Christine Feehan's Blog - Posts Tagged "autism"
The Beauty of Difference: Autism Awareness
The Centers for Disease Control describes ASDs as: “a developmental disability that can cause significant social, communication and behavioral challenges. Autism now affects 1 in 68 children and 1 in 42 boys. So, it’s likely that you know someone with some form of autism.
April is Autism Awareness month and it’s an opportunity to help people become aware of autism, the people who have autism and where we fit into this special world of those who have autism.
I have three characters that I’ve written who are on the autism spectrum. Rikki, from Water Bound who is high functioning autistic, Trap from Spider Game who has Asperger’s, and Tyson from Dangerous Tides who also has Asperger’s. I’m often asked about these characters and thought that Autism Awareness month was a great time to share more about them and about why I wrote these characters.
I started researching about autism way before I wrote Water Bound, Dangerous Tides or Spider Game. I have a granddaughter who was diagnosed with autism and I have other family members with Asperger’s. Autism isn’t easy to understand, but I knew how much I love my family and how special they are, so I wanted to know as much as possible about their condition so that I could be part of their world, and so they could be comfortable and happy around me.
I learned that not every autistic person is the same. There are traits that are in common, but like any other person, there are things that are different. For my family members who were older, I sat down with them, and I asked them what it was like to have Asperger’s. I wanted to know what they felt, how they saw, heard and felt things. I wanted to know how they felt about the challenges they faced. I wanted to know what I could do to help them feel more at ease, happy, included, safe, and of course loved.
I researched a great deal more when my little granddaughter was diagnosed. I learned so much, but some of the more interesting things I found were –
1. Weighted blankets. We used them for my granddaughter and they worked like a miracle for her! We all tried the blankets ourselves and it was interesting how each of us reacted to them. Some felt comforted by them and some detested the feeling.
2. There are lines of clothing for people with autism!
3. Lighting can make a difference. Florescent lights hum and flicker and this can be very aggravating or frustrating for someone with autism whose senses are heightened. I included this information in Water Bound and received letters from teachers who tried changing their lighting from florescent lights and found it made a big difference for their students, even the ones without autism!
There’s so much to learn about autism, but the one thing I did know is that each of these beautiful people are different and they bring with them something special. They may share their wonderment, their brilliance, their special way of seeing something or feeling something.
I wanted to write a romance where the main heroine was a high functioning autistic woman who’d had a difficult start to life, but who found friends who loved and appreciated her and who found love, romance and a happy ever after. I wanted to imagine all these wonderful things to be available and possible. I wanted to write a hero who understood her needs, saw her strength and accepted her unconditionally.
And though Lev was a trained operative, strong and dangerous, it was Rikki’s courage, strength and perseverance that saved him. Lev was broken and needed structure. Rikki gave that to him and healed him on so many levels.
To this day, Water Bound is the book I get most letters about. Readers are touched by her strength. People who are autistic, or those who love someone with autism, they write to me with stories that encourage and touch my heart. I wrote that book hoping to touch others with Rikki’s story, but with all the letters I’ve received it is really me who has been blessed.
People with autism don’t come with labels. Perhaps you’ll realize right away that you’ve met someone with autism, but perhaps it’s not obvious and you don’t know what the signs of autism are enough to realize you’re dealing with someone who is autistic. This was the case with my character Trap from Spider Game. I purposefully didn’t say that he had Asperger’s. I have him many of the traits and put him in situations where those traits could be seen and I was happy to receive letters from readers who totally understood what was up with this character.
I find that people either love or hate Spider Game and love or hate Trap, the same goes for Tyson in Dangerous Tides. With Trap there isn’t much of a gray area with this book or character. The character had PTSD, Asperger’s and a very difficult life. He had a hard time communicating and developing close personal relationships. He expressed himself through sex with the woman who accepted him as he was and understood him. There’s was not an easy relationship, but they learned how to communicate with each other and eventually, how to love one another in a way that worked for them. It wasn’t a traditional relationship and some readers loved that and some had a hard time with it. And that’s okay. A book works for you or it doesn’t. You like a character or you don’t. But I wanted to write Trap’s story, the good, bad and ugly of it, and show that there’s always a way to find love. There’s someone out there that is a “fit” who will accept who and how you are.
Tyson could be distant and sometimes forget everything and everyone around him as he worked. But, what people saw as a fault or failing in him was actually his gift because he was saving lives with his research, his determination.
Autism is a part of my life. The people in my life who have autism have taught me so many things. They’ve taught me patience. They’ve taught me to see life in a different way. They’ve taught me that we all have something special about us. They’ve taught me that different is beautiful. Having them in my life has made me a better person and my life a little brighter.
April is Autism Awareness month and it’s an opportunity to help people become aware of autism, the people who have autism and where we fit into this special world of those who have autism.
I have three characters that I’ve written who are on the autism spectrum. Rikki, from Water Bound who is high functioning autistic, Trap from Spider Game who has Asperger’s, and Tyson from Dangerous Tides who also has Asperger’s. I’m often asked about these characters and thought that Autism Awareness month was a great time to share more about them and about why I wrote these characters.
I started researching about autism way before I wrote Water Bound, Dangerous Tides or Spider Game. I have a granddaughter who was diagnosed with autism and I have other family members with Asperger’s. Autism isn’t easy to understand, but I knew how much I love my family and how special they are, so I wanted to know as much as possible about their condition so that I could be part of their world, and so they could be comfortable and happy around me.
I learned that not every autistic person is the same. There are traits that are in common, but like any other person, there are things that are different. For my family members who were older, I sat down with them, and I asked them what it was like to have Asperger’s. I wanted to know what they felt, how they saw, heard and felt things. I wanted to know how they felt about the challenges they faced. I wanted to know what I could do to help them feel more at ease, happy, included, safe, and of course loved.
I researched a great deal more when my little granddaughter was diagnosed. I learned so much, but some of the more interesting things I found were –
1. Weighted blankets. We used them for my granddaughter and they worked like a miracle for her! We all tried the blankets ourselves and it was interesting how each of us reacted to them. Some felt comforted by them and some detested the feeling.
2. There are lines of clothing for people with autism!
3. Lighting can make a difference. Florescent lights hum and flicker and this can be very aggravating or frustrating for someone with autism whose senses are heightened. I included this information in Water Bound and received letters from teachers who tried changing their lighting from florescent lights and found it made a big difference for their students, even the ones without autism!
There’s so much to learn about autism, but the one thing I did know is that each of these beautiful people are different and they bring with them something special. They may share their wonderment, their brilliance, their special way of seeing something or feeling something.
I wanted to write a romance where the main heroine was a high functioning autistic woman who’d had a difficult start to life, but who found friends who loved and appreciated her and who found love, romance and a happy ever after. I wanted to imagine all these wonderful things to be available and possible. I wanted to write a hero who understood her needs, saw her strength and accepted her unconditionally.
And though Lev was a trained operative, strong and dangerous, it was Rikki’s courage, strength and perseverance that saved him. Lev was broken and needed structure. Rikki gave that to him and healed him on so many levels.
To this day, Water Bound is the book I get most letters about. Readers are touched by her strength. People who are autistic, or those who love someone with autism, they write to me with stories that encourage and touch my heart. I wrote that book hoping to touch others with Rikki’s story, but with all the letters I’ve received it is really me who has been blessed.
People with autism don’t come with labels. Perhaps you’ll realize right away that you’ve met someone with autism, but perhaps it’s not obvious and you don’t know what the signs of autism are enough to realize you’re dealing with someone who is autistic. This was the case with my character Trap from Spider Game. I purposefully didn’t say that he had Asperger’s. I have him many of the traits and put him in situations where those traits could be seen and I was happy to receive letters from readers who totally understood what was up with this character.
I find that people either love or hate Spider Game and love or hate Trap, the same goes for Tyson in Dangerous Tides. With Trap there isn’t much of a gray area with this book or character. The character had PTSD, Asperger’s and a very difficult life. He had a hard time communicating and developing close personal relationships. He expressed himself through sex with the woman who accepted him as he was and understood him. There’s was not an easy relationship, but they learned how to communicate with each other and eventually, how to love one another in a way that worked for them. It wasn’t a traditional relationship and some readers loved that and some had a hard time with it. And that’s okay. A book works for you or it doesn’t. You like a character or you don’t. But I wanted to write Trap’s story, the good, bad and ugly of it, and show that there’s always a way to find love. There’s someone out there that is a “fit” who will accept who and how you are.
Tyson could be distant and sometimes forget everything and everyone around him as he worked. But, what people saw as a fault or failing in him was actually his gift because he was saving lives with his research, his determination.
Autism is a part of my life. The people in my life who have autism have taught me so many things. They’ve taught me patience. They’ve taught me to see life in a different way. They’ve taught me that we all have something special about us. They’ve taught me that different is beautiful. Having them in my life has made me a better person and my life a little brighter.
GhostWalker Research and How It Fits In With The Stories Part 1 of 4
I’m often asked how much of my GhostWalker series is based on true science and how much is entirely in my imagination. Toxic Game will be out March 12th so I wanted to spend time on discussing some of the interesting and unbelievable research I’ve discovered.
Whether or not the information was solid science or speculation I do delve into as much as I can so that my stories are as solid as science fiction can be. Some of the research will be familiar and some may surprise you.
From autism to superconductors and from locations to weapons I hope you’ll enjoy learning more about the world of GhostWalkers and GhostWalker research.
AUTISM
Autism is a form of Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) that affects the functioning of the brain. This disorder typically shows up in the first three years of life and people afflicted with autism have difficulty communicating and interacting with others. Approximately 1 in 250 children are diagnosed with autism, with a four times greater incidence in boys than girls. It is estimated that 1.5 million Americans suffer from some form of this disease and this number is increasing annually. Treatment for autism is very individualized depending on severity and symptoms. The ultimate goal is to provide highly organized structure to allow the child to communicate better and interact socially with others.
For more information visit:
• http://www.autism-society.org/
• https://www.autism.com/
I’ve addressed autism in other series as well. The topic is something I know a great deal about because I’ve research it, but also because I have friends and family members on the spectrum.
An example of how I’ve included this in the GhostWalker series can be seen in Spider Game. Trap Dawkins has Asperger’s. He has difficulties interacting with others socially. He’s a very logical and matter-of-fact guy and this can sometimes lead to the appearance of apathy. Trap is brilliant and comfortable with what he does. When he meets Cayenne and falls in love it’s very profound for him. Cayenne realizes what Trap needs to function and to be in a relationship and because she loves him, she gives him what he needs.
TELEKINESIS
The ability to affect the physical world with your mind. Several of the GhostWalkers have this ability to varying degrees. There’s a great deal of research available on telekinesis and it’s fun to go online and see videos about it.
Telekinesis, also referred to as psychokinesis or pk, is ability to affect the property of things or to move them. Some may also refer to this ability as mind over matter. The actual mechanisms of this extraordinary gift are unknown at this point to the scientific world. Some hypothesize that it is a physical manifestation of the brain on the physical world. There is a lot of speculation on telekinesis without much data at this point.
For more information visit:
• What You Need to Know About... Telekinesis
This type of gift can be found in Conspiracy Game with Jack Norton, in Shadow Game including Lily Whitney and Ryland Miller, Predatory Game, Deadly Game’s Ken Norton, Sam Johnson in Samurai Game has this ability as does Tucker Addison who we meet in Shadow Game. I’m sure there are others that I’m forgetting, but you can see that it ends up being fairly prevalent with the GhostWalkers.
Of course a big part of the GhostWalker mythology has to do with genetic enhancements. We know about the psychic enhancements, but there is also genetic manipulation that includes enhancements of existing abilities, but also splicing and merging of DNA, which was done a great deal by Whitney.
GENETIC ENHANCEMENT
Genetic enhancement is a term normally used to describe alterations of genes not related to disease. In other words genetic enhancement is the modification of genes to create better than normal results. For instance, scientists have been able to enhance a cow to overdevelop muscle and produce nearly zero fat. The implications of gene enhancement are huge.
Theoretically we may be able to create athletes that can jump farther, run faster, last longer or develop animals that grow more quickly than normal with higher body weight for quicker butchering. The possibilities are limitless and a little scary.
For more information visit:
• http://www.genome.gov/10004767
• http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/?newsid=5949
If I were to name all of the GhostWalker books that has this I’d likely be naming ALL the GhostWalker books. But, some abilities really stand out that include the genetic manipulation such as the ability to easily climb up walls or adhere to the ceiling. Spinning spider webs or killing with venom is an extreme bit of science fiction, but fun just the same.
I’d love to know what abilities you’d like to have if you were a GhostWalker!
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