Latest Posts

Career Choices for autistic people

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.

July 25, 2009

Joint Letter to Secretary Sebelius on the Community Choice Act

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.

July 20, 2009

ASAN Announces the AASPIRE Gateway Project

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.

June 25, 2009

Response to Autism Speaks’ AFAA Report

ASAN has issued a statement commenting on the AFAA report by Autism Speaks and several other organizations, which discusses adult supports and services.

June 25, 2009

Tony Attwood Says What He Really Thinks

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.

June 22, 2009

ASAN’s Response to Dr. Tony Attwood

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.

June 15, 2009

My middle name

An essay by Melanie Yergeau. The map is new, and I know it all. I hop from one painted state to the next, reciting each capital, each state bird, each state nickname, each state flower, each state population as of 1989, the year imprinted on the spines of my World Book Encyclopedia set.

May 30, 2009

Newsweek Article

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…

May 15, 2009

NFB Disability Law Symposium Keynote from ASAN President Ari Ne’eman

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.

May 8, 2009

Cassandra’s Impact on Autistic Victims of Domestic Violence

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.

May 6, 2009

Comments at May 4, 2009 IACC Meeting

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.

May 4, 2009

Autistic Culture Discussed

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…

April 27, 2009