Dogs for Autism

A brief post this evening.

I took a look on Twitter to see if there is a "spectrum" presence there.  I found lot of the major organizations advocating for autism have presence on Twitter.  Jenny McCarthy (or someone claiming to be here) was there.  As are some people saying they have Asperger Syndrome. (from those with Asperger Syndrome that I know, that actually comes as no surprise.  The surprise would be finding people like Bil.)

I also found an organization called Dogs for Autism.  Fascinating.  I went to their website to find out more.

What a wonderful idea - service dogs for autism.  I found is that service dogs are a lot more than the stereotype of the German Shepard helping the blind. Besides the blind, service dogs assist people who can't hear, and people who suffer from seizures. 

This organization has been around for some 20 years, although they only started working with training dogs to help those with autism in the past few years.

The loveliest part?  You can make a contribution in the name of a beloved dog in your life who has passed on.

I wish I could say (as an aside) that Bil loves dogs.  But, my mother in law's family never had a dog as a pet.  They had a cat but Bil never interacted with the pet.  But I bet there are a lot of people with autism who love dogs.

But other than that, I spent a few minutes browsing people who came up when I typed in "Adults with Autism".  Right now I'm not interested in following any more people on Twitter but when I get my Twitterlegs, I will most likely investigate this topic more.

Autism-an Evolutionary Advantage

This article I picked up from someone I follow on Twitter has the viewpoint that autism may have provided our species with an evolutionary advantage. 

Never mind evolution (whether or not you think it is a valid explanation for how we all got here) but you can almost see it today.

Consider "the geek".    And the prevalance of Asperger Syndrome in certain areas of the country heavy in technology industry that has been reported in media.  Coincidence?  Or, are we seeing a mini-evolutionary process in our very own culture?

Just think, too.  What if we do make contact with an extraterrestrial species - and they turn out to be Vulcan-like? (noting that the stoic/logical nature of the Star Trek Vulcans was cultural, not genetic.)  Think about if real Vulcans came to our planet tomorrow.

Who better than people with Asperger Syndrome to meet with them.

(I could be thinking here that if the aliens love weather, or the New York Mets, that Bil might be our ideal first contact person.  But maybe not.)

Or, lets say conditions change and we are in a world where constant social interaction isn't as important as it is now, people with autism, including Bil, will flourish.

But, the way we are going, as much as geeks are needed, I don't know if people like Bil will flourish in our new world of social networking.

It really is something to think about.

Now that I am on Twitter, I am going to investigate (when I have time) people on the autistic spectrum who are active on Twitter.  This should be....most interesting.