Comments on: An Historic Event

By: Anne

Anne — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 17:29:36 +0000

I think the fact that he swam for so long that he ended up in hospital for 3 days is newsworthy. Not because he has Asperger’s, but because he should have been pulled out of the water long before he did such damage to his body. Shame on Solo Swims Ontario for letting him continue (in fact, not letting him get out of the water when he asked to!). Solo Swims Ontario exists in part to protect peoples health who want to swim across lakes, but it failed this time in my opinion. If you read the swimmer’s (Jay) blog, you can see that in fact he doesn’t appear to have passed the distance/time test that he is suppose to pass in order to have the swim sanctioned. I think the awareness that was raised about Asperger’s due to this swim is awesome, but it never should have come on the back of Jay’s health.

By: Cidu Bill

Cidu Bill — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 15:51:04 +0000

In fact, CaroZ, I had the Time cover in mind when I wrote the headline.

By: CaroZ

CaroZ — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 13:23:31 +0000

I remember when Walter Mondale nominated Geraldine Ferraro for Vice President, Time Magazine’s cover read “A Historic Choice.”

They got no end of flak for leaving out the “n.”

By: Powers

Powers — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 12:47:17 +0000

Synchronicity: Wednesday’s Dear Abby column ( http://www.uexpress.com/dearabby/?uc_full_date=20080730 ) was centered on whether autism is a mental health problem or a neurological disorder.

Part of the confusion is that some people don’t make a distinction between the two. Even I’m not sure exactly what the difference is.

By: eeyore19

eeyore19 — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 18:01:38 +0000

By: Amberosia

Amberosia — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 17:56:16 +0000

Nope.

By: eeyore19

eeyore19 — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 16:42:25 +0000

Like Amberosia said, I have Asperger’s, and I can assure you that I don’t have “mental problems.” Sure, I have my share of quirks and obsessions, but don’t we all to some degree?

By: David Skaar

David Skaar — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 15:56:37 +0000

I was trying to find information on how many people have made the swim across Lake Ontario to find some perspective, but didn’t find anything. However, at least 4 people have done it in the last couple years, each one to raise awareness/money. A girl with Cerebral Palsy, and another with juvenile arthritis have done it recently.

If no one had ever swum the lake, the emphasis would be on the accomplishment (which is quite tough, a 52km swim, plus hypothermia), with special circumstances being a sideline. That seems to be the cycle that feats like this go through. The first person to do it (climb a mountain, swim the channel, etc) gets lots of publicity for just doing it. Anyone after is not nearly as impressive, and so needs to be some kind of first, or a new record to get a big story. Then when enough people have done it, it becomes a publicity or fund-raising event.

I don’t know how many people with Aspergers/CP/arthritis could swim the lake if they trained for it, so while the swim is still quite a challenge and I AM impressed that someone did it, I don’t know how impressed I should be that they did while while affected by whatever. However, the fact that the publicity gets people to learn something new about Aspergers is a positive thing.

By: Amberosia

Amberosia — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 14:52:55 +0000

Bob (and Carl) ~ My husband has Asperger’s and has a genius level IQ. However, despite that intelligence, we can’t have a truly serious conversation without him grinning inappropriately or his mind occasionally wandering off on some bizarre unrelated tangent. But at we know why and it has saved our marriage an incredible amount of frustration.

As for the story, slow news day or not it’s nice to see the media acknowledge the accomplishment and spread the word that there’s a name and a medical diagnosis for these poor people who for years have had to live with labels like “weird,” “shifty,” or “eccentric.” A little awareness never hurt anybody.

By: Kaitlyn

Kaitlyn — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 13:34:08 +0000

I second what Powers said, and can’t quite believe what Singapore Bill said.

I don’t have any relatives with Asperger’s or any form of autism, but my mom has worked in special ed since like 97 or so, and one of her coworker friends has a kid with Asperger’s AND other problems.

All the anecdotes about mom’s kids came to mind when I saw this. HUGE deal.