I don’t generally speak of it, but driving on the shortest Interstate between Pittsburgh and our house upsets me most times. But, it saves about 20 minutes if I’m in a hurry to get home. I need to decide between the emotional stress, the memories it triggers, and the convenience…
The Autistic Me
Now, for some paradoxes about where we choose to live. Greater Pittsburgh (more accurately, the region north of Pittsburgh), as a community, has proved to be a great place for my wife and me. The region, which includes parts of West Virginia and Ohio, offers excellent opportunities for people like…
Every few months, online or in real (physical) life, I hear the skeptical, questioning, puzzled phrase, “You’re not autistic. You can’t be.” I’ve addressed the question here many times, and I still lack a single good response. The “positive” versions: Because you are successful, self-expressive, driven, and have a career,…
Ignoring people isn’t something I can do. There is no “polite mode” with my lack of executive function. If someone is a jerk, I tell the person, at that moment. That’s something non-autistics never quite grasp, either. My wife has known me for 30 years and forgets that I have…
My wife and I like to take walks along the main street (actually, Third Street) of the nearby township. It is something out of a movie — even the park gazebo was donated to the community after a film wrapped. My wife said last night that the village across the…
April is autism something-or-other month, depending on whom you ask. It’s all about “acceptance” or “awareness” or “diversity” or “celebration” or “pride” — and I’m sure a few other concepts. To this, I respond with a busy, preoccupied, “Whatever.” I get that people want to find support, inspiration, connections, and…
Solebon [http://www.solebon.com] was the best solitaire game for the Palm OS. When I migrated to an iPod Touch, I was thrilled when Solebon was ported to my new PDA platform. Now, with Solebon on my iPhone and iPad, I play several games a day. My favorites remain the traditional Klondike…
Writing for stage requires some understanding of the motivations and emotions of the characters that appear before an audience. Sometimes you also have to appreciate unseen characters that either shaped or continue to shape events and other characters. Writing, therefore, is exercise in empathy and more. If you cannot imagine…
Each new semester begins with anxiety, doubt, fear, and insecurity. Teaching means standing before a group of people, trying to convince them you are going to say and do something worthy of attention. This was difficult teaching at a mid-range state university, a land-grant research university, and even a small…
Until the last year or so, I fought insomnia on a weekly, even nightly, basis. Stumbling into a regular sleep schedule for the last year has been nice. And now it seems to have ended. I’m back to a shifted, annoying, non-sleep schedule. I’ve tried wine, coffee (yes, it puts…