Autistic Artist

Gluten Redeux

I've been gluten-free for two months now and feeling much better than I have in my whole life.

The few times I've had digestive problems, during the past two months, was after going to restaurants where I cannot entirely control the preparation of my meals. Mostly, restaurants have not been a problem. Staff usually tries to accomodate me even though customer service varies greatly, even within a particular restaurant. And at few less expensive restaraunts, responsiveness doesn't even exist since the staff seems either not very bright, or apparently unconscious.

Problem Solving with Temple Grandin

Dr. Temple Grandin, designer of livestock handling facilities and a Professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University, gave two presentations yesterday, February 14, at Freeborn Hall at the University of California at Davis here in Northern California. Dr. Grandin's autistic directness made for very lively and and entertaining talks.

Dr. Grandin's presentations overlapped. She described her own history and experience with autism and how autism inspired her work (especially with animals). She also shared ideas and advice to help autistics. The well-attended presentations were sponsored by the MIND Institute.

Here are some of my impressions and reactions to the presentations. I'm sure I could make several long posts regarding many of Dr. Grandin's comments, but I'll keep to three relatively short points here.

Another Gluten-Free Goodie

Asian food is my favorite, with Japanese holding the top spot followed closely by Chinese. In fact, I was eating my favorite childhood dish of fried rice with sweet and sour sauce before I could hold my own spoon.

Unfortunately most Chinese and Japanese restaurants here in my city use soy sauce made with wheat in almost everything. The staff at my favorite local Chinese restaurant has tried very hard, and very graciously, to leave the soy sauce out of my favorite dishes. But somehow my problem with gluten seems to be lost in translation. The chefs leave out other stuff too, like the egg in the fried rice that I love. The food just isn't the same.

So, to get a head start on cooking my own Asian food again, and to make Asian gluten-free frozen meals more palatable, I had to find myself a wheat free soy sauce.

Meet the Challenge!

I belong to Barbara's mailing list and received her most recent email newsletter in which she issued us a challenge. Her challenge is to choose a project for 2007, "not something difficult or dreary but something enjoyable that you never seem to find time for, and work on it at least once each week. Then write about what you did that week on your new blog."

So I took her up on her challenge to train my own service dog! This new project has been fun, exciting and and achievable.

Welcome to Autistic Workplace Hell

One thing that the neurotypical world, including the so-called experts on autism, often fail to recognize is that most so-called "high functioning autistics," including those with Asperger's Syndrome, are profoundly stuggling.