Uh... okay....

So, Reelabilities is holding their second annual film festival. Now, they asked Ari Ne'eman to to answer questions as an aspie, but you know he got picked to be on the National Council on Disability, so he suggested me (!!!) and I said yes and I went there tonight to see the movie Max and Mary. I got there a respectable 15 minutes early, but it turns out my schedule was wrong and I was actually AN HOUR and 15 minutes early, but that was fine, it gave me some time to read my book.

At the end first they had questions from... one of the filmmakers? I'm not sure, I had a coughing fit around when we were told the history of the filming, so I left to get some water. And I listened, and I was sitting at the front (a place I would *never* choose for myself because there's no safe barrier of chairs between you and, you know, the front) mentally preparing myself to deal with a barrage of questions and to answer any stupid ones by NOT saying "Wow, that's an incredibly stupid question, you know"... although, you never know, if people expect that they may be gratified to think I have no social skills whatsoever, get to feel a little superior, I don't know.

And the previous speaker finished up and... I don't know what happened, if he was misinformed or what, but he basically finished by saying that "Well, I'll meet you right now in the lobby for snacks" and... I didn't end up answering questions at all.

And as people were clearing out and I was sitting there going "Wait... what?" I realized I had two choices. Well, two good choices. I could try to stop this by yelling "WAIT! There's ME!!!" at the crowd, and look like a fool. Or, I could try to identify one of the coordinators (if I could recognize them in the crowded lobby) and ask them wtf just happened. I'd still feel awkward and out-of-place, but at least I'd feel that way more privately. (Or I could just leave, but it seemed to me that if I left without at least a good faith effort to remedy the situation that when everybody-but-me compared notes later it'd look like I flaked out on them.)

So I did that, and we concurred it was too late to get everybody's attention now, and anyway I had just recently recovered from laryngitis, so I decided that rather than hang around in a crowded noisy lobby full of people eating and the smell of wine (something that always makes me feel a bit nauseous) and perfume (a gratifying sign that I'm less congested, I suppose) I'd just go home and finish my book (The Hunger Games, I can't believe I never read it yet!) on the way.

Which I did.

But I'm still not sure exactly what happened there. Sheesh. I'm not actually *upset*, per se (not actually having to deal with people is a bit of a relief, I suppose...) but I'm really annoyed at the whole thing, and I can't shake the feeling that somehow it's a ME thing... or something. (Deep down, I'm still in elementary school at times, and scared both to be picked and NOT to be picked at seven-up during a class birthday party. I always thought that either way it was probably because they were mocking me, and I may have been right.)

When I've thought on it a bit, I'll post about the movie.

So, the movie.

Let me just say, first, that the movie is probably part of why I'm not at the moment angry about being overlooked. Because I could tell by one or two of the other questions to Mr. "He's On First" and how they were worded, and by the movie itself, that I would have had to deal with a lot of the "Well, let me just spend five minutes telling you - politely! - why everything you just said was wrong" sort of questions. And those just aren't any fun.

I'm gonna cut this for spoilers.

( Read more... )

So, you know, I kinda dreaded having to answer things like "If it's really as hard as it is for Max, why don't you want a cure?" where I'd have to first reiterate that some autistics do want a cure, and even if I don't agree with them in principle I can't argue with their desires. In my quest to be honest, I'd eat up a lot of time.

Now, NOW I'm starting to get upset.

Well, I have to go to bed, so no time for that, I'll just have to be angry in the morning.

But while I'm up, a quick comment on The Hunger Games which I just now read for the first time.

First - it's written by the same person who wrote The Overlander Chronicles, which were my guilty pleasure when they came out. It's much better written, but the Gregor books were her first, weren't they? I'd expect some improvement! (And the Gregor books weren't bad, they just had some awkward writing in parts.)

Second, it's interesting, reading this book I kept flashing back to another book I have at home - The Hermit Thrush Sings. The two books don't have much in common - just numbered districts after a vague "fall" that are forbidden contact with each other, mutations in the "dangerous" woods, and singing birds as a theme - but the one reminded me of the other. So if you've read a bit about The Hunger Games but think you'll like a book with less violence and more mysticism, pick up the other one instead. (I just now bothered to look up hermit thrushes and was pleased to find that they're real birds with a really pretty song. When I finally looked up nightingales a while back to hear a recording of their song, I was gravely disappointed.)

I'm adding this to my personal list of dystopic books I've read and enjoyed. Cut my teeth on dystopias, you know. One of the first chapter books I ever read was Outside, by Andre Norton. Printed in large "early-readers" print, no less! Much of the book seems cliched and old to me now, but I read it to bits then, and that's what counts, isn't it? (Childhood's End, now, is depressing as FUCK and I won't read it. And you can't tell me that's not dystopic fiction. All the aliens have is their FAITH that their actions are on the side of good, and that's not good enough for me.)

So, the doctor behind the MMR scare has officially been found in breach

of ethical and professional guidelines.

To those of us who already know all this, this is old news.

To those of us in deep denial... nothing's gonna convince those folks. As in...

I feel very sorry for this doctor. We are still at stage 1, of 3, of the truth. They are still ridiculing the idea. I have a 16 year old son, he was normal befoe his vaccinations, with in a few months of his injections he changed. He has been diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome.
I believe he his an mmr casualty.
In America, one family has been paid out for mmr damage.

Asperger's syndrome. Huh. 25 years ago, that kid would never have been diagnosed. Asperger's wasn't even in the DSM at that time. It's better this way, I do believe that, but when the next comment by this person runs "And you know, the rate of autism is increasing!!!" remember that it's increasing because kids like his weren't getting diagnosed back in the 80s.

Here's a sentence that sounds redundant, but actually isn't:

You simmer carrots with ginger then blend them in a blender with peanut butter, soy sauce and sesame oil.

Obviously, using a blender is different than just "blending" them. The latter is unlikely to get you a paste.