The Amazing Race with Zev and Justin
Zev has Asperger's Syndrome and is running The Amazing Race with his best friend Justin
We love The Amazing Race. This year The Amazing Race has a team, Zev and Justin. Zev has Asperger's Syndrome and I think it's wonderful that he's running the race!
Zev and Justin are best friends, have been for about 6 years now.
Zev is proving, through running The Amazing Race (Season 15), that kids and adults with this "affliction" can do anything, and I am so proud of him.
The first episode of The Amazing Race with Zev and Justin aired this past Sunday, September 27 2009, and Zev did a couple things that made me hit my forehead and say "Wow! That's exactly what Cameron (our only son, and he struggles with this syndrome) would do!".
For example, one of the areas the teams were in was terribly flooded.
Zev made the comment (not verbatim), "I don't want to get my shoes wet. Maybe I'll take my shoes off so they don't get wet."
That is SO Cameron. He loves shoes and he HATES when his shoes get wet. Matter of fact, unless he absolutely has to go outside when it's wet, he won't go because, he says, "I don't want to get my shoes wet, I hate when my shoes get wet!".
Another thing Zev did was to pull off his jacket and give it to another guy (this guy was not part of The Amazing Race, he was presumably a local).
Once again, that is SO Cameron. I often say about him "he'll give you the shirt off his back, the food off his plate, and the money out of his wallet".
True this isn't always a good thing (because it allows these kids and adults to be taken advantage of) but it sure showed the generosity of these guys/gals when Zev gave his jacket to that guy.
One of the other contestants in The Amazing Race, I believe it was Ericka, commented in one of her interviews about the fact that Zev had given his jacket to the guy, and how that was one of the most selfless acts she had ever seen.
Justin has stated that Zev is not great in large groups of people, (one of the characteristics of AS) which will be one of the biggest challenges he'll have to overcome during The Amazing Race. This is also something that Cameron deals with.
Anyone who is intimately familiar with Asperger's Syndrome can hear it when Zev speaks. This is just another characteristic of some people with this syndrome, they speak in somewhat of a monotone voice.
I am overjoyed to say the least that Zev is running The Amazing Race!
It's going to bring a heightened awareness to the world (or at least to people who watch The Amazing Race with Zev and Justin) about Aspies, and it's going to encourage a lot of parents of kids/adults "afflicted" that their child just might be capable of something great, which (as I know from experience) is a hard thing to believe sometimes about your child when you watch him struggling to fit in to, and understand, the world.
I was devastated when they lost their clue in the first episode, I was so afraid that they were going to be last, and I really want these guys to go far, even win The Amazing Race.
Thank goodness they found it and they weren't last, they're still running The Amazing Race!
And then after Zev had herded the ducks so incredibly well, Justin commented "Who knew he was the duck whisperer". Truly who would know? It was absolutely amazing how he managed those ducks, I was tickled at how well he did.
Zev has also shown that he has a sense of humor, something that is hard for people with AS. Often times they don't "get" jokes and I'm sure there will be times that Zev won't "get" something but that's just the way it is.
Hopefully the other contestants will understand this and work with it.
The Amazing Race with Zev and Justin is one season that I am really looking forward to watching.
Go Zev and Justin!!
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The Amazing Race with Zev and Justin Episode Two
The Amazing Race with Zev and Justin Episode Three and final =(
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For as much time as I spend researching Asperger's Syndrome this website should have thousands of pages but because my son has Asperger's Syndrome I find that the things I want to work on very often are not the things that I have to work on so I'm still not able to spend as much time on it as I'd like to.
As he heads into adulthood (he turned 18 on Dec 13 and yes I need to update some things at my website such as my home page that says he's 17) I'm finding that I have even less time on my hands as I spend more time trying to master the puzzle of how to help him transition into "life after high school".
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Please contact me if you'd like to send a copy of your book to me for review. I would absolutely love it!
Fiction, Non-fiction, Auto-Biographies, Instructional books, etc. I'm interested in them all. :) And if you autograph it that would be SUPER cool! ;)