Hi Steve,
How lovely that complete strangers have gone out of their way to say how much they admire how you deal with folks. While your AS is visible, and may have contributed to why they spoke up, I suspect that if you never had AS, folks would still find you to be an inspiration and that the way you deal with folks would still be compassionate and admirable.
Has my AS ever opened a good window? Yes, I do think it has ... the most obvious being that I've met and made some dear friends in here. Another good window - while I like to think that I was and would have been a compassionate and sympathetic sort regardless of AS, it brings to mind a man I saw on a train years ago. He was very young, probably in his late teens, and I noticed his eyes as the train would stop at each station and start up again. He was standing (crowded train with no seats left) and despite a brave face, his eyes betrayed pain. Then I noticed the discrete black cane tucked next to his leg. With my eyes, I offered him my seat, and without a word, he thanked me and accepted.
So a person in pain offering a seat to another in pain, on a crowded train in the morning rush hour. (There is a song in there somewhere.) I like to think that as a group, we've all experienced similar moments, countless times. We are in a sort of brotherhood.
And, Alan is in here with us ...!!!
