It's official! My first scathing reply on the herballure forums! A place where everyone's supposedly "in the same boat" and comes to teach and learn from one another and to share personal emotions, fears, and triumphs. Yeah right.

First of all, I was almost offended by your comments about my self-esteem and other personality traits until I realized it was just your ignorance that offended me. You obviously don't know me and it appears that you know little to nothing about autism besides what you've observed in a couple of kids you know. I never said "I have autism". I said I have an autism spectrum disorder. Very different. There are 5+ separate diagnoses within the autism "umbrella", including ADHD, Rett's Disease, PDD-NOS, classic autism, and Asperger's Syndrome (which I have). In addition to these different disorders, each can have overlapping symptoms that range in severity from totally disabling (no language, self-harming behaviors, wearing diapers, seizures, etc.) to mild (presenting with learning disabilities, motor clumsiness, obsessive thoughts, extreme "shyness", etc.)...

...that's why it's called a SPECTRUM.

Secondly, how dare you say that my feelings in social situations are probably due to the effects of drugs, especially since I've been this way since I was 2 years old?! My teachers thought I couldn't TALK in grade school, for god's sake! You have no IDEA what I've been through as a female with Asperger's syndrome: misdiagnosis, heavy medication, being institutionalized as a teenager, having no friends whatsoever as an adolescent, and struggling through day-to-day activities that most take for granted. I can't make a f*cking phone call without first writing out a word-by-word script. When tested for learning disabilities in the 11th grade, it was found that my math comprehension was on a FIFTH GRADE LEVEL. I could go on and on, but what's the point? Your mind is made up about autism, marijuana, about ME--a person you have never seen, embraced, or heard utter a single word--and about life in general. "Say no to drugs?" What are you, Nancy Reagan? I should have known a fountain of ignorance was to follow and stopped reading right there, but I wanted to hear you out.

Whatever your opinions of marijuana as a medicine, it was out of line for you to be presumptuous enough to say I don't have autism and then go on to say my problems are due to drugs. Not only is it offensive to me, it also is simply flat out WRONG. I've never done acid, ecstasy, cocaine, heroin, DMT, GHB, or any of the other drugs that are capable of producing lasting mental effects like HPPD (betcha never even heard of that, right?). Your ignorance about drugs is only dwarfed by your insensitivity (and ignorance) of autism spectrum disorders. It's people like you who make others feel unwelcome and disrespected on the internet, in school, at work, in abusive relationships, and in society at large.

Read a book.