Appearance at Lifespire in New York

Last night I appeared at Lifespire’s Writers on Autism event at the Empire State Building in New York. Barbara Fischkin, a writer with an autistic son, organized the event and invited us. I read from the prologue to Look Me in the Eye, and answered questions. Other authors included:

* Kim Stagliano, who has written a novel based upon her hopes and dreams, and real life with three autistic girls. I expect her book will be published late in 2008. She read her essay "Crapisode," which gives autistic people who are less impaired – like me – pause for thought.

* Sheila Kohler, a New York City novelist, read a real-life tale about being the parent of a disabled young woman. Sheila Kohler's latest novel is Bluebird, The Invention of Happiness.

* Landon J. Napoleon read from his novel ZigZag.

* Michele Pierce Burns, a writer who is possessed of an almost unnatural level of joy at her child’s existence, read from her forthcoming book, I Love Everything About You. The best way for me to describe her condition is to say it’s the extreme opposite of depression, and it provided a welcome relief.

* Michele Iallonardi, a mother of three boys with autism and a journalist who has written for The Autism Perspective (TAP) magazine, Autism Spectrum Quarterly and Exceptional Parent. She was also in Autism Every Day.

* Rachel Kaplan appeared with her mother, a teacher. Rachel is a student at Hofstra University, who has autism and is traditionally nonverbal. As a graduate of Locust Valley High School on Long Island she won a coveted writing award and, as an acknowledged pioneer in the practice of facilitated communication, she now types independently

* Barbara read a passage about her son, Dan in the World: One of the First Victims of the Autism Epidemic Grows Up, Moves On and Moves Out.

After the readings, we had questions from the audience, many of which were directed at me. As I meet more autistic people and their families I realize what a remarkable thing it is that I am affected enough by Asperger’s to feel, exhibit, and understand many classic behaviors but I am “normal” enough that I can express those feelings through my writing and speech.

I hope the insights into my own thoughts and feelings prove relevant and useful to those in attendance, dealing with autism in their own families and lives. For me, the high point of the event came at the end, when Barbara’s autistic son Dan came over and shook my hand.

I’m writing this from my hotel room in New York. In a few minutes, we’ll start driving home to Massachusetts, back to my world of machines. We are travelling today in a BMW 540 that we rebuilt in my shop after it was abandoned by a former owner who experienced three transmission failures in a row. When I got the car, I discovered the reason the transmission had failed repeatedly: whomever replaced it the first time installed the wrong one, and the subsequent replacement was wrong too.

Now that the correct parts are back in the car, and its other issues have been addressed, it drives like new.

There is a parallel between the world of autism and the world of car repair. The biggest problems for both come from lack of knowledge, or well-meaning actions based upon wrong “knowledge.” I hope that further study of highly functional autistic minds like Daniel Tammet’s, Temple Grandin’s, and mine will provide insight and a basis for better decisions in the future. As more HF autistics come forward, such a result seems inevitable and it can’t come soon enough for all the affected families out there.