neurodiversity

Impending Doom of a Sandcastle (by maveric2003, Flickr Creative Commons)

All Done Autism Awareness

by Shannon Des Roches Rosa There’s a saying we overuse in my household: “All done, [X]!” We’ve actually swiped the saying from our son Leo,…

Read More »
Sunflowers (photo by bgreenlee, Flickr Creative Commons)

Plants Outside the Shade

by Amanda Baggs   This is a personal description of some of what autism means to me. Because even among other autistic people such descriptions…

Read More »
photo of Lydia Brown

Dear well-meaning strangers

from Lydia Brown, at Autistic Hoya Dear well-meaning strangers, During this month, you will be bombarded with public service announcements, billboards, letters, emails, graphics, and…

Read More »
photo of Kathryn Bjornstad-Kelly

Awareness Is Not Enough

by Kathryn Bjornstad-Kelly I knew autism awareness before I knew I was Autistic.  I didn’t know what autism was, but I heard the word all…

Read More »

Wired.com Interview

ASAN President Ari Ne’eman gave an exclusive interview to Wired.com editor Steve Silberman about the shift in the national dialogue on autism toward issues of civil rights,…

Read More »

Big Trucks and the Work that Needs Doing

An essay by Mark Stairwalt. Years ago, before the coming of the cell phone, I was the driver of a Freightliner FLD 120, an imposing, long-nosed boat of a semi tractor that crisscrossed the United States and parts of Canada with a 53-foot trailer in tow. Never mind that as a driver of a commercial vehicle one ends up memorizing the locations of countless truckstops, customers, scale houses, steep grades, and unlikely parking spots; what was truly impressive back then was that drivers would end up cataloging the locations of every accessible payphone along every route in every state we frequented.

Read More »

Bringing Neurodiversity into the Classroom

An essay by Stephanie Allen Crist. A little boy steps off the bus, confused by his unexpected surroundings. This year—the year he starts kindergarten—the bus stops at the backdoor of a new school, instead of the front entrance of his neighborhood school, after a much longer bus ride. Maybe he knows he’s being ushered into this new school through the backdoor, maybe he doesn’t. Maybe he even knows the classroom he enters is segregated from his peers.

Read More »