Friday, October 17, 2014

Darius Mccollum in jail again, neurodiversity offers no solution

Old time readers of Autism's Gadfly will remember that I've previously written about Darius McCollum, the individual alleging to have Asperger's syndrome who has OCD and an uncontrollable desire to take joyrides in busses and trains.  For the uninitiated, to recap briefly, McCollum spent a great deal of time learning about the new york city subway system and would hang out with personnel and learn all the ins and outs.  He would spend time impersonating the subway drivers and actually drive the subways.  When he wasn't doing this, he'd steal buses and drive them.  He's been arrested multiple times for his offenses and has done some years of prison time.  He knew what he was doing was wrong but could not help himself.  Various medications to control his OCD didn't work.  After serving time in prison, he was paroled. 

Unfortunately, he's in the joint again for violating his parole.  He missed two meetings with his parole officer.  Neurodiversity still hasn't offered a solution to Mr. McCollum's dilemma.  I'm still waiting.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Apparently,to the likes of Ari Ne'eman & co., he just isn't there. Or else, acknowledging his existence could prove to be a potential embarrassment for their cause. ASAN seems to mainly concerned for those high functioning autistics who are like them that helps makes autism appear to be a wonderful gift. But dare talk about those truly in need of help such as Mr. McCollum, they don't say a word. Also makes you wonder whether groups such as ASAN are really just self-serving for people on their level of functioning, being Lawyers,PHds,scientists,etc. I've yet to see ASAN doing much for those who are low functioning &/or severely inflicted with ASD.

Anonymous said...

ASAN is a political advocacy group for narcissists self-diagnosed with "Asperger's." Some are just plain gifted (since only about 1 in 30 people have an IQ over 130) and think they have Asperger's because of that and want to label themselves as "special", too (since, apparently, being gifted isn't special enough). Now, is the rise of Autism (1 in 88 or whatever) ONLY happening in America or all over the world? If only in America I then suspect narcissism instead of Autism since, as a nation, we are pretty narcissistic.

And another thing, how come almost no one else with a supposed ASD, except for this select group of people, bothers to speak about Neurodiversity? Most TRUE ASDs I've met are against ND because they don't understand the social significance of it. Another reason I suspect that ASAN is a group of near-gifted and/or gifted narcissists rather than autism.

As for Mr. McCollum I suspect VERY high functioning autism and not OCD. It seems he knows what he is doing is wrong but can't stop it because of his obsession. I know of other people with ASDs who suffer similar consequences: can't attend college because of obsessions, can't hold a job because of obsessions, no friends because of obsessions and etc.

- A female hyperlexic with medical records to prove it

Anonymous said...

http://www.halcyon.com/jmashmun/npd/dsm-iv.html

Anonymous said...

http://www.halcyon.com/jmashmun/npd/dsm-iv.html

It would take either a skilled clinician or someone previously obsessed with psychiatry to tell the difference between an ASD and narcissism

- A female hyperlexic with medical records to prove it

jonathan said...

Anonymous: Though there are a subset of persons allegedly on the spectrum who preach the neurodiversity mantra, there are a number i've met who are opposed besides myself. One reason you won't find as many speaking out against neurodiversity is that their autism is too severe to blog about it or their disability makes them disinclined.

spinoff said...

The narcisistic cares about what important powerful figures (that being real o imagined)think of him:he lives in a hall of special mirrors. The autistic might be selfish, egoist, rather than egolatristic, but with the high functining the boudaries are sometimes difficult to draw.

The OCD patient has an enormous capacity for semantic associations,overinclusions,isolations, displacements etc. A "bus" has a myriad of meanings. For an autistic a bus is a mechanical- sensory gadget extremely interesting for it has all kind of possibilities to explore movement, force, sound, etc. It is the oposite of OCD, only DSM thickoes can mistake them

w ford said...

I went to a social skills group at ucla called peers and one of the dudes there named jared abrams hacked into computers he used aspergers as excuse. Scared me damn much i not w ant to continue peers program. Found article about him in obscure crime watch paper at albertson grocery store.