David William Plummer > Quotes

“While it is certainly true that bullies typically pick on children they perceive as weak, it is also true that there is a wide selection of weak children to choose from, so what is it about children with autism that tends to attract their wrath? One key factor is that children with autism tend not to roam in packs! For example, a child with autism may be able to tolerate the stress and required masking of the classroom for a few hours but might need the respite of recess to take a break and be away from other people for a bit. This alone time exposes them to greater risk. But is there anything about the behavior of the child with autism that attracts bullying?”
― David William Plummer, Secrets of the Autistic Millionaire: Everything I know about Autism, ASD, and Asperger's that I wish I'd known back then...

“Speaking is a complex, real-time process requiring cognitive, linguistic, and motor coordination, which can be challenging for some individuals with autism.  Writing or typing, on the other hand, allows for more time to process thoughts, structure sentences, and express oneself without the immediate pressures of verbal communication.”
― David William Plummer, The Nonvisible Part of the Autism Spectrum : Could You be a "Little Bit Autistic?"

“Set in Bookman Old Style and Century Gothic”
― David William Plummer, The Nonvisible Part of the Autism Spectrum : Could You be a "Little Bit Autistic?"

“resting bitch face,”
― David William Plummer, The Nonvisible Part of the Autism Spectrum : Could You be a "Little Bit Autistic?"

“Back to School As surreal as being a grown adult in high school was, it was also brief: in only one semester I had completed enough credits to obtain my diploma. From there I went directly to the “Adult Entry Program” at my local university and enrolled. I would spend one semester in remedial classes to catch up on missing prerequisites and then college would begin in earnest. One might imagine that by now I would have learned that being a good student takes significant effort, but I continued to coast my first semester, missing classes, and skipping homework. Then, one time after missing a few days in a row, I returned to discover the professor handing back a midterm exam –– one that I had not written! Apparently, I had skipped class that day. Although it would not lead to me failing the class (and as a remedial class it would not affect my overall grade,) it did require a “mercy pass” on the part of the instructor to get me through. The approach I’d been following all along simply wasn’t working. I had the right goals now but evidently I still lacked the right approach. As I think it might be for many people, the fundamental shift in how I went about things came with the realization that I was not going to school because I had to. No one was making me go. I was there of my own accord, for my own purposes and reasons. This understanding completely transformed the way I went about school; from that point forward, I treated it as something I wanted for myself, and I worked accordingly. By the end of my next semester, I was on the academic Dean’s List, and I would graduate with Great Distinction from the Honors program four years later.”
― David William Plummer, Secrets of the Autistic Millionaire: Everything I know about Autism, ASD, and Asperger's that I wish I'd known back then...

“To simply guess is literally sometimes the best we can do when we try our very hardest to understand what another person is experiencing emotionally. And of course, it varies from person to person.”
― David William Plummer, Secrets of the Autistic Millionaire: Everything I know about Autism, ASD, and Asperger's that I wish I'd known back then...

“While I enjoyed geometry, I was poor at algebra and worse at calculus. I struggled all through high school, and again in college until I discovered discrete and combinatorial math, which just clicked for me… but the symbol-processing of calculus frustrated me to no end.”
― David William Plummer, Secrets of the Autistic Millionaire: Everything I know about Autism, ASD, and Asperger's that I wish I'd known back then...

“I believe it is in part what makes works of fiction compelling to neurotypical readers.”
― David William Plummer, Secrets of the Autistic Millionaire: Everything I know about Autism, ASD, and Asperger's that I wish I'd known back then...

“It has only been in recent years that I have paid genuine attention to the fact that others have their own “small-T” truth perspectives.  I begrudgingly accept that they are likely as valid as my own (something I still struggle with in the moment)! ”
― David William Plummer, The Nonvisible Part of the Autism Spectrum : Could You be a "Little Bit Autistic?"

“I really cannot tolerate the style of banter that some couples engage in, the kind where they jokingly insult each other and lovingly poke fun at each other’s foibles. As I take it literally first no matter how hard I try, it always stings and is never enjoyable, even if I know the intent is harmless.”
― David William Plummer, Secrets of the Autistic Millionaire: Everything I know about Autism, ASD, and Asperger's that I wish I'd known back then...

“I have high-functioning autism, often known as Asperger’s. As a result, I suffer from lower central coherence in that I often get bogged down in the details and can miss the big picture; I need you to help me stay focused on what’s truly important in the case. I am unduly troubled by any inaccurate details even if they are not relevant. Help me look past them. I am particularly bad at adapting to unwanted and unexpected change, experiencing frustration easily when things do not seem to be going my way. I can become distracted and need encouragement to move through such hard moments. I also like to be personally involved and informed with the current state and details of the case more than others might, and I need you to balance those desires with what’s practical.”
― David William Plummer, Secrets of the Autistic Millionaire: Everything I know about Autism, ASD, and Asperger's that I wish I'd known back then...

“One quirk of folks who find themselves on the spectrum is that they will often look back upon social interactions they’ve had of late and replay them in their minds.”
― David William Plummer, The Nonvisible Part of the Autism Spectrum : Could You be a "Little Bit Autistic?"

“I built long tables of every space launch, Russian and American, of every probe and lander, manned or unmanned. I knew them all by heart and my teacher, Mrs. Harvey, asked me to write special reports on the subject that kept me engaged in a way that the standard curriculum simply could not. Not every teacher was so accommodating.  One year, the solution for keeping me engaged was effectively to move me ahead by one grade. Then, to “correct” for this unauthorized advancement when discovered a few years later, I was then forced to repeat sixth grade over. In my mind, this felt the same as being unfairly demoted an entire grade, and that left a bad taste that soured me on school and homework for many years to come. I’ve always been willing to work exceptionally hard at any chance to move ahead, but deeply resent setbacks not of my own making.”
― David William Plummer, Secrets of the Autistic Millionaire: Everything I know about Autism, ASD, and Asperger's that I wish I'd known back then...

“A person with autism can be fully loving and caring but may at the same time be largely oblivious to what is going on around them emotionally. They can entirely miss the emotional needs of a neurotypical partner or friend. This is a failure of their emotional communication and processing and not necessarily one of capacity or intent.”
― David William Plummer, Secrets of the Autistic Millionaire: Everything I know about Autism, ASD, and Asperger's that I wish I'd known back then...

“some researchers and clinicians use the term “broad autism phenotype” (BAP) to describe individuals who exhibit mild or subclinical symptoms of ASD.”
― David William Plummer, The Nonvisible Part of the Autism Spectrum : Could You be a "Little Bit Autistic?"

“In the coming weeks, I released the program to the internet; I titled it MemTurbo. Sales”
― David William Plummer, Secrets of the Autistic Millionaire: Everything I know about Autism, ASD, and Asperger's that I wish I'd known back then...

“I can be both confident and anxious at the same time, but unless you know me very well, it’s easy to mistake that combination for grouchiness or anger. Worse, I can experience this level of anxiety without knowing why.”
― David William Plummer, Secrets of the Autistic Millionaire: Everything I know about Autism, ASD, and Asperger's that I wish I'd known back then...

“Addiction issues are beyond the scope of this book, but I’ve found the books by Allen Carr to be particularly useful and well-suited to the autistic mindset.”
― David William Plummer, The Nonvisible Part of the Autism Spectrum : Could You be a "Little Bit Autistic?"

“HyperCache,”
― David William Plummer, Secrets of the Autistic Millionaire: Everything I know about Autism, ASD, and Asperger's that I wish I'd known back then...

“so many things about the autism spectrum, this near-obsessive thinking is both a blessing and a curse.”
― David William Plummer, The Nonvisible Part of the Autism Spectrum : Could You be a "Little Bit Autistic?"