Confluence

Categories: uncategorized

Date: 18 March 2008 20:18:08

At work, to-day, I received an email inviting me to attend a course which "would be suitable for all IS staff who deal directly with users who may be dyslexic or have Asperger's Syndrome". First, let me agree wholeheartedly with agatha's comment that it doesn't really make sense to say that someone 'has' Asperger's Syndrome. There has to be a spectrum; not sure if you put 'normal' people in the middle or at one end ... and, as the psychiatrist said to me, I do have some characteristics which I share with people who have this diagnosis - Asperger's - presumably meaning that their location on the spectrum is far enough away from what is considered 'normal' that they (or we) 'have something'.

I don't know what to make of the catch 22, however - if you think that you have Asperger's, then you probably haven't ...

But what intrigued me about the email was a reference to 'number 6', because the letter inviting me to my first appointment with the ASD specialists came from "6 (number 6) ...", and it turns out that they have a website - http://www.number6.org.uk/. It's a pretty basic website, although the photo on the front page might prove useful if I get lost. It sounds to be an interesting place.

Oh, and fineline, "The Deafening Sound of Silent Tears" is the story of Caring for Life. I was fortunate to receive a copy from The Hatching of a Plot. And, yes, being diagnosed with anything remotely connected with the mind is double edged. I have already had two potential careers (though I don't know how potential they really were) stopped in their tracks because people felt that my medical record suggested that I wouldn't stand up to the stresses of what I was wanting to do. And they may well have been right. I reached a point last summer where I felt that, on balance, the benefits of going for help outweighed the disadvantages. And I think that I made the right decision. We just have to see what happens.

And the final irony of that email - as agatha has observed, we are in consultation with various people regarding the possibility (and it is no more than a possibility) that our son has characteristics of Asperger's, while it has been suggested that our daughter may be dyslexic (I emphasise the 'may') - so as a parent perhaps I would benefit from attending that course ...