Year of birth: 1954About the Aspie Mentors
Charli Devnet
Year of birth: 1954
Country where I am currently living: USA
Favorite part about being Asperger’s/HFA: Being unique.
Least favorite part about being Asperger’s/HFA: Loneliness.
Last completed level of education: Postgraduate degree.
Current job: Tour guide.
One line of advice I would give to someone with Asperger’s/HFA: Know yourself. Without self-knowledge, you can acquire a passel of college degrees and never be wise.
One line of advice I would like the world to know about Asperger’s/HFA: Give us a chance. We’re a lot more fun once you get to know us. We may seem anti-social, rude, stubborn, immature and uncaring, but this may well be due to the painful experiences that many of us have endured in our youth. Sometimes you have to break down the walls to get to us, but it’s worth it.
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.
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.
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.
James Buzon
Year of birth: 1984
Country where I am currently living: USA
Favorite part about being Asperger’s/HFA: My imagination.
Least favorite part about being Asperger’s/HFA: Sensory issues.
Last completed level of education: BA English.
Current job: Currently pursuing a BS in Graphic Design.
One line of advice I would give to someone with Asperger’s/HFA: Individuality is a very precious commodity. Love your individuality, and things will begin to fall into place.
One line of advice I would like the world to know about Asperger’s/HFA: I would tell everyone that we can change the world dramatically (and for the good, might I add), if we are given the chance.
Jeanette Purkis
Year of birth: 1974
Country where I am currently living: Australia
Favorite part about being Asperger’s/HFA: Being honest, moral and trustworthy.
Least favorite part about being Asperger’s/HFA: Knowing that I miss out on most of the meaning when I’m talking to someone.
Last completed level of education: Masters degree in visual arts.
Current job: Public servant, author.
One line of advice I would give to someone with Asperger’s/HFA: You can do anything! Don’t let your diagnosis stop you from doing anything.
One line of advice I would like the world to know about Asperger’s/HFA: We are capable, intelligent, and have a lot to give. If everyone were the same, the world would be a boring place.
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.
Richard Maguire
Year of birth: 1966
Country where I am currently living: United Kingdom
Favorite part about being Asperger’s/HFA: It’s an adventure, fun being different and being an original thinker.
Least favorite part about being Asperger’s/HFA: Anxiety, tiredness and socializing.
Last completed level of education: BA in theology and religion from Oxford Brookes University, January 2010.
Current job: Self-employed, running my own business, Autism Live Training, providing training and mentoring, speaking and autism advice from the point of view of an autistic person.
One line of advice I would give to someone with Asperger’s/HFA: Learn to enjoy being Asperger’s, take control of your life and make your own luck.
One line of advice I would like the world to know about Asperger’s/HFA: We are lively, emotional, feeling people; please become still enough to hear us. We are good to have around and have much to share.
Contributing Artists
Marilyn Cosho, USA
Michael Tolleson, USA (www.artofmichaeltolleson.com)