Better check what you have in your geek room

[motorollin]

This case is a very sad demonstration of how mental health and communication difficulties in childhood can contribute to kids going off the rails

I also particularly dislike the description of a fellow arrestee as an "Asperger’s sufferer". Life can be hard for people with autism, but it doesn't have to be and not every body "suffers" with it. Lots of the kids I work with are very happy with who they are, and it's everybody else (who has to do all that strange social interaction stuff) who is suffering

[motorollin]

Yeah, "Asperger's sufferer", while these kids can do stuff many "normal"  people can't. The only thing backward is the culture that doesn't take advantage of the capabilities of all the different "sufferers".

Exactly! Wendy Lawson has a really interesting take on this very thing. She says it's not being "different" that causes distress to the autistic individual, but they way that others react to them.

I guess people are frightened when people don't interact in the ways they expect, and then they make assumptions about that person's abilities. It's like the "don't walk" scene in Rainman.

[motorollin]

Me thinks I had better take down the pics of my geek-o-sphere before I land myself on a cyberterrorist watch list... :nervous: :idea:

Don't worry, it's just the Daily Mail's Cyberterrorist Watch List, and anyone who has ever been within 5 metres of a person who's not the colour of wallpaper paste is on that.