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.

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!