Autism is a condition some people are born with that causes things like fixations and obsessions. Autistics also say some very odd things, like I did, which will come up later in this document. I want to help people understand Autism, its advantages, and its challenges so if they have a child and find out from a doctor that he/she is autistic, then they can get some resources to help understand. My recommendations are that people trying to understand this condition buy and watch the movie Rain Man, buy all of Temple Grandin’s books and her movie starring Romeo + Juliet’s Claire Danes as Temple.
Working on stories about my life.
Most autistic people have good memories.
For example, if you watch Rain Man, the title character, in fact an autistic savant, has a great memory.
He recites Abbott & Costello’s Who’s on First whenever he is nervous several times, and when the waitress drops the toothpicks on the floor he counts them in seconds to 246 toothpicks, and in the airport scene where he freaks out he announces all the plane crashes and that “QANTAS Never Crashed.”
He also knows the address of the Kmart in which he buys his underwear, Oak & Burnett, to be exact, “400 Oak Street.”
I have a great memory of what I saw the first time the Volvo 240 Wagon took me to Hillsborough, my adoption day, what I saw on my first day of school in Grade 1, school years, trips with family that involved camping and hotels and shopping, my Camp Centennial years, the TV shows I watched as a child like Camp Caribou, Lamb Chop’s Play Along, Get Smart, Batman, Power Rangers, and movies I watched as a child like Looney Tunes tapes, Disney movies such as Homeward Bound and The Mighty Ducks, and animated favorites like Peter Pan, Robin Hood, Dumbo, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Cinderella, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and other favorites, my first years of high school, my Camp Wildwood years, when I saw Babe that Easter of 96 when I loved Fly and Rex the sheepdogs, Molly’s birth date and arrival date, the date I moved into L’Arche, some information Temple Grandin gave at the first Symposium Mom and I attended, like how bullies called her “Tape Recorder” because she was constantly repeating the same stuff over and over again.
With autism also comes challenges.
One is fixations and obsessions. Fixations are things where someone autistic focuses on one thing for a long time and thinks and talks about that one thing so much it drives other people trying to understand autism up the wall. I used to say silly things like “It’s a garbage bag” and “It’s a Kraft Dinner”. I have no idea why I said the Kraft Dinner thing. I suppose this came with autism, same reason Rain Man recites Who’s on First and keeps saying “I need to get my boxer shorts in Kmart in Cincinnati, 400 Oak Street, these are Hanes 32, mine are boxer shorts,” “4 Minutes to Wapner,” and “26 Minutes to Jeopardy,” which drives Charlie Babbitt up the wall so much he is forced to stop in a small town and find a doctor to find out the nature of Raymond’s condition and how this happened.
I also used to count down the microwave’s timer to 0 like it’s a rocket takeoff from space shows my foster brothers Cal and Ray used to watch on TV.
Once again, fixations and obsessions come standard with Autism. Another thing was that in the 80s, cars like the Plymouth Reliant, Olds 98 and Royale, Pontiac Parisienne, Chevrolet Caprice Classic, and Buick Roadmaster, all had the logo on the trunk slide to reveal the keyhole to the trunk which I found very neat and I used to play with it, curious which way it opened to reveal the keyhole, which scared Mom and Dad because what if the car backed up and the driver did not see me?
Another thing, once again a fixation with Autism, was a couple of days back in school at Bessborough after Christmas in Grade 3 I would move my thumbs as if I was playing Super Mario Bros. on our Nintendo which we had gotten for Christmas, which was distracting to the teacher, TA, and fellow students, so I was cut off from that for some time.
I can quote movies and other friends. I can also play guitar, piano, and also work on the computer, and text on my BlackBerry.
A friend of the family’s is also autistic and also lives in a L’Arche home.
He can quote movies and other friends.
Whenever he sees me, he clearly says: “Your parents are Ed and Marlene, your sisters are Erin, Stephanie, Melody, and Jennifer, and your nieces are Emily and Clare, and your nephews are Brennan, Connor, and Oliver, your dogs are Ella, Sprocket, Liza, Lupin, Danny…” etc.
When he quotes The Santa Clause, he says: “You’re as healthy as a horse. Yeah… like a Clydesdale”
As a child he used to rewind movies to see a scene or hear a line or sound over and over again.
Ideas and Awareness
My ideas are that Temple Grandin should visit Saint John, Halifax, and all the towns/cities my family lives and visit us. I also think we should make a movie based on my life as an Autistic person. We should also, as a family, with my L’Arche Saint John friends, prepare an Autism speech of our own for a future Geneva Centre Autism Symposium in Toronto.
People can be more supportive of people with Autism by helping them make good choices, taking the person to a doctor or something to try to understand what caused Autism to enter the person, or give the person a dog to keep them company and help the person, provided the person is not allergic and the home the person lives in allows dogs to live in the house or home.