls, or maybe it's the terrible 2's," she said.
But in 1995, when Zachary was 3, he was diagnosed with autism. Then in 1999, his older sister Alicia started showing "all the classic stress signals," according to her mother. She was crying all the time and falling asleep in her Grade 3 class.
School staff didn't want to believe there was a problem but the Grahams had Alicia assessed privately and learned their daughter had a receptive language barrier. Every time she heard a word she had to decode the meaning all over again.
On July 27, 1999, Graham delivered a third child and the family came up against its greatest test. Jacob was born with a massive brain hemorrhage. The Grahams weren't given much hope.
"There are no words to express what my husband and I were feeling at that point," she said.
For two weeks, the family prayed for Jacob who had been put on a ventilator, and then on Aug. 12, a miracle: Jacob began to breathe on his own. Today he looks and behaves like any healthy 4-year-old but his mother knows there could be setbacks down the road.
As the Grahams traversed heartache and bureaucracy, Elisabeth's friend Sharon Simmonds stood by her.
Simmonds had another friend. Bonnie Noble is a special education resource teacher with the Durham public board. The two had talked about starting a children's centre.
"It took one week for the idea to hatch into reality," said Noble, who has four children of her own, and stresses that Precious Minds is about supporting the public school system, not competing with it.
"A lot of children are discouraged at school. We want them to walk away feeling good," she said.
Along with Zachary's first therapist, Stephanie Weddel, the women hit the phones and began raising money. Eight months later Precious Minds had charitable status and a roster of academic booster programs, parental workshops and summer camps.
From the beginning, "we just had amazing support from different service clubs in the area," said Graham. "It touches a lot of people's hearts."
The charity distributes about $40,000 a year in financial aid to families, who need only fill out a one-page form to qualify for funds. Precious Minds then pays the service or equipment provider directly.
Still, many of those most in need won't apply for the funding and Graham says one of her challenges is to find out why the poorer rural residents don't request more help.
Brenda Hine-Pires says her family has received thousands of dollars in assistance and support for her daughter Tylor, 11, who has attention deficit disorder. She says the resource has been invaluable to herself and her son, who also attends Precious Minds activities.
"He gets to see he's not the only one who's got a wing dingy sister. He can talk to other kids about his frustration," she said.
"When my daughter was diagnosed with attention deficit disorder we started looking for resources in the area," Hine-Pires said. "Unfortunately, in North Durham there's nothing."
She learned of Precious Minds through literature sent home by the public school.
"Precious Minds always give me a safe place to go," she said. "Somebody's there to talk you through the next 20 minutes because you're having a meltdown because your kid's having a meltdown."
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Various Articles : Parallel Worlds
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Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, December 13, 2003 (14:48:52)
By Olga Bogdashina
In recent decades there have appeared different conceptions of autism, which highlight sensory-perceptual abnormalities as the basis of core features of the disorder. Some researchers describe autism as a disorder of the senses rather than a social dysfunction, and hypothesise that all symptoms of autism are simply a consequence of the brain injury that makes brains of autistic children perceive inputs from the world differently from non-autistic brains.
Thus, abnormal perceptions might give rise to high levels of anxiety, this, in turn, results in the obsessive or compulsive behaviours, thus making the more commonly accepted criteria (impairments in social interaction, communication and imagination), in fact, secondary developmental problems (Delacato).
Though, it is probably not as simple as that and the syndrome of autism is a far more complex phenomenon to be explained by differences in sensory experiences, sensory-perceptual problems DO play an important role in autism.
Everything we know about the world and ourselves has come through our senses. However, we are not born with ready-made strategies to perceive the world around us. Thus, vision or hearing, e.g., means the ability to receive sights and sounds, but this ability does not mean to comprehend visual and auditory images. We have to learn how to see and hear with meaning.
Through interaction with the environment we develop our visual and auditory processing skills, learn how to discriminate different stimuli from chaos of sounds, shapes, patterns, movements, and learn how to connect sensory images with meaning.
If one (or several) of the senses are lost (e.g., blindness, deafness), the other senses develop to compensate and create the balance. However, the sensory-perceptual worlds of blind/deaf people are very different from the sensory perceptual world of people without these disabilities. E.g., the blind live in a tactile/auditory/olfactory world without any visual images. This is by no means a dysfunctional world. It is rather a completely different world.
Instead of visual images they have tactile-motor-auditory-olfactory concepts. The blind compensate lack of vision by other senses (often very acute) and reconstruct their ‘visionless’ world rich of ‘sound pictures’, ‘tactile images’ and olfactory perceptions that is very difficult for sighted people even to imagine.
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