Resources for Adults With Asperger's

When will there be resources for ADULTS on the Autism Spectrum?  There is a critical shortage as autistic/Asperger's children grow up to be adults and for those who already are. Who will take this critical need seriously? Where are the researchers, where are those trained to diagnose adults? Where are those trained to help smooth the transition into society? Those who can help train for jobs, for living independently,etc? So far the need far outstrips the supply. See this from PBS: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/health/jan-june11/autism5adults_04-22.html  and this:http://www.jobs4autism.com/adults-struggle-with-lack-of-services/ . The stories are seemingly endless, including my own. There was no diagnosis when I was a child,so I am looking for resources as an adult. I can't even find someone who can diagnose me. especially since I am unemployed, the common issue for adults with Asperger's even though we are intelligent and talented  and extremely honest. The lack of social skills keeps us from living up to our potential as does the continued discrimination and stigma surrounding the condition. If only there were the resources, people on the high end of the Autism spectrum could contribute in a meaningful way to society and the economy. One option is to provide internships to help prepare us for the workplace. The problem is that most internships are designed for college students without special challenges. They are often seen to be cheap labor. What the adults on the high end of the Autism Spectrum need are internships especially designed for their particular challenges, and that would take a lot of work. Who is willing to put that kind of effort into providing assistance to someone with Aspergers? That is the challenge. That and the research required and the trained professionals and the money. 

So we call on the State and Federal Government to provide for these needs. They will pay off in the long run as we enter the workforce and pay taxes. NIH and NIMH could facilitate much of the research required. Please, someone hear our plea! It makes sense. It is the right thing to do.

Police Vs. The Citizens

Since the beginning of the Occupy Movement, there has been an underlying theme: the brutality of and oppression by the police. Indeed, it often appears that we are heading towards a Police State in this country. The Patriot Act and NDAA are just two examples  of how Congress and the President (regardless of party) are pushing to restrict citizen's constitutionally protected rights. The powers to enforce these acts appear to be derived from the Department of Homeland Security (the name just SCREAMS oppression and Orwell). They are actually MILITARIZING local police departments with left over used weapons from past wars. SO Police Departments have the ability to put down full scale civil war if it came to that. And it just might, because ordinary American citizens are feeling particularly put upon these days by the wealthiest 1% who are doing quite well at the expense of the bottom 99%. And yet, the 1% want MORE and want the poor and middle class to pay for it. The greed and callousness of the wealthiest Americans is unprecedented in American history. And that's going some. To pursue their strategy the wealthiest have set up propaganda groups to brainwash the ignorant into buying the claim that if we give them more tax breaks then the wealth and jobs will trickle down to the rest of us. We have been there for a long time and all the bottom 90% has gotten is trickled ON. So, the rest of us are restive. Recognizing that restiveness, the 1% (also know as the military industrial complex) have made sure to well arm the local police departments and given them para-military training. The result has been that these departments inevitably feel the need to use all that equipment and training, even where it is not warranted. So we have heads cracked open, young girls pepper sprayed right in the face at close range when they are already caged in and innumerable similar acts all over the country. All in the name of "preserving the peace." 

The citizens of this country need to wake up to the fact that there is a very deliberate attack upon our constitutional rights and unless we act now, they WILL be permanently stripped from us. We have to stand up now or be forced to our knees later, We cannot allow police departments to abuse us at any time. At least not without shouting about it from every rooftop (or Twitter). We must be organized to fight the oppressors, some of whom are in Congress. The ones who voted for NDAA, for instance. They do not want to preserve YOUR freedom, just that of their 1% puppet masters.We must fight those who would strip us of our rights. It is now or never, my fellow Americans.  We must, in a peaceful and organized fashion, reverse the trend towards tyranny. It is up to us now.