Autism Breakthrough: Girl's Writings Provide 'Remarkable Insight' on Disorder

"It feels like my legs are on first and a million ants are crawling up my arms," Carly said through the computer.Carly writes about her frustrations with her siblings, how she understands their jokes and asks when can she go on a date."We were stunned," Carly's father Arthur Fleischmann said. "We realized inside was an articulate, intelligent, emotive person that we had never met. This was unbelievable because it opened up a whole new way of looking at her." This is what Carly wants people to know about autism."It is hard to be autistic because no one understands me. People look at me and assume I am dumb because I can't talk or I act differently than them. I think people get scared with things that look or seem different than them." "Laypeople would have assumed she was mentally retarded or cognitively impaired. Even professionals labelled her as moderately to severely cognitively impaired. In the old days you would say mentally retarded, which means low IQ and low promise and low potential," Arthur Fleischman said.

Autism Breakthrough: Girl's Writings Provide 'Remarkable Insight' on Disorder