AUTHOR: Redaspie DATE: Saturday, May 27, 2006 ----- BODY:

Unfortunately, I couldn't think of a better title for my first post, plus I tend to veer towards the pompous and pretentious sometimes (I like Emerson Lake and Palmer so sue me!). I'll start by first sally into the blogosphere by telling you a very small amount about myself, just so you know.

I am a graduate in political science, with first a standard degree and a PhD in International Relations, who was looking forward to a career as an international relations specialist. However, instead, like so many I have been forced to join the Great and Glorious International Proletariat and accept, for the time being, a bog-standard job in a call centre. I have discovered (maybe 'worked out') is a better term, that I have Aspergers Syndrome, a form of so-called 'high functioning' autism, and since then I have become increasingly interested in disability politics, and in particular what is known as the 'autism rights movement'.

I freely admit that I am a beginner in this whole area, and my knowledge so far gained has been via reading other people's blogs. Politically I am a revolutionary socialist, and a member of the Socialist Workers Party in Ireland, so my views on these issues are going to be strongly influenced by Marxist and similar analyses. I am in fact interested in developing an analysis of this type of the issues surrounding the autism rights movement and the whole concept of 'neurodiversity. However, at the moment I lack the specialist knowledge to do this, so one of the things I want to do with this blog is to put down some thoughts in that direction, see what comments others have, and hopefully go from there.

Apart from this, I am interested in a wide range of political issues, and try to remain up to speed with current affairs, so this blog will be commenting a lot on that kind of thing. And finally, I will be writing on occasions about Doctor Who, my favourite TV show (and has been since I was four). But don't think that's going to be light relief - oh no - you can find politics a plenty there to, and I hope that some of those who think that such things as a 'mere' sci-fi TV show are unworthy of expanding any serious political effort on would think again if they stumbled onto what I have to say on the subject.

Anyway, that's the scene set - hope that's enough to entice people to check back and read. And put some comments in the comments boxes! That way I won't feel alone....

-------- COMMENT-AUTHOR: Redaspie COMMENT-DATE:8:44 PM COMMENT-BODY:Really? Have we met? Been at any of the Party NC's over the last few years? -------- COMMENT-AUTHOR: Daniel Brett COMMENT-DATE:1:26 AM COMMENT-BODY:Nice one. Good luck with the blog.

I am also a Dr Who fan and have put the phone down on anyone who calls me during the show.

What is your opinion of "Mad Pride", which claims to represent those deemed to have psychiatric disorders by our omnipotent experts? -------- COMMENT-AUTHOR: Redaspie COMMENT-DATE:9:05 AM COMMENT-BODY:Duniya - there's an interesting article on this subject at Amanda Bagg's website at ballastexistenz.autistics.org. She argues that mental illness is a result of largely external factors, and that changing those factors are more likely to help than drugs or institutionalisation. Not being an expert on this I'm not going to definitively comment, but it does make sense. -------- COMMENT-AUTHOR: Redaspie COMMENT-DATE:7:50 PM COMMENT-BODY:I'm *very* bad with names so it's not much of a help, I'm afraid. -------- COMMENT-AUTHOR: Redaspie COMMENT-DATE:9:54 PM COMMENT-BODY:Is there a secure way of doing that? -------- COMMENT-AUTHOR: ballastexistenz COMMENT-DATE:11:39 AM COMMENT-BODY:Actually, what I've said is closer to that I don't believe in mental illness as a valid concept (but before that makes people go "but someone I know/but I have experienced...", read the post and comments to find out what I mean by that), than that I think that "it" (whatever "it" is) is caused by particularly external or internal factors. (I don't think "it" is even necessary wholly inside a particular person.) -------- COMMENT-AUTHOR: Redaspie COMMENT-DATE:1:38 PM COMMENT-BODY:Hi Amanda. I understood when I read your post that you were disputing the idea that mental illness has internal neurological causes. The problem with stating that mental illness is not a valid category is that it confuses the whole issue, thus leading to the kind of responses that you describe. It also creates the danger of reducing the whole thing to a semantic debate on how you define the term 'mental illness'. -------- COMMENT-AUTHOR: Redaspie COMMENT-DATE:3:06 PM COMMENT-BODY:I'm the bloke with the posh English accent and the glasses. I look like Harry Potter. (And I wanna kill J K Rowling) -------- COMMENT-AUTHOR: Redaspie COMMENT-DATE:5:11 PM COMMENT-BODY:Hmm, in that case I rather doubt that we've met. I haven't actually been to any NC's in a while due to the fact that it means travelling 4 hours to Dublin and then 4 hours back on an overly warm coach. -------- COMMENT-AUTHOR: stroppybird COMMENT-DATE:11:16 PM COMMENT-BODY:Good luck with the blog. Its good to have left blogs that challenge beyond the usual subjects . The left is not always that great on issues of disability rights/politics .I'm sure the idea of an autism rights movement will be a challenge to some sections of the left to grasp ,they are still grappling with women's rights !! --------