Following on from Richard's question, if we aren't using this
approach to network, is there a better way?  Are none of us up to
talking about issues that we face via an email group?

I'd be happy to do so, but if I'm just talking to myself I can do
that in other ways (though at least this way I suppose I will look a
litttle more sane than usual!)

Anthony Rimell


--- In OtagoAspies@yahoogroups.com, "Richard Voogd"
<porirua_aspie@...> wrote:
>
> --- In OtagoAspies@yahoogroups.com, "Richard Voogd"
> <porirua_aspie@> wrote:
> >
> >
> > Hello to all the team.... is anyone else out there?
> >
> >
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> > Richard
> >
> >   [:)]
> >
>

--- In OtagoAspies@yahoogroups.com, "Richard Voogd"
<porirua_aspie@...> wrote:
>
>
> Hello to all the team.... is anyone else out there?
>
>
>
> Cheers,
>
> Richard
>
>   [:)]
>

Hello to all the team.... is anyone else out there?

Cheers,

Richard

Good morning - it has been quiet here lately.

Cheers,
Richard

--- In OtagoAspies@yahoogroups.com, "Richard Voogd"
<porirua_aspie@...> wrote:
>
> Compliments of the season to everyone
>
> Cheers,
> Richard
>

Compliments of the season to everyone

Cheers,
Richard

International Asperger Year

This year has been declared International Asperger Year to highlight
and recognise the achievements of people with Asperger Syndrome the
world over.

Interested people are invited to celebrate the centenary of the
birth of Dr Hans Asperger on Saturday 18 February. Dr Asperger's
work with children led him to define common traits shared by some
children. His paper, submitted to the journal in 1943, was based on
investigations of more than 400 children with "autistic psychopathy"

Dr. Asperger's centenary also marks the 25th anniversary of the
publication of Dr. Lorna Wing's article "Asperger's syndrome: a
clinical account" in the journal Psychological Medicine. Dr. Wing's
paper, the first major English-language presentation of Dr.
Asperger's work, helped bring worldwide attention to Asperger's
Syndrome.

Asperger published the first definition of Asperger's Syndrome in
1944. In four boys, he identified a pattern of behavior and
abilities that he called "autistic psychopathy," meaning autism
(self) and psychopathy (personality disease). The pattern
included "a lack of empathy, little ability to form friendships, one-
sided conversation, intense absorption in a special interest, and
clumsy movements." Asperger called children with AS "little
professors" because of their ability to talk about their favourite
subject in great detail.

He was convinced that many would use their special talents in
adulthood. He followed one child, Fritz V., into adulthood. V.
became a professor of astronomy and solved an error in Newton's work
he originally noticed as a child. Hans Asperger's positive outlook
contrasts strikingly with Leo Kanner's description of autism, of
which Asperger's is often considered to be a high functioning form.

Ironically, as a child Hans Asperger appears to have exhibited
features of the very condition named after him. He was described as
a remote and lonely child, who had difficulty making friends. He was
talented in language, in particular he was interested in the German
poet Franz Grillparzer whose poetry he would frequently quote to his
uninterested classmates.

Asperger died before his identification of this pattern of behaviour
became widely recognized because his work was mostly in German and
little-translated. The first person to use the term "Asperger's
Syndrome" in a paper was British researcher Lorna Wing. Her paper,
Asperger's syndrome: a clinical account, was published in 1981 and
challenged the previously accepted model of autism presented by Leo
Kanner in 1943.

We invite you to observe International Asperger's Year, to be held
in 2006, the year of these two landmark anniversaries. International
Asperger's Year is an appropriate time to honor Dr. Asperger and
other researchers, encourage people who might have AS to seek
diagnosis, correct misconceptions about AS, improve and expand AS
public services, develop AS mentoring programs, and recognize the
special needs of AS adults.

International Asperger's Year is the first worldwide celebration
dedicated solely to Asperger's Syndrome. Organizations and
individuals may observe IAY as they wish. The initiative was
conceived by the Asperger Adults of Greater Washington, has been
sanctioned by the World Autism Organization, and has been endorsed
by the following specialists and leaders:

• Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, Professor of Developmental
Psychopathology and Director of the Autism Research Centre at
Cambridge University;
• Professor Uta Frith, Deputy Director, Institute of Cognitive
Neuroscience, University College London;
• Hon. Angela Browning, M.P., Asperger political advocate and mother
of an Asperger adult;
• Stephen Shore, author and consultant;
• Roger N. Meyer, author and advocate;
• Jerry Newport, author, and inspiration for the film Mozart And The
Whale; and
• Michael John Carley, nonprofit executive.

A Committee for International Asperger's Year has establishedan open
listserv for the exchange of IAY-related ideas, information and
announcements: http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/asperger-year

The Autistic Citizens' Residential and Resources Society of Victoria
Inc. Australia launched our worldwide autism survey at the National
Autistic Society (NAS) International Conference in September 2005 in
London.

We are requesting your assistance to disseminate this survey to
members of autism organisations around the world.

The survey is for people with autism, parents of a child or adult
with autism, and for professionals and service providers in the
autism field. The survey is web based. We have contracted KPMG to
organize the hosting and data collection, thus ensuring the
confidentiality of the survey. We plan to keep the survey open on
line until the end March 2006, and we plan to place survey results
on the site after data analysis is completed, April or May 2006.

The web address is www.autism-survey.com

The survey is being funded from our organization's own resources and
was not inexpensive, so we really want as many people as possible to
complete the appropriate sections, any assistance you maybe able to
provide by alerting your members to the survey web site would be
much appreciated.

We hope the survey will show where services are good and where they
are lacking allowing people in both groups to start developing
service/s or to strive to improve things even further. We also, for
the first time I believe ask some questions of people with
autism/aspergers about how they view their current situation and
what is and was important to them in their development. The
professional section, asks some specific questions in relation to a
number of types of common service areas, from diagnosis to
accommodation/housing services.

The more people that respond the better the information gathered
will be, we'd like responses from all over the world and world
autism can greatly assist.

Thank you for taking the time to read about our effort with this
survey, please contact me if you have any questions or need further
information.

David Coates
Executive Director
Autistic Citizens' Residential and Resources Society of Victoria
Inc. Australia
Email: dcoates@...

Welcome aboard
Sep 7th 2006
From The Economist print edition

In-flight announcements are not entirely truthful. What might an
honest one sound like?
"GOOD morning, ladies and gentlemen. We are delighted to welcome you
aboard Veritas Airways, the airline that tells it like it is. Please
ensure that your seat belt is fastened, your seat back is upright and
your tray-table is stowed. At Veritas Airways, your safety is our
first priority. Actually, that is not quite true: if it were, our
seats would be rear-facing, like those in military aircraft, since
they are safer in the event of an emergency landing. But then hardly
anybody would buy our tickets and we would go bust.

The flight attendants are now pointing out the emergency exits. This
is the part of the announcement that you might want to pay attention
to. So stop your sudoku for a minute and listen: knowing in advance
where the exits are makes a dramatic difference to your chances of
survival if we have to evacuate the aircraft. Also, please keep your
seat belt fastened when seated, even if the seat-belt light is not
illuminated. This is to protect you from the risk of clear-air
turbulence, a rare but extremely nasty form of disturbance that can
cause severe injury. Imagine the heavy food trolleys jumping into the
air and bashing into the overhead lockers, and you will have some
idea of how nasty it can be. We don't want to scare you. Still, keep
that seat belt fastened all the same.

Your life-jacket can be found under your seat, but please do not
remove it now. In fact, do not bother to look for it at all. In the
event of a landing on water, an unprecedented miracle will have
occurred, because in the history of aviation the number of wide-
bodied aircraft that have made successful landings on water is zero.
This aircraft is equipped with inflatable slides that detach to form
life rafts, not that it makes any difference. Please remove high-
heeled shoes before using the slides. We might as well add that space
helmets and anti-gravity belts should also be removed, since even to
mention the use of the slides as rafts is to enter the realm of
science fiction.

Please switch off all mobile phones, since they can interfere with
the aircraft's navigation systems. At least, that's what you've
always been told. The real reason to switch them off is because they
interfere with mobile networks on the ground, but somehow that
doesn't sound quite so good. On most flights a few mobile phones are
left on by mistake, so if they were really dangerous we would not
allow them on board at all, if you think about it. We will have to
come clean about this next year, when we introduce in-flight calling
across the Veritas fleet. At that point the prospect of taking a cut
of the sky-high calling charges will miraculously cause our safety
concerns about mobile phones to evaporate.

On channel 11 of our in-flight entertainment system you will find a
video consisting of abstract imagery and a new-age soundtrack, with a
voice-over explaining some exercises you can do to reduce the risk of
deep-vein thrombosis. We are aware that this video is tedious, but it
is not meant to be fun. It is meant to limit our liability in the
event of lawsuits.

Once we have reached cruising altitude you will be offered a light
meal and a choice of beverages—a word that sounds so much better than
just saying `drinks', don't you think? The purpose of these
refreshments is partly to keep you in your seats where you cannot do
yourselves or anyone else any harm. Please consume alcohol in
moderate quantities so that you become mildly sedated but not rowdy.
That said, we can always turn the cabin air-quality down a notch or
two to help ensure that you are sufficiently drowsy.

After take-off, the most dangerous part of the flight, the captain
will say a few words that will either be so quiet that you will not
be able to hear them, or so loud that they could wake the dead. So
please sit back, relax and enjoy the flight. We appreciate that you
have a choice of airlines and we thank you for choosing Veritas, a
member of an incomprehensible alliance of obscure foreign outfits,
most of which you have never heard of. Cabin crew, please make sure
we have remembered to close the doors. Sorry, I mean: `Doors to
automatic and cross-check'. Thank you for flying Veritas."

A linguistics professor was lecturing to his class one day.

"In English," he said, "A double negative forms a positive."

"In some languages, though," he continued, "such as Russian, a double
negative is still a negative. However, there is no language wherein a
double
positive can form a negative."

At that time, a voice from the back of the room piped up, "Yeah,
right..."

Is anyone here going to the conference?
I am one of the speakers this year.

Enter your vote today!  A new poll has been created for the
OtagoAspies group:

Are you going to the Autism NZ conference this year?

   o Yes
   o No
   o Maybe
   o What conference?


To vote, please visit the following web page:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OtagoAspies/surveys?id=12366882

Note: Please do not reply to this message. Poll votes are
not collected via email. To vote, you must go to the Yahoo! Groups
web site listed above.

Thanks!

The junk seems to have died down now.

cheers,
Richard
--- In OtagoAspies@yahoogroups.com, Richard Voogd <poriruaaspie@...>
wrote:
>
> I'm temporarily not using my "porirua_aspie@yahoo...." email
address
> as it has been targeted by the ratbags who have been sending out
the
> hoax BNZ email.........
>
> Cheers,
> Richard
>
>
>
>
> ----------
> We take care in ,making sure our computer is free from malicious
> software that could be a major nuisance.
> Don't forget that you have a responsibility too!
>
> ----------
> !
>

I went to Dr Paul Milton at the Albany Medical Centre and he was
alright. Where in Auckland are you?

There's a thing on "Campbell Live" on TV3 at the moment about tasers.....

What worries me about them is that we shouldn't need them in the
first place. They showed a clip of a woman in the US being zepped for
not getting out of her car, and then kicking up a fuss. The people on
TV were horrified that the taser was being used in those
circumstances. I'm disgusted at the woman's cheek for thinking that
her phone call was more important than finding out what the cops
pulled her over for.......

Cheers,
Richard

Hi everyone!

It's great more people are joining us!
Feel free is start a discussion on a topic of interest. Any ideas etc
let me know.

Hi there all.

As a recently "diagnosed" Aspie, it's good to be among those who see the
world through the same lenses I do.

I'm also looking forward to being part of thsi group, and to seeing how it
goes.

May all your thoughts be literal ones.

Anthony (CHristchurch)

It's early days for the group yet - it'll be interesting to see how things go!

Cheers,
Richard

At 08:11 p.m. 3/06/2006, you wrote:
>Hi  Richard
>
>Thanks for joining!
>

Hi  Richard

Thanks for joining!

I had to stop reading - the unintentional double meanings are
hilarious!

Cheers,
Richard

From what I've seen on TV and heard elsewhere, it makes for an
interesting story and a good yarn. United Travel Getaway (on Prime TV)
had an interesting show the other week, where they visited many of the
locations used in shooting the movie.

Cheers,
Richard

Hi!

I'm new to this group. I'm an adult with a mild form of Asperger's
Syndrome.

Although I don't live in the Otago region - I live in Porirua, just
north of Wellington - I do have family connections with the area (my
sisters were born in Dunedin).

I'm looking forward to getting an idea for what the fine people on
this mailing list talk about.

cheers,
Richard

Enter your vote today!  A new poll has been created for the
OtagoAspies group:

Da Vinci Code...

   o Read the book only
   o Watched the movie only
   o Done both
   o Done neither
   o Da Vinci Code?


To vote, please visit the following web page:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OtagoAspies/surveys?id=12349165

Note: Please do not reply to this message. Poll votes are
not collected via email. To vote, you must go to the Yahoo! Groups
web site listed above.

Thanks!

Hey Chris
Welcome aboard!

58 Actual Newspaper Headlines

1. Something Went Wrong in Jet Crash, Expert Says
2. Police Begin Campaign to Run Down Jaywalkers
3. Safety Experts Say School Bus Passengers Should Be Belted
4. Drunk Gets Nine Months in Violin Case
5. Survivor of Siamese Twins Joins Parents
6. Farmer Bill Dies in House
7. Iraqi Head Seeks Arms
8. Is There a Ring of Debris around Uranus?
9. Stud Tires Out
10. Prostitutes Appeal to Pope
11. Panda Mating Fails; Veterinarian Takes Over
12. Soviet Virgin Lands Short of Goal Again
13. British Left Waffles on Falkland Islands
14. Lung Cancer in Women Mushrooms
15. Eye Drops off Shelf
16. Teacher Strikes Idle Kids
17. Reagan Wins on Budget, But More Lies Ahead
18. Squad Helps Dog Bite Victim
19. Shot Off Woman's Leg Helps Nicklaus to 66
20. Enraged Cow Injures Farmer with Ax
21. Plane Too Close to Ground, Crash Probe Told
22. Miners Refuse to Work after Death
23. Juvenile Court to Try Shooting Defendant
24. Stolen Painting Found by Tree
25. Two Soviet Ships Collide, One Dies
26. Two Sisters Reunited after 18 Years in Checkout Counter
27. Killer Sentenced to Die for Second Time in 10 Years
28. Never Withhold Herpes Infection from Loved One
29. Drunken Drivers Paid $1000 in '84
30. War Dims Hope for Peace
31. If Strike isn't Settled Quickly, It May Last a While
32. Cold Wave Linked to Temperatures
33. Enfields Couple Slain; Police Suspect Homicide
34. Red Tape Holds Up New Bridge
35. Deer Kill 17,000
36. Typhoon Rips Through Cemetery; Hundreds Dead
37. Man Struck by Lightning Faces Battery Charge
38. New Study of Obesity Looks for Larger Test Group
39. Astronaut Takes Blame for Gas in Spacecraft
40. Kids Make Nutritious Snacks
41. Chef Throws His Heart into Helping Feed Needy
42. Arson Suspect is Held in Massachusetts Fire
43. British Union Finds Dwarfs in Short Supply
44. Ban On Soliciting Dead in Trotwood
45. Lansing Residents Can Drop Off Trees
46. Local High School Dropouts Cut in Half
47. New Vaccine May Contain Rabies
48. Man Minus Ear Waives Hearing
49. Deaf College Opens Doors to Hearing
50. Air Head Fired
51. Steals Clock, Faces Time
52. Prosecutor Releases Probe into Undersheriff
53. Old School Pillars are Replaced by Alumni
54. Bank Drive-in Window Blocked by Board
55. Hospitals are Sued by 7 Foot Doctors
56. Some Pieces of Rock Hudson Sold at Auction
57. Sex Education Delayed, Teachers Request Training
58. Include your Children when Baking Cookies

I have a blogspot with some of my ramblings etc. But there is a good
list of Asperger links on it too which are worth checking out.

www.karenhippo.blogspot.com

Neurotypical Disorder (NTD)

Neurotypical Disorder (NTD) is a neurological condition commonly
affecting individuals who are not on the autistic spectrum. Many
theories have been put forward to explain the bizarre behaviours and
beliefs of people with NTD. The numerous and complex cognitive
impairments of NTD patients cannot be described in a document of
this size. I would like to propose a model of a triad of
impairments; Interpersonal Compulsion (IC), egocentricity and an
impaired Theory of Minds (T O M), to explain the disordered
personalities of patients with NTD.

Sufferers of NTD compulsively seek interpersonal experiences in the
form of social events or casual meetings, in fact any contact with
another human being is seen by the neurotypical patient as an
opportunity for creating an interpersonal emotional experience. The
drive to satisfy their emotional needs pervades every aspect of
their lives. Simple telephone messages or financial transactions
with supermarket cashiers are hijacked to meet this social
compulsion. IC impairs the NTD sufferer's ability to live
independently and maintain employment, as IC commonly causes NTD
patients to waste time during working hours gossiping and chatting
instead of productive activity. IC can also impair the NTD patient's
ability to maintain personal relationships as they may become
depressed or resentful if their voracious emotional needs are not
met by spouses, family or friends. NTD patients may even turn to
their own children to satisfy their emotional needs.

Neurotypical individuals display Theory of Minds deficits. NTD
sufferers are unable to abstractly theorise that others have
intellectual capacity, emotions or humanity, instead NTD patients
rely solely on non-verbal and verbal expressive displays and
performances by others as the basis of their beliefs about the
internal world of others. NTD sufferers are unable to recognise the
humanity of others who do not frequently share or demonstrate
social/emotional characteristics.

The egocentric nature of neurotypical individuals can be observed in
their insistence that all people who they meet act in an engaging
and attentive manner towards them. NTD sufferers can become angry or
resentful when others are not as socially oriented as they
themselves are. This insistence on sameness and conformity is
possibly another manifestation of neurotypical egocentricity.

Egocentricity, Interpersonal Compulsion and Theory of Minds deficits
account for the neurotypical patient's needs for constant
reassurance and social interaction. These needs constitute a
considerable drain on the resources of family members and the wider
community.


Associate Professor Lili Marlene
Department of Psuedopsychology
University of Central Suburbia
Southern Aspergalia