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Notice – The ministries featured in this section of TheologyWeb are guests of this site and in some cases not bargaining for the rough and tumble world of debate forums, though sometimes they are. Additionally, this area is frequented and highlighted for guests who also very often are not acclimated to debate fora. As such, the rules of conduct here will be more strict than in the general forum. This will be something within the discretion of the Moderators and the Ministry Representative, but we simply ask that you conduct yourselves in a manner considerate of the fact that these ministries are our invited guests. You can always feel free to start a related thread in general forum without such extra restrictions. Thank you.

Deeper Waters is founded on the belief that the Christian community has long been in the shallow end of Christianity while there are treasures of the deep waiting to be discovered. Too many in the shallow end are not prepared when they go out beyond those waters and are quickly devoured by sharks. We wish to aid Christians to equip them to navigate the deeper waters of the ocean of truth and come up with treasure in the end.

We also wish to give special aid to those often neglected, that is, the disabled community. This is especially so since our founders are both on the autism spectrum and have a special desire to reach those on that spectrum. While they are a special emphasis, we seek to help others with any disability realize that God can use them and that they are as the Psalmist says, fearfully and wonderfully made.

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Autism Awareness Month Introduction

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  • Cerebrum123
    replied
    Originally posted by MaxVel View Post
    Thanks for this thread, Nick.

    I think I may (possibly) be very low on the spectrum, and I have worked with some students who are most likely Autistic - it's not well recognised or diagnosed here. On the plus side, people with those kinds of issues are usually treated kindly and not bullied by their peers, even if they're not really understood.
    There is a comic here that explains what many mean by "on the spectrum". For a short explanation, it's not a linear scale from a little bit, to severely autistic. It's more like a color wheel in has a multitude of different wavelengths of varying intensity. One person at that link describes it in the comments as "a color wheel shot with a shotgun, with each person having their own constellation of traits". From everything I've been reading it seems the only thing that is truly "low" or "high" is the amount of support needs an autistic person might need. That ranges from living on your own just fine, all the way to needing help 24/7. Usually if you have higher support needs it is due to something comorbid with autism, rather than autism on its own.

    It is certainly good to hear they are usually treated kindly. Not being understood still comes with a lot of problems on its own. The best that can be done in that case is to try and increase understanding. Which is definitely easier said than done.

    Leave a comment:


  • MaxVel
    replied
    Thanks for this thread, Nick.

    I think I may (possibly) be very low on the spectrum, and I have worked with some students who are most likely Autistic - it's not well recognised or diagnosed here. On the plus side, people with those kinds of issues are usually treated kindly and not bullied by their peers, even if they're not really understood.

    Leave a comment:


  • Cerebrum123
    replied
    Originally posted by Apologiaphoenix View Post
    I don't see Sheldon as a slap in the face. He's the character that is most loved on the show even if at times the most annoying, but he's also the one with the greatest character development up to the very end of the show.
    I agree, even if I didn't get to see all of the episodes he definitely shows the most character development in the episodes I did see. He's probably my favorite character.

    Leave a comment:


  • Cerebrum123
    replied
    Originally posted by Sparko View Post

    I think it only counts towards Asperger's if it is an obsession with MLP.

    I know this post is a joke, but I do want to clarify that "obsession" or a "special interest" is one of the diagnostic criteria for autism. From the DSM-V* "Highly restricted, fixated interests that are abnormal in intensity or focus (e.g., strong attachment to or preoccupation with unusual objects, excessively circumscribed or perseverative interests)". You don't need to have that to have autism, but it is extremely common to have it. Under this definition anything can be a special interest.

    *The CDC lists the rest of the criteria here.

    Leave a comment:


  • Sparko
    replied
    Originally posted by Cerebrum123 View Post

    No, they don't equal each other. However they do have some overlap, and are often comorbid. Only one on my list with definite OCD is Monk.
    I think it only counts towards Asperger's if it is an obsession with MLP.

    Leave a comment:


  • Apologiaphoenix
    replied
    I don't see Sheldon as a slap in the face. He's the character that is most loved on the show even if at times the most annoying, but he's also the one with the greatest character development up to the very end of the show.

    Leave a comment:


  • Cerebrum123
    replied
    Originally posted by Sparko View Post

    OCD <> Autism
    No, they don't equal each other. However they do have some overlap, and are often comorbid. Only one on my list with definite OCD is Monk.

    Leave a comment:


  • Sparko
    replied
    Originally posted by Cerebrum123 View Post

    Now that I know more about autism I'll agree he seems to have been created as a character with that in mind. Both me and my mom find him very relatable, make of that what you will.

    The following two examples are often just thought of as "quirky" by those who don't know much about autism, but that is true of people who actually have autism and are not yet diagnosed. They are also female, which even in real life are often not realized to be autistic until very late if at all unless they also have a learning disability.

    As for some characters that display some autistic traits. Ariel from The Little Mermaid. She is obsessed with the human world to the point of ignoring her daily life. In fact she has an collection of everything she can find from the human world. She is extremely talented when it comes to singing. She so desperately wants to be part of the human world that she is willing to give up her amazing talent. I've seen people suggest that her giving up her voice in order to be with Prince Erik could be an allegory for selective mutism. Given Hans Christian Andersen is thought to be autistic himself it shouldn't be that much of a surprise that he would/could write a character with traits like that.

    Belle from Beauty and the Beast. I don't know anything about the author here, but the way she was portrayed in the Disney movie version has her display an obsession with books. Extremely brutal honesty to Gaston, and the Beast. The whole town thinks of her as really strange, and she doesn't really care much. Much of the opening song is the townspeople saying how strange she is, but she's pretty so they don't care as much. It tends to run in families, and her father is pretty much the eccentric genius stereotype you can often find with characters who are written as autistic.

    Some more commonly cited examples are Sherlock Holmes, Adrian Monk, and the main character from The Good Doctor.
    OCD <> Autism

    Leave a comment:


  • Cerebrum123
    replied
    Originally posted by KingsGambit View Post

    Sheldon Cooper. To my eye, his existence seems like a slap in the face to the autistic community. The show creators claim that he wasn't created with that in mind, but I don't believe that for a moment.
    Now that I know more about autism I'll agree he seems to have been created as a character with that in mind. Both me and my mom find him very relatable, make of that what you will.

    The following two examples are often just thought of as "quirky" by those who don't know much about autism, but that is true of people who actually have autism and are not yet diagnosed. They are also female, which even in real life are often not realized to be autistic until very late if at all unless they also have a learning disability.

    As for some characters that display some autistic traits. Ariel from The Little Mermaid. She is obsessed with the human world to the point of ignoring her daily life. In fact she has an collection of everything she can find from the human world. She is extremely talented when it comes to singing. She so desperately wants to be part of the human world that she is willing to give up her amazing talent. I've seen people suggest that her giving up her voice in order to be with Prince Erik could be an allegory for selective mutism. Given Hans Christian Andersen is thought to be autistic himself it shouldn't be that much of a surprise that he would/could write a character with traits like that.

    Belle from Beauty and the Beast. I don't know anything about the author here, but the way she was portrayed in the Disney movie version has her display an obsession with books. Extremely brutal honesty to Gaston, and the Beast. The whole town thinks of her as really strange, and she doesn't really care much. Much of the opening song is the townspeople saying how strange she is, but she's pretty so they don't care as much. It tends to run in families, and her father is pretty much the eccentric genius stereotype you can often find with characters who are written as autistic.

    Some more commonly cited examples are Sherlock Holmes, Adrian Monk, and the main character from The Good Doctor.

    Leave a comment:


  • KingsGambit
    replied
    Originally posted by Cerebrum123 View Post

    Then there are fictional characters that are famous that show a lot of traits, or are flat out written to be autistic.
    Sheldon Cooper. To my eye, his existence seems like a slap in the face to the autistic community. The show creators claim that he wasn't created with that in mind, but I don't believe that for a moment.

    Leave a comment:


  • Apologiaphoenix
    replied
    Elon Musk doesn't surprise me a bit.

    The guy who invented Pokemon also has it.

    Leave a comment:


  • Cerebrum123
    replied
    Originally posted by Sparko View Post
    on SNL last week Elon Musk said that he has Asperger's. (it was not a joke)
    Yeah, he is one among many famous people with Asperer's/ASD. Anthony Hopkins, and Dan Aykroyd are two actors who have it. Jerry Seinfeld has self diagnosed himself as having it. Then there are fictional characters that are famous that show a lot of traits, or are flat out written to be autistic.

    Leave a comment:


  • Sparko
    replied
    on SNL last week Elon Musk said that he has Asperger's. (it was not a joke)

    Leave a comment:


  • Cerebrum123
    replied
    I hope your font wasn't changed to one called Digestive. It makes me sick to even look at a page using it. Only look up that font at your own risk.

    Leave a comment:


  • Apologiaphoenix
    replied
    Let's wrap it up.

    Link

    ------

    What is the conclusion? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.

    Okay. One final example first. It looks like WordPress apparently independently decided to change my font and I am not sure how to change it back. My Aspie side is internally screaming at this. I realize others not on the spectrum could be the same way, but I definitely am being on it.

    But for now, until I get that fixed, let’s discuss the heart of the matter. We’ve been looking all this month at life on the spectrum. Today, it has come to an end. By the way, as I said on Facebook, while I have every now and then seen something about Autism in an ad on a website or a commercial, it is nowhere near the celebration when it comes to identity politics. I find that interesting.

    So in the end, what is the goal of all of this? It’s to help those on the outside to understand. It is not to justify any sort of bad behavior. I always say that our Autism is an explanation, but it is not a justification, which only applies if we are doing something wrong or inappropriate. I am not asking for special treatment. I just ask for understanding.

    After all, who are we? We are your neighbors. We are your family. We are your friends. We are the people you see at the grocery store. We are the people who are serving you at the bank. You worship with us in a church service. You sit next to us at the DMV. We are in the halls of your schools. You befriend us, love us, and marry us.

    We are different from you, but in many ways, we are also people just like you. We can be hurt emotionally, physically, verbally, mentally, and in every other way. Rejection can hit very hard for us. We really do know what it’s like to be on the outside.

    Like you, deep down, we all want to be loved. We want to matter to someone else. We want to have friends. I even consider myself more of a loner, but I would not want to go through life without having friends.

    The difference is that we do not have our disability out there for everyone to see. If you see someone in a wheelchair, you don’t challenge them to a footrace. Nothing in us explicitly screams “Autism” even if you can tell something is different. Today, I do wear an autism awareness bracelet. Part of it is my hope that someone will notice and at least ask me about the bracelet.

    Seek to understand first. I know sometimes when I do something people don’t understand in a public place, I can hear people talking about me and thinking I can’t hear. I can. It doesn’t bother me like it used to, but that’s only after years of studying and learning all that I can. Many others on the spectrum could be less equipped.

    Then, show some kindness. Be gentle. We want to know if we are doing something wrong and we don’t like it if we receive mixed messages on that. Life is confusing for all of us and we have an extra layer of that confusion.

    However, if you come to know us, we are people who want to be a blessing in your life and we can be. We can be your friend and if you marry us, we can even be a lover to you. Of course, there are varying degrees of capability, but many of us strive to be all that we can be. Personally, that is my own philosophy. Life is a gift and I want to live it and appreciate all that I can of what God gave.

    When the month ends, you may not be aware of people on the spectrum that same way. I am aware of it all year long. I am thankful there is a month that people can recognize us, but I wish society would take it more seriously. We are special people as well who can contribute to our world just as much as anyone else can.

    Thank you for reading this month. Please be aware.

    In Christ,
    Nick Peters
    (And I affirm the virgin birth)

    Leave a comment:

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