5. Keep AS reference materials visible in your home to entice visitors to read them.
6. Send the names of the people you want to educate to regional and national organizations that provide informative newsletters and or magazines.
7. Devise a list that specifically describes many, if not all, of the things you do which can be attributed to AS. For instance you might list some of the following: I am easily agitated in large crowds; I tend to get too close to people when I talk to them; I like to rub other people’s heads; When you frown, I do not know if you are sad or angry or lonely. Include as many symptoms as you can so that people are not tempted to dismiss your concerns and tell you everyone has those difficulties; the sheer number of your challenges will convince them that you have more issues to deal with than most people do.
Appendix II
Survival Skills for AS College Students
I have heard several speakers at AS conferences say that universities are filled with AS types. With a great big grin on my face, I applaud that sentiment. With a strong support system and a healthy interest in a field of study, those with Asperger’s will often find they have just what it takes to make their college years a wonderful experience. Where else but in college can you obsess on your interests and get rewarded for doing so? In what other setting could you create your own sense of style and convention without looking like you missed the point? What other environment would allow you to talk to everyone you see, no one at all, or even yourself, without missing a beat? In other words, where else could you bang your own drum so loudly? No where else that I know.
In truth, going to college is a big step forward for anyone. To be certain it never becomes a giant push backward, you should choose a college that offers a variety of programs and resources designed to meet your special needs. This implies that you will have to tell at least a few people at your college about your AS. Most likely, that list will include most of your professors, a guidance counselor, an administrator who has the power to design your curriculum and course schedules, and possibly someone in your housing unit (unless of course you make the choice to live alone). Use the following list to help you decide which kinds of support systems you might wish to seek when you begin looking for the college/university you think you could attend.
Support systems for social impairment
(a) Classes in speech communications, sociology, psychology and dramatic arts programs give those with AS a wonderful opportunity to learn more about social skills, albeit on an academic level. I am convinced I learned most of what I now know about social skills because of the many hours I spent in courses such as Interpersonal Communications, Intrapersonal Communications, Nonverbal Communications, Voice and Articulation, Mass Communications, Oral Interpretation of Literature, Acting, Social Psychology, Child Psychology, Psychology for Special Education, Sociology and General Psychology. Somehow, I was able to dissect the nuances of human behavior far more effectively when I was a student studying it as a science than when I was an individual trying to figure it all out through experience and intuition. If asked, I would recommend AS students enroll in as many of these courses as they can, realizing, however, that it might be wise to enroll in some of them as a listener and not as a student working toward a grade. Some of the courses require a great deal of intrinsic knowledge that if missing because of the AS, would make it hard to master the material in the short time a course typically provides.
(b) Ask your counselor if the university has, or could establish, a friendship group for people with AS and related syndromes.
(c) Ask your counselor to help you find career placement workshops that would teach you how to interview for jobs, write a positive and strong resume, dress in a professional manner and discuss your AS with a future employer.
(d) Try to establish a «safe» place on campus where you can go to relax and re-group, perhaps something like a corner of a quiet study hall, a remote area of the library, a park bench in a campus garden or a special exhibits room in the university’s museum.
Everyone with Asperger’s Syndrome realizes it can be very difficult to establish close friendships. However, college life affords unique opportunities to make a variety of casual friendships all of which can serve to make the college experience more pleasant and successful. An empathetic college will provide many opportunities for students to meet one another by promoting special interest groups across campus. Ask your guidance counselor to help you find a group made up of people who share your interests or hobbies and then do what you can to make a friend or two from among that group. If your social skills are markedly weak, you might share this information with your counselor who could possibly help you establish a friendship with another student who has volunteered to act as a peer tutor or mentor who would help other students find their way around campus, study, car pool, shop for necessities, find research materials, fill out important registration and information forms, etc.
It will be essential that you take courses only from empathetic instructors who are interested in helping you achieve your greatest potential. These kinds of teachers are often easy to find if you take the time to ask other students who their favorite teachers are. If, however, you feel uncomfortable talking to your peers about this, rely on your counselor to help you identify which teachers would be the most likely to do everything they can to make your time in their classroom productive and comfortable. Specifically, the following items are the kinds of concessions you might ask for, depending of course, on your individual needs:
(a) If personal space or social impairment problems are part of your AS, you might ask for special permission to avoid group projects, group discussions, partner laboratory assignments and group seating arrangements.
(b) If auditory or visual sensitivity is an issue, ask for preferential seating away from as many distractions as possible (probably somewhere near the center and front of the room), copies of your professors’ notes and permission to tape record lectures.
(c) If literal thinking interferes with your ability to problem solve and complete higher level thinking projects, discuss this in detail with your teacher who will have to work with you and probably your counselor to determine exactly what kinds of support and assignments you would most need to be successful. Be prepared, however, to be told the class you are interested in taking might not be the best for you. For example, I know I had a very difficult time in a philosophy class, so much that in thinking back, it would have been better if I had dropped it or never taken it in the first place. Often, colleges will arrange for you to take a substitute class (one that was not originally part of your degree plan) if they come to believe you really cannot complete the requirements of a particular class. This might be your only option.