Americans with Disabilities Act Anniversary Celebration: We’ve posted photos of this White House event, attended by ASAN President Ari Ne’eman, at which President Barack Obama signed a proclamation commemorating the ADA and the rights of people with disabilities.
An essay by Maddy McEwen. It makes for a delightful easy splot of nostalgia; ‘what will you be when you grow up?’ [We apply this to all family members on the theory that some day we adults may have different jobs!] Oh how it changes. All the usual fire fighter, super hero, artist options never see the light of day. Instead we have an eclectic collection of options, phases that they grow through. Do not allow your older children to destroy it as evidence they now find embarrassingly babyish.
Long Term Services and Supports Advocated: ASAN and several other disability rights organizations have sent a joint letter to Secretary Sebelius urging that the Community Choice Act, which would eliminate the institutional bias in Medicaid and enable people with disabilities to live in the community, be included in health care reform legislation.
Collaborative Research Project: A gateway for research committed to inclusion, respect, accessibility, and community relevance, the AASPIRE Gateway Project is recruiting participants with and without disabilities and participants on the autistic spectrum.
ASAN has issued a statement commenting on the AFAA report by Autism Speaks and several other organizations, which discusses adult supports and services.
Attwood himself started using, and still uses, the term “Cassandra Phenomenon” and also feels quite comfortable using “affective deprivation” at the same time that he publicly pretends to distance himself from the whole concept. In addition his unprofessional talk of the partner of a person with AS “becoming Aspie- it’s an infectious process” is both inaccurate and also demeaning.
Dr. Tony Attwood Provides Inadequate Reply: After ASAN called on him to disassociate himself from hate groups, Dr. Attwood replied with only a form letter, sent to numerous recipients, which wholly failed to address his associations with Maxine Aston and FAAAS and the ongoing harm to Autistics and others with disabilities resulting from these associations.
ASAN President Ari Ne’eman was profiled in Newsweek Magazine discussing the Autistic community’s concerns around genetic testing and the need for a new direction in…
Where do rights come from? We go out to the world and we tell them in so many ways that it is time for our rights to be realized. We talk about inclusion, we talk about integration, we talk about access, but when we are asked why, our answers are typically phrased in the language of either cost-benefit or desperate need. The one turns our civil rights struggle into a conversation on policy technicalities; the other evokes the very charity-oriented model of disability support that we have been trying to escape.
Like other people with disabilities, many autistic people who are victims of abusive relationships are particularly vulnerable and may have great difficulty escaping from a life-threatening situation. If, because of the bigoted stereotype that the autistic partner is always to blame for family problems, an abused autistic’s cries for help go unanswered, this could result in her death at the hands of her abuser.
Augmentative and Alternative Communication: Since communication difficulties are experienced by many, if not most, people on the autism spectrum, funding research in this area should be a high priority. Advances in communication technology, and the development of AAC options that are affordable, will have a practical application to the lives of people on the autism spectrum, throughout the entire lifespan.
An article in Salon.com describes the prominent role of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network in advancing the Autistic culture and seeking to improve quality of life and…
