A Boy Called Po movie review

 I watched "A Boy Called Po" last week, a story of an Autistic child and a single father navigating challenges. Honestly, I have mixed feelings regarding this movie. I think it is helpful, insightful and positive for parents of Autistic youngsters but I found little value personally and information wise for Aspie adults such as myself.

The widowed father is the focus point here. He is diligently, faithful working to find solutions for his son's schooling and problematic behaviors. You can readily see how much he loves his child. He enlists the aid and advice from others and is willing to try almost anything to assist and make his kid more content.

I guess that I did gain a newfound appreciation for parents with kids on the spectrum who require much more assistance. I can't imagine the difficulty, the consternation involved in trying to decide what is best for someone you love. I saw the father's uncertainty and grasping and gasping for answers and help. The movie did portray that well and probably accurately.

The Boy Po, is an interesting short, rather, young guy around 9 or 10, I would hazard a guess. The actor portrays Autistic traits well. I could readily see and recognize he was on the spectrum with normal characteristics. He is being harmed at school, bullying and harassed, to the point of sustaining bruises and physical injury.

The state agency to protect children is called in suspecting the father of child abuse. This was a newer situation to witness but I am certain it does happen, hence a good movie about parental difficulties. A social worker presents the father with options on placing his son so that he might better thrive and avoid more harm from other students.

I guess, the movie made me uncomfortable in its realism. It hurt to watch because I know that all that the movie presented actually does happen out there in the real world. Sad and others being hurt is painful for me to watch, hence no glowing review.

I did, overall, like the movie and its main ideals. I did not find any misinformation. A good movie.

I'm Not Autistic, I Have Aspergers

I have never really been comfortable saying that I am Autistic. For some reason, in my head, I have Only had Aspegers and "mild autism". Autism denotes Rainman and Aspergers is Bill Gates and Einstein. I didn't want to be in the former group.
So, I went to this conference a couple weeks ago...you may have heard about it. Anyway, it kindof slowly dawned on me that, yes, I am autistic. And, if you have noticed, a number of my posts now group both together both words Autism, Aspergers. Its a not-so-subtle attempt to wrap my brain around the moniker.
I used to think, that I had "sporadic" or "intermittent" autism in that I only really considered my self an Aussie when I got emotional and lost control of what my body was doing or had serious verbal issues.
Yeah, having lived with my...unique way of thinking and doing things, I just considered myself to be an oddball, eccentric and a wee bit strange with some comorbid PTSD, anxiety and phobias. Okay, so the comorbidities are Part of my Autism...I get it, now. And Aspergers is one part of the multi-faceted autism spectrum which covers a very wide range.
I cannot have Aspergers without being autistic. Starting to get it.

In many ways, if I were to dwell and look back, behind me at the past...I actually feel...better about having the autistic label then the mental illness, schizo disorder, manic-depressive, and other mental illnesses that I have worn, periodically, throughout my years.
Autism somehow, implies that I am okay just the way I am. I am no longer "damaged goods" or worse yet, someone who is acting out in erratic and uncontrolled ways in an attention seeking ploy and faking and pretending.
Man, I have been sooo hard on myself. Attribute it to my intelligence and strong logic, but I could find no "sane" reason as to why my emotions, my verbalizing and my body movements were sporadically completely out-of-my-control. It made no logical sense and I thought I had some strange and warped subconscious thinking going on that was causing me to "act out". Seriously, I beat myself up unrelentingly and vehemently for my autistic behaviors and mannerisms, because I did not know I was autistic. I cannot impress enough how deeply troubling and extremely frustrating it is to be aware of ones own words (or lack thereof), emotions and physical body completely run amok and have absolutely no control..whatsoever of ones own actions. To say it is truly agonizingly frustrating is a severe understatement and I would wish such a malady upon not my worst enemy.
I will say it again because I operate and understand logic...I felt like such a malcontent, mental defective, idiotic, seriously needy and way warped ogre due to the outward expression of myself and how I presented myself to the outside world. I could rationalize my behavior by most simply, looking at my parents and there extremely odd ways. And, yeah, I did not see my father as autistic either only as one severly depraraved individual with anger issues. So, actually, this news of my autism and aspergers is quite liberating. Yet another self-loathing behavior neutralized...another wall fall down, one more big stick to put back in the closet...or better yet, to burn never to be raised again.
I'm really not as bad of a person as I thought. Going to the conference and seeing people interested and totally accepting of autism definitely had an effect on this aspie.
In a strange way...in a very strange way...having the label of "autistic" makes me sooo much more normal. and I can like who I am even more