Sep 01, 2009 4:56 PM GMT
So I just saw this movie Adam the other day for the first time. It's the story of a 29 year old guy named Adam who lives in NYC with Aspergers Syndrome, who falls into his first romantic relationship with a woman in his building.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185836/
A bit of background: my younger (16 yr old) brother has Aspergers, and one of my biggest personal struggles has been seeing him grow up and be unable to have many of the things that so many of us take for granted. Specifically, the ability to reciprocate friendship or basic social understanding, the ability to understand non-verbal communication, other basic pieces of life like humor, sarcasm, irony, innuendo, courtesy, romance, empathy and the things that make life worth living. I see him struggle in his high school where he is sometimes marginally accepted on the fringes of a social group, other times bullied mercilessly (and then I have to pick up the pieces from there :roll
. I often wonder whether he will be able to succeed in his life after he graduates high school (God willing), whether he will be able to find his passions, make friends, and pursue relationships like normal people. He has been able to do none of these things even remotely in his life so far. I try to think of the "friends" and he has over the course of his life and I draw a blank. Whereas he used to have strong passions (some would say obsessions) like cooking, birds, or baseball statistics, he has no real M.O. these days he just seems to be floating around in space without any true drive. I think it could be the drugs he is taking for the condition - combination of Tegretol and Concerta - but I have no idea. I try to be there for him as an older brother and hang out with him but I have a busy lifestyle with my own thing going on, you know there is only so much you can do.
Basically my questions are....1) has anyone seen this movie? What did you think of the characters and the way Aspergers was portrayed?
2) What has your experience with Aspergers people been like? Do you have any advice as to how I can help my brother in this difficult time in his life?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185836/
A bit of background: my younger (16 yr old) brother has Aspergers, and one of my biggest personal struggles has been seeing him grow up and be unable to have many of the things that so many of us take for granted. Specifically, the ability to reciprocate friendship or basic social understanding, the ability to understand non-verbal communication, other basic pieces of life like humor, sarcasm, irony, innuendo, courtesy, romance, empathy and the things that make life worth living. I see him struggle in his high school where he is sometimes marginally accepted on the fringes of a social group, other times bullied mercilessly (and then I have to pick up the pieces from there :roll

Basically my questions are....1) has anyone seen this movie? What did you think of the characters and the way Aspergers was portrayed?
2) What has your experience with Aspergers people been like? Do you have any advice as to how I can help my brother in this difficult time in his life?