I am returning... and I intend to stay this time :)

However, I have learned that no matter how long I am gone from Twitter/the Internet/etc. there will always be something to write about when I return. lol

As my readers should know, I cringe anytime I hear the word "Autism" paired with anything ridiculously grandiose with a negative connotation [i.e. "Crisis"].

@BarackObama Address the current Autism Crisis! In light of the autism hearings, the time has come for answers! http://t.co/rN4MaXwv
— TannersDad Tim (@TannersDad) December 11, 2012

I do not wish to pick on @TannersDad as I both appreciate the other side of a debate and enjoy reading a different view.  I will admit that these words often frustrate me [as do many many more unrelated and mundane things - this is the nature of autism; low frustration tolerance] but I feel it is important to remember that there are different opinions expressed by people who are just as human as I am.  Also, if one assumes that their position is 100% right and everyone else is 100% wrong they show no grasp on the reality that truth is colored by perception, experience, and state of mind.*

Brace yourself; this is going to be a bumpy ride.

I digress, a little too late, but I do.  Actually, I am placing this part after the jump and continuing above, so unless you a psychic or you read after the jump, you have no idea I strayed so far off topic.  For you, thorough reader, I insert the following:

COMMUNICATION

*My experience has taught me that the same people who always ask "what is wrong with you?", "why do you do _?", and "why can't you be more 'normal'?" will just as quickly dismiss you when you provide them with an answer.  "You don't have autism."

An entire life of being misunderstood has left me wordy with my explanations as there is usually a communication breakdown that I try to avoid.  I realize that communication is a two-way process, but I feel that the listeners are putting an NT filter on what they hear but my words are not similarly encoded.  I have a problem communicating because I lack the secret encoder/decoder ring and it is unfathomable that the words that are falling out of my mouth do not hold their literal meaning.

"Anyone who says that they're great at communicating but 'people are bad at listening' is confused at how communication works." ~xkcd

During my last, almost-two-month-long, hiatus, I learned much about the trends of autism, the changes in diagnostic criteria, and the changes this new knowledge may bring.  It is heartening to see all the changes that are coming because of all the studies and which have been fueled by individuals demanding answers.  The rub is that not every answer is going to make the questioner happy.  Also, not every answer will be heard.  I fear that as much as is owed to the parents who have demanded answers [for they are the reasons those answers were sought] many will reject the answers provided.  So many have expressed concern over how DSM-V will affect their autistic children and, unfortunately, the answer is that some of them will no longer be labeled as autistic.  There becomes the potential for a new question which may help these people, but I fear the focus will remain on why their autistic child is no longer considered valid.  What could be a step forward may just lead deeper into the abyss.

While this in no way reaches the scale of the above problem, my [ex-]husband and I had to accept that the answer to our question of "How can we address the ADD?" was "It isn't ADD."  Sometimes an answer only leads you to a different set of questions.  After digging through all the research and data from the CDC's regular "autism census" [which was tedious but worth it - I felt better knowing and seeing that the increase is in high-IQ [high-functioning] individuals who are closer to the Asperger's side of the spectrum.