14 posts tagged “autistic”
I am a convert to Greek Orthodoxy. I make short films as a hobby. I am a former college dj and I love many styles of music from popular to obscure. I like attending live shows (especially in small venues). I own a Moog synthesizer and a theramin. I like to watch sci-fi, fantasy, horror, drama, anime, experimental, Samurai films and television programs. My favorite tv show is probably House. I tend to read a lot of non-fiction especially essays. I enjoy hanging out at the book store and coffee shops. Walking is my favourite form of exercise. I have taken Judo, Tai Chi and Kuk Sool Won. While I never excelled at these arts I found them very rewarding. I have a tiny Papillon (butterfly dog) who I am training to be an Autism Assistance Dog. I am interested in linguistics and am studying Esperanto. However, the owner of the Mexican grocery store is encouraging me to learn Spanish and is eager to help. These are just a few facts about myself.
"Kristi Saecker said her 12-year-old son, Jacob Saecker, hasn't been
to school since mid-April when district officials told Jacob his dog,
Thor, was not welcome at Thorner School. He's been on independent study
since then. Kristi Saecker said her son has a high-functioning form of
autism, a developmental disorder that makes it difficult for him to
focus, communicate and interact with others."
from the article 'Helper dog banned'
In the article 'Don't Mourn For Us' Jim Sinclair writes:
Autism isn't something a person has, or a "shell" that a person is trapped inside. There's no normal child hidden behind the autism. Autism is a way of being. It is pervasive; it colors every experience, every sensation, perception, thought, emotion, and encounter, every aspect of existence. It is not possible to separate the autism from the person--and if it were possible, the person you'd have left would not be the same person you started with.
This is important, so take a moment to consider it: Autism is a way of being. It is not possible to separate the person from the autism.
Therefore, when parents say,
"I wish my child did not have autism,"
what they're really saying is,
"I wish the autistic child I have did not exist, and I had a different (non-autistic) child instead."
Read that again. This is what we hear when you mourn over our existence. This is what we hear when you pray for a cure. This is what we know, when you tell us of your fondest hopes and dreams for us: that your greatest wish is that one day we will cease to be, and strangers you can love will move in behind our faces.
Autism Every Day is a controversial video from Autism Speaks (a group which has recently merged with Cure Autism Now). At first the video appears to be the usual doom and gloom presentation which we've come to expect from the self proclaimed autism advocate groups. But the video becomes far more disturbing as it progresses. At one point in the video Alison Singer (the vice president of Autism Speaks) describes how she considered putting her autistic child in the car and driving it off the George Washington Bridge. There is also a separate intro video presented by Don Imus (no I'm not making this up).
