There is a recent report from Bloomberg showing that only 30% of new jobs created go to Singaporean citizens and permanent citizens. The rest are foreign residents.
I guess if there are few new jobs for Singaporeans in proportion to the total jobs created, then I presume it is not enough for new graduates from Singapore's institutes of higher learning.
Or put it this way, the whole education and social system failed to put Singaporeans to adapt to the new knowledge-based learning, as society is too over-competitive to allow self-improvement to better oneself for the ever-changing world, and educational attainment kept deliberate low, way below the number of locals capable of completing a degree locally in Singapore, judging from recent Wikileaks revelations.
Also, critical thinking in Singaporeans in general seem to be less apparent than in other regional countries, especially Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia.
A combination of these factors makes up a despondent situation in Singapore for Singaporeans. Now I feel the rage in Singapore - if not, even much-reported troubles within the opposition Workers' Party, they even roughly managed to retain almost around 90% of their party's votes, from the 2011 General Elections.
We need both hope and wisdom to overcome this situation. Now all we need is a few writers to inspire, heal and rejuvenate Singaporean broken souls in the face of globalisation.
Wednesday 30 May 2012
Inclusive Education for All Special Needs Singaporeans
Inclusive Education for
All Special Needs Singaporeans
There is a need for
all Singaporeans to be educated, under a common core education to prepare for a
knowledge-based economy, as well as having a common educational experience to
build forging national identity and cohesion. (Ministry of Education website)
Some Singaporeans are
not covered under the Compulsory Education Act. He (or she) could have been
exempted from compulsory education, especially for children studying in some
private primary schools (designated schools in MOE terms, such as San Yu
Adventist School) and homeschools. Granted, these students also study for the
Primary School Leaving Examination and go through the National Education test.
They also fit into the aims and objectives of ‘a common education experience
for national cohesion’ in their unique manner, and receive a ‘common core
education’. So they also receive a uniquely Singaporean education.
Some Singaporeans,
though, do not have the chance to get to national schools or even the designated
schools. They are deemed to have physical and intellectual disabilities. Few
national schools can cater for them, due to a lack of facilities. Perhaps most
importantly, though, most Singaporeans with physical and intellectual
disabilities could only receive an education in special schools that are not
funded by the Ministry of Education. In other words, special education in
Singapore is not under the purview of the Ministry of Education, the provider
of education to 99% of all Singaporeans, from a parliamentary reply by the
current Minister of Education Heng Swee Keat on March 8 2012.
Are we going to forge
national identity together without the people with disabilities and special
needs (PDSNs)?
Granted, they have a
different core education to receive from the rest. This is why they are in
their special schools in the first place. However, note at why these special
schools are not under the compulsory education structure – because they do not
fit under the government’s stated policies of a common core education for the
knowledge-based economy.
I just want to know
whether this affects society’s reactions towards them, as part of our society.
These special needs
people are presumably native-born or born to native-born Singaporeans. Every
year, perhaps about two, or three hundred of them, who are males, will receive
the notification that they will be exempted from National Service (NS). Given
the pro-NS culture and the lack of common educational experience with the
mainstream society, is it really possible that these special needs Singaporeans
are part of our society? Will they be seen as a group of people who have
Singaporean citizenship, but are regarded as people whom we try our best to
forget and be abandoned in a corner? Don’t they have their pink Identification
Cards when they are older?
We need to send a
strong message to all Singaporeans. We need to tell all of our people, all
Singaporeans are uniquely Singaporean, with our common Singaporean experience.
We are one whole nation united by our common destiny, for our land.
To bring the common
experience, we do our best to make sure all Singaporeans are in the same
governmental supervision for all students. The agency responsible for 99% of
Singaporeans’ education is supervised by the Ministry of Education (MOE). It is
only natural for the special needs community to ask the MOE to include the 1% of
the students, current not under its purview due to them enrolling in special needs
schools, to be under their purview. This can be done with input from the
Ministry of Community, Youth and Sports, with their Community Chest funding.
The integration of
special needs schools with MOE may not be smooth. Special needs students do not
seem to have a common core with the rest of the students in mainstream
settings, as they do not need to take the Primary School Leaving Examination.
They do not seem to go to National Education trips. They also do not have the
capacity to, intrinsically from their behaviors, to feel themselves being part
of Singapore. This had been the reason why MOE had been reluctant to bring
these people of uniquely different needs separate from the rest of the student
population.
However, MOE should
signal its students that some things are more important than just reading,
writing and other skills for the economy. The perception of cohesion for all
Singaporeans is one. Although the special needs students are not part of the
mainstream society, they are, after all, part of our society. Under common
management of all special needs education in Singapore, including the
management of special schools, inclusive education, integrating special needs
resources for students with special needs in a mainstream setting, could be
more likely achieved for the Singapore education system.
This would bring
success for students with special needs as a whole. From an UNICEF report on
special education, inclusive education group was found to have “achieved
significantly higher levels on a number of academic measures and equivalent
scores on others without special needs.”
The children included in the mainstream classroom also had better
attendance records than those who are not included in mainstream classrooms,
from a study by Geoff Lindsay, done in 1997. This shows that inclusion is not
only beneficial in terms of achieving higher academic results for all students
in general, but also better for the societal outcomes, which is deemed to be
more fair, and have more altruism throughout society.
In my opinion,
Singapore is better off having a centralized management of education. I think
the Government should extend provision of compulsory education to special needs
students, as well as central management of all educational services, will bring
benefits to Singapore in the long run. Compulsory education for all
Singaporeans is the way forward for Singapore.
Monday 28 May 2012
Effects of an elite education on Singaporeans with special needs
There is a certain university that accepts only 8% of its applicants in Singapore. This is roughly equivalent to the admission rate of prestigious universities, such as Harvard, Stanford and Yale - three of the most selective universities in the United States.
I know a few friends who get admitted to that university in question. The low admission rate for their stringent requirements exalts their social standing in their friends. They deserve it wholeheartedly though, because they really have the passion, competence and most importantly, critical thinking, to be able to be deemed able to get admitted to the university.
I think of the possibility if any student with special needs gets admitted to that university. If it is true, then I thought, at least, in the context of current society, it shows that the person with special needs is indeed able to go to the university and do good for the world in general. He has a better chance of creating acceptance for the special needs community if he feels like, and wants to, doing all he can for the special needs community.
However, even with a 8% admission rate, does it mean that the students in the universities are really unique and be successful for being chosen for a common social goal - be the social force of the society?
I doubt so.
Society chooses an elite. So long as the people in general decides the attributes to leadership: credibility, intelligence, connection with the people, inspring social change, moving all of society forward and effective improvement of the society as a whole.
Going through a narrow door means one can be in a better position as an elite, to move and shake society. To succeed in leading the society upfront, one has to lead the way. Through his (or her) high competencies in intelligence through IQ or standardised tests, his place of birth, his life experiences, his connections with other people and his intrinsic positive motivation to do good things, he can have a better chance to succeed to be the cream of the crop of society.
However, it is difficult to ascertain the ability, however, to inspire social change. Some able and credible people just do not have the opportunity to bring about social change, connect with the people, improve society and move all of his society forward - because of different circumstances. The elites may be recognised in some way or another, but because of their special needs, or because of society's reluctance, society may still not change, even when special needs students get into elite placing. Indeed, in my observations, the PDSNs in elite schools may be consumed with their own circumstances, that they may slowly lose the ideals and visions they have when tasked with dealing with problems on an immense scale.
Say, these people are dealt with investigating the exclusion of special needs people from pay rises and training due to age, tainted relationships with bosses and perceived inability. There is a certain moral hazard in these people to deal with these issues half-heartedly, especially when they themselves are subjected to lower pay and slower promotions than their normal counterparts, because they themselves are victims, and do actually aggressively leadership positions to assert their existence in the Earth. They, being previous elites, now do want to be the elites of the disadvantaged. This is in contrary to the original purpose of propelling the disadvantaged into the elite - to make a more accepting society for the society, and to change the elites to create more opportunities, for special needs people to move forward with upward social mobility in life.
To me, it is one thing to say, 'you should have gone to JC and NUS, for it is good for you', when others did the same and still achieved nothing. It is also another thing to say, 'too bad, your conditions are just not suitable, try other professions' when one is excluded from industrial training.
Maybe it would be good to instead try to say, 'just do what you can. I am sure you have talents in a certain area - just try it. Who knows you can do it? I'll support you in your endeavors.'
So, elitism even in the special needs society may stray the community further from its common pursuit of an inclusive society. It, if badly managed, could harm more than help Singaporean society. It would be best if the society begins with accepting amongst themselves, to give support to each other.
I know a few friends who get admitted to that university in question. The low admission rate for their stringent requirements exalts their social standing in their friends. They deserve it wholeheartedly though, because they really have the passion, competence and most importantly, critical thinking, to be able to be deemed able to get admitted to the university.
I think of the possibility if any student with special needs gets admitted to that university. If it is true, then I thought, at least, in the context of current society, it shows that the person with special needs is indeed able to go to the university and do good for the world in general. He has a better chance of creating acceptance for the special needs community if he feels like, and wants to, doing all he can for the special needs community.
However, even with a 8% admission rate, does it mean that the students in the universities are really unique and be successful for being chosen for a common social goal - be the social force of the society?
I doubt so.
Society chooses an elite. So long as the people in general decides the attributes to leadership: credibility, intelligence, connection with the people, inspring social change, moving all of society forward and effective improvement of the society as a whole.
Going through a narrow door means one can be in a better position as an elite, to move and shake society. To succeed in leading the society upfront, one has to lead the way. Through his (or her) high competencies in intelligence through IQ or standardised tests, his place of birth, his life experiences, his connections with other people and his intrinsic positive motivation to do good things, he can have a better chance to succeed to be the cream of the crop of society.
However, it is difficult to ascertain the ability, however, to inspire social change. Some able and credible people just do not have the opportunity to bring about social change, connect with the people, improve society and move all of his society forward - because of different circumstances. The elites may be recognised in some way or another, but because of their special needs, or because of society's reluctance, society may still not change, even when special needs students get into elite placing. Indeed, in my observations, the PDSNs in elite schools may be consumed with their own circumstances, that they may slowly lose the ideals and visions they have when tasked with dealing with problems on an immense scale.
Say, these people are dealt with investigating the exclusion of special needs people from pay rises and training due to age, tainted relationships with bosses and perceived inability. There is a certain moral hazard in these people to deal with these issues half-heartedly, especially when they themselves are subjected to lower pay and slower promotions than their normal counterparts, because they themselves are victims, and do actually aggressively leadership positions to assert their existence in the Earth. They, being previous elites, now do want to be the elites of the disadvantaged. This is in contrary to the original purpose of propelling the disadvantaged into the elite - to make a more accepting society for the society, and to change the elites to create more opportunities, for special needs people to move forward with upward social mobility in life.
To me, it is one thing to say, 'you should have gone to JC and NUS, for it is good for you', when others did the same and still achieved nothing. It is also another thing to say, 'too bad, your conditions are just not suitable, try other professions' when one is excluded from industrial training.
Maybe it would be good to instead try to say, 'just do what you can. I am sure you have talents in a certain area - just try it. Who knows you can do it? I'll support you in your endeavors.'
So, elitism even in the special needs society may stray the community further from its common pursuit of an inclusive society. It, if badly managed, could harm more than help Singaporean society. It would be best if the society begins with accepting amongst themselves, to give support to each other.
Saturday 26 May 2012
Volunteering through a positive force
The recent stresses of globalisation stresses everyone we know out. We may feel helpless because our jobs are on the line, our wages are depressed by global competition, and we don't have enough social safety net to cling on whenever we are unlucky enough to fail.
I want to thrive in the current global economy. I want to overcome our current obstacles. I also know I am fortunate to still have some choices to have some time for good things in life, such as volunteering.
So they are the motivations why I decide to work for the autism community.
I see volunteering as a good way to reduce my own stress levels in the competitive economy. It is a positive tool for me to better enable myself to contribute to our society. It can improve my ability to work with others, as well as raising our society's capacity to do even more greater things, through empowerment of the disadvantaged through volunteering.
We do self-improvement and learn together with those I interact with, so we can move forward together with resilience and strength.
I want to thrive in the current global economy. I want to overcome our current obstacles. I also know I am fortunate to still have some choices to have some time for good things in life, such as volunteering.
So they are the motivations why I decide to work for the autism community.
I see volunteering as a good way to reduce my own stress levels in the competitive economy. It is a positive tool for me to better enable myself to contribute to our society. It can improve my ability to work with others, as well as raising our society's capacity to do even more greater things, through empowerment of the disadvantaged through volunteering.
We do self-improvement and learn together with those I interact with, so we can move forward together with resilience and strength.
Why we can't just form a PDSN group for those in JCs
Initially, I agree with the view that PDSNs with JC may be in a position to work for societal good, given current social emphasis on qualifications in Singapore. If we just work with like-minded people who can do common tasks, with people graduated from JCs and local Universities, we will achieve a large critical mass of talents to create social change.
There is indeed a valid concern that PDSNs from JC could be marginalised because of their perceived book-based intellect. Entrusting responsibility in a structured leadership framework that ensures continuity in A-CASE, respect for all members, as well as developing vocational and career skills in JC PDSNs would be most essential for all JC PDSNs in our group, as JCs really neglect relevance to the job market - and JC PDSNs do indeed have the ability to read books, and apply them on writing and speaking in Project Work. In this way, JC PDSNs not just achieve self-improvement, but also develop responsibility for the special needs community and the wider society - something all societies value tremendously. We can increase our capacity to serve our wider community, through JC PDSNs.
However, we also have the need to recognise different models of excellence. Just because one has 20 points or lesser in O Levels doesn't mean he is approved and stamped to be a critical thinker we need. We need much more than qualifications, but we also need to be much more inclusive than having only good O Level scorers (that can go into JC).
We should not dismiss people based on their lack of scores, current situation or otherwise. We should look at how we work to rally together behind a cause.
Indeed, for 95% of the Aspies in Singapore, they need a technical education that trains them in specific jobs that does well in most organisations. They can ill afford a higher probability of being stressed out and unhappy with the JC curriculum, in which they will probably be stressed at a higher incidence than in Polytechnics and ITEs. There will always be a 5% who may not find any course in our ITEs/Polytechnics/vocational institutes useful, but they are the rare minority exceptions.
Discriminating people just because of them not having the intellectual level does no good for us. I even think tuition schemes by Aspies for Aspies bring us further away from functioning and surviving in society, which wants us to do technical skills.
It is wrong to push students to JCs, when ITEs or even other technical/vocational institutes work better for them. It is also wrong to push Aspies and other PDSNs through university, when they are mostly better suited for non-Singaporean Universities or Singaporean technical/vocational training, where they are more likely to finish through the courses in time and be immediately productive in the work force, through specialised training in their skills.
I also think any PDSN group fully consisting of just JC students or alumni is untenable, because it works for only 5% of our PDSN population, and is not representative of our larger PDSN community's larger interests.
So we still accept late bloomers, who can't get into JCs in time. Reason being this is a defect in Singapore society in particular - we only accept a focused person from infancy to work. It's only natural that they have their own concerns in job employment. They need encouragement.
Just by looking at one case where one JC PDSN bullies another, it shows that JC PDSNs propagate the claim 'you are ok so you don't need help' to a worse state. And this questions the credibility of JC PDSNs as a group.
My personal experience also tells me it is possible to have both meltdowns and depressions that plague so many PDSNs AND have good intellectual abilities. There are common stress points for all PDSNs, regardless of IQ or educational levels.
Intellect has little bearing with survival - but the ability to self-improve has. I can safely say until the moment Aspies improve on their ability to be more open with others and be more trusting of other people, Aspies will not get 'self-improvement'. But here's the irony of the Aspies... they ARE Aspies.
The social support group I founded with people with disabilities has not diverted time and resources from the JC or more intellectual PDSNs to lower functioning ones. Because simply put, the natural state of things is that able people help the not-so-able.
Though some Aspies choose to remain not accepting other fellow Aspies, I am sure reality will move us forward and opens new possibilities to help us accept other people on the Spectrum.
We can have both intellectual and lower-functioning members here. All we need is just the commitment to make it happen. We can achieve this.
There is indeed a valid concern that PDSNs from JC could be marginalised because of their perceived book-based intellect. Entrusting responsibility in a structured leadership framework that ensures continuity in A-CASE, respect for all members, as well as developing vocational and career skills in JC PDSNs would be most essential for all JC PDSNs in our group, as JCs really neglect relevance to the job market - and JC PDSNs do indeed have the ability to read books, and apply them on writing and speaking in Project Work. In this way, JC PDSNs not just achieve self-improvement, but also develop responsibility for the special needs community and the wider society - something all societies value tremendously. We can increase our capacity to serve our wider community, through JC PDSNs.
However, we also have the need to recognise different models of excellence. Just because one has 20 points or lesser in O Levels doesn't mean he is approved and stamped to be a critical thinker we need. We need much more than qualifications, but we also need to be much more inclusive than having only good O Level scorers (that can go into JC).
We should not dismiss people based on their lack of scores, current situation or otherwise. We should look at how we work to rally together behind a cause.
Indeed, for 95% of the Aspies in Singapore, they need a technical education that trains them in specific jobs that does well in most organisations. They can ill afford a higher probability of being stressed out and unhappy with the JC curriculum, in which they will probably be stressed at a higher incidence than in Polytechnics and ITEs. There will always be a 5% who may not find any course in our ITEs/Polytechnics/vocational institutes useful, but they are the rare minority exceptions.
Discriminating people just because of them not having the intellectual level does no good for us. I even think tuition schemes by Aspies for Aspies bring us further away from functioning and surviving in society, which wants us to do technical skills.
It is wrong to push students to JCs, when ITEs or even other technical/vocational institutes work better for them. It is also wrong to push Aspies and other PDSNs through university, when they are mostly better suited for non-Singaporean Universities or Singaporean technical/vocational training, where they are more likely to finish through the courses in time and be immediately productive in the work force, through specialised training in their skills.
I also think any PDSN group fully consisting of just JC students or alumni is untenable, because it works for only 5% of our PDSN population, and is not representative of our larger PDSN community's larger interests.
So we still accept late bloomers, who can't get into JCs in time. Reason being this is a defect in Singapore society in particular - we only accept a focused person from infancy to work. It's only natural that they have their own concerns in job employment. They need encouragement.
Just by looking at one case where one JC PDSN bullies another, it shows that JC PDSNs propagate the claim 'you are ok so you don't need help' to a worse state. And this questions the credibility of JC PDSNs as a group.
My personal experience also tells me it is possible to have both meltdowns and depressions that plague so many PDSNs AND have good intellectual abilities. There are common stress points for all PDSNs, regardless of IQ or educational levels.
Intellect has little bearing with survival - but the ability to self-improve has. I can safely say until the moment Aspies improve on their ability to be more open with others and be more trusting of other people, Aspies will not get 'self-improvement'. But here's the irony of the Aspies... they ARE Aspies.
The social support group I founded with people with disabilities has not diverted time and resources from the JC or more intellectual PDSNs to lower functioning ones. Because simply put, the natural state of things is that able people help the not-so-able.
Though some Aspies choose to remain not accepting other fellow Aspies, I am sure reality will move us forward and opens new possibilities to help us accept other people on the Spectrum.
We can have both intellectual and lower-functioning members here. All we need is just the commitment to make it happen. We can achieve this.
Why should society focus on employment for ASDs
I know a few things about people with Asperger's Syndrome (AS) and High Functioning Autism (HFA). For such people with AS and HFAs, their social cues could be weaker than others, so they may look socially awkward and may not involve in 'office politics' well.
The media currently brings an unfavourable misconception to the general public about Autism, based on television series such as 'Breakout'. It reduces support and acceptance, for the good they can ably do for the society. In addition, because of the current discrimination against Singaporeans with AS, many of them are currently unable to find a job that pays a wage to support their families.
In addition, at our own estimates, as around 70% of Singaporeans with AS are not able to complete a tertiary degree, due to their own issues with the educational system failure in Singapore. As such, many of the people with AS are subjected to unfavourable treatment in both firms and society. The firms pay these people way below other people performing similar job duties, or keep them in the lowest hierarchies in the company, due to perceived 'inability to work in teams'.
In addition, for much of the rest of the 30% of Singaporeans, they are willing to put up with 4, or even 5 years, to do some degree that they can ill afford or are still immature enough to complete in 3 years. They do so, ostentatiously, to avoid 'discrimination' against people diagnosed with AS that failed in the education system. They end up doing jobs with higher pay, but may also be struck with the issues of unemployment and underpay.
However, people with AS, regardless of educational attainment, are able to perform job tasks for the company, and may be valuable for the firm's capabilities and core competencies, with their commitment, dedication and work ethic in place. Few people can be as focused as those with Asperger's Syndrome. The firm loyalty and commitment a person with AS puts in his firm is superb, especially so for Singaporeans with AS.
Singapore just issued the Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices. Because of many firms' needs to have 'team players' or 'employees who need to work well in a crew/team'. I fear this may disadvantage people with Asperger's Syndrome, because it can be implied they do not have the ability to work well in a team, based on their revelation of their Asperger's conditions. However, they still add value to their companies through their insights. It would be a shame for companies not to employ more local employees with Asperger's - it not only brings job opportunities for these people closer from home, but also help firms to both find quality workers for their operations, and also reducing the costs of foreign permits.
I believe the need of people with AS and HFAs to be accepted for their skills and their value-addedness to firms is strong. We need more opportunities for people with such differences to be treated equally, like others, for the hard work they do and for the expertise they can offer to their firms.
Please consider speaking up for the AS and HFA community. We are disadvantaged, and we hope one day, when we are enabled to be more able, we can give back to our community, the rest of the disadvantaged in our society, and our wider society in general.
The media currently brings an unfavourable misconception to the general public about Autism, based on television series such as 'Breakout'. It reduces support and acceptance, for the good they can ably do for the society. In addition, because of the current discrimination against Singaporeans with AS, many of them are currently unable to find a job that pays a wage to support their families.
In addition, at our own estimates, as around 70% of Singaporeans with AS are not able to complete a tertiary degree, due to their own issues with the educational system failure in Singapore. As such, many of the people with AS are subjected to unfavourable treatment in both firms and society. The firms pay these people way below other people performing similar job duties, or keep them in the lowest hierarchies in the company, due to perceived 'inability to work in teams'.
In addition, for much of the rest of the 30% of Singaporeans, they are willing to put up with 4, or even 5 years, to do some degree that they can ill afford or are still immature enough to complete in 3 years. They do so, ostentatiously, to avoid 'discrimination' against people diagnosed with AS that failed in the education system. They end up doing jobs with higher pay, but may also be struck with the issues of unemployment and underpay.
However, people with AS, regardless of educational attainment, are able to perform job tasks for the company, and may be valuable for the firm's capabilities and core competencies, with their commitment, dedication and work ethic in place. Few people can be as focused as those with Asperger's Syndrome. The firm loyalty and commitment a person with AS puts in his firm is superb, especially so for Singaporeans with AS.
Singapore just issued the Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices. Because of many firms' needs to have 'team players' or 'employees who need to work well in a crew/team'. I fear this may disadvantage people with Asperger's Syndrome, because it can be implied they do not have the ability to work well in a team, based on their revelation of their Asperger's conditions. However, they still add value to their companies through their insights. It would be a shame for companies not to employ more local employees with Asperger's - it not only brings job opportunities for these people closer from home, but also help firms to both find quality workers for their operations, and also reducing the costs of foreign permits.
I believe the need of people with AS and HFAs to be accepted for their skills and their value-addedness to firms is strong. We need more opportunities for people with such differences to be treated equally, like others, for the hard work they do and for the expertise they can offer to their firms.
Please consider speaking up for the AS and HFA community. We are disadvantaged, and we hope one day, when we are enabled to be more able, we can give back to our community, the rest of the disadvantaged in our society, and our wider society in general.
Don't just diagnose people with special needs - accept them
"We are living in the midst of at least three such epidemics- of autism, attention deficit, and childhood bipolar disorder." (Dr. Allen J. Frances)
There had been increasing numbers of cases for autism, ADHD diagnosis in recent times.
In the 1950s, there used to be 1 in 10,000 children who have autism in the United States, as Dr. Lawrence Wilson noted.
Now, the rate is 1 in 110 children, as reported by Autism Speaks.
As noted in Baird G, Simonoff E, Pickles A et al, five-sixths of the people with autism spectrum disorder have either PDD-NOS, or Asperger’s Syndrome. Asian countries till this day are virgin territory in this regard. But with the rise of the affluence of China and the "Asian Tigers" like Singapore, HK, Taiwan, S.Korea, it is only a matter of years before more advanced diagnosis methods reach there. The ill effects of over-diagnosis will threaten their countries' social fabric.
There had been increasing awareness of learning disabilities or disorders. Indeed, autistic people who are mentally retarded fell, in correspondence to the rise in low-functioning, non-Asperger’s Syndrome or PDD-NOS population, as Professor Richardo Dolmetsch of Stanford University noted. And to the credit of worldwide healthcare systems, more appropriate help has been given to improve the lives of these people.
However, it fails to explain the problem seen in the higher-functioning autism population. Since the introduction of Autism in DSM-III in 1980 and the addition of Asperger’s Syndrome in DSM-IV in 1994, there had been a spike in the diagnosis of those people. In addition, a similar trend can be seen in AD/HD. In the UK, from National Health Service reports, an estimated 0.5 per 1,000 children had ADHD in the 1970s, while 3 per 1,000 received ADHD medications in the late 1990s. The numbers continue to spike.
The trends in the diagnosis of special needs are staggeringly abnormal. What could be the reason behind the increase in number of people with autism spectrum disorder, ADHD or more?
Societal attitudes could be one of the factors. Students in a highly competitive social culture like in some parts of Asia with overzealous parents or studying in standardized test score-centric schools have to endure treatment after treatment, to improve their schoolwork performance, and not the other areas that they are good or interested in, like the arts, sports and other areas. In addition, many societies have evolved into more conformist and social-centric society. If the child does not meet the society's or the parent's expectations or being that nail that sticks out, the common thought would be is "there's something wrong with my child."
Educational trends in UK, US and Australia move towards a more centralized standardized testing system, where students are graded and assessed based on their academic potential, which require them to fit the requirements of their papers in order to move on to their next levels. Meanwhile the social culture of many Asian countries mistakenly emphasize too much on paper qualifications more than the true caliber of their individuals, unleashing a merciless arms race between individuals from grade school to high school to universities; an bad attitude that permeate their education systems, leaving a bad impact their people's well being. Diagnosed individuals even up the bottom of the food chain in this battle.
Similar trends can also be seen in global spread of information. It used to be the case that different firms have different niches around the world. A high degree of latitude is given to different cultural behavior and characteristics around the world.
Presently though, best practices in firms cause a degree of uniformity in all people, in order to reach an attainment of best outcomes throughout the world. In this society, any outstanding behavior that do not more effectively promote one’s best interests is seen as ‘anti-social’, and hence, anyone exhibiting such anti-social behavior is seen as a ‘weirdo’, and deserved to be alienated from the rest of society or in some cases, killed off indirectly. This includes socializing with other people in a different way from others, writing and reading in a different manner as compared to the others, as well as interpreting different ideas differently from others.
It is estimated by Dr. Frances that a child with autism spectrum disorder costs the taxpayer about $10 million for his entire life. The same could be said for other special needs. Imagine what happens if society does not fund the child for ‘speech therapies’ and ‘play therapies’ that put him further from greatness to create value for society. There will be less waste of resources for national development, and there will be a higher well-being and worth for those people with special needs. This will drastically reduce the numbers of people on the dole and at the same time, a boost to the ‘special needs community’ and its overall level of happiness.
Current diagnosis of autism, AD/HD and even dyslexia do not account for different people’s natural inclinations. Some people are more inclined to do visual arts, others are more motivated to involve in sporting activities. Not all wants to involve in academia, or professions that involve too much writing or reading. In this way, people with special needs, once diagnosed, are now placed further away from their true callings.
There is also a possibly that some normal people who exhibit social behavior similar to those who have special needs, might be mistakenly diagnosed for having special needs. These people end up no better than their special needs counterparts, as they are often framed in the same mindset to act and behave like special needs people. One such example is the otaku culture that is gripping Japan, Taiwan and S. Korea. The anime director, Hideaki Anno, calls such behaviour as a form of "forced autism". The anti-social behaviour of such individuals such as the famous Otaku Killer set off a moral panic against innocent Japanese animation lovers as suggested by increased targeting of otaku by law enforcement as possible suspects for sex-related crimes.
This further contributes the spike of special needs population, furthering burden society with their loafing of societal resources. Hence, the extension of diagnosis of special needs to people who do not really medically fit diagnostic criteria may possibly strain the able special needs people’s ability to relate better and contribute to society. In addition, the spike in the special needs population may lead to an undeserved awareness for the group, which will not lead to acceptance of these people as full members of their society.
As an alternative for people who can contribute to our world, it is better to replace diagnoses they receive with more support for their gifts and talents. Giving them more leeway in order for them to pursue their interests in non-conformist interests that they can excel in will be better for them personally, as they experience increased levels of self-esteem. It will also be better for their communities, as they become their community’s source of pride. It will also contribute to the society’s overall happiness in having more talented people, adding colors and flavors for our world, to make it more interesting with different peaks of talents.
Only with better support for our current special needs population as a whole, will we be able to bring awareness of the special needs population with acceptance.
There had been increasing numbers of cases for autism, ADHD diagnosis in recent times.
In the 1950s, there used to be 1 in 10,000 children who have autism in the United States, as Dr. Lawrence Wilson noted.
Now, the rate is 1 in 110 children, as reported by Autism Speaks.
As noted in Baird G, Simonoff E, Pickles A et al, five-sixths of the people with autism spectrum disorder have either PDD-NOS, or Asperger’s Syndrome. Asian countries till this day are virgin territory in this regard. But with the rise of the affluence of China and the "Asian Tigers" like Singapore, HK, Taiwan, S.Korea, it is only a matter of years before more advanced diagnosis methods reach there. The ill effects of over-diagnosis will threaten their countries' social fabric.
There had been increasing awareness of learning disabilities or disorders. Indeed, autistic people who are mentally retarded fell, in correspondence to the rise in low-functioning, non-Asperger’s Syndrome or PDD-NOS population, as Professor Richardo Dolmetsch of Stanford University noted. And to the credit of worldwide healthcare systems, more appropriate help has been given to improve the lives of these people.
However, it fails to explain the problem seen in the higher-functioning autism population. Since the introduction of Autism in DSM-III in 1980 and the addition of Asperger’s Syndrome in DSM-IV in 1994, there had been a spike in the diagnosis of those people. In addition, a similar trend can be seen in AD/HD. In the UK, from National Health Service reports, an estimated 0.5 per 1,000 children had ADHD in the 1970s, while 3 per 1,000 received ADHD medications in the late 1990s. The numbers continue to spike.
The trends in the diagnosis of special needs are staggeringly abnormal. What could be the reason behind the increase in number of people with autism spectrum disorder, ADHD or more?
Societal attitudes could be one of the factors. Students in a highly competitive social culture like in some parts of Asia with overzealous parents or studying in standardized test score-centric schools have to endure treatment after treatment, to improve their schoolwork performance, and not the other areas that they are good or interested in, like the arts, sports and other areas. In addition, many societies have evolved into more conformist and social-centric society. If the child does not meet the society's or the parent's expectations or being that nail that sticks out, the common thought would be is "there's something wrong with my child."
Educational trends in UK, US and Australia move towards a more centralized standardized testing system, where students are graded and assessed based on their academic potential, which require them to fit the requirements of their papers in order to move on to their next levels. Meanwhile the social culture of many Asian countries mistakenly emphasize too much on paper qualifications more than the true caliber of their individuals, unleashing a merciless arms race between individuals from grade school to high school to universities; an bad attitude that permeate their education systems, leaving a bad impact their people's well being. Diagnosed individuals even up the bottom of the food chain in this battle.
Similar trends can also be seen in global spread of information. It used to be the case that different firms have different niches around the world. A high degree of latitude is given to different cultural behavior and characteristics around the world.
Presently though, best practices in firms cause a degree of uniformity in all people, in order to reach an attainment of best outcomes throughout the world. In this society, any outstanding behavior that do not more effectively promote one’s best interests is seen as ‘anti-social’, and hence, anyone exhibiting such anti-social behavior is seen as a ‘weirdo’, and deserved to be alienated from the rest of society or in some cases, killed off indirectly. This includes socializing with other people in a different way from others, writing and reading in a different manner as compared to the others, as well as interpreting different ideas differently from others.
It is estimated by Dr. Frances that a child with autism spectrum disorder costs the taxpayer about $10 million for his entire life. The same could be said for other special needs. Imagine what happens if society does not fund the child for ‘speech therapies’ and ‘play therapies’ that put him further from greatness to create value for society. There will be less waste of resources for national development, and there will be a higher well-being and worth for those people with special needs. This will drastically reduce the numbers of people on the dole and at the same time, a boost to the ‘special needs community’ and its overall level of happiness.
Current diagnosis of autism, AD/HD and even dyslexia do not account for different people’s natural inclinations. Some people are more inclined to do visual arts, others are more motivated to involve in sporting activities. Not all wants to involve in academia, or professions that involve too much writing or reading. In this way, people with special needs, once diagnosed, are now placed further away from their true callings.
There is also a possibly that some normal people who exhibit social behavior similar to those who have special needs, might be mistakenly diagnosed for having special needs. These people end up no better than their special needs counterparts, as they are often framed in the same mindset to act and behave like special needs people. One such example is the otaku culture that is gripping Japan, Taiwan and S. Korea. The anime director, Hideaki Anno, calls such behaviour as a form of "forced autism". The anti-social behaviour of such individuals such as the famous Otaku Killer set off a moral panic against innocent Japanese animation lovers as suggested by increased targeting of otaku by law enforcement as possible suspects for sex-related crimes.
This further contributes the spike of special needs population, furthering burden society with their loafing of societal resources. Hence, the extension of diagnosis of special needs to people who do not really medically fit diagnostic criteria may possibly strain the able special needs people’s ability to relate better and contribute to society. In addition, the spike in the special needs population may lead to an undeserved awareness for the group, which will not lead to acceptance of these people as full members of their society.
As an alternative for people who can contribute to our world, it is better to replace diagnoses they receive with more support for their gifts and talents. Giving them more leeway in order for them to pursue their interests in non-conformist interests that they can excel in will be better for them personally, as they experience increased levels of self-esteem. It will also be better for their communities, as they become their community’s source of pride. It will also contribute to the society’s overall happiness in having more talented people, adding colors and flavors for our world, to make it more interesting with different peaks of talents.
Only with better support for our current special needs population as a whole, will we be able to bring awareness of the special needs population with acceptance.
Tuesday 15 May 2012
Thoughts on Eduardo Saverin quitting the States
So a Facebook Co-founder gave up his citizenship just to avoid taxes, and he already got his Singapore Permanent Residency.
I was wondering why many Singaporeans want to move to the States permanently. It's a great country to live for a few years, but possibly not a good country to settle permanently. The United States of America is possibly the only country that taxes its citizen no matter where they reside.
If you seek a pleasant country to live with a more flexible tax system, where you can get a citizenship of a country and earn money from another with the least tax burden, look around you - perhaps Australia, Britain or Canada would be better than the United States for that purpose. They do not charge tax from their citizens if they earn their keeps outside their countries, and they provide services for the disadvantaged citizens equal to, or better than, America's current level of provision of such services.
I was wondering why many Singaporeans want to move to the States permanently. It's a great country to live for a few years, but possibly not a good country to settle permanently. The United States of America is possibly the only country that taxes its citizen no matter where they reside.
If you seek a pleasant country to live with a more flexible tax system, where you can get a citizenship of a country and earn money from another with the least tax burden, look around you - perhaps Australia, Britain or Canada would be better than the United States for that purpose. They do not charge tax from their citizens if they earn their keeps outside their countries, and they provide services for the disadvantaged citizens equal to, or better than, America's current level of provision of such services.
What can Singapore learn from America
I think Singapore should further I capitalise on her current opportunities.
She should learn from the successes of other countries, and apply them to Singapore.
One notable example would be the United States, despite she being a much larger and more populous country than Singapore. But it's still quite useful to have some strengths similar to the United States, which is indeed the dream country for millions of people worldwide - a large, stable and wealthy empire that has a healthy democratic system with strong individual liberty. This is done, through the continual provision of opportunity to all deserving people who are in America's borders.
What makes America successful then is that it is able to allow masses of Americans have the opportunities to move up the social ladder, through either college that are reasonably affordable and of good quality, or good local support for businesses that are formed by ambitious people that come from all corners of the earth.
What I dislike about America now, despite its part strengths, is that the less fortunate Americans get left behind and are trapped in perpetual poverty across generations. And that the ablest of the Americans do actually flee America. America has lost the ability to innovate and improve its own standings. This is bad for the world, given that we need a strong positive force for a more prosperous, peaceful world.
So given the chance, I hope Singapore can re-examine its governance, to learn from the best and the worst of the United States - and other advanced country. They shouldn't debate whether they should turn liberal, conservative or libertarian. They should focus to move their country, and the world, forward. Together.
She should learn from the successes of other countries, and apply them to Singapore.
One notable example would be the United States, despite she being a much larger and more populous country than Singapore. But it's still quite useful to have some strengths similar to the United States, which is indeed the dream country for millions of people worldwide - a large, stable and wealthy empire that has a healthy democratic system with strong individual liberty. This is done, through the continual provision of opportunity to all deserving people who are in America's borders.
What makes America successful then is that it is able to allow masses of Americans have the opportunities to move up the social ladder, through either college that are reasonably affordable and of good quality, or good local support for businesses that are formed by ambitious people that come from all corners of the earth.
What I dislike about America now, despite its part strengths, is that the less fortunate Americans get left behind and are trapped in perpetual poverty across generations. And that the ablest of the Americans do actually flee America. America has lost the ability to innovate and improve its own standings. This is bad for the world, given that we need a strong positive force for a more prosperous, peaceful world.
So given the chance, I hope Singapore can re-examine its governance, to learn from the best and the worst of the United States - and other advanced country. They shouldn't debate whether they should turn liberal, conservative or libertarian. They should focus to move their country, and the world, forward. Together.
US military in Asia
For many Asians, the prospect of US finally withdrawing troops from Japan, Korea , Singapore and the Philippines will finally bring peace to Asia, particularly East Asia.
So long as the military get to the true purpose of defending America's borders, the world will be at peace.
Has it wondered anybody why America doesn't approve Chen Guangcheng and Wang Lijun to seek asylum? Why America is losing the credibility to be the force of democracy and freedom throughout the world? They now simply do not afford to maintain a worldwide superpower with their debts - financially and militarily - now China is the only large power that might 'bail out' America, and this isn't real sovereignty.
I doubt, given current global situation, that this will happen any time soon. US will still stay in Korea - at a huge cost.
This only spells bad news for some people who really want to move to the US and work more, for the freedom and justice of the world, such as working for the betterment of people on the autism spectrum.
So long as the military get to the true purpose of defending America's borders, the world will be at peace.
Has it wondered anybody why America doesn't approve Chen Guangcheng and Wang Lijun to seek asylum? Why America is losing the credibility to be the force of democracy and freedom throughout the world? They now simply do not afford to maintain a worldwide superpower with their debts - financially and militarily - now China is the only large power that might 'bail out' America, and this isn't real sovereignty.
I doubt, given current global situation, that this will happen any time soon. US will still stay in Korea - at a huge cost.
This only spells bad news for some people who really want to move to the US and work more, for the freedom and justice of the world, such as working for the betterment of people on the autism spectrum.
Saturday 12 May 2012
Xenophobia and Asperger's in Singapore
I think every Aspie is screwed up equally.
Also, news is rife that someone in my estate disturbed others with his drum sounds. He is a Filipino/Pinoy with special needs.
I have mixed feelings.
Singaporeans are mostly screwed enough because over the past 30 years, people (including my mother and your parents) moved from other lands, and massively over-crowding Singapore, our land. We only have xenophobia now because while our economy did well, this only caused our low-paid brothers and sisters to be structurally unemployed, or grossly underpaid. With no welfare totally to keep them content, it can only be natural that xenophobia comes from these poor, helpless Singaporean citizens (i.e., for now, us).
So now, while we appear to discriminate against people from other countries, we know we Singaporeans cannot claim citizenship benefits from other countries - because a Singapore citizenship means we cannot have double citizenship. My lack of money, added with my less-than-desired proficiency in non-English languages, I really see myself being 'trapped' here.
All what we Singaporean citizens want is just a guaranteed job or welfare benefits, if we really can't have a job due to a permanent disability not fit enough for the Government (or GLC)'s needs. It is so simple. Yet ministers only want to enrich themselves rather than acting for our benefit. So the ministers, to save their faces, now just wants to set the bar higher for immigrants to come in, assuming we'll get their jobs. No use. They won't do what we really want.
Special needs just added one new complex dimension to our (Singaporean) issue with foreigners.
I believe I have told you the dilemma we have: I always have this concern that there could be adult autistic PRC, Indian or Philippines citizens in Singapore who need a listening here with other adult autistic, and even assuming they are willing to contribute to our community, we won't accept them. This is because we have 'troubles' having them due to the GLC first employing foreigners, which is what we see, then overworking locals - just not employing Special Needs people (both local and foreign) no matter what -
But shouldn't we really work together to defeat discrimination against diagnosis together? I thought special needs people in Singapore have this problem together, be they having special needs or not.
Also, news is rife that someone in my estate disturbed others with his drum sounds. He is a Filipino/Pinoy with special needs.
I have mixed feelings.
Singaporeans are mostly screwed enough because over the past 30 years, people (including my mother and your parents) moved from other lands, and massively over-crowding Singapore, our land. We only have xenophobia now because while our economy did well, this only caused our low-paid brothers and sisters to be structurally unemployed, or grossly underpaid. With no welfare totally to keep them content, it can only be natural that xenophobia comes from these poor, helpless Singaporean citizens (i.e., for now, us).
So now, while we appear to discriminate against people from other countries, we know we Singaporeans cannot claim citizenship benefits from other countries - because a Singapore citizenship means we cannot have double citizenship. My lack of money, added with my less-than-desired proficiency in non-English languages, I really see myself being 'trapped' here.
All what we Singaporean citizens want is just a guaranteed job or welfare benefits, if we really can't have a job due to a permanent disability not fit enough for the Government (or GLC)'s needs. It is so simple. Yet ministers only want to enrich themselves rather than acting for our benefit. So the ministers, to save their faces, now just wants to set the bar higher for immigrants to come in, assuming we'll get their jobs. No use. They won't do what we really want.
Special needs just added one new complex dimension to our (Singaporean) issue with foreigners.
I believe I have told you the dilemma we have: I always have this concern that there could be adult autistic PRC, Indian or Philippines citizens in Singapore who need a listening here with other adult autistic, and even assuming they are willing to contribute to our community, we won't accept them. This is because we have 'troubles' having them due to the GLC first employing foreigners, which is what we see, then overworking locals - just not employing Special Needs people (both local and foreign) no matter what -
But shouldn't we really work together to defeat discrimination against diagnosis together? I thought special needs people in Singapore have this problem together, be they having special needs or not.
The paradox of employment in an overly competitive society
We Aspies function best living alone with support but name me an Aspie with a real job that pays well, enough of the houses and "middle class living"/socially accepted lifestyles. I mean what the ??? Is socially accepted lifestyles to us, if it doesn't do us good
I'm more concerned with NEET aka not in employment, education or training. Why don't we go for these things? Because we're deprived of all these stuff due to our conditions/special needs?
Intuitively I can only hope for higher taxes first, then free therapy, healthcare and job-based training for us. Oh yes, add human rights provision that guarantees equal rights to us all, enforced
But I know society opposes to all these due to we being economically inactive, through not doing these things.
Now I got an idea. We work with shoulders and other willing partners for all of us not employed in a job for one movie/media project. We have to show we are employable together.
I'm more concerned with NEET aka not in employment, education or training. Why don't we go for these things? Because we're deprived of all these stuff due to our conditions/special needs?
Intuitively I can only hope for higher taxes first, then free therapy, healthcare and job-based training for us. Oh yes, add human rights provision that guarantees equal rights to us all, enforced
But I know society opposes to all these due to we being economically inactive, through not doing these things.
Now I got an idea. We work with shoulders and other willing partners for all of us not employed in a job for one movie/media project. We have to show we are employable together.
Reflections of Lanfang Republic and Asperger's
Some things in my mind:
1. A prominent person in Singapore was a descendant of a founder of a failed country in Southeast Asia, Lanfang Republic, which failed in 100 years after founding. It died due to conquest by the Dutch empire.
How do we expect Singapore to not follow the footsteps of the Lanfang Republic? Why the Chinese people just cannot thrive together as, well, Chinese?
And why United States, another immigrant nation, can last for 230+ years as an independent republic? (Even proud United Kingdom is nearing 'conquest' by an United Europe, and France was twice almost wholly conquered by Germany).
2. Do you think it is more important to be a natural Aspie who can't survive in our world, or to be a surviving Aspie who is near-NT but lost his Aspie links with the 'subconscious'/unexplainable uniqueness?
Aspies have our own problems. We are too often prosecuted and deprived of opportunities. But would an NT fare worse if they have the Aspies' 'makeup/constitution'?
NTs are so bland, they're easily replaced by others when they leave our world. And Aspies who are too like NTs will be vulnerable to replacement by other NTs, with nothing to offer to the world. Innate focus, talents that are different from the rest of the world, and value-adds... these are some things Aspies have within their minds. Yes, Aspies can survive if they're 99% NTs, but are you sure, with the survival of fittest and, being a 1% Aspie is enough? If we don't retain enough Aspieness that helps us perform better in whatever we do, will it restrict the Aspies' ability to value-add our world?
We can't replicate another Aspie - and his possible contributions to our world.
1. A prominent person in Singapore was a descendant of a founder of a failed country in Southeast Asia, Lanfang Republic, which failed in 100 years after founding. It died due to conquest by the Dutch empire.
How do we expect Singapore to not follow the footsteps of the Lanfang Republic? Why the Chinese people just cannot thrive together as, well, Chinese?
And why United States, another immigrant nation, can last for 230+ years as an independent republic? (Even proud United Kingdom is nearing 'conquest' by an United Europe, and France was twice almost wholly conquered by Germany).
2. Do you think it is more important to be a natural Aspie who can't survive in our world, or to be a surviving Aspie who is near-NT but lost his Aspie links with the 'subconscious'/unexplainable uniqueness?
Aspies have our own problems. We are too often prosecuted and deprived of opportunities. But would an NT fare worse if they have the Aspies' 'makeup/constitution'?
NTs are so bland, they're easily replaced by others when they leave our world. And Aspies who are too like NTs will be vulnerable to replacement by other NTs, with nothing to offer to the world. Innate focus, talents that are different from the rest of the world, and value-adds... these are some things Aspies have within their minds. Yes, Aspies can survive if they're 99% NTs, but are you sure, with the survival of fittest and, being a 1% Aspie is enough? If we don't retain enough Aspieness that helps us perform better in whatever we do, will it restrict the Aspies' ability to value-add our world?
We can't replicate another Aspie - and his possible contributions to our world.
What can we learn from the fall of Bo Xilai
I feel that there had been internal conflicts, between Shanghai-and-Beijing-based conservatives (often sons of pioneer generals such as Xi Jinping and Bo Xilai, or people close to 'big bankers', known as the Shanghai Clique) and comparatively liberal grassroots leaders in China (e.g. Hu Jintao, Wen Jiabao, Li Keqiang and Wang Yang).
Xi Jinping is to be the leader in China, later this year. Li Keqiang is about to be made Xi's assistant. However, there is tussle to be the Number 3 most powerful person in China - the 'head of Internal Security'. Bo, the former head of Chongqing, is tussling with his predecessor, Wang -
First, one of Bo's assistant gets prosecuted by Bo, and he's now in remand by the Beijing authorities for trying to seek asylum in the States. Then, Wang tries to launch an 'anti-corruption campaign' to show Bo, noted for his previous anti-corruption campaigns in the past, who's better. Next, Bo is suspended from his posts. Now Wang is expected to be in line for the coverted leadership position...
I mention all these, because I realise that -
Many people just want a powerful post to achieve some aim. To... be the powerful spokesperson for my 'people' - the autism community in Singapore? For what? Self-enrichment? Self-improvement? Or for the good of the group?
They stand between 2 powerful factions in Singapore, regardless of special needs:
1. Those who are into big money (aka Big Bankers)
2. Those who share the Ground's sentiments
I think this is a very dangerous divide.
Most Aspies are in Group 2, but it is clear that there could be only one leader in Group 2.
But I also understand that Group 1 is more likely to earn the trust of Big Bankers and hence, the current Government.
Xi Jinping is to be the leader in China, later this year. Li Keqiang is about to be made Xi's assistant. However, there is tussle to be the Number 3 most powerful person in China - the 'head of Internal Security'. Bo, the former head of Chongqing, is tussling with his predecessor, Wang -
First, one of Bo's assistant gets prosecuted by Bo, and he's now in remand by the Beijing authorities for trying to seek asylum in the States. Then, Wang tries to launch an 'anti-corruption campaign' to show Bo, noted for his previous anti-corruption campaigns in the past, who's better. Next, Bo is suspended from his posts. Now Wang is expected to be in line for the coverted leadership position...
I mention all these, because I realise that -
Many people just want a powerful post to achieve some aim. To... be the powerful spokesperson for my 'people' - the autism community in Singapore? For what? Self-enrichment? Self-improvement? Or for the good of the group?
They stand between 2 powerful factions in Singapore, regardless of special needs:
1. Those who are into big money (aka Big Bankers)
2. Those who share the Ground's sentiments
I think this is a very dangerous divide.
Most Aspies are in Group 2, but it is clear that there could be only one leader in Group 2.
But I also understand that Group 1 is more likely to earn the trust of Big Bankers and hence, the current Government.
6 questions for the JC PDSN community
1. Do you think people outside the JCs/Unis think different from those in ITE?
2. Do you think people in JC/Unis should work for the good for those not in JC/Unis?
3. What do you think of the different functioning levels of Asperger's Syndrome, dyslexia, or whatsoever special needs, that we see in Singaporeans?
4. How do we make Singaporeans more competitive?
5. How do we give disadvantaged Singaporeans a hand to guide them, to live a life with dignity and pride?
Maybe other important considerations, too?
6. What is most important to special needs people:
Social status as 'equals'?
Money?
2. Do you think people in JC/Unis should work for the good for those not in JC/Unis?
3. What do you think of the different functioning levels of Asperger's Syndrome, dyslexia, or whatsoever special needs, that we see in Singaporeans?
4. How do we make Singaporeans more competitive?
5. How do we give disadvantaged Singaporeans a hand to guide them, to live a life with dignity and pride?
Maybe other important considerations, too?
6. What is most important to special needs people:
Social status as 'equals'?
Money?
The importance of one single group as the group for Singaporean Aspies
The importance of one single group as the group for Singaporean Aspies
Singaporean Aspies are at crossroads.
Given the current economic and political turmoil around the world, inevitably, the chaos may stand to disrupt Singapore society. As we are a resource-poor country, we do not have the resources to have either the farm (and hence, food), or minerals/industrial goods, to give us the money to feed our stomachs. We have nothing. This means, unlike other autism support groups working in other countries, we deal with survival issues in our country.
Aspies, with social skill deficits as defined by psychiatric and medical texts, are less able than other people (Neurotypicals/NTs) to clear a way out, as many of us may not feel comfortable receiving the support of the people in the wider NT society. Aspies have the common issues of adapting to society’s norms, due to them ‘living in their own world’. This will lower our chances of survival in this volatile world.
There should be only one support group that can support Singaporean Aspies, in their bid to survive.
That group can claim this, because there are two components of survival of Aspies in our society: ability and acceptance.
Ability is the capability of an Aspie to fulfill a societal role. An Aspie can be talented. S/he can draw, sing, model art pieces, write or solve mathematical and philosophical issues. It is assumed that for any support group catering for Aspies, there are places where Aspies can act and think critically.
Acceptance, on the other hand, is society’s wider feeling to give access to opportunities for Aspies, to fulfill their societal tasks well. It is also assumed that Aspie support groups try to reach this acceptance state. This is achieved through giving a social resource for Aspies and attempt to give a sense of fulfillment in the Aspies’ life, through mutual support.
It is also implied that with ability, there comes a higher probability of acceptance. However, there is a small chance that autism may lower the probability of acceptance, because of current ignorance, increasing competitiveness amongst people, or a stronger need to be with people due to increasing interactivity between people, in our inter-connected world. Aspies may not be able to take advantage of opportunities from increasing interactivity, due to their limited social capacity as compared to other NTs. Aspies may also stand to be threatened by their inability to handle intensive and frequent social interactions, in that their functioning and ability could stand to be limited, as they try to socialize like a near-natural NT.
Due to this disconnect between acceptance and ability, there is a great need to have a strong focus of Aspies. A strong action plan has to be taken, to better enable us to survive.
So far, in Singapore, there is only critical mass for just one group, that can bridge acceptance to all able Aspies here. Given Singapore’s limited population base and our group’s openness to constructive suggestions, in our opinion, we see no other way, given current conditions, to promote ability, and in turn, acceptance, other than first acceptance for what we Aspies are, than to work together in our group to promote acceptance within our group. It aims to be the social resource for all Aspies who come in, building our Aspie and special needs community, provide valuable resources for our group.
Eventually, change society with the legitimacy and credibility, earned by our ability to overcome our Asperger’s conditions together.
11 May 2012
Orange
Saturday 5 May 2012
Asians, ASD and Achievement - on WrongPlanet
Asians, ASD and Achievement
14 November 2010
Asians are defined as people from East Asian (Chinese, Japanese and Korean), South Asian (people from the Indian subcontinent), and Southeast Asian (the current ASEAN) origin. Asians have been rather successful. The Asian economies are currently seen as the bright sparks of the global economy. South Korea and Japan are currently OECD members, whereas India and China have rapidly growing economies relatively unaffected by the global credit crisis crunch. For ASEAN, we also experienced economic growth, spurred by a growth of trade with other Asian partners. Our future in Asia had never been brighter.
To examine the successes of the Asian economy, we can look into individual economies for comparisons. The growth of Asia could be attributed to the high level of emphasis towards optimizing conditions towards economic growth, throughout the country. This had been particularly in the case in some Asian economies such as Hong Kong and Singapore, as we need to find the prime examples of Asian success through its most exceptional cases. Both are ranked in the top 10 for the list of countries, in terms of GDP (PPP) by capita. Both economies are the prime cases of growth maximization. Both have free economies, both have well-developed infrastructure such as airports, seaports and excellent roads, but both are subject to a high degree of governmental intervention and guidance. Especially in the case of Singapore, the government indirectly or directly controls half of Singapore’s wealth.
As for the intangibles of the economy, it cannot be objectively examined in the Asian people, as Asia indeed works on a different system from the West. To look for objective data, I examined at the successes of Asians in other countries.
Asian Americans as a whole has the highest educational attainment and median household income than the other ethnicities in the United States, for example, including the Americans with Caucasian or European descent. More than one-fourth of Asian Americans earned incomes above US$100,000. As for Asians living in other countries, they also contributed to their host countries in their various ways. It is noted that Asian enclaves include London, Vancouver and Sydney, which happen to be the economic powers in their respective countries (United Kingdom, Canada and Australia).
Asians have achieved great success. However, such success has come at great cost. In the most extreme case of competition, we can look at the case of America, where Asians are exposed to the most competition without the benefit of mateships (Australia) or welfare systems that equalizes individuals (Scandinavian countries).
From the Wikipedia article on Asian Americans, as a member of this forum quoted from, on how Asians achieved success, and of which implicitly account for the Asians’ problems in America, other similarly competitive countries and maybe the world:
Some Asians justify and defend their overly competitive nature and emphasis on prestigious universities and professional jobs on the belief that due to the existence of white privilege, Asians (as a minority) must overcompensate in order to attain equal to or higher status than whites. East Asians also point out that due to the bamboo ceiling, Asians need to earn more impressive credentials in order to get managerial positions with higher pay and higher responsibilities. For example, a white person may need to only earn a bachelor's degree from a mediocre state university in order to get a six figure managerial position; for the Asian, he likely needs to earn a degree from an Ivy League school. The higher expectations placed on East Asians as a result of the model minority stereotype carries over from academics to the workplace.
As a result, Asians tend to do well in places where meritocracy is carried out in full form. The current knowledge-based economies tend to reward highly educated and highly competent workers. Hence, with increasing incidences of companies looking at competencies in careers to aggressively pursue new economic models, Asians tend to benefit. Now, Asia is host to most of our world’s economic growth, as well as investment and other economic opportunities.
Speaking of which, this reminds me of the plight of autistics, in Asia, the West and other places.
In the West, autistics (including those with Asperger’s Syndrome) have been known to achieve great successes in different fields. We see autistics excelling in different fields, like sports (Clay Marzo), agriculture (Temple Grandin), linguistics (Daniel Tammet), economics (Vernon Smith) and so on.
But the social conditions in Asia are unfavorable for autistics that reveal their conditions.
Asian countries, excluding Japan, have no extensive welfare systems. Asia also does not have extensive human rights for people with disabilities, as there is little need for them. Asians prefer economic growth over equality, as seen in the case of strong one-party or military-based rule that carries out economic reform and liberalization, with no reforms in the political system, as prevalent in China, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore.
Circumstances are hard for the autistic individual living in Asia to achieve his or her best, because of the poor level of understanding of autism throughout Asia, relative to the West. In addition, the intense competition amongst the billions of Asians will seem to be detrimental to the individual upbringing and achievement to each Asian.
Some Asian autistics might have the tendency to be overly competitive. To stand out, Asians usually not only work hard to work hard on their own side, they have to also work hard to follow the wishes of their colleagues and superiors. The Chinese term it as ‘guanxi’, India also has its extensive social system that we know as ‘caste’ that brings about adherence and extensive internal guidelines that one has to follow. Such intense competition, from the long-standing social systems, could hurt them. Those abilities these autistics could have used to work to improve on their skills are now channeled to deal with competition with other individuals. Some even work on prestige and fame, which are by themselves hollow concepts given that they are not intrinsically beneficial for the autistic individual, who is deemed to have troubles working with other individuals socially, let alone maintain such relationships at a ‘high’ level with a lot more expectations and requirements by the other individuals! What a pity, what a waste! So most of those Asian autistics fail in this social aspect, to bring out to the best of their abilities and be recognized for what they are doing.
Except for perhaps Satoshi Taijiri (the creator of Pokémon), Hikari Oe (musician) and Thristan Mendoza (Filipino percussionist), there had not been autistics in Asia who create a huge impact on society. Even that, it appears to me that Philippines and Japan are two of the most westernized nations in Asia, followed by Singapore.
I have high hopes for Singapore. As I tried to imply earlier, the West tends to celebrate individual achievements. It’s not as if autistics cannot function in the East – it just happens that the best autistic individuals in the East are ‘screwed’ by the intense competition – it’s just that as our society adapts more and more elements from the West, we have to reconsider our position. We have to try to adapt to the new situation. As we celebrate more and more individualism in our people, we will see the situation that to stand out, one just needs to be distinctive and do his best, so that he (or she) will get the most out of his life.
Actually it’s not in the case of Singapore, I feel that individualism will spread throughout Asia together with globalization. It will be eventually useful for all Asian autistics to adapt to that, and be the best they can be.
In the very end, I hope all autistics here can challenge the norms and to find their individual talents and gifts, to adapt to the new changes, new societal trends and new challenges to work towards our own individual bests.
14 November 2010
Asians are defined as people from East Asian (Chinese, Japanese and Korean), South Asian (people from the Indian subcontinent), and Southeast Asian (the current ASEAN) origin. Asians have been rather successful. The Asian economies are currently seen as the bright sparks of the global economy. South Korea and Japan are currently OECD members, whereas India and China have rapidly growing economies relatively unaffected by the global credit crisis crunch. For ASEAN, we also experienced economic growth, spurred by a growth of trade with other Asian partners. Our future in Asia had never been brighter.
To examine the successes of the Asian economy, we can look into individual economies for comparisons. The growth of Asia could be attributed to the high level of emphasis towards optimizing conditions towards economic growth, throughout the country. This had been particularly in the case in some Asian economies such as Hong Kong and Singapore, as we need to find the prime examples of Asian success through its most exceptional cases. Both are ranked in the top 10 for the list of countries, in terms of GDP (PPP) by capita. Both economies are the prime cases of growth maximization. Both have free economies, both have well-developed infrastructure such as airports, seaports and excellent roads, but both are subject to a high degree of governmental intervention and guidance. Especially in the case of Singapore, the government indirectly or directly controls half of Singapore’s wealth.
As for the intangibles of the economy, it cannot be objectively examined in the Asian people, as Asia indeed works on a different system from the West. To look for objective data, I examined at the successes of Asians in other countries.
Asian Americans as a whole has the highest educational attainment and median household income than the other ethnicities in the United States, for example, including the Americans with Caucasian or European descent. More than one-fourth of Asian Americans earned incomes above US$100,000. As for Asians living in other countries, they also contributed to their host countries in their various ways. It is noted that Asian enclaves include London, Vancouver and Sydney, which happen to be the economic powers in their respective countries (United Kingdom, Canada and Australia).
Asians have achieved great success. However, such success has come at great cost. In the most extreme case of competition, we can look at the case of America, where Asians are exposed to the most competition without the benefit of mateships (Australia) or welfare systems that equalizes individuals (Scandinavian countries).
From the Wikipedia article on Asian Americans, as a member of this forum quoted from, on how Asians achieved success, and of which implicitly account for the Asians’ problems in America, other similarly competitive countries and maybe the world:
Some Asians justify and defend their overly competitive nature and emphasis on prestigious universities and professional jobs on the belief that due to the existence of white privilege, Asians (as a minority) must overcompensate in order to attain equal to or higher status than whites. East Asians also point out that due to the bamboo ceiling, Asians need to earn more impressive credentials in order to get managerial positions with higher pay and higher responsibilities. For example, a white person may need to only earn a bachelor's degree from a mediocre state university in order to get a six figure managerial position; for the Asian, he likely needs to earn a degree from an Ivy League school. The higher expectations placed on East Asians as a result of the model minority stereotype carries over from academics to the workplace.
As a result, Asians tend to do well in places where meritocracy is carried out in full form. The current knowledge-based economies tend to reward highly educated and highly competent workers. Hence, with increasing incidences of companies looking at competencies in careers to aggressively pursue new economic models, Asians tend to benefit. Now, Asia is host to most of our world’s economic growth, as well as investment and other economic opportunities.
Speaking of which, this reminds me of the plight of autistics, in Asia, the West and other places.
In the West, autistics (including those with Asperger’s Syndrome) have been known to achieve great successes in different fields. We see autistics excelling in different fields, like sports (Clay Marzo), agriculture (Temple Grandin), linguistics (Daniel Tammet), economics (Vernon Smith) and so on.
But the social conditions in Asia are unfavorable for autistics that reveal their conditions.
Asian countries, excluding Japan, have no extensive welfare systems. Asia also does not have extensive human rights for people with disabilities, as there is little need for them. Asians prefer economic growth over equality, as seen in the case of strong one-party or military-based rule that carries out economic reform and liberalization, with no reforms in the political system, as prevalent in China, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore.
Circumstances are hard for the autistic individual living in Asia to achieve his or her best, because of the poor level of understanding of autism throughout Asia, relative to the West. In addition, the intense competition amongst the billions of Asians will seem to be detrimental to the individual upbringing and achievement to each Asian.
Some Asian autistics might have the tendency to be overly competitive. To stand out, Asians usually not only work hard to work hard on their own side, they have to also work hard to follow the wishes of their colleagues and superiors. The Chinese term it as ‘guanxi’, India also has its extensive social system that we know as ‘caste’ that brings about adherence and extensive internal guidelines that one has to follow. Such intense competition, from the long-standing social systems, could hurt them. Those abilities these autistics could have used to work to improve on their skills are now channeled to deal with competition with other individuals. Some even work on prestige and fame, which are by themselves hollow concepts given that they are not intrinsically beneficial for the autistic individual, who is deemed to have troubles working with other individuals socially, let alone maintain such relationships at a ‘high’ level with a lot more expectations and requirements by the other individuals! What a pity, what a waste! So most of those Asian autistics fail in this social aspect, to bring out to the best of their abilities and be recognized for what they are doing.
Except for perhaps Satoshi Taijiri (the creator of Pokémon), Hikari Oe (musician) and Thristan Mendoza (Filipino percussionist), there had not been autistics in Asia who create a huge impact on society. Even that, it appears to me that Philippines and Japan are two of the most westernized nations in Asia, followed by Singapore.
I have high hopes for Singapore. As I tried to imply earlier, the West tends to celebrate individual achievements. It’s not as if autistics cannot function in the East – it just happens that the best autistic individuals in the East are ‘screwed’ by the intense competition – it’s just that as our society adapts more and more elements from the West, we have to reconsider our position. We have to try to adapt to the new situation. As we celebrate more and more individualism in our people, we will see the situation that to stand out, one just needs to be distinctive and do his best, so that he (or she) will get the most out of his life.
Actually it’s not in the case of Singapore, I feel that individualism will spread throughout Asia together with globalization. It will be eventually useful for all Asian autistics to adapt to that, and be the best they can be.
In the very end, I hope all autistics here can challenge the norms and to find their individual talents and gifts, to adapt to the new changes, new societal trends and new challenges to work towards our own individual bests.
Like Hell on Earth - by Aaron Kok
It's a hard life being a Singaporean and autistic at the same time. We have to live through a lifetime of disappointments, pain and discrimination.
Our parents do not have the money, the time, or the know-how to give us a full and comprehensive treatment that could maximize our potential. We have to go through speech, play, exercise, and whatever therapy, just for a silver lining of hope.
But hope? In what way is there hope?
I only know that our parents’ hope of an early, well-deserved retirement is gone – because they’ll most probably have to work harder and much longer, to take care of us even if we are high functioning (which I am). Some parents even divorce as a result.
In school, we suffered greatly. We do not have the social skills to get around attacks: verbal, physical or mental. Bullies see us as the lower species, judging our intelligence from our behavior, which we have no control over. This is made worse by the media who portray autistics as people who will never be on par with normal people.
We autistics eventually develop low self-esteem, or a “me against the world” attitude. Unfortunately, the anti-bullying campaign started very late. But even now, some schools do not implement it.
Hearing stories from other autistics, I say the anti-bullying program was a failure. Thus Singapore has several generations of kids who will grow up into teenagers and adults and end up in jail or the Institute of Mental Health. Some of these are not even autistic!
I still wonder why did some rich people sent their autistic children to an international school that normal Singaporean can never attend. It’s simply not fair that he goes to some international school where they have facilities to accommodate autistics, while we suffer so much in the mainstream counterparts.
He claims that our mainstream school cannot facilitate his son’s education. Then he, as leader of the country, should implement change in the mainstream education system to accommodate both his son and us! I say it’s only fair that all of us autistics should be allowed a part in the mainstream life.
School was living hell for us. They instituted compulsory co-curricular activities which we are neither interested nor up to the task. There should be a more choices for all, normal and autistics.
Autistics can contribute to society by doing what they are talented in, from art and science to even obscure interests like stamps or chess. (Very few schools outside the elite schools have such CCAs.) So our teachers hammer us, trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.
The system forces Singaporean students, autistic or not, to do Project Work at both polytechnics and Junior Colleges. This is where we are victims of political maneuvering. They gang up on their autistic classmates to take credit for their hard work and to falsify their peer appraisals against us.
Despite their disability, autistics are hardworking and dedicated in their work. It’s not fair for our classmates to do this.
For males, life is worse. All of us are subjected to two years of brainwashing and physical torture; National Service. I bring the reader’s attention to male autistic Singaporeans because males constitute three quarters of the autistic population globally.
I am lucky to have survived NS with the help of supportive superiors. But lots of autistics are not that lucky. They are bullied, harassed, and even beaten up while traveling home. To think the perpetrators are grown men, who behave like school children who don’t grow up. One autistic, who also survived NS like me, even told me that there are many gang members in the SAF. All these are telling signs that NS is not for us autistics, definitely.
Our society does not allow flexibility in autistics serving our country. Hence, there is a tendency that some autistics may not be able to withstand the rigors of NS. They either serve NS dutifully, whilst suffering in the process, or be exempted, or even expelled like a few of my friends.
When one is expelled or exempted from NS, he will be at a disadvantage. Society discriminates against people who do not serve NS, labeling them ‘chao keng’ or ‘wuss’. These derogatory remarks do not serve any purpose, other than showing society’s ignorance and nonchalance towards the challenges we autistics have to face, day in and day out.
Our employment situation is dire. I do not have objective statistics myself, but to my own estimates, no autistic I know is gainfully employed in a job that makes full use of his or her capabilities to the fullest.
We are mostly either stuck in dead-end jobs, or are not promoted to positions at the same pace neurotypicals, or non-autistics. One autistic (whom requested not to be named or identified) told me that he is in his line of job for nine years, and yet there’s no prospects of further training or career advancement. As such, he is in despair.
I believe other adult Singaporean autistics, who have the ability to work, also feels the same.
In addition, the civil service has no clear public indication that autistics like me, even with their sub-par social skills, have a place to contribute to them. (Given that 60% of Singapore's economy is controlled by the Government - ) Where can we find our jobs?
Our society has to be more gracious and more sympathetic not only autistics but to those with disabilities. Until then, I have put in motion plans to leave this tiny island that some call home.
But I call it Hell on Earth.
Our parents do not have the money, the time, or the know-how to give us a full and comprehensive treatment that could maximize our potential. We have to go through speech, play, exercise, and whatever therapy, just for a silver lining of hope.
But hope? In what way is there hope?
I only know that our parents’ hope of an early, well-deserved retirement is gone – because they’ll most probably have to work harder and much longer, to take care of us even if we are high functioning (which I am). Some parents even divorce as a result.
In school, we suffered greatly. We do not have the social skills to get around attacks: verbal, physical or mental. Bullies see us as the lower species, judging our intelligence from our behavior, which we have no control over. This is made worse by the media who portray autistics as people who will never be on par with normal people.
We autistics eventually develop low self-esteem, or a “me against the world” attitude. Unfortunately, the anti-bullying campaign started very late. But even now, some schools do not implement it.
Hearing stories from other autistics, I say the anti-bullying program was a failure. Thus Singapore has several generations of kids who will grow up into teenagers and adults and end up in jail or the Institute of Mental Health. Some of these are not even autistic!
I still wonder why did some rich people sent their autistic children to an international school that normal Singaporean can never attend. It’s simply not fair that he goes to some international school where they have facilities to accommodate autistics, while we suffer so much in the mainstream counterparts.
He claims that our mainstream school cannot facilitate his son’s education. Then he, as leader of the country, should implement change in the mainstream education system to accommodate both his son and us! I say it’s only fair that all of us autistics should be allowed a part in the mainstream life.
School was living hell for us. They instituted compulsory co-curricular activities which we are neither interested nor up to the task. There should be a more choices for all, normal and autistics.
Autistics can contribute to society by doing what they are talented in, from art and science to even obscure interests like stamps or chess. (Very few schools outside the elite schools have such CCAs.) So our teachers hammer us, trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.
The system forces Singaporean students, autistic or not, to do Project Work at both polytechnics and Junior Colleges. This is where we are victims of political maneuvering. They gang up on their autistic classmates to take credit for their hard work and to falsify their peer appraisals against us.
Despite their disability, autistics are hardworking and dedicated in their work. It’s not fair for our classmates to do this.
For males, life is worse. All of us are subjected to two years of brainwashing and physical torture; National Service. I bring the reader’s attention to male autistic Singaporeans because males constitute three quarters of the autistic population globally.
I am lucky to have survived NS with the help of supportive superiors. But lots of autistics are not that lucky. They are bullied, harassed, and even beaten up while traveling home. To think the perpetrators are grown men, who behave like school children who don’t grow up. One autistic, who also survived NS like me, even told me that there are many gang members in the SAF. All these are telling signs that NS is not for us autistics, definitely.
Our society does not allow flexibility in autistics serving our country. Hence, there is a tendency that some autistics may not be able to withstand the rigors of NS. They either serve NS dutifully, whilst suffering in the process, or be exempted, or even expelled like a few of my friends.
When one is expelled or exempted from NS, he will be at a disadvantage. Society discriminates against people who do not serve NS, labeling them ‘chao keng’ or ‘wuss’. These derogatory remarks do not serve any purpose, other than showing society’s ignorance and nonchalance towards the challenges we autistics have to face, day in and day out.
Our employment situation is dire. I do not have objective statistics myself, but to my own estimates, no autistic I know is gainfully employed in a job that makes full use of his or her capabilities to the fullest.
We are mostly either stuck in dead-end jobs, or are not promoted to positions at the same pace neurotypicals, or non-autistics. One autistic (whom requested not to be named or identified) told me that he is in his line of job for nine years, and yet there’s no prospects of further training or career advancement. As such, he is in despair.
I believe other adult Singaporean autistics, who have the ability to work, also feels the same.
In addition, the civil service has no clear public indication that autistics like me, even with their sub-par social skills, have a place to contribute to them. (Given that 60% of Singapore's economy is controlled by the Government - ) Where can we find our jobs?
Our society has to be more gracious and more sympathetic not only autistics but to those with disabilities. Until then, I have put in motion plans to leave this tiny island that some call home.
But I call it Hell on Earth.
Autism Reality
This blog is about really speaking out for people with Autism, Asperger's Syndrome, AD/HD and related stuff that make one disadvantaged in today's society.
It's inspired by the groundbreaking work of two autism articles that I have the opportunity to edit, with the authors' permission:
Asians, ASD and Achievement
Like 'Hell on Earth'
It is aimed that Asian Aspies, and perhaps Aspies around the world in general, will take away some hope from this blog.
It's inspired by the groundbreaking work of two autism articles that I have the opportunity to edit, with the authors' permission:
Asians, ASD and Achievement
Like 'Hell on Earth'
It is aimed that Asian Aspies, and perhaps Aspies around the world in general, will take away some hope from this blog.
Autism: Really making a difference
http://iautistic.com/autism-making-a-difference.php
Eric, you may not understand these:
- Aspies don't owe others a living. Aspies need to be more able, if they need acceptance. But there are indeed able Aspies who just need more acceptance, for them to achieve and contribute to our world
.
- "asking the opposition parties to take up his cause or starting initiatives to help others with autism"
Who knows -
Aaron already knows about the pitfalls of politics (who knows, it may divide more than heal society, and note it’s written before the 2011 GE) or... that, perhaps, help other autistic people may be just to create conditions 'ripe' for him and his Aspie friends, to thrive in our world?
"it is even better if some people can come together to create a sustainable social enterprise"
Do you think, given that Aspies take up as many as 1 in 30, 40 people, that this is even possible? Too many people to be helped. Do you think social enterprises are enough to solve the issue of Aspie and Autie unemployment and dissatisfaction?
"One of the keys to success is to focus on something that we can do, instead of complaining about something we cannot do anything about"
There is little that Aspies can do without NS, group work or even, well, school. I believe in one part of your article, you did mention 'unless I have fantastic grades...' this ain't happening in Aspies! Yes, we have tuition, butit doesn't solve Aspies' issue of really doing something we don't like, for low
pay, and things that take Aspies away from their innate talents.
"1) Do autism advocacy work
2) Volunteer at an autism organization
3) Become an autism professional or work in a related occupation
I know Aspies who tried 1), 2) and 3). Nothing works. Aspies don't do anything much if they do 1), 2) or 3) - they may have all the certificates of merits or AAAs they want. But to organisations, people skills are now number one - I mean, people skills to 'follow instructions' and to 'meet organisational goals'. Name me any Aspie who can do this – it defeats the whole point of being Aspie in an
NT world eh?
4) Achieve success outside the autism community by focusing on one’spersonal development
Well, good luck. Ability will lead to acceptance. But do we even have the acceptance to
have people to be more able, to meet societal goals? Our choice is to overwork, over-stress and isolate Aspies from the rest of society. Now, this isn’t value-adding for our society. How about
you, Mr Chen? You yourself may have chosen to advocate for autism, but have you walked a step in others’ shoes, to see the tremendous amount of obstacles some Aspies have to make even if they try to develop personal development? More on that later…
“I did not list building our own autism organization as an option. Almost all the people with autism who suggest such an idea to me never follow through with their plans. Of those who do, they usually end up creating a small online forum that lasts for less than 2 years.”
I have to laugh at this. What a joke. I see that this idea is only natural and practical - you just don't want to listen to others and work a solution, as a team, for the whole autism community. We want both acceptance and assurance that as long as we do something, we will succeed (this being societal approval). What’s more, I have the intuition that such organisations fail because, precisely, people decide to discredit others rather than building the organisation. What a shame for you
and the Singapore autism community, they deserve better.
“I would also like to remind readers on the spectrum, that most of us have some degree of executive skills handicap. This means that we may not have the instincts to make good long term decisions; even our dreams and aspirations are still developing. The adage “follow your heart” may not be a good idea for us until we gain more worldly experience.”
My goodness – if you are the world leader in World of Warcrafts (which is something socially desirable, but still may not bring money), you don’t actually do anything else. Do you have the idea whether you’re the best in the world to do what you are doing? If you don’t, go do your day job instead of complaining that someone complains more than you.
“He sought to follow his dream to study urban planning at a prestigious university
in the USA.”
You may not know that ‘prestigious university in the USA’ is an oxymoron, unless it's Harvard and the likes. NUS' rankings are equal to some Ivy League universities. But it’s true that only Britain and the States offer urban planning. And Singapore doesn’t has urban planning, perhaps it’s a way to say, ‘I’d rather be a pauper in the United States rather than a 2nd class citizen in my homeland’.
“His family is well off but not wealthy. His parents have probably noted that urban planning is a specialized subject which is harder to find employment, and which require the social skills to network with a broad base of people such as politicians, residents and business operators.”
Who knows, they might even be poor!
That friend has the option of bankrupting himself, since special needs people, to my best of understanding, have shorter lifespans than others? Do you want to over-work to death, or do you prefer a long but sorrowful life?
“Reasoning that my friend is most suited to freelance employment, they told him to study
accounting at a low cost local university instead. Accountants are always in demand by businesses, and many of them work freelance. This is excellent for him, who could not hold down a day job. Accounting does not require much social skills, and he is more than capable of crunching the numbers or following the rigid rules of accounting.
However, accounting is a terribly boring subject to my friend. He resents not having the chance to follow his dreams overseas. I told him that the person who pays the bills has the right to decide how the money is spent; if he so desires, he can still earn the money to follow his dreams in the future. At
this moment, it is wiser to follow his parents’ plan until he becomes financially independent.
His parents did not explain their reasoning, but when I heard his story, I instinctively knew what his parents were thinking. I remembered my struggles with my mother, who insisted that I find a full-time day job instead of trying to make a career in autism advocacy. She went as far as to call my work
substandard and my efforts a waste of my youth. I thought that my mother was simply having a negative attitude and ignored her. Although I achieved far more than what my mother expected, her main argument remains valid. Unless I have powerful academic credentials, much wealth, or am
living in a large “Western” country supportive of artistic expression, there is simply no way for me to make a living out of autism work. In addition, the stresses of constantly not having enough resources and having to follow my sponsors’ every whim took a heavy psychological toll on me.
It is financially safer, and much less emotionally stressful, if I find a day job that I can tolerate and do autism work part-time. The real life experiences have provided me with valuable insights to enrich my work. I still plan to follow my big dream to bring Humanity to its next stage of development.”
Autism work is not something serious if you can’t have a full-time job. So does art, music, etc -
But because circumstances force us to, we can’t keep finding our job. The only certain jobs are related to the civil service. And as Aaron says, there is no certainty and no assurance that Aspies can be employed in the civil service, if they follow a certain protocol - they are better off hanging in the dry, even if they manage to survive all the schools they go to.
Also, Eric Chen may not know this - but Accounting has a high burnout rate. Half of all Accounting graduates in Nanyang Business School quit Accounting after 5 years. How's that.
Because creating acceptance, to the Aspies, is the day job, for them to survive, for them to
lead the life their talents would deserve had not they been autistic in some sort. Is autism a damned disability that means, Aspies cannot lead a meaningful life?
My suggestion is to both Aaron and Eric:
Is it true you really enjoy autism work?
Focus not on autism work, it has failed and it will fail.
I guess you’d been forced to advocate rather than do it.
Let professionals, trained in standing up for the disadvantaged, do the job.
Like maybe Chee Soon Juan, M Ravi or your Denise Phua?
Focus, instead, on the outcomes of what you can do.
If you seek an alternative world, go ahead, it had been done. In the past, Dissending Churches do form their own schools when top schools don’t accept their own adherents.
If you want to adapt, go ahead, it also had been done. In my opinion, you'd lost your Aspie/Autie soul while doing that.
Eric, you may not understand these:
- Aspies don't owe others a living. Aspies need to be more able, if they need acceptance. But there are indeed able Aspies who just need more acceptance, for them to achieve and contribute to our world
.
- "asking the opposition parties to take up his cause or starting initiatives to help others with autism"
Who knows -
Aaron already knows about the pitfalls of politics (who knows, it may divide more than heal society, and note it’s written before the 2011 GE) or... that, perhaps, help other autistic people may be just to create conditions 'ripe' for him and his Aspie friends, to thrive in our world?
"it is even better if some people can come together to create a sustainable social enterprise"
Do you think, given that Aspies take up as many as 1 in 30, 40 people, that this is even possible? Too many people to be helped. Do you think social enterprises are enough to solve the issue of Aspie and Autie unemployment and dissatisfaction?
"One of the keys to success is to focus on something that we can do, instead of complaining about something we cannot do anything about"
There is little that Aspies can do without NS, group work or even, well, school. I believe in one part of your article, you did mention 'unless I have fantastic grades...' this ain't happening in Aspies! Yes, we have tuition, butit doesn't solve Aspies' issue of really doing something we don't like, for low
pay, and things that take Aspies away from their innate talents.
"1) Do autism advocacy work
2) Volunteer at an autism organization
3) Become an autism professional or work in a related occupation
I know Aspies who tried 1), 2) and 3). Nothing works. Aspies don't do anything much if they do 1), 2) or 3) - they may have all the certificates of merits or AAAs they want. But to organisations, people skills are now number one - I mean, people skills to 'follow instructions' and to 'meet organisational goals'. Name me any Aspie who can do this – it defeats the whole point of being Aspie in an
NT world eh?
4) Achieve success outside the autism community by focusing on one’spersonal development
Well, good luck. Ability will lead to acceptance. But do we even have the acceptance to
have people to be more able, to meet societal goals? Our choice is to overwork, over-stress and isolate Aspies from the rest of society. Now, this isn’t value-adding for our society. How about
you, Mr Chen? You yourself may have chosen to advocate for autism, but have you walked a step in others’ shoes, to see the tremendous amount of obstacles some Aspies have to make even if they try to develop personal development? More on that later…
“I did not list building our own autism organization as an option. Almost all the people with autism who suggest such an idea to me never follow through with their plans. Of those who do, they usually end up creating a small online forum that lasts for less than 2 years.”
I have to laugh at this. What a joke. I see that this idea is only natural and practical - you just don't want to listen to others and work a solution, as a team, for the whole autism community. We want both acceptance and assurance that as long as we do something, we will succeed (this being societal approval). What’s more, I have the intuition that such organisations fail because, precisely, people decide to discredit others rather than building the organisation. What a shame for you
and the Singapore autism community, they deserve better.
“I would also like to remind readers on the spectrum, that most of us have some degree of executive skills handicap. This means that we may not have the instincts to make good long term decisions; even our dreams and aspirations are still developing. The adage “follow your heart” may not be a good idea for us until we gain more worldly experience.”
My goodness – if you are the world leader in World of Warcrafts (which is something socially desirable, but still may not bring money), you don’t actually do anything else. Do you have the idea whether you’re the best in the world to do what you are doing? If you don’t, go do your day job instead of complaining that someone complains more than you.
“He sought to follow his dream to study urban planning at a prestigious university
in the USA.”
You may not know that ‘prestigious university in the USA’ is an oxymoron, unless it's Harvard and the likes. NUS' rankings are equal to some Ivy League universities. But it’s true that only Britain and the States offer urban planning. And Singapore doesn’t has urban planning, perhaps it’s a way to say, ‘I’d rather be a pauper in the United States rather than a 2nd class citizen in my homeland’.
“His family is well off but not wealthy. His parents have probably noted that urban planning is a specialized subject which is harder to find employment, and which require the social skills to network with a broad base of people such as politicians, residents and business operators.”
Who knows, they might even be poor!
That friend has the option of bankrupting himself, since special needs people, to my best of understanding, have shorter lifespans than others? Do you want to over-work to death, or do you prefer a long but sorrowful life?
“Reasoning that my friend is most suited to freelance employment, they told him to study
accounting at a low cost local university instead. Accountants are always in demand by businesses, and many of them work freelance. This is excellent for him, who could not hold down a day job. Accounting does not require much social skills, and he is more than capable of crunching the numbers or following the rigid rules of accounting.
However, accounting is a terribly boring subject to my friend. He resents not having the chance to follow his dreams overseas. I told him that the person who pays the bills has the right to decide how the money is spent; if he so desires, he can still earn the money to follow his dreams in the future. At
this moment, it is wiser to follow his parents’ plan until he becomes financially independent.
His parents did not explain their reasoning, but when I heard his story, I instinctively knew what his parents were thinking. I remembered my struggles with my mother, who insisted that I find a full-time day job instead of trying to make a career in autism advocacy. She went as far as to call my work
substandard and my efforts a waste of my youth. I thought that my mother was simply having a negative attitude and ignored her. Although I achieved far more than what my mother expected, her main argument remains valid. Unless I have powerful academic credentials, much wealth, or am
living in a large “Western” country supportive of artistic expression, there is simply no way for me to make a living out of autism work. In addition, the stresses of constantly not having enough resources and having to follow my sponsors’ every whim took a heavy psychological toll on me.
It is financially safer, and much less emotionally stressful, if I find a day job that I can tolerate and do autism work part-time. The real life experiences have provided me with valuable insights to enrich my work. I still plan to follow my big dream to bring Humanity to its next stage of development.”
Autism work is not something serious if you can’t have a full-time job. So does art, music, etc -
But because circumstances force us to, we can’t keep finding our job. The only certain jobs are related to the civil service. And as Aaron says, there is no certainty and no assurance that Aspies can be employed in the civil service, if they follow a certain protocol - they are better off hanging in the dry, even if they manage to survive all the schools they go to.
Also, Eric Chen may not know this - but Accounting has a high burnout rate. Half of all Accounting graduates in Nanyang Business School quit Accounting after 5 years. How's that.
Because creating acceptance, to the Aspies, is the day job, for them to survive, for them to
lead the life their talents would deserve had not they been autistic in some sort. Is autism a damned disability that means, Aspies cannot lead a meaningful life?
My suggestion is to both Aaron and Eric:
Is it true you really enjoy autism work?
Focus not on autism work, it has failed and it will fail.
I guess you’d been forced to advocate rather than do it.
Let professionals, trained in standing up for the disadvantaged, do the job.
Like maybe Chee Soon Juan, M Ravi or your Denise Phua?
Focus, instead, on the outcomes of what you can do.
If you seek an alternative world, go ahead, it had been done. In the past, Dissending Churches do form their own schools when top schools don’t accept their own adherents.
If you want to adapt, go ahead, it also had been done. In my opinion, you'd lost your Aspie/Autie soul while doing that.
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