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I have told you on the first page about the episode of Holby City that covered the storyline involving a young man with Asperger Syndrome. I had to try and get a copy of the tape on a radio station because I forgot to look at the Radio Times to look what the episode was about; I was recording Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? on the other side. Because I wanted a copy of the tape to keep and as I haven’t recorded the programme myself, I turned my attention towards local radio in order to see if anyone who was listening had a copy of the recording that they could give me. First of all, I went to my local radio station, BBC Radio Nottingham at 9 am the following Monday morning, to ask whether there was a radio programme, hopefully a mid morning show that dealt with my need for wanting a copy of the television programme. The radio station said that they did have a programme that was presented by Nick Brunger that had a feature called Brunger’s Car Boot, or something like that, but the only problem was that Nick Brunger does the afternoon show for the radio station and wasn’t on the air until 4 pm in the afternoon. Well, that’s rather useful for 9 am in the morning, I thought! I wanted to get on the air in the morning, so that would give almost all day to see if anyone had a copy of Holby City and it would also give time to contact the person concerned and also to make sure that there was plenty of time to post the tape to me. So I crossed the boundary into Derbyshire and rang up BBC Radio Derby and I was told on the telephone that I had good news as the station’s mid morning show had a feature called a help service that helped listeners with their problems and queries. The even better news was that this was on at about 9.30 each weekday morning. So at 9 pm on Monday morning I rang the station and I was told that there was a vacancy on the air so I filled it. I was telephoned back on my home number and I spoke to the radio presenter, John Holmes. I thought that it was even a chance to talk a bit about Asperger Syndrome on air, even though I didn’t go into too much detail. I explained what I was after – the tape over the air. Then John Holmes started to talk to me about Nottingham over the airwaves. Now, may I explain that not only John Holmes visits Nottingham quite regularly, but he also knows Sneinton, the area where I live very well as well! No wonder because Paul Mackenzie, who also does the afternoon show for the station has a father who lives in Sneinton as well! It’s a small world! Anyway, while I was on air and John Holmes was talking to me, he was ignoring Derby and started to talk about where I live, instead, he said, “I bet all the listeners think that we’re all barking in Notts”. To my reply, I immediately thought of a great pun live on the radio: “No, Barking is in Essex!”, I said, and that got a laugh. Anyway, regarding the Holby City tape, about twenty minutes after my radio broadcast, the radio station telephoned me with a number of a gentleman called Philip who lives in Ilkeston. I telephoned Philip and I gave him my name and address and he agreed to send me the tape and that is what he did. I received the tape on Wednesday and on Wednesday night I viewed the tape to make sure that the programme was on it. It was, but I received a note to say that he had not seen the recording and would like it returned, and enclosed an address. However I contacted Philip by telephone again the following Thursday morning and he said that it was all right that I could keep the tape for myself and that is what I did. I apologised for any inconvenience, but fortunately there wasn’t any. I got a copy of the tape that I wanted in the end. Now, if that had been Radio Nottingham, my local radio station, I would have had to wait until 4 pm to see if anyone had a copy of the tape. It just proves that the nearest isn’t always the best!
However, there have been other programmes that have been on television and have portrayed autism that I think have given the wrong idea to people like myself. The ITV drama Rhinoceros, which was first transmitted in April 1999 is a prime example. I caught this programme during a June 2000 repeat and when I watched it, I was rather offended at it, despite all the good comments made by viewers during the programme’s first run. The drama was about a young autistic man who tried to travel on a train to visit another part of the country and its main aim was to prove that any person could do things for themselves, even though they may have learning difficulties. I was just about to agree with the majority who say that it was a well-made programme when a scene from the programme came up. The scene pictured the autistic young man travelling on a train and a couple of adolescent girls sitting in a nearby seat. The young man started to play with his “rhinoceros” on the train and started to glance slightly towards the direction of the young girls. The girls saw what he was doing and to the words of “what you looking at?” or words to that effect they came up to him and called him a “spastic”. That was what upset me when I watched it. Now, I know that there used to be a charity called the Spastics Society, which changed its name to SCOPE in 1994, and the reason why the charity probably changed its name was because the amount of offence the word has caused to disabled people. I am sure that if you were walking down the street with your son or daughter who happens to be autistic, you wouldn’t like it if they were called a spastic by a passer by, would you? The morning after the programme was transmitted I contacted Granada Television’s duty office who made the programme the morning and made my views about that scene known. If it had have been a first run programme, I would have gone to the Independent Television Commission to complain about it, but as it was a repeat, I decided not to go any further with the complaint. Disabled people should be equally accepted just as much as normal people on television or in public. They should not be stereotypes or human guinea pigs or the like.
On these pages, I will try to list any television programmes, which may feature autism or Asperger Syndrome. These may be drama serials, soaps or documentaries. Recently, in the Tyne Tees region, the health documentary “Lifelines”, which picked up on the topic of autism and the impact it has on sufferers and their families. Unfortunately, after combing the region’s local radio stations, I didn’t get to talk to anyone who had recorded the programme. If there is any television programme on about Asperger Syndrome or autism coming up, national or local, email me with all the details and I will try to list it here!
One television programme, which isn’t necessarily about autism but can probably make the difference to help people (especially children) who have it, is the BBC’s Children in Need, which is usually a seven-hour programme transmitted annually on a Friday evening in November on BBC 1. As I have explained on page one I also have an eight-year-old nephew who has the fully blown autism and I hope that with the help of Pudsey Bear himself and the help of the thousands of people who raise money each year for the charities, I do hope that the National Autistic Society and other autism charities will benefit from this and will get a huge sum of money raised by Children in Need and will get help to make all those children who have autism live an improved life. OK, these charities cannot get rid of a person’s autism, but they can make these people’s life much better. Speaking on my nephew’s behalf, it is more vulnerable if you are young and disabled rather than being older and disabled, so it would be great if these charities would benefit so much from it.
Above: Bill Gates, the world's richest man with Asperger Syndrome
LET’S HEAR IT FOR THE BOSS!
Who is the richest person in the world to have Asperger Syndrome? And who is the richest person in the world? Yes, there are more questions than answers because there is just one answer to both of these questions! Bill Gates is not only the richest man in the world, but rumour has it that as he appears to have Asperger Syndrome, making him the richest man in the world with Asperger Syndrome. His company, Microsoft literally runs my computer from top to bottom so I have got a lot to thank him for! It also proves that a person can run a big company while having Asperger Syndrome, even if it is computers! It is also one of the Internet’s most lucrative websites! I Wish I could have had Bill Gates’ money, though!
DISABILITY TELEVISION CHANNEL?
Do you think that it would it be a good idea if there would be a cable or digital television channel that was tailored to disabled people? Just like programmes like See Hear! on terresterial television which serves the deaf community, this television channel could cover programmes for people who are deaf, blind and of course autistic people and other disabilities. Disabled people could be allowed to subscribe to it for free. I think that the channel would cover normal programmes like news, sport, soaps and things like that, including much output from terresterial programmes. Things like subtitles and sign language would be a big part of this television channel just to make everyday programmes enjoyable for the disabled as they seem to be rather overlooked on terresterial television. People who have disabilities whould have something like this to make their lives easier. And after all, there will space created by all these digital television channels that we will receive in the not so distant future. Some television station has to fill them up, shouldn't they? Better still, what about an autism channel or even an Asperger Channel? What do you think? email me with your views!
ASPERGER SYNDROME AND STEREOTYPES
Why are Asperger Syndrome sufferers such social misfits? Could it because they are often stereotyped, as images of anoraks and trainspotting that make them feel more singled out in today’s society? In about 1995, a soap opera expert called Chris Stacey made an appearance on a national radio station, where he was known as the anorak. He was just a follower of soap operas and just knew a lot about the characters and the plots. From then on, the word “anorak” became a double meaning word and even made the following editions of most of the English language dictionaries. It seems that a waterproof jacket seems to be too boring for the politically correct millennium, doesn’t it?
In the same sense, Asperger Syndrome sufferers often get the wrong side of the bargain. Take dating and socialising for example. About 90% of songs one hears on the radio, contains the word “love”, while soaps and everyday life in general is almost the same. If you read an agony aunt column or a celebrity interview in a magazine you can guarantee that the words “boyfriend” or “girlfriend” will appear somewhere in the article. I treat these words almost like swear words; they are often offensive to me. In a nightclub or a pub or any other public place, a girl can probably tell a mile away whether or not a man is boring or has something wrong with him. It is regarded that girls can identify boys better rather than the other way round. A boy can go only so far into identifying a girl, which makes females have that so called sixth sense.
Most autistic societies have their own Asperger social group, which allows us to mix and socialise with people or our own age and ability. In the wide world mixing with strangers is difficult at the best of times. I attend my own local Asperger group, where I have met several people who are similar to myself. I think that it would be an excellent idea if a magazine like Asperger United would start up a lonely-hearts page for single people with Asperger Syndrome. It seems that when one tries to answer a lonely-hearts ad in a newspaper or on teletext very few people get back to you when you leave a message in their voice box. And when you put an advertisement yourself in a newspaper, it seems that no one replies to your advertisement, yet it seems that other people seem to have about thirty replies in their voice box. It doesn’t seem fair and at the end of the day, you still have to pay the £1 a minute for the call, whether you have success with it or not. It would be good if someone came up with something like that. It was revealed in 1998 that 80% of all marriages where a person with Asperger Syndrome is involved ends in divorce. It’s a sad fact but it’s true.
Another thing I also hate, putting these two items together, is sexual stereotyping. Look in any tabloid newspaper or magazine and you will see models, mostly female posing in a sexy way. Most of them just do it for the money, I suppose. That’s why I suppose that most tabloid newspapers are more popular with male twenty somethings. We never see any male models in newspapers or magazines; likewise do we ever see female footballers or rugby players. I think that all these should be available to both sexes and should not represent a stereotypical element.
ASPERGER SYNDROME AND EMPLOYMENT
I have just been looking at an old edition of Asperger United from 1997 and I was looking at an article that the late Marc Segar wrote. Marc Segar was a young man with Asperger Syndrome who sadly took his own life towards the end of 1997. I wish that I had the chance to meet him. Anyway, most jobs are divided into three industries: the primary industry; the secondary industry and the tertiary industry. For example, a job like a window cleaner, coal miner or postman would be classified as primary industry, while a chef, a builder or a computer programmer would count as a secondary industry job and jobs like a teacher, doctor or policeman would be classified under tertiary industry. It’s interesting to find out that most of the jobs, which are unsuitable, are the ones what are mostly under the tertiary industry barrier, while the ones that are suitable are the ones under the secondary industry barrier.
A tribute to Mark Segar, who committed suicide in 1997 aged 23 can be found here.
CELEBRITIES AND THE DISABLED
Don’t say that I haven’t got a sense of humour. No, don’t get me wrong – I do enjoy watching comedy on television and enjoying a joke and all that but I draw the line when comedians make jokes about the disabled where the comedian is making the audience laugh at the disabled and not with them. Here are some examples: The Welsh comedian Barry Welsh, an Alan Partridge type comedian who can be seen on HTV Wales at weekends made some jokes about disabled people and the mentally ill in one episode of his comedy show. The spoof comedian, played by John Sparkes once made a joke about the mentally ill and why a wheelchair doesn’t go very fast or something like that. Another example was an episode of the sitcom I’m Alan Partridge, where there were scenes in the programme where some comments in the programme about people with disabilities were mentioned.
But it’s not just comedians that make hurtful comments against disabled people. The former England football manager Glenn Hoddle put his foot in it in January 1999 when he said that disabled people were reincarnated from people who done wrong in a previous life and so had to pay for it in their current life. Disabled people protested that Hoddle should resign as England manager, which he did soon afterwards.
What about these programmes for the disabled that we used to have on television and radio like Link on ITV and Does He Take Sugar? On BBC Radio 4? These programmes that were made for disabled people seems to have disappeared from this planet for some reason. The number of programmes for disabled people seems to be on television and radio seems to be dropping from the schedules. We need to keep them!
Where would you draw the line when it comes to disabled people on television? email me with your views. If you need to complain about any television programme that is offensive to disabled people or otherwise, you can contact the Independent Television Commission, the Broadcasting Standards Commission the BBC or contact the relevant television company who made the programme concerned.
IS THERE REALLY A CONNECTION BETWEEN THOMAS THE TANK ENGINE AND ASPERGER SYNDROME?
Lots of children who have Asperger Syndrome really enjoy Thomas the Tank Engine so much that they watch it over and over again, especially when on videotape! A facination with trains is usually a must for an Asperger child. But this list proves that there really is a distant connection between the two! Just take six steps…
THOMAS THE TANK ENGINE television series of the 1980’s was narrated by…
RINGO STARR who was a member of …
THE BEATLES along with George Harrison, John Lennon and…
PAUL McCARTNEY who dated for a while…
JANE ASHER who is president of the
NATIONAL AUTISTIC SOCIETY, which deals with the disability of
ASPERGER SYNDROME.
That is the link between Thomas the Tank Engine and Asperger Syndrome. Hope you liked it! Twenty minutes in the bath and I just came up with it! (It’s funny how ideas always come to you when you are in the bath!)
A person who has autism had recently emailed me to say that she objected to the word “sufferer” when being referred to as autistic. When I was first creating this website, I thought very carefully about what words to use when referring to people with autism. I was reluctant to use the word “sufferer” when creating it, but as I have seen on some websites and by word of mouth, it seems that people use the word “sufferer” frequently without even thinking about it. Personally, I don’t object to that word, although I think that the word “victim” or could be a word that is even worse to describe autism. For example, “I am a victim of autism” seems more severe. Of course, we “suffer” from autism and Asperger Syndrome, but can it go to far with such a word as that? Do you use the “sufferer” when describing people with autism? What do you think? email me and tell me what you think about it!
POET’S CORNER
I am no William Wordsworth or DH Lawrence, but I have decided to have a go at writing poetry. Here are two poems that I have specially written for the website, possibly on its way to an Asperger United near you!
Don’t forget that if you like these poems and want a fuller flavour of more poetry, then try David Miedzianik’s website for size, where he is a great writer of poetry!
THE WORLD IS GETTING SMALLER
The world is getting smaller
Smaller day by day
Small to reach Australia
As if it’s a mile away
The world is getting smaller
Thanks to the Internet
New people there to meet
Who you’d never want to forget
The world is getting smaller
Too much is going to pass
Soon we’ll barely see it
Under a magnifying glass
The world is getting smaller
With new friends yet to meet
Not a million miles away
Like walking down the street
The world is getting smaller
The world is shrinking fast
The world is one big ball of life
Or just one big contrast
THE ODD ONE OUT
Look at him; he’s the odd one out
He’s the one who goes about
On his own in the busy street
Looking down at his own two feet
He’s the loner, they all cry
He’s not like any other passers-by
Passers-by, they always stare
Of course, they do not really care
Why is he the odd one out?
Why is there no one else about?
Who listens like a human being?
And also has proper human feelings?
We’re all in this world to care for each other
Just like your father, your sister and mother
No one deserves to be left in the cold
Whether you’re young or very old
Here is another newspaper article…
MY AUTUSM IS NET A PROBLEM ANYMORE – NOW MARTIN CAN CONTACT THE WORLD… - From The Daily Mirror dated Thursday, July 29, 1999.
When Martin Baker learned that he had Asperger Syndrome – a form of autism – his life suddenly fell into place.
He had long been aware that social contact left him troubled and confused, but he didn’t understand why. Finally, with this diagnosis, he could begin to make sense of his feelings.
Of course, Martin hadn’t suddenly “caught” autism - he had been born with the condition 35 years earlier. That it took so long for his disability to be recognised is shocking but sadly not uncommon.
Autism is a disability – not an illness – characterised by three impairments: difficulty with social interaction, communication and imagination.
The world simply doesn’t make sense to autistic people the way it does to the rest of us. They lack that vital “sixth sense” which we take for granted in understanding other people.
We can change the literal meaning of what we say with the tone of our voice, the raising of an eyebrow and a whole range of body language, but such signals are lost on people with autism.
Martin found himself drawn to computers from an early age; perhaps they were easier to understand than people. He uses the Internet for research and to keep in touch with friends, finding a screen easier to deal with than face-to-face meetings – like many autistic people.
Now, in a remarkable Internet initiative, the National Autistic Society has teamed up with businesswoman Steve Shirley and innovative web developers RMR Design to host a unique online conference. Autuism99.
The Autuism99 conference aims to harness the power of the web by bringing together people with autism, parents, carers, health professionals and experts from around the world.
It’s an ambitious project – the world’s first ever-global disability conference to take place entirely on the Internet – and up to 100,000 people are expected to take part.
Interaction will be mainly through bulletin boards and chat areas. Experts will present papers and share their research and there will be self help groups.
Children with autism especially enjoy chat rooms, particularly because “emoticons” such as :O) – “I’m joking” – help to establish the precise meaning of people’s words.
The conference starts in November but the site is now open for free registration.
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