Autistic Thoughts

A Story of REAL Awareness

2008-04-03T01:05:44Z

Once upon a time there was an Awareness Month (and an Awareness Day) for people with a disability. It was launched at the behest of one of the biggest and loudest organizations concerned with those disabled people, but they were soon joined by many other organizations worldwide and the Awareness Day was soon celebrated with activities across the globe.

And for all that there were ribbons and walks and films and public service announcements, it WAS a celebration! Parents and adult self-advocates stood side by side to fight against the widespread misinformation and discrimination they faced and to find means by which they could live independantly and with dignity. Moreover, they dedicated much of their time to showcasing the ways that the disabled people contributed to the community and celebrating their rich variety of interests, skills, and hopes. Parents were inspired to "aim high" and believe in their children, and the children themselves saw the successes of others like them and were inspired to take pride in themselves. "Awareness" didn't mean fear-mongering or pity or calls for a cure; it meant love and acceptance and demands for respect. And even though the medical establishment still portrayed them as a tragedy, and even though the media maybe didn't really pay them as much attention as it could have, it was still a time of great joy and solidarity because they knew that bit by bit, they were making a difference.

The End.

..an idle daydream? A vision of what Autism Awareness Month could become, one day?
Maybe.

But it's also a true story.

"April is the cruelest month....."

2008-04-02T02:43:42Z

...too frazzled and exhausted for posting anything particularly eloquent or coherent at the moment, much to my chagrin.

Autism 'Awareness' Month begins today.

Be(a)ware.

First Post of 2008

2008-01-02T02:24:52Z

Nothing really interesting to say at the moment, but I had some interesting links I wanted to share.

Creature Discomforts- a series of ads about physical disabilities produced by Leonard Cheshire Disability and the creators of Wallace and Gromit. All of the claymation Aardman animals are voice-acted by real people talking about life with their disabilities and the obstacles they face because of inaccessibility and stigma.

D-PAN- music videos beautifully re-interpreted in ASL by deaf performers. I've kinda been perseverating on their version of "Waiting on the World to Change" and watching it over and over. :-)

the seam of skin and scales- Poem by Little Light. Very powerful and moving, regardless of whether you're cis- or transsexual.

Happy New Year, everyone!

And to All a Good Night

2007-12-27T23:49:32Z

My gifts this holiday season included a DVD of one of my favorite movies, a few interesting-looking books, a couple of scented candles, a pair of home-made pillows just the right shape for hugging, and a tentacle ball the size of my head.

Life is good.

A Letter I Don't Need to Send

2007-12-15T20:50:25Z

They did it. They actually did it.

I was in the process of writing a sad, timid little post about the offensiveness of The NYU's Ransom Notes campaign, questioning how such a campaign could be compatible with their stated mission to "eliminate the stigma of being or having a child with a psychiatric disorder", or how they intend to promote 'awareness' by conflating the effects of disorders with the effects of ostracization and stigma (not to mention conflating psychiatric disorders and developmental/neurological disabilities), by presenting exaggerated worst-case scenarios without even the slightest mention of how to recognize the conditions that they were painting such bleak pictures of.

The post was going to be entitled "A Letter I'll Never Send", because I saw no point in sending it. I was nervous and frightened of taking even these first tiny baby steps towards public self-advocacy because I'd already seen others try and fail. When a corporation's only response to criticism and outrage is to take it as "evidence that [their] approach is working", what good can one more outraged voice do? When eloquent speakers, concerned parents, and even entire disability rights organizations all seem to be falling on closed ears, what use is one more person? I felt more small and insignificant than I ever had before I'd become aware of the disability rights movement. If the best we can do is still not good enough, is there any point to even trying?

...except.
Except that it worked. Whether it was the media coverage of the criticism or the online petition or the deluge of blogs and emails and phonecalls or the fact that someone noticed Koplewicz's affiliations with Pfizer and his participation in the infamous Paxil Study 329... it worked. As of today, the ads appear to be gone, hopefully for good.

Thank you, Ari Ne'eman, Kristina Chew, Mike Stanton, Bob Kafka, Jim Ward, Autism Hub, Not Dead Yet, the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, ADAPT, TAAP, Alliance for Disabled in Action, and every blogger, advocate, parent, psychologist or other person of any creed or kind who spoke out against this. Thank you not allowing yourselves to be silenced, for fighting even when it seemed to be in vain. Thank you for making it a bit easier for people like me to add our voices to your chorus next time.

Thank you for hope.

Public Service Announcment

2007-12-04T03:25:23Z

I am really not processing coherently enough at the moment to write out a full-fledged journal entry on the matter, but I thought it to be worth mentioning that today is the International Day of Disabled Persons, set aside by the UN since 1992 "to celebrate and acknowledge the experience and capabilities of people with disabilities".

This year's theme focuses on un/under-employment and workplace discrimination. The rest of the site appears to have some pretty interesting articles as well.

In Which I Am Apparently Not Pro-Choice

2007-11-15T21:46:09Z

Many months ago, a friend of mine posted an entry asserting that anyone who would make a "I'm pro-choice, but..." statement or otherwise has any reservations about their reproductive rights stance should not truly consider themselves "pro-choice". I didn't say anything at the time; I was even less courageous about my advocacy than I am now, and everyone else commenting was falling over themselves in agreement. I didn't have the time, energy, or confidence to speak up then. I guess I still don't entirely have the confidence since I'm saying this here and now rather than at the time or somewhere they're likely to read it. Better late than never, I suppose.

I am pro-choice, but I believe that the right to choose NOT to terminate a pregnancy is as important as the right to abort.
I am pro-choice, but I believe that that choice can never truly be made freely when whole categories of people are devalued and dehumanized.
I am pro-choice, but supporting the right to abort does not necessitate believing that every choice to abort is morally right.
I am pro-choice, but I don't believe that some types of people are more worthy of being born than others.
I am pro-choice, but I won't assume that a disabled person is being exploited if I see them protesting with a pro-life crowd.
I am pro-choice, but I don't believe that fetuses are interchangeable, or that choosing to let a child with a disability be born is somehow depriving a hypothetical non-disabled child of existence.
I am pro-choice, but choosing to abort because "people like that are just burdens on society", "have no quality of life" or "shouldn't exist" is misguided and misinformed, if not flat-out evil.
I am pro-choice, but I don't think non-disabled doctors or parents are in the best position to evaluate a prospective disabled person's quality of life.
I am pro-choice, but I don't think we SHOULD screen for every possible gene just because we can.
I am pro-choice, but I don't think we're doing the species any service by arbitrarily eliminating parts of it.
I am pro-choice, but it's abhorrent to shame a woman for choosing not to abort.
I am pro-choice, but the right to choose whether or not to have a child isn't necessarily synonymous with the right to choose what kind of child to have.
I am pro-choice, but I die a little inside every time someone on my side argues the non-personhood of a fetus using Utilitarian philosophy.
I am pro-choice, but I consider the current Downs Syndrome abortion rates as tantamount to genocide.
I am pro-choice, but I see signs that the slippery slope is getting slipperier and slipperier.
I am pro-choice, but I disagree with the very idea of a "wrongful birth".
I am pro-choice, but anti-eugenics.
I am pro-choice, but if I ever again witness someone saying that it's wrong or evil or child abuse to allow a disabled child to be born, I will not keep silent.

I am pro-choice, and I long for the day when all lives will be seen as having equal dignity and value.

Possibly the Most Disturbing Thing I've Ever Heard

2007-10-10T19:59:25Z

So much for posting an entry per day for every day of October, apparently. (Not that the reason I'd chosen for doing so, as currently practiced, was really all that great in the first place.) Between a bit of a flail-y "oh my god, I have readers! reaction to receiving my first comments at this journal, strong emotional responses to things going on in the blogosphere right now, and various issues in real life, that kind of intensive posting schedule is just not sustainable for me at the moment.

Since the initial news about Katie Thorpe broke, I've been seeking out and reading a lot of posts both in reaction to her case, and older responses to Ashley X... and outside of the disability rights posters (and not even all of them), there's a whole lot of really ugly ideas being voiced. Even though I went into this expecting nothing less, the sheer breadth and depth and vileness of what I've been seeing is still painful.

And even then, some things stand out as especially awful. The fact that I could come across this quote AT ALL (let alone on a liberal, progressive blog, let alone without a single person voicing disagreement):

"Amanda's thread also had a poster who suggested that disabled people should have been involved in the decision-making process, which really creeps me out."

...I just can't even begin to format a coherent response to that emotionally, let alone rationally or verbally.

Ashley All Over Again

2007-10-07T23:41:10Z

Nine months ago, a spokesperson for the British Medical Association responded to the news of Ashley X by stating "If a similar case occurred in the UK, we believe it would go to court and whatever decision was ruled would be in the best interests of the child."

They're going to have to make their ruling a bit sooner than they probably expected.

Not that this should really come as a surprise to anyone who was closely following the news about Ashley.

Katie can't speak, and they believe (or perhaps more accurately, assume) that she understands very little of what they say. To take away the "discomfort, pain, and mood swings", her mother and a team of surgeons want to inflict the discomfort, pain, and possible mood swings of a hysterectomy. Because she supposedly cannot understand menstruation and they believe that the natural functions of her body will cause her unnecessary indignity, they want to subject her to a surgery which she supposedly cannot understand and the unnecessary indignity of an unnatural and painful incursion on her body. She may never marry or have children or know love and consent to sex, but she will know the invasion of her sexual parts without her consent.

This isn't even a "pillow angel" this time, lying in a bed unable to lift her head or roll over. This is a fourteen-year-old girl who loves to go to theme parks and ride horses. She has a family who (supposedly) love her and who take care of her needs, she's described as taking joy in them and in her favorite pastimes- and yet her mother says "her life expectancy is poor". Puberty doesn't have to prevent Katie from doing anything she likes unless her mother lets it- it's not as if there aren't accessible theme parks or wheelchair ramps for disabled horseback riders. This is a disabled girl whose mother is determined not to let grow up into a disabled woman.

This is what comes of the belief that whatever parents of disabled children do to them must be right because "they'd never hurt their child, they love them!". This is what comes of having more sympathy for the caregivers than those being cared for. This is what comes of the infantilization of the disabled.This is what comes of the belief that a life with less ability is one with less quality. This is what comes of the idea that dignity is not something inherent but is something determined on a utilitarian sliding scale.

The United States overturned the compulsory sterilization of the cognitively and developmentally disabled in 1956; the United Kingdom in 1973. I pray that the inhumane treatment of Katie and Ashley does not signify the beginning of a return to those times.

These Are Just Some of My Favorite Things

2007-10-06T23:28:06Z

Once again, the post I'm writing isn't at all what I'd planned on posting... real life happened and I'm far too overstimulated at the moment to organize my thoughts on the subject I'd intended to write on. I'm beginning to think attempting to plan out topics in advance is going to be a futile endeavor; playing it by ear is probably the best course of action, particularly if I'm planning on posting daily for a while.

So, for the sake of something fun and calming:

Some delightfully stimmy things
Scented votive candles
Techno music
Ceiling fans
Rocking chairs
Electric massagers
Those oil-in-water toys that you flip back and forth
The sound of rain
Really fluffy cloth
Classical music
Tops
Picture lanterns
Tentacle balls

Can you spare a moment to help save a life?

2007-10-05T18:58:44Z

Considering that I've managed to vastly exceed my normal posting rate and blog at least a little something every day so far this month, I think I'm going to be informally commemorating National Disability Employment Awareness Month by challenging myself to have NaBloPoMo a month early this year. I apologize in advance if this means I end up cluttering anyone's flists.

Today's post was initially planned to be something inspired by a conversation I had about adaptive technology, but then I received a link from a friend for projectdownload and decided that this takes priority. I've thus far been lucky to never have to fight the insurance system for needed medical coverage, nor have I been turned down for insurance because of my disabilities, but there are times when it's been a very real concern. I've seen other people I know be denied coverage and it makes me want to scream or cry every time... it's maddening how so many of the people in this country who need medical help most are the same people who are least able to get it. I didn't have the resources to spare to help them then, but I've at least enough time to spare to download a ~3 kb file once a day to help redscorner.

I can't vouch as to whether or not MegaUpload will follow through on their part of this, I can't vouch that anyone's clicks will actually be counted, but I can vouch that you're not asked for any identifying information and the .txt file won't kill your computer or anything if you download it, and this doesn't feel like Munchausen-by-Internet to me.

Pass it on?

Linkdrop

2007-10-05T02:33:02Z

Thanks to a poster at no_pity, I've been made aware of this lovely short film called "Talk". Stuff like this really needs more exposure.

Watch it here:
Part 1
Part 2

or here, with captioning and sign (presumably in BSL):
Part 1
Part 2

Public Service Announcment

2007-10-04T01:05:28Z

October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month.

I feel as though I ought to do something commemorative.

Inspiration in Odd Places

2007-10-02T16:29:05Z

In a comment over on an old entry at Action For Autism, Kevin Leitch confirms that the anecdotal data contained within the United Kingdom's vaccine adverse reaction database is so poorly verified as to be essentially worthless.
We know full well there is an adverse reaction database. I, a UK resident, was able to make an entry into it stating that a vaccine turned my daughter into Wonder Woman. That’s how accurate and reliable it is.

...I think I may have the beginnings of a plotbunny.

In the end, who is it who silences our voice?

2007-10-01T21:42:01Z

If anyone's been following this journal, they may have noticed that slowly but surely I'm accumulating a set of communities and interests to associate myself and this journal with. One by one, I'm looking at communities who share the interests that this journal is centered around, seeing what their membership and message is about, and deciding if they or any of their listed interests are something I want to partake in.

I've found a lot of good communities. I've also found a lot of unrelated communities, and a few bad ones. Today, for the first time so far, I found something that truly angered me.

One of those communities was entitled "We Have Autism", which is designed to be a place for, not autistics themselves, but people whose family members are autistic. Apparently there are definitions of the word "have" which neither I nor my dictionary are aware of.

This alone would have barely risen above the level of frustration and annoyance, except that one of the most recent posts was a poem with the repeated line "The autistics still had no voice". It started off deceptively well, decrying Bettelheim and snake oil treatments and the attitude that it's courageous not to kill disabled children... and then it went on to accuse "eccentric but normal" people of falsely defining themselves as autistic, "plagiarizing their cause", and turning the autistics away as curebies. And the only response was an agreement, in boldface.

As if no one could be truly autistic and disagree with the idea of cure. As if being autistic (or otherwise disabled) is so horrific that no one could conceivably be happy as they are and not want their entire existence changed. As if blatantly autistic activists like Amanda Baggs are just geeks co-opting someone else's cause to justify themselves. As if these non-autistic family members who "have autism" are more capable of acting as the voices of autistics than people who truly do have autism, no matter how mild or severe.

"We Have Autism".
"Autism Speaks".
"Voice of the Retarded".

Who is it who's really silencing the voices of the developmentally and cognitively disabled?

Aspie/Autie Humor

2007-09-27T21:42:31Z

Borrowed from plf515 by way of Hard Won Wisdom

A guy is flying in a hot air balloon, and he's lost. He lowers himself over a field and calls to a guy "Can you tell me where I am and where
I'm headed?"

"Sure. You're at 41 degrees 2 minutes and 14 seconds North, 144 degrees 4 minute and 19 seconds East; you're at an altitude of 762 meters above sea level, and right now you're hovering, but you were on a vector of 234 degrees at 12 meters per second"

"Amazing! Thanks! By the way, do you have Asperger's Syndrome?"

"I do! How did you know that?"

"Because everything you said is true, it's much more detail than I need, and you told me in a way that's no use to me at all."

"Huh. Are you a clinical psychologist?"

"I am, but how the heck did you know that??"

"You don't know where you are. You don't know where you're going. You got where you are by blowing hot air. You put labels on people after asking a few questions, and you're in exactly the same spot you were 5 minutes ago, but now, somehow, it's my fault!

Disability in Comics, Part II

2007-09-25T16:09:10Z

Wikipedia's "fictional characters with disabilities" has nine sub-categories, and a sparsely-populated grab bag of miscellaneous. Of those, only eight are represented in Wiki's survey of superhero comics, with the majority (40.38%) being blind or "blind", paraplegic (19.23%), or amputee (17.31%). Three characters, Madame Web and Wiz Kid from Marvel, along with Henry Allnut from DC, have multiple disabilities. There are no characters with cognitive disabilities, and only one deaf character. Amputations are almost always (70% of amputees) of a single arm. Many characters which Wikipedia tagged as having certain disabilities were not flagged entirely accurately, particularly with albinism, which is often used for purely cosmetic purposes in fantastic fiction. Mutism was another category with significant inaccuracies, including Saturn Girl, whose telepathy and lack of capacity for verbal speech are standard for her race, and Black Bolt, who has taken a vow of silence, while blindness also included characters who were photosensitive and "dayblind" but had perfect darkvision. Marvel comics, despite the strong counterexample of Mr Fantastic (not included in this survey because he's not currently included in the Wiki), seems to have a peculiar problem with autism, confusing it with catatonia on more than one occasion.

Eighteen of the disabled characters (34.62%) have compensatory powers which make their disabilities essentially irrelevant, and two more have partially compensatory powers. This is more widespread in Marvel (48.15% of their disabled characters) than in DC (24%), and is disproportionately common among blind characters (80.95% of blind/"blind" characters). Additionally, three of the four blind characters with no supernatural vision abilities are supporting characters rather than superheros, and the fourth is a villain. Compensatory or semi-compensatory powers also occur in two amputees (Lizard and Kane/Weapon X from Marvel), one speech-impaired character (DC's Jericho), and two paraplegics (Marvel's Hybrid and Amalgam's Niles Cable). Two of those characters, Jericho and Madam Web, as well as 12 additional characters with no compensatory powers, use assistive technology or compensatory behaviors, for a total of 26.92% of all disabled heroes in the sample. Additionally, a large proportion of comic-book amputees (44.44%, vs 33.33% using prosthetics) have their missing limb replaced with various weapons. This trope is about equally common between Marvel and DC (66.66% and 50% of their amputee characters, respectively).

Discounting those whose powers already make their disabilities irrelevant, nine (17.31%) of the disabled comics characters have been cured of their disabilities at one point or another, although in one case (Marvel's Lizard) the cure turned them into a villain and in three more(Professor X and Puck from Marvel, as well as King Snake from DC) they later went on to have the same disability return or be re-inflicted. Professor X's paraplegia is a particularly egregious example of the narrative rule against disrupting the status quo, and Puck's bitter response at being returned to his normal stature seems a bit odd considering that his 'cure', actually impaired his ability to function. As a contrast, DC's Black Manta was simultaneously 'cured' by against his will by Aquaman both of his autism and of a voluntarily-assumed transformation into a human/ray hybrid- and responded by continuing his villainy and attempts on Aquaman's life.

Two heroes (DC's Wildcat and one of Marvel's two Ladyhawks) responded by their mid-career acquisition of a disability by dropping out of superheroism, and two more (Marvel's Gale Edgerton and DC's Risk) became villains. Lizard, as mentioned above, also went evil as a direct result of his attempts to cure himself, though Fright from DC was already villainous by the time she cured her albinism. Overall, 36.53% of the disabled comics characters in the sample ultimately go on to some dismal fate, including an early end to their vigilante career, being killed in action, murdered, depowered, or otherwise incapacitated... though without more context or comparative stats for non-disabled characters, no real conclusion ("Gimps in Refrigirators"?) can be drawn.

Marvel has slightly more disabled characters (51.92% of the total) than DC (44.23%) but the two organizations have equal numbers who feature prominently (Professor X, Daredevil, and Lizard for Marvel vs Oracle, Aquaman, and Gizmo for DC). Judging quality of portrayals rather than quantity is difficult and subjective, but I personally find myself slightly favoring DC overall.

Pans
...for blind superheroes who aren't
...for Puck and his writers for prizing the appearance of normality over the ability to actually function in society
...for Saturn Girl's shame over her lack of verbal speech, despite having projective telepathy and despite this actually being the NORMAL state for her species
...for Claudette St. Croix, Legion, and all the other characters in temporary, intermittent, or permanent catatonic states who Marvel inexplicably chooses to call "autistic"
...for complete and utter lack of representation of the cognitively disabled

Pats
...for Mr Fantastic, Aspergian superhero who bucks the trend of Marvel having no clue about autism
...for speech-impaired superheroes using sign language, paraplegics with realistic wheelchairs, and amputees with plausible prosthetics
...for Black Manta, who responds to Aquaman curing his autism... by continuing to try to kill Aquaman!
...for Batgirl/Oracle, who doesn't let spinal injury keep her from being a superheroic badass- or a "big name" comics character
...for Dan DiDio, Denny O'Neil, and other editors at DC for recognizing her value as a prominent disabled hero and repeatedly refusing to cure her:
...And...that went nowhere. Denny shot it down, because, according to him, everybody loves Barbara Gordon as Oracle and as a handicapped character. The theory was that DC didn't have enough handicapped characters, so they weren't going to do anything with Barbara as she was. And the design went into the drawer.
Some stories... are so strong that undoing them would be a crime. The DCU would be a lesser place without Barry's sacrifice, or the crippling of Barbara at the hands of the Joker.
...for all the people in the comics industry who get it to at least some degree and, despite occasional errors, are legitimately trying to treat their disabled readers and characters with respect.

"Fixing" Oracle

2007-09-22T20:10:26Z

So, there've been recent discussions going on in comics fandom over whether or not DC should let Booster Gold go back in time and retcon the events of The Killing Joke so that Barbara Gordon never gets shot and paralyzed. I haven't been participating at all since I don't really have much of an interest in most comics, Western or Eastern, but this, unsurprisingly, piqued my curiosity. Most of the debate that I've seen has centered around whether or not what happened to her fits the trope of "Women in Refrigerators", whether said trope is overinvoked, whether or not 'fixing' the events and letting her continue to be Batgirl is worth sacrificing her character development and role as Oracle (not to mention simultaneously retconning about a million other character's storylines), whether your "classic" version of a character should be called the "original" even if they had a predecessor or not, etc...

And in the middle of it, someone points out: Also, I think changing it would detract from DC's one prominent disabled character whose disability doesn't have anything to do with their "powers".

So, here's some actual data on that:

Note that this only includes characters which Wikipedia thought were noteworthy enough for an entry, and whose disability they actually considered a disability. There are subcategories for characters who are blind, mute, deaf, albino, autistic, cognitively disabled, amputee, or have spinal injuries or dwarfism.

Other disabilities are not flagged and are presumably ignored- and I unfortunately have neither the time and energy nor fandom knowledge to go searching for them. Just off the top of my head, I know they're missing things like Scott Summers (Cyclops) who has an acquired disability impacting his control of his superpowers, Cassandra Cain (Batgirl)who has some sort of learning disabilities as a result of being raised fluent in body language/nonverbals and trying to learn spoken communication late in life as a (largely counterintuitive) second language, Reed Richards (Mr Fantastic) who has Aspergers, Victor Stone (Cyborg) who has what effectively amounts to full-body prosthetics, all the hundreds of characters out there who are missing one eye, and characters who wouldn't be considered disabled in our society but would be in their own. (Oddly, it does choose to include a mute telepathic character who’s perfectly normal for her species.)

In any case, these lists are far from complete or all-inclusive even for the series and disabilities covered and don't constitute a proper scientific sample.

DC

Harold Allnut Minor mute supporting character with kyphosis. Later had his voice and spinal curvature corrected by Hush, who used him as a sort of living Trojan Horse trap before killing him.
Black Manta Autistic supervillain who carries a grudge against Aquaman for not coming to rescue him from torture and abuse. Sold his soul to a demon and became half manta ray, was later “cured” both of that transformation and of his autism by Aquaman, who he continued attempting to kill.
Edgar Cizko (Doctor Psycho) Minor supervillain with dwarfism, either a hypnotist who controlled ectoplasm or, post-Infinite Crisis, a psychic.
Elizabeth Chapel (Doctor Midnight) Minor superhero with extreme photosensitivity, resulting in perfect nightvision but effective day-blindness when not using infrared lenses.
I Ching- Very minor blind martial artist who played a role in Wonder Woman's backstory and then was murdered.
Pieter Cross (Doctor Mid-nite) Superhero with extreme photosensitivity and the ability to see via infrared and ultrasonics.
Niles Caulder (the Chief) Paraplegic antivillain and leader/mentor of the Doom Patrol.
Yrra Cynril (Fatality) Minor supervillain with a prosthetic arm.
Destiny Technically blind, but he’s frickin’ Destiny of the Endless.
Cody Driscoll (Risk) Superhero who turned villain after losing an arm during Infinite Crisis.
Johnny Do (Dehman Doosha) Very minor autistic pyrokinetic superhero, severely abused for much of his life until he was rescued by and enlisted in the Psi-Force team.
Dolphin Minor aquatic superhero who had difficulty mastering spoken language due to an effectively feral childhood, initially communicated via sign language.
Edmund Dorrance (King Snake)- Very minor blind martial artist villain and father to a more significant villain. Had his sight temporarily restored and shortly loses it again because Status Quo Is God. Somewhat noteworthy because the addition of visual feedback, after fighting so long without it, was actually interfering with his combat effectiveness.
Linda Friitawa (Fright) Very minor supervillain who cured her albinism and acquired the ability to exhale nerve toxins by combining her previous genetic experiments with those of Jonathan Crane (Scarecrow).
Barbara Gordon (Oracle) Was Batgirl until an assault by the Joker left her paraplegic, continued fighting crime as Oracle and is capable of kicking ass both as a hacker and as an eskrima fighter. Prominent, awesome, and the reason for this entry.
Ted Grant (Wildcat) Superhero with "nine lives", suffered a career-ending spinal injury during the Infinite Crisis storyline but later recovered- and in the continuity reboot after that, it was retconned to never have happened in the first place.
Anatoli Knyazev (KGBeast) Villain with a gun replacing his amputated hand.
Charles McNider (Doctor Mid-Nite) Superhero with extreme photosensitivity; he can see in complete darkness but is effectively blind in normal lighting conditions when not using light-blocking visors or other adaptive technology.
Mikron O’Jeneus (Gizmo) Genius gadgeteer supervillain with dwarfism, at least in comics continuity. In animated continuity, he’s a preteen kid.
Orin/Adam Curry (Aquaman) In one continuity, he loses a hand and has it replaced with a cybernetic harpoon.
Herr Starr a villain who starts out missing an eye at the beginning of the series and proceeds to lose an ear, a leg, and his genitalia by the end.
Joseph William Wilson (Jericho) Mute psychic superhero who can possess the bodies of others (but can only use their voices if they’re unconscious). Usually communicates via ASL.
Nimue (Madam Xanadu) Recurring divinatory supporting character, later blinded by Spectre in an Infinite Crisis tie-in.

Marvel

Irene Adler Minor psychic supporting character and former lover of Mystique. Blind but can navigate and used ranged weapons by ‘seeing’ via precognition.
Ruth Aldine (Blindfold)- Recurring minor psychic superhero. Blind (and born eyeless), but clairvoyant to a degree that essentially negates this.
Blind Al Supporting character and friend (of a sort) to Deadpool.
Gustav Brandt (Libra) Recurring minor psychic supervillain, father to a superhero. Blind, but completely compensated by psychic senses.
Maxillian Coleridge (Shroud)- Recurring minor superhero/antihero with powers over the "Darkforce dimension". Blind, but with extrasensory powers that are undeniably superior to normal vision.
Claudette St. Croix (one of the M-Twins) Very minor psychic “autistic” superhero, who can merge with her twin Nicole for even more powers. Character description sounds, quite frankly, like the writers don’t really know much about autism and are relying on some very odd stereotypes... The fact that Marvel’s official site uses “autistic” to describe Legion (David Haller) when he’s in a blatantly catatonic state suddenly and disturbingly makes a lot more sense.
Curt Connors (the Lizard) Former amputee who accidentally turned himself into a reptilian supervillain while attempting to regenerate his lost arm.
Milla Donovan Very minor blind supporting character, off-and-on girlfriend of Daredevil.
Gaza Very minor recurring psychic supervillain. Blind, but sees with psionics.
Gale EdgertonFormer supporting character, sought out energy-draining Emplate powers and became a very minor supervillain after becoming paraplegic.
Garrison Kane (Kane/Weapon X) Quadruple amputee superhero with “liquid metal” cyborg limbs.
Hoder Minor divine superhero, based on the Norse god of the same name. Blind, prescient, and with general godlike strength and powers.
Eugene Judd (Puck) Agile and superspringy superhero with dwarfism. Was temporarily given normal height via a wellspring of mystical energy, but despite the fact the change to his proportions and center of balance not only disrupted his fighting style but also interfered with his ability to walk, he was written as responding bitterly when he was returned to his original height.
Lonnie Lincoln (Tombstone) Very minor mook with albinism and superpowered strength and constitution.
Maya Lopez (Echo/Ronin) Minor deaf superhero with Taskmaster-esque photographic reflexes.
Alicia Masters Blind supporting character, daughter of a villain and sometimes love interest of The Thing. Eventually hooks up with the Silver Surfer for a while and gets some adaptive technology in the form of an armored supersuit which allows her to detect and manipulate quantum energy.
Taki Matsuya (Wiz Kid) Very minor paraplegic genius superhero with dyslexia and, prior to House of M, technoforming powers. In Ultimates continuity, makes an appearance as Whiz-Kid, a polio victim and wheelchair-user who is taken in and generally condescended to by the Defenders so that they can receive corporate sponsorship for having a disabled member.
Matt Murdock (Daredevil) Blind superhero who sees with hyperaesthesic and “radar sense” powers.
Douglas and William Scott (Razor Fist) A pair of brothers who became minor villains, consecutively assuming the same villainous identity. Each replaced an amputated hand with a giant knife, the latter of the two doing so twice.
Regina (Ladyhawk) Minor superhero whose career ended after an assault by Hobgoblin left her paraplegic.
Stick Very minor blind martial artist compensated with “radar sense” and general hyperaesthesia. Trained the similarly-powered Daredevil before dying.
Kamo Tharnn (Possessor)- VERY minor ex-villain superhero with "vast cosmic powers and knowledge". Blind, but has "unrevealed wxtrasensory perceptions which take the place of his sight" according to one of the stub articles Wiki links.
Scott Washington (Hybrid) Minor paraplegic superhero bonded to a quartet of Venom symbiotes, giving him full normal mobility and access to various superpowers
Cassandra Webb (Madame Web) Minor blind supporting character with late-stage myasthenia gravis and powers of clairvoyance and telepathy. Through a magical ritual, she becomes immortal and the course of her disorder is reversed enough to allow her to get around in a wheelchair rather than be dependent on an elaborate life support system.
Charles Xavier (Professor X) Paraplegic genius superhero with intense telepathic powers. Has been healed and then later re-paralyzed on at least two separate occasions, demonstrating once again that Status Quo Is God when you’re a prominent comics character.

Other

Niles Cable from Amalgam, canonmeld hybrid of Cable and Chief (Niles Caulder). A paraplegic psychic superhero with telepathy and teleportation abilities.
Miho from Sin City. Possibly mute, but she could, like Kevin from the same series, just be choosing not to speak during the times she’s on-panel.
Slade Murdock (Dare the Terminator) from Amalgam, a sort of canonmeld hybrid of Deathstroke and Daredevil. As a combination of the two, she’s both blind and missing an eye but has “hypersensitive radar” and hyperaesthesia.

A Proverb

2007-09-11T12:29:27Z

In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is forever walking into things because he's too sight-dependent to navigate effectively in the dark.

Bury This Story

2007-09-08T23:35:46Z

Lately, I've found myself thoughtlessly using the word "lame" as an insult, something I've normally made a point of trying not to do. It may not have the same force behind it as "half a person","cripple", "gimp", or "retard", but it's still a slur, and it's still as pathetic an insult as using "gay" as a synonym for "pathetic", especially from someone who's actively trying to fight against the idea that physical disability and mobility impairments are inherently pathetic.

On reflection, I think this bad habit is probably a consequence of my presence on the newsfeed site Digg. I am on there regularly, digging up stories and comments championing the basic human rights of the disabled and digging down articles and comments expressing bigoted or just plain scientifically inaccurate views about us. Comments are buried without any need to give explanation, but burying a story allows you to inform the site's algorithms why you think a bit of news doesn't deserve visibility. Was it a duplicate of an article already posted? Was it spam? Was the headline, description, or article inaccurate? Or is it just "OK, This is Lame"?

Every time I read the explanations to myself as I bury someone for repeating scientifically disproven and debunked theories about the causes of autism, or insisting that there's nothing wrong with disowning your Down's Syndrome child, or insinuating that a pair of wheelchair users suing an inaccessible store must be in it just for the money, or saying that the disabled are just burdens on society and should be aborted... I wind up repeating to myself, "OK, This is Lame".

Every time I bury them, I am semantically equating the people who society describes as "lame" with those bigoted pieces of human garbage. And that's just pathetic.

What Does a Good Autism Organization Look Like?

2007-09-01T12:49:04Z

A good autism organization should follow only reputable, peer-reviewed science, not encourage snake oil treatments based on unverified anecdotal evidence.

A good autism organization should repudiate any 'treatment' which would be considered cruel or inhumane if applied to people of normal neurology.

A good autism organization should listen to the perspectives of autistics when making important decisions, or, better yet, actively include them in the decision-making process.

A good autism organization should not use labels of functioning level, (either 'too high-' or 'too low-functioning'), to dismiss the perspectives of autistics.

A good autism organization should view society's inability to provide autistics with the tools or niches they need to thrive as the true enemy, not autistics or autism itself.

A good autism organization should focus on working to change society to give autistics a place to fit, in addition to or instead of working only to change autistics to fit into society.

A good autism organization should encourage whatever behaviors, technologies, and adaptations best allow autistics to function and thrive in society, even if these adaptations come at the expense of appearing less 'normal'.

A good autism organization should acknowledge the joys of living with (or being) autistic people in addition to the tribulations, and should acknowledge autistic strengths as well as autistic weaknesses.

A good autism organization should not frame autistic strengths as evidence of deficits.

A good autism organization should not act as if developmental delays are developmental stasis, nor that not acquiring a skill 'on schedule' means that it will never be acquired.

A good autism organization should address, or at least acknowledge, the existence and struggles of adult autistics as well as those of children.

A good autism organization should not assume that not being able to speak is the same as not being able to think, nor that not being able to communicate is the same as not having anything to say.

A good autism organization should acknowledge that the communication deficit goes both ways.

A good autism organization should encourage and respect all methods of communication, whether spoken or not.

A good autism organization should not contribute to, affiliate with, or otherwise promote other organizations whose ethics are in opposition to its own.

A good autism organization should treat autistics with the same respect, dignity, and compassion as they treat non-autistics.

These 'shoulds' are not exorbitant demands. They are matters of BASIC HUMAN DECENCY. They should not be at all difficult.

Autistic Thoughts

A Story of REAL Awareness

"April is the cruelest month....."

First Post of 2008

And to All a Good Night

A Letter I Don't Need to Send

Public Service Announcment

In Which I Am Apparently Not Pro-Choice

Possibly the Most Disturbing Thing I've Ever Heard

Ashley All Over Again

These Are Just Some of My Favorite Things

Can you spare a moment to help save a life?

Linkdrop

Public Service Announcment

Inspiration in Odd Places

In the end, who is it who silences our voice?

Aspie/Autie Humor

Disability in Comics, Part II

"Fixing" Oracle

A Proverb

*Bury This Story*

What Does a Good Autism Organization Look Like?

Bury This Story