I have been writing the Care and Feeding series for about a year now. I will admit that it is difficult at times to keep doing it… My comorbid conditions and Asperger’s can make it difficult to find motivation… and sometimes, it’s even harder to find the focus to sit down and write a piece…
Add all that to the fact that a lot of my opinions upset a lot of people, it gets even harder… I receive pleasant comments here – but I get hate mail sometimes… I can only assume that they send hate mail directly (instead of commenting here) because they fear a response that will be grounded in fact with citations…
For the record: I respect everyone’s opinion… I believe that you have the right to hold your opinion, beliefs and the right to behave how you want… However, when you throw those things at me, please be prepared to back up your opinion with facts and hold a well reasoned discourse… (which means, when facts contradict your opinion, either evolve or back it up with fact)…
And that is one thing that the hate mailers cannot seem to do… They will propose a theory (their opinion) which is a valid emotional response, but with no basis in fact, and when faced with fact, they will respond with “Nuh uh! You’re stupid!”
As you can imagine, sometimes, it can be hard to continue writing this series…
Then things like today happen. I received an email that moved me to tears… Well… not exactly tears, but my eyes misted over and it was difficult to see for a few minutes…
With permission, I reprint that letter here.
Hey, I just wanted to thank you for writing the “Care and feeding of your Aspie” blogs. My family would have imploded this summer after I came home from college if my Aspie sister (21 years old) hadn’t found them and made my mom and I read them. My Dad is a total Aspie, but doesn’t believe it. My mom and I were tested after my sister found your blogs, we’re both about 50/50 aspie and neurotypical traits. It was a powderkeg around here all time and having everyone read your blogs really helped us understand each other much better and has reduced the tension here by a whole bunch.
Again, thank you and please keep writing, it’s made a huge difference to us.
-Dot
