Autism Acceptance Starts a Big Debate

Finally, a story on a "mainstream" news show about neurodiversity and autism acceptance! Click on the video link below to watch. I missed this when it was on, but thanks so much to Andrea for sharing this on your blog.

I have hoped for the autism acceptance movement to get attention like this for a long time. My frustration with the public perception of autism was one of the inspirations that I had to begin this blog almost a year and a half ago.

I am so glad that Kristina Chew had the opportunity to be interviewed. She is a wonderful spokesperson for us parents who accept their child's autism and I have always enjoyed reading her blog. Hers was one of the first blogs I came across done by a parent who seemed to accept her child as he was.

Ari Ne-eman's quote "anti-cure doesn't mean anti-progress" is terrific. He is right, just because a parent doesn't think his child needs to be "cured" doesn't mean that he doesn't think that they should be left without any education or not taught skills and strategies to deal with their challenges. I think what it does mean is that he has hope, and is willing to rise to the challenge of teaching his child to live the best kind of life that he can. Even on the bad days, he will love his child and do his best to assist. Remember, this is the same job that parents of neurotypical children have. There are just a lot more challenges for the parent of an autistic child.

Kristina Chew stated that, "Acceptance, to me, is the beginning of hope." I agree with this as well. How can a parent have hope if she doesn't accept her child ?

Here is a link to the text of this video clip. I'm amazed at the challenges to "acceptance" that are in the comments after this article. I had to laugh at Diane Sawyer and the reporter in the video when they said "Neurodiversity," there's a new word! Where have they been? This term was around a year and a half ago, which was when I became familiar with it. I'm sure it had been around a while before that too!