The Writers' Circle

People with autisim are far from stupid and many famous people, Albert Einstien, Bill gates , Dan Ackroyd,Alfed Hitchcock and hans Christian Anderson to name but a few - are known to have or  are believed to have had Asperger Syndrome.

I have experienced many people with autism - it first became known to me at an early age when I realised my cousin was a bit odd - he was fixated on James Bond and could tell you anything on the subject but he never joined in with normal conversation - he had a hard time at school and was bullied alot but now attends a special collage and has a relatively good life.  I think people didn't really understand how to help him and his mother refused to accept he was any different than any of her other children.  If I'm honest when I was young he scared me - he came too close and wanted to touch my hair.  Since then I've worked with children up to the age of 9 and I understand the conditions alot more now - and basically there is a huge variety which is why people refer to it as the autistic spectrum.  My head teacher says everyone's on the spectrum it just depends where, and obviously there are extremes.  I teach a group of able 9 year olds for maths and the most able has asperger's syndrome - he is incredibly clever and when engrossed in maths he achieves great work BUT I've noticed he does think and work things out differently than most children and does get frustrated when he tries to explain his ideas and the others try to tell him he's wrong - I've worked hard to get the children to realise its not wrong just different and infact often very intuitive - its brains like his that the rest of us could learn from and often I am in awe of his potential. 
I think people are becoming more aware of autism and I hope it helps with the way future generations of children and adults are treated by teachers and their peers.
Good luck to you and keep the writing coming - when you feel passionately about something it makes writing really great.