ASPIRES is an on-line resource for spouses and family members of adults diagnosed or suspected to be on the autistic spectrum.  Our approach to one another and towards our "significant others" is directed towards solving problems in our relationship with a spectrum-sitting spouse.

ASPIRES is an e-mail subscription list for individuals with AS, and those who have a parent, spouse, or child with AS.  We share our family and relational experiences, resources and survival tips as well as offer encouragement and hope.  Through sharing, we hope to lighten one another's burdens and find positive solutions to many of the troubling challenges that characterize our relationships and bridge the communication gap that exists in everyday life.

OBSESSED: Should a Computer Hacker with Asperger Syndrome Go to Prison?
By Kathy J. Marshack, Ph.D
Human rights activist backs computer hacker.  When human rights activist Terry Waite spoke in support of Gary McKinnon, the noted Pentagon hacker, it made quite a stir in March 2009.  Waite is a former Beirut hostage, imprisoned for four years in Lebanon in the 1980s.  Waite told the press that the US should thank McKinnon for “exposing the fragility” of the Pentagon’s computer system.
 

A GPS for Fathers Day
By Dan Coulter
Father’s day is a celebration of the times we get it right.  The times we’re wise and strong and patient, like the fathers in the 1950’s sitcoms "Father Knows Best" and "Leave it to Beaver."   And that’s great, because the more we get credit for the things we do that work, the more likely we are to repeat them.  Being a dad is a special challenge for fathers of children with Asperger Syndrome. You have to deal with all the normal parenting stuff, plus all the "Asperger Stuff." Frankly, it feels good when someone acknowledges what we’re doing right.
 

Psychiatric and psychosocial problems in adults with normal-intelligence autism spectrum disorders
Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) often display symptoms from other diagnostic categories. Studies of clinical and psychosocial outcome in adult patients with ASDs without concomitant intellectual disability are few. The objective of this paper is to describe the clinical psychiatric presentation and important outcome measures of a large group of normal-intelligence adult patients with ASDs.

Online Survey looking at behaviors in autism spectrum disorder
Dr. Karen Grant at Oregon Health and Science University and Dr. Tony Attwood, Australia, are conducting a study looking at the behavioral differences in autism spectrum disorders (ASD: includes autism, PDD-NOS, High Functioning Autism, and Asperger's Disorder) between males and females. The aim of the study is to see if differences do exist so that we can identify, diagnose, and treat ASD's more effectively.

Tillle Use Study of Adolescents with anAutiSlll Spectrulll Disorder  
This study explores how adolescents with an autism spectrum disorder spend their free time. We will focus on what television programs they watch, what they are doing when using a computer and how they spend time with friends. 

You are neurodiverse….
We don’t all think the same way. We just don’t. There is a “diversity” in our thought processes. Our neurology.  So, I find it interesting when people talk about “those neurodiverse” or in some other way try to make it an “us vs. them” subject. As Jake and Elwood said,  Some things that make us all the same. You, me them, everybody, everybody.  In this case, it is our differences that make us the same. Everybody is neurodiverse. Everybody’s mind thinks just a little different from anyone else’s on this planet. And, that is what makes us all neurodiverse.  The problem comes up when we move from “Neurodiverse” to the “Neurodiverisity movement”.

Somewhere Inside, a Path to Empathy
By DAVID FINCH
IT wasn’t working, any of it. Our third year of marriage threatened to be our last. I’d become cynical and withdrawn, obsessive and preoccupied, dismissive and unhelpful.  “I don’t know when things got bad,” Kristen said, wiping away tears. “I feel like I’ve lost you and I don’t know what will bring you back.”  In reality she hadn’t lost me. She’d found me. The facade of semi-normalcy I’d struggled to maintain was falling away, revealing the person I’d been since childhood. I didn’t even know what was wrong with me, though my wife, a speech pathologist who works with autistic children, had her suspicions. Even so, it would be another two years before she would put all the pieces together and attach a name to what was ruining our marriage: Asperger’s syndrome.

Asperger's theory does about-face
Rather than ignoring others, researchers think spectrum sufferers care too - A groundbreaking study suggests people with autism-spectrum disorders such as Asperger's do not lack empathy – rather, they feel others' emotions too intensely to cope.  People with Asperger's syndrome, a high functioning form of autism, are often stereotyped as distant loners or robotic geeks. But what if what looks like coldness to the outside world is a response to being overwhelmed by emotion – an excess of empathy, not a lack of it?  This idea resonates with many people suffering from autism-spectrum disorders and their families. It also jibes with the "intense world" theory, a new way of thinking about the nature of autism.

Erasing Autism
Scientists are closing in on the genes linked to autism. So why is Ari Ne'eman so worried?
By Claudia Kalb | NEWSWEEK
It's spring in Washington, and Ari Ne'e-man, with his navy suit and leather brief-caseon wheels, is in between his usual flurry of meetings. Ne'eman is a master networker, a guy you'd think was born in a campaign office and bred in the halls of the Capitol. He's fluent in policy-speak and interacts seamlessly with high-level officials (he's just had lunch with the acting vice chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) and inquisitive reporters alike. He's formal but sociable and has a well-timed sense of humor. He also has a problem with velvet. I knew this about Ne'eman—he'd mentioned it when we first started talking more than a year ago—but now, in a D.C. coffee shop, he gets into the sensory details. His father used to drive a car that had fuzzy velvet-like cushioning, and it made Ne'eman crazy to sit in it. "I'd wince because I'd think about how it would feel to get that under your fingernails," he says. I think I see him shudder at the memory.

The Challenge of Autistic Intimacy
Robert W. Murray
Are meaningful relationships an insurmountable challenge for autistic people? As someone who has published on, spoken about and studied Asperger’s Syndrome (AS), the most popular topic of all seems to be whether someone with AS can ever have a successful romantic relationship. While my discussions tend to focus on my own experiences as someone with AS, I see a major literary and medical shortfall in the way this topic is presented or understood by many observers, including professionals. There is cause for concern, I think, when medical professionals take a sampling from a group of people with AS and apply those outcomes universally to all with the disorder.

Asperger Marriage: Viewing Partnerships Through a Different Lens
Aspergers Syndrome (AS) is a neurobiological condition on the higher-functioning end of the autism spectrum. Across individuals, there is wide variation of AS traits, of how each person experiences their neurology, and how AS evolves as they age. Shore (2003), a member and President Emeritus of the Asperger’s Association of New England (AANE) Board of Directors has said, “When you meet one individual with Asperger Syndrome, you have met one individual with Asperger Syndrome.” Marriages or partnerships with a person with AS are often very challenging, with mental health consequences for both members of the couple, for their children, and for their larger family systems. In this paper we will share insights on the complexities of these partnerships with hope that this information will help and encourage other clinicians to better understand and support people in these relationships, whether working with individuals, couples, families, or groups. Our insights come from our professional experience with individuals and with groups for the partners of men with AS at AANE, along with review of the literature on AS. 

Interview with Dr Tony Attwood
Dr TONY ATTWOOD, a clinical psychologist based in Queensland, Australia, is widely ackowledged to be the world’s leading expert on Asperger’s syndrome Adam Feinstein spoke to him in Melbourne. ADAM FEINSTEIN: Asperger’s syndrome has been recognised only relatively recently as a specific disorder. What do you think have been the major advances in our understanding of the condition over the past 30 years since Hans Asperger’s 1944 paper was translated into English?

The Romantic Lives of Young Adults with Asperger's Syndrome
While a young adult with classic autism may appear content with a solitary “monastic” lifestyle, this is often not the case with young adults who have Asperger’s syndrome or high-functioning autism. Clinical experience has identified that the majority of such adolescents and young adults would like a romantic relationship. However, there is remarkably little research examining this aspect of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) or strategies to facilitate successful relationships. We know that young adults with Asperger’s syndrome have significant difficulty developing peer relationships and are developmentally delayed in knowing what someone may be thinking or feeling. Typical children do this naturally and have practised relationship skills with family members and friends for many years before applying these abilities to achieve a successful romantic relationship. Young adults with a diagnosis of Asperger’s syndrome or high-functioning autism also have conspicuously limited social conversational skills or ability to communicate emotions, especially affection. They also can have an extreme sensitivity to particular sensory experiences. All of these diagnostic characteristics will affect relationship skills throughout childhood, and will eventually limit an adult’s ability to achieve a long-term successful relationship.
Tony Attwood, MSc PhD AFBPsS MAPS MCCP
Clinical Psychologist and Senior Consultant
Minds & Hearts
Brisbane, Australia 3/2009

REVIEW ARTICLE
Asperger's Syndrome in Adulthood 
Mandy Roy, Wolfgang Dillo, Hinderk M. Emrich, Martin D. Ohlmeier