Hey, how come the topic about what we wouldn't want to happen to AG got closed? I thought it was pretty interesting.
I'm very worried about big brands shutting out people who aren't the average middle class white stock.
For that matter, it's a pity that there hasn't been a story focusing on someone disabled yet, except for Kaya's sister - and she's not even the central character. I would be so happy if there were an autistic girl featured as a friend to a main character, even, just to have someone resembling me in the stories!
[img]graemlins/star.gif[/img] --- KERI --- [img]graemlins/star.gif[/img]
Okay, edited to remove the parts that had been said to be not-G-rated. And fixed the subject line to refer to what Katie and I mentioned in our replies!
<font color="#33CCCC" size="1">[ November 07, 2006 06:47 PM: Message edited by: keristars ]</font>
These questions are probably best answered by the moderators, but one answer might be that since this is a G-rated board, some of your posts may have been considered inappropriate.
If it were me, I'd PM a moderator to request any explanations you're curious about. [img]graemlins/hmmm.gif[/img]
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Do you have Asperger's Syndrome? I ask because I do and you were talking about an autistic character resembling you. It's cool to see someone besides me who likes AG that is on the autistic spectrum. I started an 18+ meetup group in my area because there is no support around here for Aspies who are adults. If you ever come to Chicago maybe we can visit AGPC together.Originally posted by keristars:
I would be so happy if there were an autistic girl featured as a friend to a main character, even, just to have someone resembling me in the stories!
[img]graemlins/star.gif[/img] --- KERI --- [img]graemlins/star.gif[/img]
It's also great to know that I'm not the only Aspie(someone with Asperger's) who's "obcessive interest" is AG. (Most Aspie's have an interest that they know inside and out and could spend hours talking about). [img]graemlins/chat.gif[/img]
As far as an autistic main character that seems doubtful, since Asperger's and autism is very misunderstood. If there was a disabled main character(which I would also like to see) they would probably have something that is more well-known like blind, deaf, mobility issues or a learning disability like dyslexia. You should write your own story. Use a JYL doll and make up a name, family and story. As long as it's family appropriate, I'm sure the members on the board would love to read it!
<font color="#33CCCC" size="1">[ November 07, 2006 06:24 PM: Message edited by: Diamond Dragon ]</font>
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Do you have Asperger's Syndrome? I ask because I do and you were talking about an autistic character resembling you. It's cool to see someone besides me who likes AG that is on the autistic spectrum. I started an 18+ meetup group in my area because there is no support around here for Aspies who are adults. If you ever come to Chicago maybe we can visit AGPC together.Originally posted by Diamond Dragon:
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by keristars:
I would be so happy if there were an autistic girl featured as a friend to a main character, even, just to have someone resembling me in the stories!
[img]graemlins/star.gif[/img] --- KERI --- [img]graemlins/star.gif[/img]
It's also great to know that I'm not the only Aspie(someone with Asperger's) who's "obcessive interest" is AG. (Most Aspie's have an interest that they know inside and out and could spend hours talking about). [img]graemlins/chat.gif[/img]
As far as an autistic main character that seems doubtful, since Asperger's and autism is very misunderstood. If there was a disabled main character(which I would also like to see) they would probably have something that is more well-known like blind, deaf, mobility issues or a learning disability like dyslexia. You should write your own story. Use a JYL doll and make up a name, family and story. As long as it's family appropriate, I'm sure the members on the board would love to read it!
<font color="#33CCCC"><font size="1">[ November 07, 2006 06:24 PM: Message edited by: Diamond Dragon ]</font></font></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Yeah, I have asperger's! We just found out a year and a half ago. They said I was just OCD when I got tested when I was 8, because AS wasn't widely accepted as a diagnosis back then. (Before it was in the DSM-IV.) I wish they had given me the AS diagnosis back then, because I always felt so distanced and lost among my peers, and I couldn't understand why, and it made me really depressed because I never seemed to be accepted. If I had known why, I could have paid more attention to what I was doing and learned adaptive things, like I've done this past year and a half, so that I'm less ostracized socially.
And I figure that someone on the spectrum probably wouldn't be central. [img]frown.gif[/img] It's really hard to watch shows that feature an autistic (like Cold Case two weeks ago, or House a few weeks before that) and then have to explain to my dad why I'm not the same way. (He doesn't want to believe the dx.)
My main perseveration is books, though! That's how I got into AG, through the books, because I loved the layouts and design and general patterns. It helped that as I moved into other phases of study, there was often an AG girl who fit in - like Kirsten or Samantha or Molly or Addy for pioneer, Edwardian, WW2, and Civil War. And currently it's Kit for the fashion in her era. But I'm so glad that I bought Beatrice, because I've wanted a doll like her for years and years, and I love doing the stories and dressing her and stuff. I don't want her to be aspie, though, because it's more fun to pretend that she's a know-it-all who tries to boss me around. I'm really eager to finish my semester so I can start making clothes for her in earnest - that's another thing I love, putting together outfits. I'm a bit of a designer inside, in fact, my submission for my university's art department's
holiday card contest is in the top three!
I don't like Chicago much because the last time I went there I was 13 and it was Columbus Day weekend and it was really windy and so I only remmeber it as dirty and cold and sick (I'm lactose intolerant and OF COURSE, I ate too much Chicago style pizza!), but if I ever do go back, I'd love to go to AGPC with you! My momma and I are planning to go to NYC because I wanted to do the History Channel tour of the city, but maybe we can go to Chicago instead, since there's just as much fun historical stuff there, too. And it's where my dad grew up.
Are there any cool mansions near Chicago? We were thnking about going to see the big Oil Baron castles, because I love that kind of thing. We saw the Frisk House when we visited Pittsburgh when I was 15, and I didn't want to leave. I didn't want to leave Napoleon III's apartments at the Louvre, either, when I was there!
Oh, also, thank you Robin for explaining. I didn't realize that the topics weren't G. I figured that since I don't do anything that's not G rated, talking about my version of an a.l. would be okay, and the mention of the people whose parents are activists or who grew up in poor areas seemed to be G, too.
I'm going to edit my first post slightly to reflect all this!
[img]graemlins/star.gif[/img] --- KERI --- [img]graemlins/star.gif[/img]
[quote]Originally posted by keristars:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Diamond Dragon:
[qb]<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">OMGoodness yes! I live just outside Chicago and even though I live in a very small apartment on my own for low-income people(I'm a college student on disability) I live in a historical district surrounded by century old mansions that people still live in! When I first moved to this suburb a year and a half ago some of the houses reminded me of Mount Bedford!Originally posted by keristars:
Are there any cool mansions near Chicago? We were thnking about going to see the big Oil Baron castles, because I love that kind of thing. We saw the Frisk House when we visited Pittsburgh when I was 15, and I didn't want to leave. I didn't want to leave Napoleon III's apartments at the Louvre, either, when I was there!
[img]graemlins/star.gif[/img] --- KERI --- [img]graemlins/star.gif[/img]
There is also a museum near me that formerly was the mansion of an important person from the early 20th century (I'm not naming the museum openly on the board for privacy reasons but if you PM me I can tell you more about it). There are so many cool things to see and do both in and outside the city.
Also, if you come and you're here for one of the weekends I have my group (it's all peer-led, no fees no Professionals and many people are college age) you could sit in and join the discussion. We often meet at local cafes or coffe shops.
I am a Chicago area native, as well as my parents and grandparents. If the city bothers you too much there are lots of things to do in the suburbs around the city as well. And there are lots of museums too.
<font color="#33CCCC" size="1">[ November 07, 2006 07:06 PM: Message edited by: Diamond Dragon ]</font>
Hi Ladies!
I agree, it would be great to have a character that has a sibling or someone close to them that has some form of Autism. My DD is considered high functioning Autistic, and would love to see a book that deals with this. From what I can tell too, quite a few parents who have kids in DD's class, would like to see somthing very mainstreamed, and very well done along these lines as well. Obviously, American Girl would be the company who could pulll this off very well. I can't tell you the number of parents who have told me I should write a book and submit it to American Girl. I actually think someone on the spectrum would do a much better job of it! [img]cool.gif[/img] It doesn't even have to be huge part of the book, just something to touch on it would be very cool. It seems like the new doll Nicky is going to be a very intreging character, working with seeing eye dogs, so that is a step in the right direction. The thing is with Autism though, people find it very mysterious, and in some cases frightening/scary because of some behaviors that are completely misunderstood. Because there are so many more kids on the spectrum now that are mainstramed in school and life in general, I think it would be awesome for AG to do something with it. The sad thing is, at least in DD's case, the kids have always been great with her. It's the adult's that need to understand.....
Shelly
Shelly-
I had learned that 1 in every 166 people are supposedly on the autistic spectrum. It's more recognized in the UK and Austrailia, and I just went to a conference a couple of weeks ago where we heard Dr. Tony Attwood, a world-renowned(sp?) author and expert in the field. I have his brand-new book that isn;t even coming out until next month on pre-order from the conference.
Click this link for more info and other links to books and resources:
www.maapservices.org
Autism is becoming so common, it would be great if AG would have a doll with those traits! I'm glad Nikki will train seeing-eye dolls, but it would be nice if AG had a doll who had some more challenges than those the typical girl faces. I'm not sure if that would limit their audience, though, or if AG thinks it would...
Historically, people with disabilities have generally been shut away (even in the Laura Ingalls books, Mary pretty much had no hope of getting married or leaving home for good, since she was blind). So the fact that there's a blind character at all in the historical books strikes me as pretty good, though it would be nice to see someone else in a modern book. I liked that Singing Bird was valued as a person, though, and served a useful place in her tribe, as opposed to being a burden like some disabled characters can be portrayed as.
There is a book that AG had a few years ago in one of their little book series about a girl who had friend with a disability, he's got Muscular Dystrophy- it's called A Song For Jeffrey and is out of print but may be at some libraries. Here is a link to Amazon's page on it: http://www.amazon.com/Song-Jeffrey-F...e=UTF8&s=books
It's a really good book!
I would also love to see a character's best friend have a disability.
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">That's what my one counselor told me to do, but then I found out that it's like pulling teeth for me to tell stories in words, because so much of my imagination relies on color or texture! It's so very hard to explain a meltdown/shutdown when you can't come up with words for it. I tried, and my workshop class thought I was describing a psychotic episode, but they're nothing like that!Originally posted by AGfun:
I can't tell you the number of parents who have told me I should write a book and submit it to American Girl. I actually think someone on the spectrum would do a much better job of it!
...
Shelly
One of the cooler books I read (and one of the first that really made me start thinking about me being on the spectrum) is called <u>Al Capone Does My Shirts</u>. It's about a boy who lives with his family on Alcatraz Island, where his dad works, and he's struggling with being happy there, since they left his family and friends, and making sure his sister is okay, since she's autistic and the island is dangerous. The story was inspired by the author's own sister. I liked how in the end, the boy's sister showed that she wasn't as helpless as everyone thought, and she was a lot more in tune with her environment than many many depictions of autistics show. That and they never used the word 'autism' until the "about the story" section, but still showed the family treating the girl in a very empathetic manner - such as letting her focus on her buttons or rock when things got very stressful.
Your daughter is very lucky, Shelly. Kids can be so cruel to one another, and I'm pretty sure that that's a learned thing, since in other instances, they'd be sweet as pie.
Unfortunately, both my siblings are 'odd', though differently from me - my little sister has always been as skinny as a rail no matter how much she ate, which earned her teasing about eating disorders (plus she was teased because of me!), and my little brother stuttered awfully in elementary school and had to wear casts on his legs twice because he toe-walked. And since he couldn't exercise well, he was teased for being fat.
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