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This comic actually touches upon two things (though, I hadn’t intended to do that). My main point is the “mask” we put up, and then I realized that it also lightly touches upon taking things/expressions literally.

On the shorter note, people on the spectrum have difficulties distinguishing between normal tones and sarcasm. There’s also trouble understanding expressions (like “two birds with one stone”), allegories, and metaphors. When I first heard the expression “apple of my eye”, I pictured someone’s eyes reflecting apples, for example.

When I had to read stories in high school on allegory and symbolism, it all went over my head. “Watership Down” is one of my favorite novels, but I still don’t pick up on the symbolism which is apparently in the novel. I’ll explain all that in further detail when I do a comic which actually delves more into the subject. The main subject I was trying to explain with this comic is autism vs society.Continue Reading

by : Nikki Jeanette/creator of “AuTalkz” 

For the longest time, the word “retard” was used as a horrible insult.  In fact, that’s partially the reason why the DSM changed it to “Intellectual Disability”.
Hang on, I’m going somewhere with this.
So, the place I saw this word thrown around the most as an insult was the gaming community (as that’s pretty much my social life, and not many people actually call someone a “retard” in person…cause, you know, safety of that computer screen).

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“AuTalkz” by Nikki Jeanette

At the time when I first began to play MMOs (which was shortly before WoW came out), it wasn’t used often.  As WoW and other games grew, I noticed that the word “retard” was used more and more often as an insult.
It completely blew up to the point where practically everyone was using it, and moderators (in MMOs or social chatrooms) just didn’t care or did nothing.

These days, I’ve been seeing something new used in place of “retard”.  It’s, you’ve guessed it, “autistic”.

Continue Reading

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Each person diagnosed with Autism/Aspergers Syndrome is uniquely different and typically gifted with a special area of interest or talent. Aspergers101.org would like to celebrate those with Autism by spotlighting a picture (you provide) depicting them in their element.

Today we spotlight Nikki Jeanette who enjoys combining the love of drawing with her desire to show a day in the life of living with autism. Nikki created a comic strip series she titled:  “AuTalkz”.

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Nikki Jeanette

 

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You can find more of Nikki’s work AuTalkz here .

 

Want to get featured on Celebrating the Uniqueness of Autism?  Send us a picture, with a brief description, depicting your talent or taking part in your specific area of interest. We will post on your picture on Aspergers101.org and possibility feature independently across our social media sites! Go to Celebrating the Uniqueness of Autism for more information!