Thanksgiving Break 2014

The day after I got back for Thanksgiving Break, I worked on making some more plarn. After that, Cam, Nora, and I met my dad at Panera, and he gave me his bottle caps that he saved, from which I got two new bottle caps for my collection. Then Cam, Nora, and I went to Hen House where I met Rick, and he told me to call him on Monday about work. Soon after that I talked to Tyler.

                The next day I worked more on one of my drawings. Then I read through over half of my book for my Anthropology of Food class, pausing every so often to go to the bathroom, draw some more, and help my mom edit one of her Facebook posts, and I got better at my drawing too.

                I showed my mom and Dave my drawings based off The Lord of the Rings appendices, and they liked them. Dave and I talked a lot about the gaps Tolkien left in the appendices of The Lord of the Rings and how there’s a whole Middle Earth fan fiction based off that, which he said I might enjoy. After I told my mom about how I planned to attend ASAN’s meeting tomorrow if I don’t work, she asked if she could come, and I said she could. I had dinner with my mom and Dave after that and told them about my time at school. Later I went down to Starbuck’s, where I thought to myself, if an Autism Awareness Homecoming queen candidate, of all people, deserved to be recognized at UCM for helping the autism community, why has she not made the autistics at UCM more able to be openly autistic there?

                The next morning, I realized I realized Alpha Sigma Alpha may have put an “autism awareness candidate,” as Homecoming Queen Candidate in an effort to help my group. The next day I called Rick and found out it was too late to get me on the schedule before the 30th, but I understood and felt a little relieved to have a little bit of a break. Then I worked on my drawings some more and then some plarn, around which time I decided to maybe make Jack and Elizabeth something for Christmas, thinking of the parents they lost who are no longer around to give them presents, except perhaps in spirit. After that I went down to Starbuck’s and enjoyed their peppermint Frappuccino. Soon after that, my mom and I met Dave at Bella Napoli en route to the ASAN meeting, which my mom stayed at temporarily to check out, before we headed back home. There I saw Mrs. England, her son Cole, his girlfriend, Pam, Anna, Spencer, and Marshall. Teigan stayed at home to de-stress from her schoolwork while Spencer led the meeting, and Marshall led the chat room. During the meeting, our two main points of conversation were ASAN’s participation in the Autism Society of the Heartland’s autism walk, of which ASAN would benefit from, and National Day of Mourning on March 1, for all the disabled people this year who had lost their lives to their caregivers. As the meeting ended and I left, Marshall said, “Good to see you, Ben.”

I got back and edited a poem in my journal and then found another way to moderate my pacing: with animals, namely Peter. That night, I recited a sankalpa, a practice in Buddhism whichinvolves setting an intention for the next day, as I had done about a week ago.  The next day I worked on some plarn some more. After that I went down to Starbuck’s. I got back and had burgers with Cam, my mom, and Dave. After that I decided to one day go around America and other parts of the world and see sites associated with the Disability Rights Movement and started listing them in my little pocket journal. Then I talked to Granddad some and he assured me I do a lot more for the autism community than “Autism Awareness Homecoming Queen,” and agreed that ASA may have appointed her Homecoming Queen candidate because she wanted to help the group. I also finished another bottle cap tambourine. Once more I recited a sankalpa that night. 

                The next day I went down to the store and got some pie crusts for my mom. I also e-mailed Mrs. England and Riccardo with The Friend of Autism Pledge. My mom's dad, who we his grandchildren call Pop-pop, arrived, along with his girlfriend Sandra. I also finished reading Eat, Drink, Vote. I had Thanksgiving dinner with my mom, Dave, Jamie, Cam, Pop-Pop, and Sandra, and it was very enjoyable. Soon after that I read some of Unfinished Tales while I waited for pie and continued reading it afterwards. I also read an article on-line about dealing with grief that was very helpful, talking about ways to express it, including art and poetry, as well as reading books and poetry. Soon after that I watched American Dad! with my mom, and for a short time Jamie, who was doing it in the hopes that it would get me to watch Trailer Park Boys. Pop-Pop said goodbye to me, and I made some more plarn. I also remembered how it’s been a while since I read my Tanaina Tales of Alaska book, but also my Inspector Shan books, whose character I loved for his Sherlock Holmes type wit, though he is a much more grim and sad character. That night I once more recited a sankalpa. 

                The next day I found out Jane England sent me an e-mail agreeing to let me add her name to The Friend of Autism Pledge. Then my mom offered to pay me to mow the lawn tomorrow. After that I finished and posted my next Ben’s Blog post. I also went with my dad, Jamie, and Cam to pick up Joe’s Kansas City Barbecue and went to our grandparent’s house where we all had it for dinner, after which my grandmom offered us some of her pumpkin bread, which I still had enough room for after dinner. As we drove home, I decided I could get some signatures on The Friend of Autism Pledge by reposting it and sharing a link to my post on some of my autism groups. After I got home, I did my part of the project for my Creative Problem-Solving class. Then I reposted The Friend of Autism Pledge on Facebook and shared a link to it and put on my post that if anyone didn’t want their name to be on it on Facebook, they can message me saying “porcupine,” and I will add their name. Soon after I posted The Friend of Autism Pledge, I got nine more names to add to my list through Facebook. Again, I recited a sankalpa that night. 

                The next morning, I saw my pledge got another like on Facebook. Soon after that I worked on my book report for my Anthropology of Food class. Then I went down to Starbuck’s. I got back had Minsky’s take-out with my mom and Dave, during which time my mom asked me to ask about Sara’s tattoo. After that I put some of my clothes in the laundry. That night I also recited a sankalpa.

                The next day I saw I had gotten another like on The Friend of Autism Pledge. Then I worked more on my toilet paper roll wall art pieces. Then I packed up for UCM. After that I drove back there with my mom. When I got back, I put all the names I had gotten for The Friend of Autism Pledge earlier on there. Later I wrote some poems during dinner. After dinner I went down to Break Time I got some more beers. I got back and Josiah gave me a Twix and some pumpkin bread, and I gave him a beer, and then we hung out while I found that one of the bottle caps I got recently was new to my collection. Then I put my sheets on my bed.  After that I ran on the treadmill for about an hour, where I worked on some newspaper bag plarn. After that I got back and finished making the plarn for Jack’s, Elizabeth’s, and my god’s eye. Soon after that I made some more plarn for a homeless blanket. Then I talked to Tyler. That night I also recited a sankalpa. 



Top left, Aragorn journeys to the land of Rhun in the Far East of Middle Earth;
Top middle, Aragorn rides with King Thengel of Rohan, father of King Theoden;
Top right, Aragorn serves Ecthelion, Steward of Gondor and father of Lord Denethor;
Bottom left, Aragorn meets Gandalf in Arnor, who persuades him to guard the Shire after he learns Bilbo has a ring of power;
Bottom middle, Aragorn and his rangers guard the Shire;
Bottom right, Aragorn leads a fleet of Gondor ships against the rebellious province of Umbar, burning their ships and killing their captain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Weekend for ASAN

The day after I got home, I spent part of the day in Starbuck’s reading J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Silmarillion, and to my surprise, managed to get over twenty pages into it. On my way back I went to Rimann’s Liquor Store and got a new bottle cap for my collection from a giant bottled water I got there. Unfortunately, that night my cold that I had been developing over the past few days started getting worse.

                The next morning I drove down to Johnson County Community College to attend the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network of Kansas City’s presentation at JCCC’s Autism Beyond the Diagnosis Conference. I got there and went down to the Nerman Buidling, where I found Sean Swindler, the man who had helped me so much at starting the JCCC Autism Spectrum Support Group, as I went to get my nametag. He smiled at me, held out his hand, and I shook it.

                “Ben,” he said. “It’s good to see you. How are you?”

                “Good. How are you?”

                "Good. I just wanted to tell you the group you started is going great. We get about twenty-five people to come each meeting.”

                “Wow! That’s great!”

                “Yes, it’s going great. And you started it all.”

                I then saw another familiar face I recognized from JCCC, Mary-Jane Billingsley, a faculty member from the school who was a great supporter of the great. I approached her and she was overjoyed to see me. She said a JCCC Autism Spectrum Support Group member recently presented at the conference and it had one of the largest turnouts they had had in a while. Soon I met up with Pam, Daniel, Spencer, Skyler, a young female ASAN-KC member, and a tall bearded member, Bart Ewing, a social worker who worked with autistic children and I met for the first time. 

                As it was time for the presentation to start, I went into the designated room and met Elizabeth, Elise from Horizon, and Erin from Camp Encourage, as well as a middle-aged blonde women and a wiry-haired, broad-shouldered black young man. I talked to Elise, who told me she was going to the movie benefit for Camp Encourage, which I had invited her to on Facebook later that day. 

11:30, the time we were supposed to start, was approaching, yet Teigan and Marshall had not yet arrived. Spencer went up to the stand and said that they called and had car troubles and were running late. As 11:30 came, they had not yet arrived and Spencer began the introduction, explaining the mission and history of ASAN and its local Kansas City chapter. Soon after, he finished and Pam continued, telling the audience about person-first language vs. identity-first language (person with autism-denying autism as part of a person vs. autistic person where one acknowledges it), and mentioned how still if an autistic person prefers person-first language, you should use it around them. The young female member went up to the stand next and spoke on autism rights. Skyler went up next to tell the audience about self-advocacy. Bart then spoke about accommodations for autistic and disabled people. Then, finally Teigan and Marshall arrived and gave their part of the presentation.  Marshall spoke at length about neurodiversity, and then Teigan spoke about cross-disability activism.  As the presentation ended, the floor opened to questions. The blonde women asked about her son with Asperger syndrome, and how they felt he might fit into the group. Teigan answered saying anyone who agreed to our rules on respect for disabled people were welcome to come. Then Erin raised her hand and said, “I agree with your idea of accepting autistic people the way they are. I just wanted to ask, how do you ask an autistic person whether they want you to use person-first or identity-first language?”

                Elizabeth spoke up.

                “I think just the way you worded it is fine.”

                The presentation ended and I met the audience and ASAN members outside the room. I approached Teigan and asked her when we were having the silent auction. She said we weren’t going to have it, as she couldn’t reserve a room at UMKC, but we might have it in January. I also told her about The Friend of Autism Pledge, and she said if I e-mailed her with it, they might be able to put it up on their website. The blonde woman approached me and asked, “Are you Ben Edwards?”

                “Yes,” I said.

                “Well, I just wanted to let you know I read your blog and thought it was just great, all that you chose to put on there. I love how autistics are just so honest.”

                I laughed.

                “Well if you liked my blog, there’s something else I did that you might like.”

                She nodded.

                “It’s called The Friend of Autism Pledge. Basically it’s a pledge of how one agrees to treat autistics, it’s on my other blog, and if you agree with what it says you can add your name to the comment section and I will put your name on a list outside the door of my dorm at school. I’m trying to get more autistics there to be able to be open about their condition so I can start a group for autistic students.”

                “Ok, well I will look at that. Can I get there from your other blog?”

                “Yes.”

                The young Black male held out his hand and I shook it. 

                “Hi, my name’s Cole,” he said.

                “Hi, I’m Ben.”

                “She’s my mom," he said, pointing to the woman.

                Soon I met up with Erin and Elizabeth. I told Erin about The Friend of Autism Pledge and said I could send it to her via e-mail, and if she agreed to it, I would put her name on my list.

                “Ok,” she said and gave me her e-mail address.

                We all went out into the Nerman lobby and sat down. Several of the ASAN members were saying that in the future they would like to have an idea of what the room they would present in looks like beforehand, to avoid sensory overstimulation. A dark-haired woman sat around them and listened to them. She saw me and spoke to me.

                “Ben?”

                “Yeah.”

                “Hi, I’m Jennifer Smith, the president of the Autism Society of the Heartland.”

                “Oh, nice to meet you,” I said, shaking her hand.

                We sat talking for about another ten minutes until I got up and told them I was going to drive back home. We said goodbye and I drove back to the house.

             After I got back and went down to Starbuck’s again, reading up to thirty pages of The Silmarillion. Soon after, I got the idea to take some of my unflattened bottle caps (which I had duplicates of), flatten them, take some of my flattened ones, and make tambourines like I had last year, only this time with one stick that the caps were connected to by nails. I went down to the hardware store, got a short rod, got back, and made a tambourine. Later that night I also read more of The Silmarillion, getting forty or so pages into it. Unfortunately, my cold still got worse. 

                The next morning I finished scooping Peter’s litter box when I heard a knock on the door.  I went downstairs and saw who it was. It was Riccardo, one of my best friends from high school. 

                I let him in and learned he was here to talk to my mom about doing some work for her. I brought him to her and they talked about it. He also said in a few days he would be going to Italy to visit relatives for about a week. Soon my mom asked if he and I were connected on Facebook, and he said we were. He also said we had a few mutual friends including Teigan Hockman and Marshall Edwards from the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network of Kansas City. My mom asked, “Oh, are you a part of ASAN-KC?”

                “Sort of.  I don’t really know much about it.”

                “Well you should talk to Ben and learn about getting involved.”

                “Sure,” I said, my heart racing at the prospect. “We could go down to Starbuck’s and I could tell you about it.”

                “Ok,” he said.

                We walked down there and ordered our drinks. Then we went outside, to a cool October afternoon and sat down with our coffee. Finally I said, “So about ASAN…”

                “Yeah?”

                “Well, we’re a group that pushes for greater inclusion of autistic people in society. We were founded eight years ago by two young autistic college students, Ari Ne’eman our president, and Scott Robertson our vice president. We have chapters all across the country including York, Sacramento, Michigan, and of course, Kansas City. We also have chapters in Australia and New Zealand.”

                “Well, that’s good.”

                “Yeah. Anyway, one thing a lot of us do at ASAN is use identity-first language when talking about autistic people, meaning we say 'autistic person,' rather than 'person with autism,' basically to denote that we don’t think autism is something that needs to be hidden about one’s self for them to be respected.”

                “That’s good,” he said, nodding.

                “We also believe in a concept called neurodiversity, where we believe all brains of people, whether they are autistic, not autistic, dyslexic, or whatever, should be respected the way they are and people with them should have equal rights to society.”

                “Good,” he said, looking interested.

                “And we also are a cross-disability group, meaning we work with groups of people from all different disabilities to promote equality and access for all of us. So we work with organizations of people with Down syndrome, dyslexia, Tourette’s syndrome.”

                “Well, I have a question?”

                “Yeah?”

                “How can I get involved?”

                Relief came into my body.

                As we walked back to my house I told Riccardo how ASAN-KC met every month and how if you couldn’t attend in person, you could attend on-line through Google+. I also told him about my Friend of Autism Pledge, and that I could send it to him, and if he agreed with it, I could add his name to the list of names on my door. He agreed to let me send it to him, and when we got back, he gave me his e-mail address. 

                He hung out at our house for a little while, watching the football game with us. Meanwhile, my cold had gotten almost unbearable. Soon Riccardo left, and around that time, I got packed up, and my mom drove me back to school, while I felt too tired to drive myself. We got back and she insisted on vacuuming the room herself for a little while. She also located a package in my room that I hadn’t opened yet, and inside it turned out to be a whole bag of Wasabi peas, which she said would be could for my sinuses. She left me with some cough drops, and later I went down to dinner. I got back to my hall, deciding to just rest, and went out into the lounge and read more of The Silmarillion, getting almost fifty pages into it.