Autism is Great!

[pedro_picasso]

Not being autistic is also pretty cool. I've enjoyed it. But I would not want to live in a world without autistic people. I would like to live in a world where they are better understood and even *gasp* valued as equal members of society and not victims of tragedy.

From that day forward, he decided to challenge the disease model underlying most

Comments

[fkfv]

that really is a great article. the summer camp i work at deals a lot with special needs kids, and it really is a shame that we as a culture look at a lot of developmental differences as disorders and just focus on the negatives of how someone may be different from the group. it is a problem where these developmental issues impair someone's ability to take care of him or herself, but it doesn't mean that they are less of a person, or that ANY form of developmental issue is a problem.

the more i read and learn about this stuff, the more I'm convinced that I have a mild form of Asperger's Syndrome (I would have tested positive for at least 5 of the 6 or 7 different assessment criteria as a child). And it doesn't seem like a bad thing, to me - sure, it makes/made social situations more difficult for me, but I enjoy that I can focus or concentrate on one thing for longer than most people and that I just think differently about things. Would I trade to be "normal?" Hell no. It's just different.

[pedro_picasso]

That's interesting. What kind of summer camp? I never noticed a sort of Aspergarian difference with you. Difference, sure. But not of that mold. I guess we weren't around each other in 'normal social circumstances' often.