My Life With Autism

Written by Jason Shields of http://www.jasonshields.org/

Where have you been Jason?! This seems to be the question of the hour for me. The answer is simple: I have been improving myself! Six months ago, after an extensive battery of tests I was officially diagnosed with high functioning Autism or Asperger's Syndrome. It means that my brain functions and is wired differently than the majority of individuals. Too often, people think of persons with autism as isolationists, unable to communicate with the outside world. Autism is a spectrum disorder which means that there are many degrees ranging from the lower end, individuals who are nonfunctioning to high end, individuals who are aware of their differences. Thankfully, I fall into the higher functioning group.

My autistic mind is wired in such a way that I perceive tiny details that most other people often miss. Each day, I engage in an extreme form of an average, everyday activity: seeing. Humans rely heavily on their eyes to receive much of the information about the world around us. This is the reason why a significant portion of the human brain is devoted entirely to visual processing.

Conditions such as autism and savant syndrome remain poorly understood by most people, including many experts. It is not only savant minds that are considered somehow supernaturally gifted and therefore set apart from other people: the success of outstanding individuals in numerous fields, from Mozart and Einstein to Garry Kasparov and Bill Gates, has been attributed by many to minds they regard as unearthly and inexplicable. I think this view is not only erroneous but harmful, too, because it separates the achievements of talented individuals from their humanity.

Every brain is amazing. Anyone with the passion and dedication necessary to master a field or subject can succeed in it. Genius, in all its forms, is not due to any mere quirk of the brain; it is the result of far more chaotic, dynamic, and essentially human qualities such as perseverance, imagination, intuition, and even love. In essence, I have been learning about myself and how my brain actually works. The past six months have been and continue to be a major transformation of life, health and spirit. I have adopted a bodybuilding routine, took up swimming and am slowly incorporating an 80% raw vegan lifestyle. I have also decided to take up learning 3 foreign languages and am learning about how our brains process and store memory.

Life has been and continues to be more enlightening for myself as I learn more about Autism and the wonders of the mind. My primary mission in my life's work is to show that differently functioning minds such as mine are not so strange, and that anyone can learn from them. In my workshops on the mind, spirit and autism, I clear up many misconceptions about the nature of autistic minds and abilities and what it means to be intelligent and gifted. I am planning on a nationwide tour where the workshops/lectures will be free of charge! I have decided that when you allow the participants to decide what to give financially, God moves the hearts and minds to sheer generosity. We are all intelligent and extremely gifted.

So, this is what I have done with my summer. It is wonderful to be back writing again and working on my autobiography and helping others find peace and motivation in their lives. For more information regarding booking a workshop with “yours truly,” just send me an email at harboroflight@yahoo.com. In just a week, I will have a special page on my site which details all kinds of information regarding my workshop, outlines, etc.

God bless,

Jason