Autistic Thoughts

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Below are the 5 most recent journal entries recorded in the "Autistic Thoughts" journal:

April 2nd, 2008
05:20 pm [Link]	A Story of REAL Awareness ( Once Upon a Time.... ) Current Mood: hopeful Current Music: Mago de Oz- "Hasta que el cuerpo aguante" Tags: disability, disability rights, do-gooderism, media, organizations (Leave a comment)
January 1st, 2008
08:09 pm [Link]	First Post of 2008 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! Current Mood: thoughtful Current Music: John Mayer- "Waiting on the World to Change" Tags: community, disability rights, linkspam, media, organizations, physical disability, video (Leave a comment)
December 15th, 2007
04:03 pm [Link]	A Letter I Don't Need to Send 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. Current Mood: amazed Current Music: Rogue Traders- "Voodoo Child" Tags: ablism, autism, community, disability, disability rights, media, organizations, self-advocacy (2 comments \| Leave a comment)
December 3rd, 2007
10:01 pm [Link]	Public Service Announcment 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. Current Mood: overstimulated Current Music: Sting- "Desert Rose" Tags: disability rights, organizations (2 comments \| Leave a comment)
September 1st, 2007
08:28 am [Link]	What Does a Good Autism Organization Look Like? 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. Current Mood: determined Current Music: Natacha Atlas- "Mistaneek" Tags: autism, community, disability rights, organizations (Leave a comment)