Stupid Guest Tricks

susislicker wrote:Finally a last thought before I shut up... I am hyper and off on a tear today...
We know that challenges do not make someone a lesser person as some very misinformed people think. Don't let anyone make you feel bad for your children with Autism or any disability. It makes me so angry when other's stick their holier than thou noses in the air when they are so misinformed and worse, just don't want to be around those with *disabilities*. I have actually heard people say that parents should NOT bring their Autistic children or Down's Syndrome children or disabled people to the Parks because it is depressing for them to see and it takes away from their trip. It DELAYS them, makes them late for whatever... and causes them to HAVE to explain to their children what is *wrong* (their word, not mine) with the disabled or Autistic or Downs person. I am sure if I heard what they said to their kids, I would be horrified. Contempt breeds contempt. I shudder to think that these kids are not getting a good lesson in compassion, but rather a lesson that teaches them to feel the exact same way their nasty parents do. :mad:
sues

susislicker wrote:I have actually heard people say that parents should NOT bring their Autistic children or Down's Syndrome children or disabled people to the Parks because it is depressing for them to see and it takes away from their trip.

susislicker wrote:We know that challenges do not make someone a lesser person as some very misinformed people think. Don't let anyone make you feel bad for your children with Autism or any disability. It makes me so angry when other's stick their holier than thou noses in the air when they are so misinformed and worse, just don't want to be around those with *disabilities*.

susislicker wrote:The mention of Rain man is interesting, because that is my nickname for Ralph. Since his accident was one of major head trauma, it did change him in many ways mentally. He takes some time to answer questions sometimes and is *slower* on the uptake. He also has some incredibly unusual preoccupations. He will look at anything with numbers and pick out the prime numbers or the natural numbers, he will add them up and figure out another aspect of the number. He is fascinated by palindromes. He also puts his paper money in his wallet not only according to denomination, but in serial number order! He is obsessed with numbers and is a great mathematician. He has some aspects of preocupicity such as you find in Aspergers and he cannot do more than one thing at once. If he is on the phone, he cannot also write or talk to someone else. He has to be completely immersed in one thing he is doing. I multi task up to 3 and 4 things at a time. He absolutely cannot do it. These are all impacts from his brain damage, but they mirror so many of Autism's symptoms, that it makes me wonder what part of the brain was damaged and how it was damaged to present this way.

He is not as preoccupied as Rain Man was, of course, but his compulsive behavior is noticeable and he must do everything in order. When he dresses, he has to do it exactly the same way, every time, or he gets confused. When he drives somewhere he gets lost easily, unless he goes the exact same way evertime. Things have to be done in order no matter what task it is, from laundry to writing out lists for everything (in his own little code language he made up ;) )to getting ready for bed the exact same way everytime. If one thng is out of order he gets confused. He had to relaern everyting in the hospital at age 21, so it may be that he is just doing things the exact way he was taught in the hospital and his brain cannot really adjust so easily to a ripple in the progamming. It is quite interesting and we talk alot about it.

It definitely stemmed from his brain injury. He is however extremely emo and has no problem showing emotion at all, ever. He can be overly emotional sometimes and wants hugs ALL THE TIME! He has a short temper when he feels like he is being *bugged too much* or when someone is trying to pull one over on him.
He also does not think out somethings before he says them and we have had a few embarassing moments with some of the things he has said in public. It is almost like there is no social filter there at times. Other times there is, but most of the time there is not. I have to coach him before we go out often to tell him what is proper social talk and what is not. It can get sticky when he lapses if there is a racial feel to the conversation and it HAS happened with our Black friends. Luckily they know us very well and understand his dilemma and laugh it off. It has never caused a serious problem in our circle of friends.

Only one time was there an extremely uncomfortable moment on a train trip we took and the conversation was going along smoothly at a shared table in the dining car and then he blurted out something, which caused a very unconfortable silence and then I quietly glossed the statement over and got the conversation moving again. But he does not MEAN to be rude or out of line. It just pops out sometimes and he does not know it is not such unnacceptable speech. It is never really outrageous, but a sort of undertone that he does not know is not quite polite. Baffling to most of us.
Brains are fragile things and we have along way to go in understanding how and why they work.
In the meantime, I love my Rain man because he is who he is and he is a loving, comapssionate person who has some effects from an accident that changed him in some ways.

It really is like dealing with a child sometimes too. He can be very childlike and I sometimes am put in a position of acting like a mother, which can get creepy. But that is not very often, thankfully. Life. We take it as we are given it and we do our best with the tools we have in our own personality make-up.
sues

susislicker wrote: I can't take it. It is so empty and with Chris here, it would have been so fun and we would have has such stimulating coversations and played many games of Scabble and other mentally challlenging things. He was a bright light in our lives and we miss him greatly and this house is just not what it was supposed to be.
We need to move to get away from the emptiness that was supposed to be full of life. No one really knew how long Chris had, so we thought he could be with us for awhile, but he went downhill much more quickly thabn any of us thoought he would. He is with the Father now. He was a devout Christian and was not afraid to go to be with the Father. he was truly a blessed person, even with all the challenges he had.
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Big Wallaby wrote:The rest of the show we were good, quiet (yet interactive at the right moments) participants. That was totally for the benefit of the person giving the show, and since we were up front I doubt too many other people got it. I don't think we made her look stupid or anything. And it just sorta turned into one of those bizarre moments of her day with some guests that had obviously been on the tour one too many times. The fact we did it in unison? If it's not obvious it was just an innocent thing to make her chuckle, then I don't know what is.