An essay by Gwen McKay. Autistic individuals may, for example, rock back and forth when they are anxious or flap their hands when they are happy and excited. Behavioral programs often focus on suppressing these autistic traits because they are socially stigmatized, without considering whether they serve any useful neurological functions such as processing the associated emotions and their expression in language.
By mid-October, I found myself going to the local food pantry. The last time I’d been there was between the endless succession of jobs won and lost, when I couldn’t pinch another penny and the food money ran low. This time I was there because I wanted to volunteer. I’d always meant to do so, because I don’t like taking handouts; but the food pantry is open during the day and I usually had classes then, so I was limited to the church library and the cat shelter.
An essay by Elesia Ashkenazy. A parent’s main concern is going to be to help their child by utilizing whatever means are available. Good Parenting 101 = Help Your Child No Matter What. Parents will naturally lean toward autism-focused groups and/or organizations offering help and support. Inspecting the inner-workings of such groups and organizations may be the last thing on a parent’s mind when they are knee-deep in making sense of the new course or path their life has taken.
An essay by Mark Stairwalt. For all that I’m still learning something new every week about what’s been happening with autism in society over the last decade or so, that fact itself provides me with a perspective that is likely unique from that of just about anyone else writing on the subject. Until a few months ago when I went out looking again, my picture of this world I’m writing about now was frozen in time, hardly updated at all since about 1999.
An essay by Elesia Ashkenazy. Media plays a colossal role in shaping public perception. Unfortunately, disability in the media is often centered around fear and pity, or treated with benevolence and do-goodery. Well-intentioned or not, such messages are adverse, ruinous, and useless in raising and shaping effective and positive mass consciousness.
ASAN’s ongoing protests against Autism Speaks and condemnation of the “I Am Autism” video were discussed in a Time.com article, which also mentioned the numerous parodies…
A report on the proposed changes to the diagnostic criteria for autism and the deletion of the Asperger’s Syndrome diagnostic category included an interview with ASAN President…
ASAN’s protest against Autism Speaks in Washington DC on October 31, 2009, received local media coverage that included a WAMU news story and an article…
Disability Coalition Calls on Sponsors to End Support for Autism Speaks: Over 60 disability rights organizations sent a joint letter to Autism Speaks’ sponsors, stating that the use of fear, stigma, misinformation and prejudice against Autistic people as a fundraising tool does real damage to people with disabilities everywhere.
Joint Letter to be Released: More than 60 national, international, and local disability rights organizations have signed onto a letter condemning the organization Autism Speaks for exploiting those it purports to help.
An essay by Stephanie Allen Crist. It’s human nature to disagree. It’s human nature to degrade. It’s human nature to let prejudice, assumptions, and ignorance sway our thoughts and emotions. It’s human nature to have to fight for the rights and worth of minority groups. … I do not believe human beings, as a species, will ever get passed these fundamental flaws.
ASAN President Ari Ne’eman and ASAN’s cross-disability campaign against Autism Speaks and its “I Am Autism” video were featured in articles that ran in New Scientist…
