This made me angry to read

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Registered: 05-16-2006
This made me angry to read
8
Sat, 09-01-2007 - 10:14pm

Astronaut Lisa Nowak Includes Asperger Syndrome in Her Defense
Remember Lisa Nowak, the astronaut? A while back she was in the news for being one third of a love triangle - and for stalking and attacking her rival. This made headlines, in part, because of Nowak's status as an astronaut-role model. As a sideline, Nowak may or may not have worn diapers during her drive from Texas to Florida - as a way to avoid the delays of pitstops along the way to confront her boyfriend and his new lover.
A note in yesterday's Washington Post describes Nowak's plans for her defense:

Former astronaut Lisa M. Nowak is pursuing a temporary-insanity defense on charges that she assaulted and tried to kidnap a romantic rival, according to a court document released Tuesday.
Nowak suffered from major depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, insomnia and "brief psychotic disorder with marked stressors," defense attorney Donald Lykkebak wrote in his notice of intent to rely on the insanity defense.

The notice also describes Nowak as having Asperger syndrome, a condition with autism-like symptoms that causes problems with social skills and can lead to eccentric behavior.
It will be interesting to learn how this defense pans out for Nowak. It's hard to believe that person, no matter how qualified, could become an astronaut with the diagnoses she's describing. Just as interesting is the fact that, on top of so many other very serious mental issues, Nowak is now described as autistic. This is, of course, not the first time that a serious crime has been connected - at least loosely - with autism.
What's your take on this new twist? Do you think Nowak's description of herself as autistic will be taken seriously? When do you suppose she received that diagnosis? And - how did she (apparently) keep her autism hidden for so long?

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Registered: 11-28-2006
Sat, 09-01-2007 - 11:13pm
I'm mad too. It looks like she is one of the ones jumping on the AS band wagon to excuse her behavior. UGH.
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Registered: 03-26-2003
Sun, 09-02-2007 - 12:20am

Unfortunately this is not unexpected. In fact when the story first broke DH and I took bets on how long it would take for her to try this approach. There really are some people with ASD who get in trouble with the law without understanding what happened but it seems that it has become in vogue to use it as an excuse lately. Seems to me that if she was so affected by her autism as to do what she did, she probably wouldn't have qualified in the first place to be an astronaut. AS isn't something that just happens all of a sudden. You are born with it and as such this level of social challenges and ALL that go with that would have shown up when going through rigorous testing to be an astronaut.

Not that a person with AS couldn't be an astronaut, I just think that one who was able to be an astronaut would have had to work incredibly hard on their social challenges and be quite mildly affected. I am of the mind that AS shouldn't be diagnosed unless it is significantly affecting the persons ability to function and they need supports so to me it would be hard for a person with AS to be an astronaut. This isn't just autism for me but all labels. Why give a label unless it is truly neccessary? We need to be able to be a bit different without everyone having a label, kwim?

With that amount of training, work on social skills, and education, etc required to achieve this level of success for a person with ASD, I just don't see a person with autism pulling something like this. Seems more like a mental break or something. I could be totally wrong but that is my thought.

Renee

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Registered: 11-28-2006
Sun, 09-02-2007 - 1:02am

I thought mental break too Renee. I know my boys are soooo into the Army, and say they want to join someday, but I also know that they probably won't be accepted because of the obvious.

And in a way, thats fine by me.....

Lainie

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Registered: 06-25-2003
Sun, 09-02-2007 - 12:29pm


Have these people got no imagination?

-Paula

visit my blog at www.onesickmother.com
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Registered: 02-21-2006
Sun, 09-02-2007 - 2:47pm

Oh Gooody... now I have an excuse for strangling my ex-husband!

No. I don't agree with this at all. they are totally wrong and are mocking those who are truly affected in my opinion!

I am quite certain that had I been tested 8 years ago (when my son was a baby) that I would have been found to have asperger's. I DO consider myself to have asperger's and to acknowledge that since I started learning about it for my son, I've been able to implement many techniques to improve my own life! And yes, I went through he** in school. I ran home from school everyday (latch-key kid from 9 on) and sat in the bathroom for 3 hours each and every day and did my homework in there. Makes SO much sense to me now that I know that was my coping mechanism. I got through school pretty ok (a few fist-fights a week in HS, but who doesn't?).. but I HAD to come home and decompress and I had to do it in my bathroom sitting on the toilet. Strange, but it helped. I was so glad to learn WHY I did that, in searching for info for my son, that I couldn't help but re-evaluate my entire childhood and realize that I WAS mildly affected by this. My son is more severely impacted by his aspergers than I was. However, TO THIS VERY DAY, I cannnot pick up a phone to call anyone other than my sister to make plans. It's ridiculous, and I'm self-centered during conversation, and I talk about things that don't interest others, and I talk out of turn and I also talk about things that I'm comfortable with (espeicially sex, however so does my sister and she's completely NT), but other's aren't.

Having said all that, I know right from wrong, and I would never use this as an excuse to claim WHY I did something erratic like this astronaut lady. Her attorney is grossly negligent in using this as an "excuse" and he should be removed from practicing if he's behaving in this way. Someone suggested he should have kids who are autie, however, that's punishing the kids for their parent's foul. Perhaps he'll smarten up, perhaps autism speaks or some other larger well-known organization will park themselves outside his office to protest and rightfully so.

I wonder if there is anything we can do about this?

It would be interesting. I didn't hear about this until your post, but I am disgusted by it!

Nicole

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Registered: 01-25-2007
Mon, 09-03-2007 - 5:47am
I'm wondering if she didn't actually have a previous diagnosis and her LAWYER siezed upon that detail in her background and is exaggerating it to use during her trial. I do remember reading when this first happened that people who knew her said she was brilliant but totally self-centered. Maybe she really does have Asperger's. I would really be interested to know how long she has had this diagnosis and if indeed they are trying to capitalize on it to get her off.
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Registered: 03-28-2003
Mon, 09-03-2007 - 3:04pm

delete




Edited 2/19/2008 5:08 pm ET by littleroses
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Registered: 03-26-2003
Tue, 09-04-2007 - 1:56pm

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