The Silent Wave news and updates 😁

Laina Eartharcher

I’m here!  All is well, although I have little time and just a few energy units left for the day, so I reckon this post will be sort of mundane lol.  😉

First, I wanted to let y’all know that I did get the Bloglovin’ “claim your blog” issue resolved.  I learned that, at least these days, they will indeed remove your blog upon request and they will also restore your blog if it’s been removed.  They look like pretty stand-up people so far, I’m delighted to say!

Second, I’ve been going back through my entire blog (560+ posts!) and I’ve been assigning image credits and links to the creators/sources of those images, when and where I can find them.  If it’s some wallpaper conglomerate or copycat site, then I won’t bother for now, but if I can identify an artist, I will certainly give them credit and the shout-out they deserve!  I should have done this all along.  🙂

Third, while going through this blog post-by-post, I’ve also been creating a new Blog Category, called “More Popular Posts“.  This will include posts that have been in my “top 10” (as designed by WordPress, according to the number of Likes it received for their time), as well as anything I’ve seen shared on Facebook or Twitter that has gotten a lot of Likes or Shares or discussion.

Last, I’ve been up and down physically, and still having some motivation issues, as well as a slightly higher workload at the office, so I haven’t been able to pull enough energy/time together to create coherent thoughts lol.  As the weather gets cooler (it’s still plenty hot and sometimes humid here!), I think more energy will come back.  I’m hoping to travel northward again for the holidays, so now that I might have something concrete to look forward to, this might recharge some of that energy.

I’m thinking there’s a thyroid issue; it’s extremely common in the US, and my mom has an autoimmune thyroid disease called Hashimoto’s.  I tested positive for the autoantibodies about five years ago, but I didn’t have any symptoms yet.  Maybe now I do.  It remains to be seen and per usual, time will tell.  🙂

I hope this finds y’all well, and I will write again soon!  Maybe tonight or maybe over the weekend.  I won’t be too long.  😉

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Published by Laina Eartharcher

Feet on the ground, eyes toward the sky.

96 Comments

    1. Thank you dear one! 😘. I think my body is just tired of the heat lol. Or it’s my thyroid, or maybe even something as simple as being dehydrated lol 😉💗. Either way I’ll get it nailed down 😁👍🏼🌷🌺

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            1. Aw cool! 😁😁. I loved the Alamo, but just because of its history and its lovely backyard place with all the plants and walkways 💗

              Your son sounds hilarious! 💚💙

              Seriously, we need to have a (tiny) AS Convention here in TX – there are so many of us! There’s another guy I know on the spectrum in Houston. Very nice 💜💞

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  5. Hey, soul sis! (Still Marisa here. Just been editing my gravatar to better reflect my desires for privacy. Hopefully, I am done with fiddling with how I identify myself around here. lol) I am glad you are sorting things out and finding bloglovin accomodating. I can certainly empathize on the energy levels. Mine are sapped lately juggling so many schedules. Thyroid issues do seem prevalent these days. I have pondered the possibility myself once or twice, but, then, I figure between EDS, IBS, ASD, and all the rest of the alphabet soup in my bowl, tiredness is a given. 🙂 I hope you are able to get some rest and any answers you might need. 😘😘😘😘😘

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    1. Thank you so much, Neuro-Sister! 😘🙌💗. I’m really glad you’re sorting through the Gravatar thing 👏🏼👏🏼. Oh yeah, I hear you on so many levels–the energy thing, the alphabet soup of conditions, and so on 💞💐💓💐💞. At least the weekend is here and I can rest and recharge 😁👍🏼💖. I hope you are able to do the same! 👍🏼👍🏼💗🌷

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    1. Thanks friend 😘. Oh yeah, I run blood work every year and I’m seeing it dip on the low side, starting probably about 7 years ago 😳😘. I ran my thyroid autoantibodies about 5 years ago, through a specialty lab that is sensitive enough to detect autoimmune disease before the symptoms start, and the results were positive 😳. So I knew what was coming 💜. My mom has Hashimoto’s and I probably do, too 💚💙. The funny thing is, I’m in the stage of Hashimoto’s where the symptoms are “mixed”, so I probably have to wait a bit until I advance to the low-thyroid-symptoms-only stage before my body will tolerate the replacement hormones 😳💖💖

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  12. I went through MY 600 posts. Read them all. Deleted the ones that were of no benefit to me or anyone else. I only post pictures of what I take so I didn’t have to do what you are doing but I think it is pretty cool you are doing it. Sounds laborious !!!!
    It took me half the day to read all my blogs and I wasn’t editing like you are doing.
    I’m so sorry to hear you are having some thyroid issues. I know all about hashimotos and if you tested positive for the antibodies maybe that will give them a direction to go in for treatment now that you are having symptoms. I’m really sorry you are going through this though!!!

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    1. Oh wow! 💓💓. Kudos to you for all the blog-work 👏🏼👏🏼. Not a small feat! 🌺🌺

      Yeah I’m glad I had a heads up about the thyroid thing! At least I knew to watch for it 😁. (Note to all my lovelies: this took a specific test from a specialty lab in the US; most doctors, even specialists, have *no idea* that this lab test–or the lab itself–even exist(s); the regular thyroid antibodies test through the usual labs isn’t sensitive enough to pick up on developing autoimmunity; they’re only designed to pick up on autoimmune diseases that have already begun and are well underway 😘😘. I know that some of you will have questions about this, and if so, please don’t hesitate to contact me via the Contact page on here ❤️❤️).

      Even though the info was “bad news”, it did indeed give me some clarity and direction! And for that I am totally grateful 😁👍🏼💗💗

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      1. It is a highly specific test and one that most doctors don’t know about. We are so rare, my daughter and me, that we were tested for antibodies for so many things including that, cortisol saliva tests, antibodies for all kinds of autoimmune diseases. I am so glad you wrote some more about it because a regular TSH (thyroid) test won’t pick it up.
        So what is your next step for treatment do you know what that will be?

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        1. Oh wow! Was it Cyrex labs? That’s the one I had done 😁💙. My TSH is higher than the optimal range, but still within the conventional labs’ reference range. Gah lol. And yeah, I agree totally, the TSH won’t tell you why it’s high (or why your thyroid is low) 😳😳

          Yeah I think I’m going to run that specialized test again and see what I’m up against. I’m also going to run a full thyroid panel that includes:

          TSH
          Total T4
          Total T3
          Free T4
          Free T3
          Reverse T3
          T3 Uptake
          Thyroxine-Binding Globulin (TBG)

          That oughtta do it 😉😂🌺. That’ll tell me what my thyroid is doing and it’ll start narrowing down the list of possible reasons why it’s out of whack 😁💞🌷💜

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          1. No it was Genova labs. It was a specialty labs that she ordered many tests for us including a candida special test and some other autoimmune tests. Some we had to pay out of pocket for. Yeah. See tsh isn’t crap. They need to do the free and the total of all of them and the globulin. She did globulins on tons of different tests for us.
            I ended up having to get a radioactive dye study done on my thyroid because I have a mass there but it is benign. But they are watching it. Please let me know how it goes!

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            1. Oh wow! Hehe Genova and I know each other well lol. I see them at conventions and I walk up to them and introduce myself and they’re like “ohhhh that’s *you*” lol. I’m on their back all the time because they want to make changes that aren’t necessarily good. They listen to me, at least for a while lol 😉😉

              Oh wow, you got the radioactive dye! How did that go for you–as in, your experience? How did you feel? 🌷🌺🌷

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              1. That is hilarious. Stay on their backs!!!! Genova needs to keep doing good and not change anything to make it bad!!!!!
                They do the most comprehensive (I know gross) stool studies around that help diagnose all kinds of intestinal illnesses so much better than just your regular screenings.
                The radioactive dye made me feel totally fine.
                The CT angiogram that I had done this past week for my seizures made me feel VERY bad. My doctor has me take clay or charcoal after any of those tests to flush all that crap out

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                1. Oooh I like clay and charcoal 😁😁. Excellent binders! 👏🏼😘💗

                  So glad you came through the radioactive dye well 😁👍🏼

                  I use Genova’s stool analysis a *lot* 👏🏼👏🏼😁. The ova & parasites part is crap but the rest is really good! (I don’t add on the H pylori and whatnot, though, because the methodology sucks; I use a different stool test for that 😁💗). Agreed wholeheartedly, SO much better overall than regular screenings! Conditions like Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn’s can be picked up just by the bacterial pattern on the Commensal section (!) 😁👍🏼👏🏼. I have lots of fun with those results; I’m just glad I don’t have to handle the samples myself! 😂😂😉💓

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                  1. The inflammation and the candida is perfect on that test though. Love that test. From what I have learned the parasite and ova is just impossible to get BUT our doctor believes everyone should take something twice a year. She suggests humaworm which you get online. It has 26 herbs in it. You take it for a month.
                    But yeah the bacteria patterns will pick up way more than sayyyyy a colonoscopy which I think is crap lol pardon the pun!
                    Listen If I have to send off any more poop I may pull what is left of my hair out!!!
                    Our doctor is very alternative though. She leaves no stone unturned. Infact i was just reading my lab results and APPARENTLY… my copper is through the roof as well as my iron. Pretty ironic for being a VEGAN. Like what in THE fuck!!!! And i drink bottled reverse osmosis water to avoid any copper in our pipes. Can’t wait to see what she thinks about those results. My gadolinium was also very high bc my body did not flush the MRA of my brain out and I used the binders but alas it was just too much. None of these things you want in your body and it pisses me off the extremes I go to to have a pure house. I have $300 air purifiers. Water filter. No carpeting, all metal duct work so no dust. I clean with vinegar i mean for fucks sake we eat home made organic food and YET. Bed ridden. Both of us. With my muscle disease and lyme disease and she just tested me for another tick infection and IT came up positive so now I have 3 tick infections. Oh i am so frustrated right now. I am in what we call a MAJOR FUSS>

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                    1. Yeah the candida and inflammation markers are awesome 😘👍🏼👍🏼. I wish they’d kept the Lactoferrin included, but that’s just me lol 😉. I love the No Stone Unturned approach 👏🏼👏🏼. That’s exactly how I roll, too 😁. Copper often goes high when Zinc starts dipping–but it might still look “normal” on the labs unless it’s an advanced or long-standing issue 💜. The extremes we have to go to just to get our bodies to function *is* *so* ridiculous!! Omg 😳. Fun Fact: I was watching the California wild fire crisis on the Weather Channel and a firefighter they interviewed was talking about the smell of different fires and he said that a house fire does *not* smell anything like a grass fire; a house fire smells mostly like burning *petrochemicals* (!!) 😳😳. I doubt they’ll air *that* quote again, but I managed to catch it lol. That tells us something! That’s the real news right there – the stuff they *don’t* say 😉💓

                      Ugh Lyme disease bites, so much 💐💐. My best childhood friend has it; apparently she’s had it for ~30 years (she’ll be 40 next spring), so most of her life 😳. (She came to visit us and we finally diagnosed it, after she’d been given the runaround from the conventional docs. Ugh.). I *so* feel for you, girl 😘😘. The muscle disease – do you mind my asking if it’s autoimmune? 💚💙

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                    2. I haven’t done that one in years. When I last had it done lactoferrin was on there. That was a supplement I started after that test.
                      I have been on zinc for 12 years now since my level was first high on copper. It doesn’t seem to budge. The zinc or the copper. Zinc is in normal range although it has dipped. They did have me on b12 methyl b12 injections for awhile. We’ve tried different approaches. If there is inflammation in the body copper can go up but mine is just way too high. And copper can accumulate in the tissues, brain, etc and is just not a good thing. Hoping she comes up with something. I’m guessing some form of chelation is coming up. We tried it already and it did nothing but we may go back to it stronger.
                      Lyme is a bitch. I had rocky mountain spotted fever which is a tick infection when I was 18 so they assume that that is when I got lyme and the other tick co infections. So over 30 years ago. I’ve been on the cowden protocol which seems to keep it at bay, for 3 years but today, for example, woke up and every single joint, ones I forgot I had, hurt, toes, fingers, hips, spine, jaw. Every joint. Lyme is a bitch of a disease and very difficult to heal. When I tested positive for it it was as if I had just been exposed (positive IGM) yet I hadn’t had a tick on me for years and years. Which shows what it does to your immune system. Wipes it out.
                      My muscle disease was diagnosed by biopsy at the mayo clinic otherwise known as the torture clinic by me!!! It is called central core disease.
                      I am in the US but have a specialist in Canada and in London England working on my case. They have both been on it for 12 years since my diagnosis because I do not have the known genetic mutation that creates this disease nor the typical symptoms but my biopsy looks identical to those who do. The cores of the cells die leaving perfect circles of emptiness. None of us know if lyme disease has accelerated the muscle disease or not. It seeems it has

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                    3. Omg girl, you’ve been through the ringer! 😳💐💞💞. I’m thinking the same thing about the Lyme; it can progress to the muscles and also activate autoimmunity toward the muscle/nerve tissues 😳💗💗

                      That’s so cool that you have people all over working on your case! 😁. Yeah Lyme confuses the hell out of the immune system, fatigues it severely. I have a couple patients who have it. *Very* up and down, and the 3-week doxycycline (not my idea; one of their other doctors did that) didn’t work at all 😨🌺🌺

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                    4. “Patients”? Are you a doctor?
                      Yeah 3 weeks of doxy is bullshit. I did 2 years of doxy and rocephin injections at the same time with augmentin and flagyl. Can you say perfect set up for candida/c-diff!!!! Which is why after zero recovery I switched to cowden protocol with my doctor who is treating me now and all kinds of other things she has me. On a have baskets of STUFF. Zinc, alpha lipoic acid, vit d, methylated b12, calcium, magnesium, branched chain amino acids, n-acytlcystine (however that is spelled), glutathione, ( i have all kinds of methylation pathway mutations), lactoferrin, flax oil, probiotics, 5 different herbs in the cowden protocol currently. You name it, I think I am taking it. Oh olive leaf extract. Monolaurin (for underlying Epstein barr)
                      I believe unless the biofilm is addressed in lyme then it will never be fully cured. It sets up camp in the damaged tissue and loves it there. Old injuries. Anywhere and everywhere it can hide. I have a constant positive ANA so they know that I am a freaking wreck. We just keep moving forward and addressing what comes up while trying to treat the underlying source. The seizures were a bitch to add on to this entire thing. I cannot say I am pleased to be taking an anticonvulsant and yet I am. It is the only actual medication I am putting in my body and it has stopped the seizures completely. My body really needed a break from that let me tell you!!!

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                    5. Omg no doubt! 😘😘. Yep, I’m a doctor 😁. Much like the one you describe 💗. My patients are exactly people like you, lots of complex stuff going on 🌷🌷. I can’t say how relieved I am that the seizure medication you found works so well for you! I can imagine you wouldn’t necessarily want to have to take it, but at least it’s there 💙. Praying that it keeps working like a charm! 🙏🏼🙏🏼. Lyme is *really* good at burrowing into tissues. Ugh. I wrote an educational handout for the clinic on Lyme; it was only meant to be a handful of pages, but it ended up being 35! 😳😉💜. The stuff you’re taking sounds like all good stuff 👍🏼👍🏼. The Cowden protocol has been around a while, with a decent track record 🙏🏼🙏🏼💓💓

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                    7. Thank you! 😁😁😘❤️. The handout is fun; I had fun slamming the CDC and the medical establishment for its stubborn refusal to acknowledge the existence of chronic Lyme 💚💙💜

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                    8. I think my doctor LIVES to go against the CDC bullshit rules on diagnosis of chronic Lyme!!!! What so many people don’t understand is that Lyme is NEVER just lyme. Is coinfections and parasites and low cd-57 fighter cells and methylation pathway issues. They can’t just give a month of doxy and wipe their hands.
                      I’m glad you wrote something!
                      Do you use Igenix?

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                    10. What’s so funny is that my igenix came up cdc positive so it had to be reported to the cdc so i am a statistic which i find hilarious because my regular one that was done by a shit lab just showed 3 bands and i think there has to be 5 to be positive? I can’t remember now but reporting it just made our skin crawl because they don’t TRUST igenix YET igenix test had a CDC positive level that had to be reported. It’s all a freaking mess. Just glad my doc looks out side of the box and doesnt put me in one. She will send me a random email at 3 am about a finding. Gotta love people that try for complex people like me!

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      2. With the whole memory loss thing I was very interested in where I started my blog and how it went along the way. It was an interesting read!!!!!!! I went from calm to angry to sad to meditative with little bursts of emotions coming out here and there in my poetry. It was cool to see where I need to keep working and what I need to let go.

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        1. Amen to that, dear one! Oh wow, I can only imagine the spectrum of emotions! The way I see it, the posts serve as a memory anchor and reading them is a really efficient way of bringing yourself back to exactly that moment in time and space 💙💙. At least, that’s how it goes for me 😉💌💌

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            1. It really throws me for an emotional loop while I’m going through it, but then it’s ultimately very healing for me when I can see how far I’ve come 😘. Is it that way for you too? 💗

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              1. It was very very emotional. I felt for myself. Which was kind of cool to give myself empathy. Not something I do often. Not a feel sorry for yourself kind of thing but just self love kind of thing. I was like ” damn my life has fu***** sucked and I’ve still persevered. Good for me!”
                Some of it I was like OK THEN YOU GOT A TINY BIT OUT OF CONTROL ON THAT ONE. So it went to the delete file. But i did acknowledge it and saw where I was at the time and even understood why I was there.

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                1. Yeah!! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼. I can identify with that for sure 😘😘❤️. Self-compassion is so important! And our society doesn’t teach that or seem to place any importance on that. So happy we’re at least learning that on our own! 👏🏼💚💙💜

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  13. You’ve been busy! I hope you get something a little more concrete down for travel plans so it gives you something to look forward to, and maybe that’ll help with motivation and direction too. As for the thyroid issue, I definitely think you should get re-tested (testing in the UK, and treatment, is awful, so I hope it’s better where you are!) as this may explain a little about the energy/motivation side of things. Great idea with the most popular posts section! If I could work out how to do that maybe I’ll follow in your footsteps.. 🙂
    Caz x

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    1. Hi Caz! 😘. Yeah it’s been a little hectic around here, but that’s probably a good thing lol 😉😂💜. Someone I know has a nice $300 USD credit through one of the airlines, so I might be able to travel soon after all! 😁💖

      Yeah I think I’m going to run that specialty autoantibody test panel again; it’s been 5 years, and an update would be wise 💚💙. I’m in the US, where thyroid treatment can be better, but only through certain types of doctors, and this type is *rare* lol. More widespread in the US, but it still requires that one do some substantial homework 😉🌷.

      The “most popular posts” section is really fun! I just created a Category and started going back through the blog posts, adding those that fit the bill, and then adding some text at the bottom of those posts, with a link to the category. I started at the very beginning of the blog (which was the end of April 2016 (!)), and now I’m up to February 2017 (!). I’ll work through the day and see how far I get lol 😉. I totally recommend it; it gives readers a chance to see more of your best work, which is cool, especially for new followers who might have missed some great older posts 😁💗💗

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  15. My best friend has Hashimoto. Tough disease. Glad you’re doing relatively well. Love the update. Missed you. I took the summer off to finish my book which I did. Love and prayers, Nancy

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  17. Good to catch up on where you are at Laina. I have so appreciated your kind support of my posts lately. I hope you get a good break away. Things are hotting up on this side of the world. It was a long winter here and its great to feel the warmth but with global warming am a bit apprehensive when the real heat hits. Love to you. Deborah ❤

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    1. Hi! 🙂 🙂 Thank you, luv! It’s so nice to catch up with you, too ❤ Your writing is *stellar*, dear one! I think we met through…Devereaux? Or CodeInFig? Either way, I'm so grateful 🙂 I would love to visit Australia/New Zealand someday soon! I'll come when it's summer for us because I dig the chill 😉 😀 I totally feel you about the heat – I'm in the south-central US and our heat is similar to parts of Australia :O The whole global warming/climate change has me a little apprehensive as well. Stay cool and shaded down there! Thank you so kindly for reading and adding your voice, my lovely! ❤

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  19. Glad all is well with you. I had a slow down in my work on a film project as well as my acting career. I read in the BLOG you had a slow-down, too. I hope you have a great time in your northerly travels over the holidays.

    I think I need to take a late night walk in my hood…get the endorphins up to help motivate me and lift my spirit.

    Have a good eve.

    /s/ Alfonso Faustino

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    1. Oh good! 💖. Did the late night walk help? 😊.

      Yeah I’ve had a few slow-downs over the past 6 months or so, all in tandem lol. Just trying to get back into the swing of things now 👍🏼. Have a wonderful day/afternoon/etc (whatever applies when you read this) 😁💜

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      1. Hi, Laina. I ended up not going for my walk; I ended up helping a HAM operator program his transceiver — while he was out in the field in the Witching Hours (~0230 hours PDT). I enjoy programming transceivers; but, I really felt great knowing I helped him his transceiver; so, that put me in good spirit and changed my POV to positive. 😉

        How are you doing today?

        Always great corresponding with you!

        /s/ Alfonso Faustino

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  20. Hello. I wonder why are there more unusual illnesses around the world. I was watching cases on Animal Planet -a young woman who had larvae from flies in her head. It took a while but she finally got better. I didn’t use to hear so many cases. But I hope you’re feeling better.

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  21. Hi Laina, hope you are feeling well now.
    Just thought I’d bring your attention to a couple of online things I’ve been looking at which I found very interesting, and was wondering when you have some free time what yours and others might think of them:

    http://unstrangemind.com/is-everyone-a-little-autistic/

    The last but one comment on the above is worth a read too. The last comment is the response to the author of the last but one comment, I detected anger in his reply and quite frankly I’m not surprised.

    http://unstrangemind.com/dr-simon-baron-cohen-does-not-understand-the-neurodiversity-paradigm/

    The above being another blog post drawing attention to Prof Baron-Cohen’s witterings.

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    1. Thank you for sharing these! 😊. I agree with the majority of both posts. I also see both sides illuminated in the two final comments (the last comment and the post author’s reply) of the first post.

      I’m curious as to how the author views disability, if not according to the medical model. I would be interested in an expansion on that statement they made.

      Personally, I go back and forth between yes and no, in response to the question “is Asperger’s/autism a disability?” In a way, it helps me in my life. My hyperfocus, the intensity of my interests, my limited circle of friends, my lack of BS and drama, etc, are all examples of how autistic qualities present in me, and I consider all to be assets.

      There are other times when I feel disabled, but that’s using the NT world as a reference, and we’re all well aware that the NT world is in itself far from perfect. So who has the disability? It’s all relative. Is it the one who “doesn’t make eye contact”, or is it the one who, relatively speaking, “feels the need to stare at the person they’re talking to?”

      To me, autism is a difference and nothing more. That’s how I understand the neurodiversity paradigm–that there’s no one single “right” way to be. There’s a part of me that believes that embracing the idea that we’re disabled runs counter to the ND paradigm, like we’re trying to have it both ways, when we say, in one breath “the ND paradigm is where it’s at!”, but then in the next breath, “we’re disabled!” Part of me says the cognitive dissonance is strong in those people.

      *But* there’s another part of me, who often feels very much disabled. I operate one way, while the other 99% of the world operates another way. I’m very much outnumbered and thus, the pressure is on me to conform and adapt, leaving very little energy left over. At this time, I’m only working half-time hours and it’s my partner who conducts the everyday tasks because I have a really hard time doing it myself. Interacting with people might very likely be the source of that lesser ability to do other things, because my energy is sapped.

      I grew up having no clue that I might be disabled, so I held myself to different standards; I kept pushing myself–and with unhealthy consequences.

      So yeah, I can see both sides of the issue, I really can, at least in my own way, my own version, my own situation. That’s not to speak for autism or autistic people as a whole, since everyone’s situations are different. 😊💗

      Very interesting pieces, and very thought-provoking! Thank you again for posting them here 💙

      What are your thoughts on this? 💖

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      1. Some of the arguments and discussions people have puzzle me. For example, the discussion about Person-first and Identity-first language. I’m not bothered what people call me so I don’t mind which one they use. How they treat me however, behave towards me, is another matter. Maybe that is affected by how they view this condition, Person-first or Identity-first, but I haven’t paid attention to that. It is the consequences of the treatment of me that I do pay attention to. Having a therapist treat me like a freak and a retard, sneaking around behind my back, had a devastating impact on me mentally, it was metaphorically like being whacked round the head with a piece of 2 x 4. I have good reason to believe he has now been ‘dealt with’, lol. But it doesn’t undo the damage he wreaked. Maybe his actions were a consequence of him putting the Identity before the Person, but I’m more inclined to think it was because he was an arrogant idiot that thought he was being clever and lied about his qualifications and experience, and has now paid the price. Many NT’s have their own preconceptions as to what autism is about. Some are kind and thoughtful, others treat me like a weirdo.

        The UN just published a report on the appalling way our government (UK) treats disabled people, probably the worst in any Western developed nation. A man I know, cannot walk without sticks, but denied disability allowance, another man denied the allowance even though he is permanently in a wheelchair because he “can still do a job sitting down”. Another man denied the allowance even though he has no legs, because he can perfectly ably climb upstairs using his arms (they saw a video of him doing it). Compared to them I am Olympic standard so I’m not even going to apply, too demeaning. To the government, none of us are disabled. But in reality it’s all about the money.

        Many times I’ve heard people saying “Yes, I’m like that” or “I do that too”, but I’ve watched them and they don’t. Maybe they are trying to be sympathetic, or maybe they are trying to make out there is not a problem. I read reader comments on newspaper articles about autism completely dismissing the problems as imaginary and pathetic, until a newspaper report comes out reporting on a person with autism physically attacked because he/she is different. Then suddenly they are all sympathetic. If more people had been more understanding and sympathetic in the first place then maybe others would not have felt encouraged to attack autistics and beat them up.

        My problems socially are legion. In some respects we are virtually blind where people are concerned. I ask people, if they’d like to know what it is like for me, then the next time they are sat in a social gathering to wear a blindfold the entire time, but be sure to ask everyone to treat them as if they are not wearing one.

        You’re right about the back and forth between the disability and the positives, and I’ve much the same view. But we live in a world populated very largely by NT’s, and they largely run the show, so we are subject to what they perceive as right behaviour and right action. For my own personal guidance I tend to rely on Charlemagne’s Code of Chivalrous Conduct and the Code of Bushido (the latter which you are probably very familiar with too), and then there are writers such as Takuan Soho, Plato/Socrates, Stoicism, Anglo-Saxon writings and so on. To name but a few. It is satisfying to have those writings to turn to. (My favourite Anglo-Saxon piece of work is the poem ‘The Wanderer’.) So we do have guidance from NT’s to fall back on. I grew up with the generation of ‘Suck it up’ and the ‘Stiff Upper Lip’ (our parents and grandparents went through some dreadful periods in history, WW1 and WW2, they had to be tough to cope), so I learned to mask and copy. I still do those things, or try to. And sometimes it gets too much. But what we have are advantages as well as deficits, as you have noted yourself.

        I see what Unstrange Mind means about the medical model of disability, as something to be fixed or cured. I read this website and I’m not entirely sure if the definition applies to us. It doesn’t sound very nice:

        http://www.mdpag.org.uk/resources/the-medical-model-of-disability/

        As far as Dr S B-C is concerned, I just don’t like his analyses full stop. He’s written some dreadful pieces about autism. I used to have two books by him, some was ok but other parts not, so I binned them. I just don’t pay attention to anything he writes now.

        But I was reading up on the Neurodiversity Paradigm and came across this, which was quite interesting:

        http://neurocosmopolitanism.com/neurodiversity-some-basic-terms-definitions/

        What drew my attention even more was this statement:

        “There’s an awful lot of scientific evidence that shows quite plainly that there’s considerable variation among human brains. And if we all thought alike, the world would be a very different place indeed.”

        Absolutely. In fact it is what stopped archaeology from becoming a scientific discipline. They were looking for The Law of Cultural Development, but after forty years and analysis of thousands of years worth of archaeological evidence, came to the conclusion that the human mind is far too complex to reduce it to the above named Law. Archaeology is an art, a skill, one of the humanities (albeit a multi-disciplinary one) and going to stay as one.

        So, is autism a disability? Yes. And, No. We know our differences are genetic as well as other factors in play. But a lot of the problems are societal, and because there are so many NT’s those problems get magnified. Like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.

        But our pluses – well, I don’t know where to start, let alone stop. Our memories, attention to detail, some of us with very high IQ’s (although, taken in isolation it doesn’t measure intelligence per se), no I’ll stop there. There are a number of websites detailing the gifts many of us have, so I don’t need to. And I have just realised this reply is really really long, so I’ll stop 😀

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