Year of birth: 1940About the Aspie Mentors
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.
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.
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.
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.
Temple Grandin
Year of birth: 1947
Country where I am currently living: USA
Favorite part about being Asperger’s/HFA: My logical thinking.
Least favorite part about being Asperger’s/HFA: Anxiety, until I took a low dose of antidepressants.
Last completed level of education: Ph.D.
Current job: Professor of Animal Science (since 1990).
One line of advice I would give to someone with Asperger’s/HFA: Find something you are good at to turn into a career.
One line of advice I would like the world to know about Asperger’s/HFA: Aspies are smart, hard working, and can solve problems.
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.
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.
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
Marilyn Cosho, USA
Michael Tolleson, USA (www.artofmichaeltolleson.com)