multiples and autism

[danielmultiple.livejournal.com]

We are fairly new to this community, though we do talk to one of the members online in private e-mails . . .

Currently, we are working on a book about Asperger's Syndrome in which we want to address the concept of multiplicity and autism - in short, we have found that quite a few people with AS report something like multiplicity so we are thinking that this may be part of AS . . .

We are very interested in any of your thoughts about this, especially if you are autistic too - we are collecting quotes to include in this chapter of the book . . .

As for us personally, there are three and a half of us - there is a central processor (that is the half) that presents to the real world most of the time, then there is me, Daniel, who is dominant most of the time - I am the most autistic of the bunch and have really almost no emotions - except for fear, and I have a terrible temper . . .
Then there is Gabriel who keeps all of our emotions - he is very young - maybe 15 or so . . . I really dislike him . . .
Then there is Nathan - Nathan is probably the closest to what you think of as an autistic - he is very creative and loves to do things like sew and also loves animals and toys - but he couldn't function on his own - he is unconcerned with the outside world unless it effects him directly - he really lives in a world made up of sensation and gets distracted easily - he is almost never dominant by himeself . . .

I am almost always dominant but usually through the central processor - unless I get angry . . . I don't want to give the impression that we are excessively mean - we are vegans, actually - I just yell a lot when I get mad . . .

Comments

[sethrenn.livejournal.com]

I mean, really, skin color? Why not hair color, or eye color, or fingernail shape? Actually, if people really wanted to get serious about hating each other for inconsequential genetic traits, they ought to make skull configuration the Big Hairy Deal. "Long-heads rule! Round-heads suck!"

Heh, the basic consensus of most reputable scientists nowadays is that 'race' doesn't really even exist as a discrete biological category-- you could just as easily classify people into separate races on the basis of, say, the prevalence of the sickle-cell anemia gene, which would put Mediterreanean and sub-Saharan African people into the same racial group.

(http://www.antiracistaction.ca/race3.html is entertaining, on this issue.)

I've got sort of a thing going on where I know intellectually that there's nothing to stereotypes, but my awareness of them makes me uncomfortable and, in some cases, I worry that they might be true, even if there's no mitigating evidence-- like if we get stuck on a math problem, I'll start to worry that it might be because 'girls can't do math.' x_X Not to any disabling extent, but... it's there, yeah, the social programming. (OTOH, we seem to have avoided a lot of the social programming in regards to what women's priorities should be, and how they should aspire to look.)

I don't know what to make sometimes of the fact that there are several people in our system who aren't 'white,' though I probably overanalyze it. If they were all filling gratuitous stereotypes (which I have unfortunately seen before with multiples), that would be cause for legitimate concern, but I see the ones who share my headspace as being simply people, before they're a specific race or gender. What frustrates me is that I can't always be colorblind in 'non-head' interactions. Hm.

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

Ah, excellent link; thanks! It'd been my understanding that "race" was discredited as a scientific concept before I was born... and in America especially, it's not even reasonable to talk about "sub-species", because people here have come from all over the world.

"I don't know what to make sometimes of the fact that there are several people in our system who aren't 'white'"

Hmmm... I never thought of that before. Kír wasn't born in this body, and he's northern Asian... Crist-Erui was born in this body, but if he's Kír's twin from the time-before, does that make him northern Asian too, and therefore "not-white"?

*wry grin* Kír says the question is moot; that he came to us as a ghost, and his brother is not bound by the conventions of ordinary men, so these questions of physical distinction have no meaning for them. Fair enough. Where Kír and I sometimes have conflict isn't about 'race', but about culture - we've worked it out over the years to a great extent, but every so often we run into problems because despite his efforts, he still thinks by the 'rules' of a culture drastically different from this one.

I seem to have avoided a lot of the cultural programming about "how women are supposed to relate to people", but I got a major dose of "how women are supposed to relate to objects". This causes me difficulties about housekeeping (I cycle endlessly between two modes, "perfection" and "squalor"), car maintenance, clothing, shopping... because there're ten thousand things I have to deal with, and they're each supposed to be dealt with in a particular way, and it's just too much.

This is one reason I love camping: I only have to cope with the things I brought along, and that's not so many.