A Project Called Rosie

Two

The speaker had planned to give a presentation on "Genetic Precursors to Autism Spectrum Disorders" and had prepared diagrams of DNA structures. During the presentation, a person named Julie interrupted and asked the speaker to explain in simpler terms as not everyone in the audience were scientists. The speaker continued with the presentation, and a 12-year-old male raised his hand and asked a question about the likelihood of a single genetic marker. Julie interrupted again to remind the audience that Asperger's was something people were born with and that it was not anyone's fault. The speaker disagreed with the use of the word "fault" and explained that Asperger's was a variant and could be an advantage associated with organization, focus, innovative thinking, and rational detachment. The speaker then gave an example of how emotions could cause problems and asked the audience to imagine being in a situation where a baby was crying and hiding from enemies. The speaker asked for rational solutions, and the audience with Asperger's syndrome provided all the ideas while the parents tried to suppress their children's creativity. The speaker made the point that the rational solutions came from the aspies, and the children started chanting, "Aspies rule!" The parents left without further interaction, and the speaker packed up the laptop. Julie laughed and said that they never used the word "aspies" because they didn't want people with Asperger's to think it was a club. The speaker compared it to homosexuality, and Julie agreed that it was different. They then discussed the things that people with Asperger's could do better than non-aspies.