http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/techcol/063097techcol.html
describes precisely what I experience when I connect online with
someone -- and what happens when I meet face-to-face with the
nicest people I know, who are still too difficult for me to be with
for more than a brief period. Ah, I'm not alone out here! -Zer
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>...In cyberspace, many of the United States' autistics are doing
the very thing the syndrome supposedly deters them from doing
-- communicating -- often in celebration of the medium that
enables them to do so. "Long live the Internet," one autistic
recently exulted in an online discussion, where "people can see
the real me, not just how I interact superficially with other
people." Another explained why she prefers online to
face-to-face interaction: "Ordinarily," she wrote to other members
of her e-mail forum, "the giving of support involves being with
someone, and that's always draining for me. If someone does
give me support in person, I will have to spend some time
recovering from the experience of receiving that support."
> Both writers subscribe to Independent Living, a suite of e-mail
forums created by and almost exclusively for autistics....
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Independent Living: http://www.inlv.demon.nl/