Saturday, July 19, 2008

Aspie Adults and Faith

A dear couple who know that I have Aspergers, gave me a wonderful resource called, Autism and Faith: A Journey Into Community. It looks at Autism from a faith perspective and how congregations can make these communities welcoming to those of us with some form of autism.

From a pastor's viewpoint, I think this is extremely helpful. I have to wonder how many families as well as adults with autism have not darkened the door of a church, synogogue or what have you because of the fear that they or their family will not be accepted. So, in that sense, it is important.

What was frustrating was that there were very few voices of those who have autism. They did include one young man and that was good. But I am left with this question: what happens when the person that is on the autistic spectrum isn't a child, but is the pastor? How in the hell do you deal with that?

I have to believe I am not the only pastor with Apsergers. But they are hard to find. If I do find a fellow Aspie clergy, my first question will be how they did it. And then I would want to find some way that we could connect and support each other.

I do wonder at times, how in the world I can be a pastor, such a social job, when you have autism. But then God seems to be in the habit of picking people to do stuff that they don't seem suited for. I'd love to see what God does with this.

1 comment:

mysamiam said...

Good post! Check out Joy of Autism..

http://joyofautism.blogspot.com/

blogger I have followed for 4 years. She has a project with conferences she started a couple years ago called "The Autism Acceptance Project".

http://www.taaproject.com/

Autism Diva is one of my favorites
http://www.autismdiva.blogspot.com

And last, this one might be a good resource to for you to connect and find someone in a pastoral position also.
http://www.asplanet.info/

Peace out dear friend,
Laura
http://www.asplanet.info/