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Seeking information on Asperger Syndrome and Military Service
Permission is hereby given to
anyone reading this request for information to pass the complete
post on to others, deleting any identifiers to this
list serv as your source. I ask individuals doing this to make sure all identifying tags, including "FWD" as well as material appearing in headers or end-formats to carefully delete such information out of respect to other members of this list and to its owners. On the ASPIRES web site, please find the first article of its kind, anywhere, addressing Asperger Syndrome and military service. It is found at http://www.aspires-relationships.com/articles_as_in_the_military.htm . This is a call for members of this listserv who have been in the active, reserves, or national guard military service to please contact me so that I can complete a second article on the same topic, with a focus for the second article on identification, evaluation, reassignment or separation from the service with an emphasis, in all such steps, on a "soft landing." The article referred to above is directed towards commanders in the field. It is not a medical treatise, nor is it designed for mental health or psychological professionals in the armed forces. It is also not designed for parents or students; however it may be of interest to both, especially if there is an older student's interest in joining the military or doing so eventually as a result of being in high school or college ROTC. I ask that folks with military experience, or with military experience in their immediate families to contact me who... 1. are AS themselves and have served in the armed forces of any country, at any level, at any time; and 2. are adult children of parents or care givers with current or former military service backgrounds who they have reason to believe are either diagnosed or undiagnosed with AS. This is a dead-serious request. Now that some light has been shed on this issue, constructive proposals and suggestions regarding sensitive handling of AS in the military are more than long overdue. It is no secret that many adults now being diagnosed for the first time with AS are serving or have served with distinction and for varying periods of time and varying degrees of success in the armed services. Now is not the time for bashing or crashing or insensitive social commentary that may reflect on, or affect relatives or individuals known to each of us, with regard to this matter. Choice of whether or not to serve in the military is a personal matter, and respectful discussion of that issue should acknowledge the highly individual nature of each adult person's right to make decisions regarding military service. In response to my article, the matter of Asperger Syndrome in the service has attracted the highest level of policy-making attention at the US Department of Department of Defense, office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs. I will be working with DOD decision-makers to develop personnel policies uniform throughout all of the US armed forces affecting reporting, evaluation, and other administrative protocols involving military personnel whose active, reserve, or national guard status is under direction of the Secretary of Defense. It is highly likely that unless this matter is handled with sensitivity and with attention to the manner in which significant policy decisions at the US Department of Defense are actually made, as opposed to the way we might wish them to be made, that "bad" will come of a ham-fisted effort to argue for "all or nothing thinking or action" of any or all kinds. With regard to informed policy formation, I have already engaged the attention of service organizations working with families of armed services personnel where there is disability in the family, Asperger Syndrome included. As one might expect, the military's family support system does address, to a variable degree, the issue of AS children and non-serving spouses in the military and related-civilian-schooling set ups for many families. I have the assurance of at least one world-wide organization's executive director that she will forward my request for "family input" to issues raised by the fact, not the mere probability, of adult AS members in the military service. Veterans organizations are open to participating in this discussion, as are former military personnel in many services and of all ranks, especially where their lives have been personally touched by AS. Recruiters are already involved, informally, in policy discussion and decision making, since they are now seeing an increasing number of young and older adults either diagnosed with AS or likely to be diagnosed as a result of the medical and psychological screening that is a part of the recruitment and voluntary service entrance process. Finally, legislators, both at a state level (where it involves policy developed by each state's National Guard Commandant), and at a national Congressional level (both houses, some members of each already identified but not yet contacted) will also be significant actors in development of policy at a local and national level. What makes this topic a matter of moment is the radical change experienced in all military services, both in this country and around the world, very much a function of technology and transportation allowing rapid deployment and "turn on the dime" demands placed on individuals and their units of assignment. I've already personally handled a small number of cases of AS adults involved with military service, and understand the policy and practical issues of "what happens" when things are handled badly, or not at all. I will be contacting select support groups and organizations known to be AS-friendly. My inquiry of them will likely contain the same information you've read, above. Research for the second article will only partially involve anecdotal information collected in this manner. Much of the material to be found in the second article will be based upon the best procedures and practices already in place, and those which experts in these matters are likely to propose. Individuals contacting me will be assured that their identification will remain confidential. However, for purposes of authentication and verification, I must retain such identifying information as a part of the research documentation leading to the second article. If there is material I'd wish to quote, rather than summarize or add to other materials I've collected for this research, I will notify each person whose words I would like to quote, requesting specific, written permission to do so while still preserving their anonymity. I will not submit the final article to individuals for either their scrutiny or editorial approval. Individuals whose words are directly quoted should rest assured that their comments will be used in contextually appropriate ways. No separate copyright other than mine, as the article's writer, shall attach to such quotations.
My contact information is: 22980 Donna Lane Bend, OR 97701 1-541-420-2870 OPU@peak.org |
