Year of birth: WithheldAbout the Aspie Mentors
Dr. Know
Year of birth: Withheld
Country where I am currently living: Somewhere in Europe
Favorite part about being Asperger’s/HFA: I would rather think about the favorite part of being myself. I like being who I am. I guess I am particularly fond of my high intelligence.
Least favorite part about being Asperger’s/HFA: I would rather think about the least favorite part of being myself. Again, I like being who I am, but I can identify parts I want to work more on: not getting so angry sometimes (even if I am being provoked), and getting better at not hurting the feelings of people I like (it is not intentional, but it still happens).
Last completed level of education: Ph.D.
Current job: Postdoctoral researcher.
One line of advice I would give to someone with Asperger’s/HFA: Depends so much on the individual Aspie, but I think the above quote is something that a good chunk of Aspies should consider thinking about: “What do you care what other people think?” Arline Feynman reportedly asked this question often to her husband, the famous scientist Richard Feynman, when he was worried about what his colleagues thought about his work.
One line of advice I would like the world to know about Asperger’s/HFA: There should be no doubt that Aspies have been contributing a lot to the world. Neurodiversity is strength in societies, analogous with biodiversity, which is known to be a significant strength in nature. The world benefits greatly from having so many different individuals in it—Aspies together with NTs.
Qazi Fazli Azeem
Year of birth: 1981
Country where I am currently living: USA (on Fulbright Scholarship till 2014; originally from Karachi, Pakistan)
Favorite part about being Asperger’s/HFA: People coming up to me and saying that they have never met anyone like me in their life.
Least favorite part about being Asperger’s/HFA: The internal struggle and battle that I have to go through every time in social settings, and making “light” conversation with neurotypicals, to make sure I don’t scare them because of my intense interests in arcane subjects. I have to “keep my gloves on” and wear a mask of conformity.
Last completed level of education: Pakistan’s first multimedia design undergraduate in 2006. I am currently enrolled in the MFA (2012–2014) for Dynamic Media Communication Design at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston, USA, through the Fulbright Scholarship.
Current job: Graduate teaching assistant, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston.
One line of advice I would give to someone with Asperger’s/HFA: Wear the mask of conformity as you practice and get better at what you do. Eventually, you will find others like you; join them, and change the world.
One line of advice I would like the world to know about Asperger’s/HFA: The story of one with Asperger’s is as old as the story of science, math, art, language and creativity. We have enabled innovation, and push the boundaries of technology every day. A day will come when there will be more Asperger’s and fewer neurotypicals, and then the world will understand that Asperger’s syndrome is human evolution in action.
Debbie Denenburg
Year of birth: 1958
Country where I am currently living: USA
Favorite part about being Asperger’s/HFA: I’m usually right! I love researching and giving factual information. This has the result of people trusting what I say.
Least favorite part of Asperger’s/HFA: Not being understood. I feel like I say things straight up, but neurotypicals (NTs) seem to think that there is always something unsaid instead of taking my words at face value. This leaves me confused and frustrated.
Last completed level of education: High school.
Current job: The disability benefit is my main income but I always work. I am an artist and I have an Etsy shop online where I sell mostly vintage items. I have also written a movie screenplay. It is in the hands of a filmmaker, but there has been no action on it yet.
One line of advice I would give to someone with Asperger’s/HFA: Believe you can be loved for who you truly are.
One line of advice I would like the world to know about Asperger’s/HFA: By opening your mind to allow a knowledge of Asperger’s, you will be increasing your opportunity to understand a bigger picture of humanity.
Henny Kupferstein
Year of birth: 1977
Country where I am currently living: USA
Favorite part about being Asperger’s/HFA: Intense concentration abilities, perfect pitch and synesthesia.
Least favorite part about being Asperger’s/HFA: Sensory issues.
Last completed level of education: Bachelor of Science, Music Leadership in Society
Current job: Composer, researcher
One line of advice I would give to someone with Asperger’s/HFA: Make peace, accept that the sky might be green for others, and be submissive when you tell them that.
One line of advice I would like the world to know about Asperger’s/HFA: Behind a highly articulate person is an individual who struggles greatly to communicate, despite their gifted orations.
Mitch Christian
Year of birth: 1962
Country where I am currently living: USA
Favorite part about being Asperger’s/HFA: Remaining reasonable when confronted with overreactions.
Least favorite part aboutz being Asperger’s/HFA: Hypersensitivity to sound.
Last completed level of education: Four-year college degree.
Current job: Computer programmer.
One line of advice I would give to someone with Asperger’s/HFA: It’s going to be okay.
One line of advice I would like the world to know about Asperger’s/HFA: You need us.
Ruth Elaine Joyner Hane
Year of birth: 1940
Country where I am currently living: USA
Favorite part about being Asperger’s/HFA: My unusual sense of humor reveals the lighter side of life.
Least favorite part about being Asperger’s/HFA: Sensory overload is most challenging. People expect me to respond and function well in spite of loud environments and major distractions.
Last completed level of education: Bachelor of Science/Home Ecology, magna cum laude.
Current job: Research in vision/prosopagnosia (face blindness).
One line of advice I would like the world to know about Asperger’s/HFA: Live fully in this precious moment.
Steve Selpal
Year of birth: 1950
Country where I am currently living: USA. But I was a Canadian until age 20, which explains a lot.
Favorite part about being Asperger’s/HFA: It’s a huge improvement over my lifelong diagnoses. From 1970 to 1979, my diagnosis was paranoid schizophrenia and from 1979 to 2006, it was bipolar manic-depression. I took lithium carbonate for 21 years. When I quit in 2000, nothing happened. In 2006, it was ascertained that I was born this way. Besides Asperger’s, I probably am mentally ill. I’ve always double checked my work and tried to reflect if I am acting crazy or sick.
Least favorite part about being Asperger’s/HFA: None personally.
Last completed level of education: Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1979.
Current job: President of Steve Selpal Art Production, Inc. That’s just illustration, graphic design, murals, selling paintings, shaking money out of trees, whatever I can. I do my job well.
One line of advice I would give to someone with Asperger’s/HFA: Don’t kill yourself. Always know that this too shall pass. You can do what they do (NTs) and even reiterate what they do in more ways than they have patience for. Use the KISS principle: Keep It Simple Stupid!
One line of advice I would like the world to know about Asperger’s/HFA: Don’t be surprised if they are cleverer than you are. Never ask them, “How are you?” You might get a long-winded ontological analysis and that’s your fault, not theirs.
Anita Lesko
Year of birth: 1959
Country where I am currently living: USA
Favorite part about being Asperger’s/HFA: Diversity and my “laser focus.” Thanks to my Aspergian gifts, my life has included: administering anesthesia; jumping horses over six-foot-high fences in competition; ice dancing; becoming an internationally published military aviation photojournalist; learning to fly a helicopter; writing my autobiography—Asperger’s Syndrome: When Life Hands You Lemons, Make Lemonade—in two weeks by writing 16 hours each day; heading the development of a hippotherapy center at the world’s largest Snoezelen complex; and starting the Flying High with Autism Foundation.
Least favorite part about being Asperger’s/HFA: Asperger’s is an invisible syndrome, yet how is it that neurotypicals “see” it immediately, even before you say one word?
Last completed level of education: Proudly graduated from Columbia University in New York City in 1988 with my Master of Science in Nurse Anesthesia.
Current job: I have been working as a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist for the past 25 years, and have been at my current job for 15 years.
One line of advice I would give to someone with Asperger’s/HFA: Don’t focus on the fact that you have Asperger’s. Get out there and use your extraordinary gifts to make a difference in this world!
One line of advice I would like people of the world to know about Asperger’s/HFA: Aspies feel like we’re from another planet because neurotypicals make us feel that way by their reactions and behaviors towards us. I’d like the world to know that we are real people too, and find it in their minds and hearts to allow us into their world, so we’re not always on the outside looking in. Two powerful words of advice: accept difference.
Contributing Artists
Victoria Ingemann van Rooij, Denmark (http://www.vikseivr.deviantart.com)
Michael Tolleson, USA (www.artofmichaeltolleson.com)