From: Peter Dempsey (pod at domain dna.ie)
Date: Sun 26 Sep 1999 - 23:53:46 IST
I think it is very noble of the UK group sponsoring animals. After all,
they are known to be a nation of animal lovers. I think it would be a
far better to sponsor humans.
If there is money available for sponsorship I would suggest a charity
that supports people. If I may hop up on my soap box for a moment and
rant about a subject dear to me. My own son suffers from Autism. The
Irish Society for Autistic Children are only too willing to accept
donations.
I have my own theories on the condition. If I were to list the symptoms
of autism I'm sure a number of you would say, hay, that's me. Here's a
couple for you...
Poor social skills.
Fascination with coloured or spinning objects.
Repetitive behavior.
Prefers to be alone; aloof manner.
Inappropriate attachment to objects.
Echolalia (repeating words or phrases in place of normal language)
Echolalia (repeating words or phrases in place of normal language)
Insistence on sameness; resists changes in routine.
Tantrums - displays extreme distress for no apparent reason.
Not responsive to verbal cues; acts as deaf.
Difficulty in expressing needs; uses gestures or pointing instead of
words.
Sustained odd play. (Lego is a common one here, Eh? Kenn/Kevin.)
There are some statistics on the subject which I cannot remember exactly
but go along these lines...
Of a normal sample of the population, 1% will have an autistic child. If
the sample is restricted to fathers working in an engineering background
the figure is something like 1.5%. I am an engineer so this statistic
implies that I am working in an appropriate field.
I suspect that engineers have autistic traits, that's what makes them
engineers. I'm sure you have all come across those engineer jokes that
can be found all over the Internet.
The popular images of autism in the media are characters like Raymond in
Rain Man ot the kid from Mercury Rising where you have someone with no
social skills but a whiz at gambling or decryption, unfortunately less
than 10% of people on the autistic spectrum display savant
characteristics. A far greater number exhibit additional mental
retardation.
I don't mean to bring anyone down. My son is an absolute treasure to me,
I could not imagine my life being any better without him no matter what
his condition. I just think that if there is money to be thrown at
sponsorship or resources available to promote awareness of a condition
that this should be considered.
The department of education has been very slow to address the needs of
these children, a lot are refused a diagnosis of autism because there
are not sufficient resources available at the moment. If a child is
diagnosed with autism the department of education are obliged to provide
an appropriate education. In a lot of cases, parents have had to take
court action to force the department to provide resources for their
children.
My son was fortunate enough to get into get into a school for autistic
children but their budget is tight, they sometimes make requests for
second hand equipment. I hope it would be ok for me to submit the next
list on this mailing list.
The government are throwing huge resources at training for high tech
industry offering incentives for students to follow a career in IT and
electronics. There is a shortage of speech, play and occupational
therapists.
I'm feeling better after my rant. I'd stick in some links but i'm too
lazy. Open your browser on your favorite search engine, enter autism and
see what pops up. I'll get back down off my soap box and depart with my
standard sign off.
Have fun!
Peter
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