Autism and Asperger Syndrome

In my last post I talked about movies with fictional characters with autism. There’s been a lot of news coverage lately of how people with autism and Aspergers get on in the real world.

There are many sides to the argument – so we turned to the Source to explore the issue.

In real life as in film, we continue to struggle with our understanding of autism. Is it caused by vaccinations? Are people with Asperger Syndrome criminally responsible if they hack into computer systems, or steal light fittings in the Red Zone?

Does Asperger Syndrome even exist? The creators of the DSM (the diagnostic manual used by psychiatrists)  suggested quite recently that definitions of Asperger Syndrome were too varied to codify and therefore might be left out of the next one altogether –  which would have meant it officially ceasing to exist. Not a move likely to be welcomed by those who now define themselves as ‘aspies’.

Then there are the young men caught in the criminal system who argue that obsessions are, by definition, part of the syndrome and that therefore they cannot be held entirely responsible for their behaviour. I have some sympathy for this view. I once worked in an institution where an autistic man had developed an obsession with socks. He collected them from all the bedrooms. The manager finally had padlocks installed to stop him, but someone else with an obsession for collecting metal filed them off again. Neither of them had any hope of understanding the effect they had on others, which was fortunately negligible.

The whole vaccination issue is even more difficult. Is fear of vaccinations causing outbreaks of diseases like measles? Or are the vaccinations causing an epidemic of autism?

Whichever side of the argument you are on, its always interesting to find out more, either by delving into The Source, reading a book, or just sitting down and watching a good film.

• Search BiblioCommons for autism
• Resources in the Source:
• Global Issues in Context
• Health and Wellness Resource Centre

Decluttering – do you need help?

Do you want to achieve the beautiful interiors as mentioned in an earlier post? Perhaps you need to declutter your house (and maybe your life) first.

If you need a gentle nudge in the right direction, and a good laugh to get you started, then I can recommend Lessons in letting go : confessions of a Hoarder. The author, Corinne Grant, was a regular contributor on the tv show Rove and I’m impressed that she laid bare her embarrassing hoarding secrets so publicly in this book.

Once you realise that you are not alone at filling your house with stuff that you don’t really need, then you could start to re-organize your house with the help of these titles :

• Unstuff your life
• What’s a disorganized person to do?
• Organized simplicity : the clutter-free approach to intentional living
• Storage with style

Become the ultimate TradeMe junkie and make some money while decluttering your life with Trade Me Success Secrets. Just remember you’re there to sell, and not to buy more stuff to fill up your house.

If you are up for the ultimate decluttering challenge, you could take up the 100-thing challenge like Dave Bruno to pare down your belongings to 100 items.

Think you could pare down your life to that extreme?