Patti's Blog - Advocate for Elders, People with Disabilities and Their Families

10 Steps to Help your Teen with Autism Navigate Dating

Excerpt from: Autism Speaks (click for full article)

 

We’re so glad to address this question, given how many teens and parents express interest. For many teens with autism, the issues of dating and sexuality come up later than one might expect. But every teen is different. Some are eager as young teens, while others don’t appear interested until much later. Regardless, the physical changes that accompany adolescence make these issues relevant for most families.

Of course, dating tends to be an exciting but challenging part of any teen’s life. However, some difficulties tend to be particularly relevant for teens with autism. None are insurmountable. Just keep them in mind while helping your teen navigate the dating process.

Online Habits Coming Slowly to Older Adults

Excerpt from: The New York Times (click for full article)

 

Older adults hit a digital milestone last year: For the first time since the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project began conducting surveys, a majority (53 percent) of people over age 65 used the Internet. The proportion has since inched upward, to 54 percent.

Which certainly represents progress. When Pew first began tracking Internet use in 2000, only 13 percent of seniors were online. But it remains a fairly anemic number compared to the rest of the adult population, more than 80 percent of whom use the Internet.

And among the older old, those over age 77, only about a third are online. Yet that’s the cohort most likely to become isolated by physical limitations, poor transportation and the loss of social connections — the group, in other words, who might particularly benefit from being able to interact with the world digitally, for everything from banking and ordering groceries to e-mailing faraway friends.

Soon To Be Wed, Couple With Disabilities Sue To Live Together

Excerpt from: Disability Scoop (click for full article)

 

As they prepare for their wedding, a New York couple with special needs is headed to court to fight for the opportunity to live together once they become husband and wife.

Paul Forziano and Hava Samuels are getting married this weekend. But the couple — who live in separate group homes three miles apart in Manorville, N.Y. — don’t know if they will be able to live together even after exchanging wedding vows.

A lawyer for Forziano and Samuels says that administrators at the group homes where the two currently live have said they will not allow the couple to move in together after their nuptials.

Now the couple and their families have filed a federal lawsuit. At the very least, their attorney is asking the court to require that the group homes allow Forziano and Samuels to spend more time together during the day and evenings while their case proceeds.

“They just have a business model. They want to spend their money certain ways and if it doesn’t fit, well then the individuals lose out,” the bride’s father, Norman Samuels, told News 12 Long Island about the group homes.

Autism Gets Hollywood Treatment In ‘Story Of Luke’

Excerpt from: Disability Scoop (click for full article)

 

A feature film debuting at movie theaters across the country this week is giving big-screen attention to the desire among many with developmental disabilities for independence as they become adults.

“The Story of Luke” focuses on a 25-year-old with autism who is adjusting to life with relatives after his grandmother — and long-time caretaker — dies. Luke resolves to make it on his own and embarks on a journey to find a job and a girlfriend.

The fictional account is rooted in the real-life experiences of the film’s writer and director, Alonso Mayo, whose mother runs a school for those with developmental disabilities in Peru. Mayo said he was inspired to write the script after seeing many kids from his mother’s school grow into adults who yearned for the same opportunities as their typically developing peers.

Asperger Love: Searching for Romance When You're Not Wired to Connect 9

Excerpt from: Wrong Planet (click for full article)

 

At the link above, you will find an excerpt from Pulitzer Prize winning NY Times reporter Amy Harmon's new ebook, "Asperger Love" that profiles Wrong Planet's "Autism Talk TV" co-hosts Jack Robison and Kirsten Lindsmith.

With ‘World Of Jenks,’ MTV Tackles Transition

Excerpt from: Disability Scoop (click for full article)

 

MTV is putting a spotlight on the ups and downs facing those with disabilities as they transition to adulthood, with a documentary-style series following a 21-year-old with autism.

Chad DenDanto, now 23, is one of three young adults featured on the network’s “World of Jenks” premiering Monday at 11 p.m. ET. The show, beginning its second season, features host and documentarian Andrew Jenks living with each subject for a year and filming their journeys.

“During the first episode you’re thinking, ‘OK, one of the guys on the show has autism. That’s what his story is about.’ After the last episode you realize Chad is really funny, he has a great relationship with his girlfriend, he loves food and Italian culture and fart jokes, and you just know him as Chad. Autism no longer defines him,” Jenks said.

Sex: what do people with Aspergers need to know?

Excerpt from: Autism Support Network (click for full article)

 

Asperger syndrome is by its nature an isolating condition. I have spoken on this in my books and in this blog. Because of social isolation, we may not have the frequent, recurring contact with potential partners that neurotypicals might enjoy. We are not even adept at flirting, the most basic step in the romance dance. I have spent much of my adult life single. While I have often chosen partners out of convenience, desperation and extreme loneliness, I have now finally achieved a healthy relationship with someone who is both good for me and as far as I can tell, compatible. But it was not easy getting here. My teenage years were fraught with sexual mistakes including statutory rape and other dating fiascos...if you could call it dating. From what I know of my peers, dating is not something we with Aspergers like to do. We tend to meet and mate too quickly or not at all. We want to have good relationships, we just don't know how to go about getting one.

Loving Someone with Asperger’s Syndrome

Excerpt from: Wrong Planet (click for full article)

 

I wrote Loving Someone with Asperger’s Syndrome for several compelling reasons. Over the years I’ve had the opportunity to work with many people with AS and their partners either as individuals or couples and I have seen the struggles from both sides.

As I looked around for guidance, in the form of books and/or research to help me to help them, I found a serious dearth of information focused on these couples. Much of the writing seems almost to take one side or the other as if we are talking about two different teams or sometimes even enemies rather than two people who love each other and are trying everything they can to connect, yet coming up short.