autism and neurodiversity

May 19, 2007 19:14


Read more... )

Leave a comment

Comments 23

neblinita May 20 2007, 00:54:42 UTC
This is great! My mother and I are fairly into autism activism, as we did ABA therapy for a little girl for about three years and became close to her family.

Reply

plathsrevenge May 20 2007, 05:44:56 UTC
such a wonderful experience!

Reply


dearmissrigby May 20 2007, 01:40:24 UTC
thank you for sharing this. have you read amanda baggs' blog at all? (http://ballastexistenz.autistics.org/)

Reply

plathsrevenge May 20 2007, 05:45:47 UTC
i recall reading a while back, but i'd forgotten about it. thank you!
it's interesting now, the way the internet is changing communication for autistics!

Reply


(The comment has been removed)

plathsrevenge May 20 2007, 05:46:42 UTC
definitely.
(you look so pretty in your icon!)

Reply


flossyflotsam May 20 2007, 02:18:08 UTC
This was really fascinating to read. I didn't know half these things about autism. You schooled me, hehe.

Reply

plathsrevenge May 20 2007, 05:47:47 UTC
good to hear!
a lot of the autistic rights things aren't widely-known yet!

Reply


willowing May 20 2007, 05:12:22 UTC
that daniel tammet guy is astonishing.

autistic people don't necessarily, however, have special gifts all the time.

maybe you want to include this video which really moved me:

Reply

plathsrevenge May 20 2007, 05:43:38 UTC
i have seen this, and been captivated by it.
i touch things like this very often because of my obsessive/compulsive tendencies.

i had hoped that the point i was getting across is that autistic people are just people with another way of being; some of them have special gifts and some don't. kim peek and daniel tammet are unique in their autism because of their savant syndrome.

maybe i should have split the post into one about neurodiversity and one about savants...

Reply

willowing May 21 2007, 01:52:42 UTC
sorry!! i didn't mean to imply you were focusing on the 'special gifts', my apologies, i suppose this is a comment i've heard say a lot with regards to autism; that it is often assumed that people with autism also have the 'special abilitities' while in actual fact only few do. the film rainmen i suppose helped create that myth.

the video i posted in response, i feel, supports the message in your post, she is very clearly trying to explain that she feels she is merely someone who communicates differently rather than someone who has a disorder.

Reply

plathsrevenge May 20 2007, 06:04:30 UTC
i think, actually, that autism is a special gift in its own right.
the ability to perceive the world in such exquisite (or very basic, or in-the-middle) ways.

Reply


Leave a comment

Up