Autism Profiles - Jerry Newport
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Jerry Newport helped found a support group for adults with autism, "Adults Gathering, United and Autistic" (AGUA) in 1993. Jerry is from Los Angeles, CA.
Q. When were you diagnosed with Autism or Aspergers?
A. I was diagnosed in the fall of 1995. I was 47. Drs. B.J. Freeman and James Simmons of UCLA interviewed and diagnosed me.
Q. If you were diagnosed in childhood, what was it like growing up with Autism/Aspergers?
A. I was not diagnosed formally as a child. My dad suspected something. When I was eight, he told me about a fellow he had heard of, a math genius named Boris Sidas, whose father pushed him to be good in that at the expense of everything else. Poor Boris, who I later learned was probably autistic, never developed human relations skills and died at an early age, broke, in New York City. My father was concerned that I needed to handle people as well as I could handle numbers.
In comparison to most, I think I had a pretty happy childhood. My family accepted me as being a little more eccentric than the average Newport, but acceptable. My social awareness, or lack of it, was not a big deal to them, as they figured I would outgrow it. Once my savant skills became public knowledge, I was a celebrity. I sometimes liked that and often hated it, but at least I had an identity. If anything, people gave me too much credit, but in retrospect, I would rather be the subject of too much optimism than negativism.
The best thing about my family was that it was structured without going over the edge. My two older brothers gave me a lot to follow, in terms of the activities I chose. They also, with me, kept the house more in the state of a manageable mess than a paragon of neatness. We usually ate together and had lots of longwinded, ridiculous arguments about everything under the sun. And we had all kinds of pets; budgies, hamsters, rabbits, cats, dogs and even a pet box turtle. The animals helped me get more comfortable with being touched. My dad's favorite fish was one he called Blackey. He had it trained to come up to the top of the tank whenever he tapped the side.
Both my brothers and my father were very visual. Dad never needed a map to drive to anywhere he had ever been to. His best friend from college was a famous western illustrator, Tom Lovell. My oldest brother, John, won his first academic prize in astronomy and my middle brother, Jim, is a very successful movie art director. Dad loved to take us to see things, especially when he wanted to inspire us. I know it was a weekend visit to Tom Lovell's home that sold Jim on a career in art and I still remember a trip he took me on, to the "Atom Smasher" at Brookhaven National Laboratory. So, while my family was relatively normal, we shared some of the more fun aspects of AS in a soul mate way and that was a big blessing.
Q. What would you like people to know about Autism/Aspergers?
A. I would like them to know that we are just as human as they are, in our own way. We have unique ways of expressing ourselves and are often misunderstood.
Q. What can you tell me about your school days?
A. They were probably the most fun of my life. The structure was re-assuring. I really enjoyed math and science clubs and instrumental music. I was not good at team sports but enjoyed track and cross country. I always had good grades and had perfect attendance for almost eight years until the middle of the eighth grade. I loved sports and managed the basketball team and the cross country team when I cut up my feet, clamming and couldn't run one fall.
Socially, I was a late starter. I was much shyer among individuals than with groups of people. And tactile defensiveness didn't help much towards intimacy, either. I had reputation for being outspoken, ludicrously so, including an article on Flatulence that is still a classic of the school newspaper.
Q. What types of supports were needed versus what was received when you were in school?
A. It would have helped to have had some peer support. I had a low self image and was always trying to be what I thought others wanted me to be, rather than accept myself. This included the types of girls I tried to date, usually not really my type, but the cheerleader type I thought would make me look good to others. The lack of self-esteem is a big problem in the adult autism community.
Where I really needed support was in college. There were too many options available and I didn't always pick the right ones. It would have been nice to see a counselor on a monthly basis and avoid graduating totally clueless about my professional or social identity.
Q. How can local communities be more supportive of people with autism/aspergers?
A. Give them a chance. Emphasize the positives. Treat them like people. After all, they are. Don't make any assumptions because of a label.
Q. How has Autism/Aspergers impacted serious relationships with others?
A. I had a marriage fail because, partly, my discomfort with real intimacy and difficulty compromising. I am still getting over that.
Q. What types of things have been beneficial in helping people understand you?
A. Being able to share my experiences in a positive light has helped me feel better about all of the years I wasted. My support group has been there when I needed it. The best thing about that is it will last after I don't and I have always wanted to leave the world with something it didn't have before I was part of it.
Q. What suggestions do you have for families and friends of persons with Autism/Aspergers?
A. Don't throw away your own life to help another. You have to take care of yourself, too. If you don't, you can't help anyone else. Rome wasn't built in a day. It took at least a week. Help your person with autism/AS to be the best person he can be. Don't make him hate himself if he can never be normal. He only has to be the best version of himself that was intended.
Without promoting religion, I remember hearing once that God created us in his own image. If so, then he included us autistics too and maybe that's why all of the planets spin.
