Rethinking Autism: Autistics Speak

This is great to see.. an organization/website that wants the attitude about autism that is presented in the media to show more respect and dignity towards those individuals who have autism.

It was 2 1/2 years ago that I wrote a post expressing my dissatisfaction about how autism was being portrayed in the media.

Autistic Pride Day

June 18 is Autistic Pride Day. What is Autistic Pride Day? Take a look at this link for the answer directly from the group who created it, Aspies for Freedom.

This date was unknown to me until just a few nights ago, when I found it while looking around for some things on the internet. I was thrilled that I happened to find out about it only a few days before it was to be celebrated! It is nice to know that at a day has been chosen to recognize that there are those who do not regard autism as a tragedy.

Hopefully there will be a day when the voices who sound this opinion will be louder than the voices sounding despair and tragedy. Most of all, hopefully there will be a day when all people are treated with dignity and respect, and all human life is valued and appreciated, no matter how "difficult" or "challenging" the situation might be.

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!

A Favorite Thing: Scripting!

Yesterday we had the pleasure of friends visiting and joining us for lunch. I watched some of my friend's children while she went out for a while and then she returned and visited with me for a bit. Our children are good friends and they had a great time playing together.

Later in the day, at dinner time, my husband had to stay late at work so I tried getting some conversation going at the table.

Me: "What was your favorite part of today?"

Oldest son: "The (friends) coming over!"

Youngest son: "Yeah, the (friends) coming over!"

Daughter: "The (friends) coming over!"

Me: "Samuel, what was your favorite part of today?"

Samuel: "Scripting! Watching videos without the television
on!"

It is very apparent to all of us that Samuel likes to script, he is absorbed in it for much of his day. While I do not want it to get in the way of the things he needs to do, I try not to let it worry me too much. I try to redirect him when I can. While we are at the table doing school work, I will stop and wait for him to pay attention when he is scripting before we continue with our work. Sometimes this works and sometimes we wait quite while. I have noticed that when Samuel has something VERY reinforcing following school work, he is much more motivated to pay attention and attend to his work.

I have talked to a few moms with children older than Samuel who have had this issue to deal with. Some of their children have gotten to a point where they realize that there are appropriate times and places to script. Perhaps they are given a period of time each day where they can go to their room and take some time to script.

Samuel really enjoys scripting, so I don't want to try and take it away from him completely, but at the same time I want him to understand that it cannot take over his life.

Is this an issue for any of you? How do you deal with it?

I have heard that it is best not to draw attention directly to the behavior. In other words, we shouldn't go around all the time saying, "Stop scripting, stop scripting...," redirecting is a better strategy. However, I have noticed in the last year or so that I can have conversations with Samuel about the fact that there are appropriate times and places to script. It's better if I have these conversations with him at times that I'm not correcting him to stop.

Back to Samuel's answer at the table, I'm going to have to find out what he meant by "watching videos without the television on." I wonder if he was refering to scripting or if he was talking about looking at video cases.

Autism Awareness Month

As Autism Awareness Month approached this year I was gearing up to write some posts on the subject, but it seems that I have been overcome with a spell of writer's block and busy Mom syndrome, at least for the time being!

Here are a few quotes from things I have watched or read in the last week or prior to that:

"Art is the voice of autism." I heard this on the hour long show that CNN did about autism around the world last Tuesday afternoon. While I don't necessarily think that all individuals with autism are necessarily artists, I can see that art can be a good outlet for many individuals with autism. For my son, music is the form of art that he seems to be most drawn to.

"Finding a cure for autism is like finding a cure for blue eyes." This quote is on the home page of a My Space page done by a teenage girl who identifies herself as Female 15 years old Dudley, Midlands United Kingdom. I like this quote. The more I hear about autism and the supposed "epidemic" of it that is occurring, the more I am convinced that it is something that has been a part of humanity all along, as Roy Richard Grinker shares in his book "Unstrange Minds." This is a quote I have shared before:

This book therefore addresses the clear rise in the prevalence of autism - and, more precisely, the range of conditions now called autism spectrum disorders -- by exploring the cultural factors that have changed our perspectives on children and mental disorders. The shift in how we view autism, in other words, is part of a set of broader shifts taking place in
society.

....the newer, higher, more accurate statistics on autism are a sign that we are finally seeing and appreciating a kind of human difference that we once turned away from and that many other cultures still hide away in homes or
institututions or denigrate as bizarre.

I don't want Autism Awareness Month to be a month of fear and pity, I want to see more Autism Acceptance!