My criticisms of Atypical’s freshman season were certainly no secret, as I shared my feelings both publicly in various news outlets and privately with Robia Rashid, the show’s creator.  At the time, I mentioned that a lot of issues could be fixed, but my biggest problem with season one was the lack of autistic involvement.  To remedy this problem, I suggested that, at the very least, an autistic consultant needed to be hired for season two.  Fortunately my suggestion was taken to heart, and with the addition of autistic consultant David Finch many of the show’s major problems have been addressed.  From the moment I began watching season two, I felt freed from the brackish misrepresentations that distracted me in viewing the first season and I was consequently able to enjoy the show. I even laughed out loud during a few of its funniest moments.

I am very surprised that the show improved as much as it did and while I intend this review of season two to be very positive, I think I will need to go through some of the problems I had with season one in order to fully convey how big of a leap forward the creators took in the show’s sophomore year.

Alex Plank with cast members Keir Gilchrist & Michelle Farrah Huang

Another incident in the first season that I felt was not positive was the depiction of Sam breaking into his therapist’s house to leave her a box of chocolates. In season two, Sam continues talking with his therapist, who surprisingly takes his calls despite his behavior in season one.  I think that she seems accepting of this communication out of guilt over the way she handled things in the first season.

In general, Sam’s relationships in season two are much more realistic and, more importantly, are extremely positive from a standpoint of portraying autism in an accurate and constructive manner. For instance, instead of furthering the myth that those on the spectrum cannot have a romantic relationship, season two goes a step further and features multiple women vying for Sam’s affection. If anything, Sam treats these women with more respect and maturity than they show towards him which is one very enlightening commentary on how being autistic can actually make one more compassionate, not less. 

Season two further explores the one thing I liked most about Atypical in season one, its portrayal of family dynamics. I believe that the viewers who loved season one focused on that part of the show and either forgave the autistic representation issues or did not notice them. I think that’s why a lot of parents were excited about the show while autistic people, even those with a roseate view of the series, could readily point out specific issues that they felt should be fixed in the second season. 

I appreciate that season one resonated with many families who watched and were ecstatic to finally see a family like theirs being represented on television. Thankfully, season two improves even more on that front, as the way that Sam interacts with other characters indicates a positive shift towards his being treated more as a real person and less as simply a diagnosis.   Moreover, the way he is talked about is also more positive. 

Alex with actor Brigette Lundy-Paine (Casey)

Many reviews of Atypical have focused on the plot lines centered on autism. To me, these elements of the show seem like PSAs, and while I appreciate that Robia and her writers felt the need to include these important topics in an effort to teach the audience about things we face in the autism community,  I think the scenes that are designed to deliver exposition information about autism actually end telling us the least about autism. For instance, while I appreciate the intentions behind bringing up the issues of police being untrained when it comes to dealing with autistic people, that storyline seemed a bit forced. In contrast, I felt much more was conveyed about autism with much more depth in the storyline of Casey’s birthday involving a tradition of rituals that Sam adheres to as his way of expressing his love for her. This year, Casey brushes Sam off and expresses frustration due to a belief that Sam is obsessing over these birthday rituals from a place of selfishness when she clearly is trying to deal with other issues. However, the resolution of this conflict, and Casey’s realization regarding Sam’s true intentions, stands out as the most beautiful moment of season two. 

Alex with Atypical Creator Robia Rashid

In conclusion, the second season of Atypical far exceeded my expectations, and, if it continues going in such a positive direction, by the third season I think it could more than make up for the problematic representations from season one. Robia’s receptiveness to suggestions makes me excited to see how she further includes autistics in season three. 

In that vein I’ll end this piece with my biggest suggestions for season three. First, I think an openly autistic writer should be added to the writer’s room. David Finch, the show’s consultant, who I believe was instrumental in fomenting the major improvements of this season and penned a hilarious  New York Times best-selling memoir, would be a perfect candidate.  I personally served as a consultant on FX’s The Bridge, so I know how difficult a job it is to ensure that autism is fairly and accurately represented while concurrently serving the overall story and tone of a show. David did a remarkable job and I think those on the spectrum who’ve been critical of season two fail to acknowledge how difficult a job it was to improve the representation of a character who had already been developed for an entire season. Atypical accomplishes this with a character arc that fixed the issues gradually while not changing him drastically enough to betray the underlying character viewers had come to expect. 

Finally, I want to see even more autistic characters in season three and I want to see another autistic character with a bigger role. Autism is often thought of only in reference to kids or teens. If Atypical wrote in an adult autistic character, perhaps one Sam could see as a role model, I think that would be a powerful addition to a show that I’m actually really starting to dig. And if you’re looking for an autistic actor to play him, contact my agent. I think I have some availability.

The post Atypical’s 2nd Season is a Step Forward in Autism Representation appeared first on Wrong Planet.

For many autistics on the spectrum, moving out from your parents house and living independently can seem like a daunting task. We like routines and familiarity so any change can be hard to handle. But I think we need to embrace growth, even at the expense of comfort. Since college, I’ve lived in a variety of different places, but I’ve made a point of always living away from home.

Alex in his Dorm Room

Living in dorms is a great way to prepare you for living more independent after you graduate. But I would recommend getting a single room because sharing a room for an autistic person is the worst possible thing I can think of. I need my own space. Fortunately my University had accommodations for individuals with disabilities and I was able to get a single room.

Even with a single room, I quickly had to learn to deal with issues like noise that come with living in dorms (and apartments). I have a sound sensitivity so the bass from other people playing music was hard to deal with. I’ve written about the importance of noise canceling headphones, but I didn’t have those at the time. I’ve also developed simple strategies for improving sound over time like using foam to seal the door frame and even a jacket on the door to block sound, and having a white noise machine, fan, or AC to make it harder to hear outside sounds.

I moved from the original dorm into a four bedroom apartment style dorm I shared with three other people. This brought up new issues I had to deal with, such as keeping the common areas clean and sharing the space. An autistic friend of mine commented that the most important thing you can do with roommates is to keep things clean. If you can do that, there won’t be many other problems.

In the summer after my freshman year, I got an internship at AOL headquarters in northern Virginia. Since I could only live in the dorms during the school year, I lived at my grandparents’ house which was close to the metro. I could take a train some of the way and a bus the rest of the way. But the whole trip, including transfers, took an hour and a half (see my article on the benefits of driving & autism).

After a while, I decided to rent a room from an engineer at AOL who worked on my team. I was able to carpool with him every day or we could ride bikes along the bike trail from the house to our work. This was much better because driving with him cut out an hour an 15 minutes for me (saving 2.5 hours a day). Living with someone older taught me a lot of things that would help me in the future for living with roommates. I learned the importance of helping to clean (doing things like sweeping and vacuuming, for example). The next summer, I rented the basement of a house in Washington, DC. I picked a home a block from the subway so I could easily get to work. Living independently in a city is much easier if you don’t have a car so this experience was great for me.

I started dating a girl in college while I was living in DC. We eventually decided to move in together. Living with a significant other brings a whole new set of issues, some great, and some challenging. We decided to rent a house. While the relationship didn’t last, I learned a lot about living with a partner and the importance of having your own space. I do recommend making sure you have your own space if you’re going to live with a partner. A studio apartment might be challenging!

When I graduated from college, I lived with my grandfather again for a little bit and then moved to western Massachusetts where I lived with my friend John Elder Robison. After almost a year, I decided to move to Los Angeles. This was one of the scariest moves for me because I’d be leaving the east coast where I had my support system of friends and family. I went on Craigslist to find an apartment in Los Angeles and I still live there. Making the move to LA was one of the best decisions in my life. It gave me countless opportunities that I didn’t ever have on the east coast.

While I had to go out of my comfort zone in order to become increasingly independent, doing so has given me many opportunities and has increased my quality of life. I’ve also gained confidence knowing that I’m living on my own, supporting myself. While some people may think living at home is the best option, I urge you to at least give living on your own a shot. After all, if it doesn’t work out, you can always move back home and you’ll merely be back to where you were. After all, life is about experimenting, trying new things, sometimes failing, and sometimes succeeding. But without trying, you’ll never grow.

The post Leaving Home & Living Independently on the Autism Spectrum appeared first on Wrong Planet.

When I was growing up, I developed much of my interpretation of the world from the television, films, and books I read. But when I got diagnosed at the age of 9, the only mainstream representation of autism was Rain Man.

While many people are quick to criticize Rain Man, it came at a time when very few people had even heard the term autism, and even less knew what it was. The movie brought autism to the mainstream and I think we underestimate how important it was for so many people to finally have something they could point to in the media (especially parents who were growing tired of explaining it to everyone they encountered in public). A lot has changed since then and we’ve seen more representation, both good and bad.

We’re certainly in a better place in 2018 than we were when I was diagnosed in 1995. Shows like The Bridge and The Good Doctor show autistic characters as more than just a stereotype and their autistic protagonists even hold jobs that audiences may envy.

The show Atypical centers around a family raising a teen on the spectrum. The show even portrayed the autistic character dating and eventually getting a girlfriend. While many people were critical of the first season, the showrunners made an effort to change things and season two will feature autistic actors playing autistic characters on screen. With that said, I hope to see more shows being sensitive to the realities from the start instead of reacting to criticism after damage is already done.

Negative stories that hurt those of us on the spectrum are not limited to TV series and films. Some of the worst offenders are news organizations. For instance, when an act of violence occurs in our society (like a shooting), reporters and commentators on cable news are quick to look for an explanation. Often times, they point to an autism diagnosis, despite the fact that autism has absolutely no link to violence. Even bringing up autism in these stories, serves no purpose, and confuses audiences into thinking it must be related.

But this is all gradually improving over time. Every time something negative is released in the media, I am relieved to see voices of those on the spectrum speaking out and many allies echoing these voices.

I can’t wait for the day where we don’t need to speak out against negative portrayals, but it’s important to understand that things won’t change overnight and patience and understanding is key to convincing others to listen to our stories. Autistic people have the responsibility to advocate respectfully and understand that parents also have stories to tell. But parents also have to realize that their children grow up and don’t always share the same opinions. If we can all work on listening to each other more, I think the world will be a better place and the media landscape will be more inclusive.

The post Autism in the Media appeared first on Wrong Planet.

Asperger’s Are Us dispels the commonly held misconceptions that autistics lack a sense of humor and that we’re more focused on math and science. Besides being insightful and revelatory, the film is also incredibly entertaining. The guys in this comedy troupe are charming and constantly cracking jokes. Even by the end of the movie (which runs 82 minutes) I was left wanting to see much more of the troupe. I did fortunately have the opportunity to watch them perform live when they were in Los Angeles and the audience was laughing the entire show. If you have a chance to watch them live, it’s definitely worth it. They are opening for Imo Phillips at the Boston Comedy Festival on the 19th of November and have other shows planned as well.

I sat down with director Alex Lehmann and executive producer Mark Duplass and we had an exhaustive conversation about the film and the issues it brings up related to comedy, performance, and autism.

Check out the troupe’s official website, their Facebook group, and Twitter account.

Here’s the official trailer:

The post Interview: Asperger’s Are Us Filmmakers Mark Duplass and Alex Lehmann appeared first on Wrong Planet.

Jim Sinclair became one of the first openly autistic adults online, joining a digital mailing list run out of St. John’s University in New York frequented primarily by parents and professionals. Its founder, Ray Kopp, was the father of a legally blind girl named Shawna who had sought unsuccessfully for years to get a more specific diagnosis for her than “developmentally delayed.” Kopp launched the list in 1992 with a dyslexia expert at St. John’s named Robert Zenhausern. On the threshold of the addition of Asperger’s syndrome to the DSM, one of the most frequently asked questions on the list was whether Kanner’s syndrome could persist into adulthood.

With Donna Williams and Kathy Lissner, Sinclair also launched the first autistic-run organization in history, calling it Autism Network International. Early on, its founders decided that ANI would stand up for the civil rights and self-determination of people all across the spectrum, not just those considered high-functioning like the members of the MAAP list. All of ANI’s original founders had been branded low-functioning as children and had gone on to earn university degrees. They understood that functioning levels change not only in the course of the life span but also day to day. Even a chatty “more able” adult could temporarily lose speech, and the term low-functioning often obscured talents and skills that could be brought out by providing a more suitable environment or an alternate means of communication.

Like any nascent subculture, this emerging community gave birth to its own in-group slang. The most enduring ANI neologism was the term neurotypical, used as a label for nonautistic people for the first time in the group’s newsletter. With its distinctly clinical air, the term (sometimes shortened to NT) turned the diagnostic gaze back on the psychiatric establishment and registered the fact that people on the spectrum were fully capable of irony and sarcasm at a time when it was widely assumed that they didn’t “get” humor.

Carrying the meme to its logical extreme, an autistic woman named Laura Tisoncik launched an official-looking website in 1998 credited to the Institute for the Study of the Neurologically Typical. “Neurotypical syndrome is a neurobiological disorder characterized by preoccupation with social concerns, delusions of superiority, and obsession with conformity,” the site’s FAQ declared. “There is no known cure.”

Taking a cue from the radical Deaf community, ANI members began to refer to themselves as “Autistic” instead of saying that they were people with autism. “Saying ‘person with autism’ suggests that autism is some- thing bad—so bad that it isn’t even consistent with being a person,” Sinclair observed. “We talk about left-handed people, not ‘people with left-handed- ness,’ and about athletic or musical people, not about ‘people with athleticism’ or ‘people with musicality’ . . . It is only when someone has decided that the characteristic being referred to is negative that suddenly people want to separate it from the person.”

The emergence of e-mail, electronic bulletin boards, Usenet news- groups, Internet Relay Chat, America Online, and ultimately the World Wide Web provided a natural home for the growing community of newly diagnosed teenagers and adults, where they could interact at their own pace in a language that often felt more native to them than the spoken word. Carolyn Baird, a mother of four who took over management of the St. John’s list, spoke for many of her peers when she told a Dutch journalist:

Autistic people seem to have an affinity with computers and many of them were already working in computer-related fields prior to the advent of the Internet. The appeal of a computer is that there is only one right way to tell it to do something—it doesn’t misinterpret what you tell it and do something else as people do.

For many of us, this medium has given us the opportunity to be accepted for the first time in our lives as being just like everyone else, and gives us our first hint at what it feels like to be accepted on the quality of our thoughts rather than the quality of our speech.

The ANI posse began making regular appearances at conferences, where they set up booths and handed out newsletters and buttons emblazoned with slogans like “I’m not just WEIRD, I’m AUTISTIC” and “I survived behavior modification.” Their information tables became little oases of autistic space where people could take a break from the probing stares, the swirl of perfumes, the press of flesh, the unpredictable outbreaks of applause, and the constant reminders that their existence was a tragic puzzle. While the NT attendees lined up for lavish banquets and celebrity-studded comedy showcases, the Autistics would pair off to chat and stim in quiet hallways and coatrooms, camping out on the floors of each other’s hotel rooms at night, or sleeping in their cars like impoverished science fiction fans crashing worldcons in the 1940s.

At a conference in St. Louis, one parent-ally of the group managed to get access to the whole vacant upper floor of an office building under renovation near the convention center. Amid dusty heaps of plaster and drywall, the Autistics unfurled their mats and sleeping bags, brought in a couple of floor lamps, and set up empty refrigerator cartons for anyone who needed to retreat to an enclosed space for a while. After fielding questions from parents and psychologists all day, it was a relief to return to a place with the fellow members of their tribe that felt like an enchanted cave after dark. When someone pointed out the window at an old radio tower and said that it was for sale, Sinclair replied that, since the aliens were all gathered in one place now, they could transmit the request to the mothership to come take them home at last.

Reprinted from NeuroTribes by financial arrangement with Avery Books, a member of Penguin Group (USA) LLC, A Penguin Random House Company. Copyright © 2015, Steve Silberman

The post The Dawn of Autistic Space – Excerpt from NeuroTribes appeared first on Wrong Planet.

I’m autistic and work as a consultant for autistic characters in Hollywood. I’m best known for my work on FX’s The Bridge, in which the main character was a female autistic detective, played by Diane Kruger. The Peabody-award-winning show was widely praised for its accurate and nuanced portrayal of an autistic character, a departure from the unfortunately common autistic hollywood stereotype. I worked closely with the writers, producers, directors, and Ms. Kruger to develop the character. Additionally, I was on set, ensuring that her portrayal was always authentic. The Bridge’s commitment to diversity could also be seen in its writer’s room, which included writers who were female, gay, and Hispanic. The room even included writers whose identity had an intersectionality of those three Hollywood minority groups.

But the character was not played by an autistic actor. FX wanted a celebrity to star in the show and unfortunately, there were no autistic actors with enough star-power to play the part. To the credit of The Bridge’s commitment to diversity, I was actually cast in one minor recurring role, a newspaper employee, which ironically was written as a neurotypical character. But I don’t know of any other openly disabled actors who worked on the show.

Ben Affleck is the next major star to take on autism. He will be playing an autistic accountant in the upcoming film, The Accountant.

But even autistic roles for which star-power isn’t important are usually given to neurotypical actors. For example, NBC’s Parenthood cast Max Burkholder, an unknown neurotypical actor at the time, to play a major autistic role in the series. The show didn’t even hire an autistic consultant and Burkholder regrettably commented that he didn’t think one was necessary. Fox’s show Touch also cast a non-autistic actor to play an autistic child. Unlike Parenthood, however, Touch did hire an autism consultant, but she was not autistic and only worked on the pilot. Even Sesame Street’s new autistic Muppet, Julia, is played by a neurotypical in a suit.

And in the recent independent film, Jane Wants a Boyfriend, Louisa Krause played an autistic woman opposite Eliza Dushku. The filmmakers certainly could have cast an autistic actor instead of Krause because she is relatively unknown and Eliza Dushku is enough of a star to secure financing and attract an audience. The same was true with the independent film, The Story of Luke, in which neurotypical actor Lou Taylor Pucci played an autistic character opposite Seth Green. And there are many more examples of minor autistic characters being played by neurotypical actors, where star-power has absolutely no influence on casting.

The only example I could find of an autistic actor playing an autistic character was in this season of BBC’s Holby City, where Jules Robertson was cast as a recurring character in eight episodes. I was excited to see the show but upon watching it, I became a bit disappointed by the writing, which was stereotypical. In the first moments the character is introduced, he takes a few things literally, unknowingly makes an offensive comment about an older woman’s age, and states “If I’m direct, it’s because I have Asperger’s Syndrome.” While Holby City should be commended for casting an autistic actor, the writers room didn’t write a nuanced character. Despite this, Robertson did a great job playing the role and he seemed authentic even when the writing was over the top (which was most of the time). I can’t imagine a neurotypical actor handling that character as well as Robertson did, which underlines the importance of authentic casting but also highlights the importance of autistic input behind the camera.

Diversity has become a hot-button issue in Hollywood, where discussions focus on race, gender, sexual orientation, and even gender identity. Disability and autism, however, are left out of the discussion. At this month’s Television Critics Association presentations, CBS was criticized for its schedule of shows in which there are no non-white leads. But no one ever thought to criticize CBS (or every other network, for that matter) for having no disabled leads, despite the fact that individuals with disabilities are the largest minority group in America.  If Hollywood wants to represent true diversity, it needs to make a much better effort to be inclusive of autistics and people with disabilities.

The post Hollywood’s Exclusion of Autistic Actors Highlights its Biggest Diversity Problem: Disability appeared first on Wrong Planet.

When I was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome at the age of nine, autism was still mistakenly considered a rare condition. As a teenager, in 2004, I created WrongPlanet.net which was the first major online community for people on the spectrum to connect with one another. Since that time, awareness of autism has skyrocketed. That’s good, but acceptance and inclusion are even more important.

Last month’s Democratic National Convention placed a high value on inclusion for those with disabilities. Anastasia Somoza, a graduate of the London School of Economics with cerebral palsy and spastic quadriplegia, gave a powerful speech that was echoed by both President Obama and Secretary Clinton. Ryan Moore, an instructional technology leader with dwarfism, spoke about the necessity of affordable health care. And Hillary Clinton emphasized the importance of inclusion in her own speech, mentioning disability on five separate occasions.

The Republican National Convention, by contrast, seemed to focus mainly on exclusion. The word disability wasn’t even mentioned once. Eric Trump said that his father was running for “families with special needs children,” as if adults with special needs don’t exist.

The differences between the two parties’ approaches to disability also informs their platforms. The Democratic Party platform includes 35 mentions of disability rights in 19 sections. The Republican platform, on the other hand, specifically states that it does not support ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (which is supported by the Democrats).

Even more importantly to me, the Democratic platform specifically addresses the needs of people with autism, stating that Democrats “believe that our country must make supporting the millions of individuals with autism and those diagnosed in the future and their families a priority.” The text goes on to explain how this will be accomplished by expanding services — including housing and employment — to include adults, as well as those transitioning to adulthood.  Additionally, the platform states that the party will “push states to require health insurance coverage for autism services” and stresses the importance of early screening for autism in children.

In stark contrast, the Republican platform does not mention the need to support individuals with autism at all. In fact, the word autism is mentioned only once, in a paragraph about biomedical research that also describes “new dangers like Ebola, Zika, Chikungunya, and antibiotic-resistant pathogens.” The juxtaposition of autism and terrifying diseases like Ebola and Zika is incredibly damaging to people on the spectrum, many of whom see autism as a core part of our identities. It’s also incredibly dehumanizing.

The candidates themselves have also offered starkly differing views of disability. Donald Trump has been widely criticized for mocking New York Times reporter Serge Kovaleski, who has a condition that affects the movement of his right arm. At a rally in South Carolina in November, Trump flapped his right arm around uncontrollably while making fun of Kovaleski’s speech. Instead of apologizing, Trump has denied that he knew Kovaleski was disabled and claimed that he was merely making fun of flustered reporters in general. He has also erroneously linked vaccines to autism, which has been repeatedly debunked by scientists.

On the other hand, Hillary Clinton has fought for disabled people’s rights throughout her career and has always treated us with respect and love rather than mockery and disdain. As a senator she pushed for legislation to improve the lives of individuals with disabilities, including co-sponsoring the Individuals with Disabilities Education Reauthorization Act and developing legislation that authorized over $1 billion for autism research and services. And as Secretary of State she worked on global human rights initiatives that included individuals with disabilities.

Acceptance and empowerment for all disabled people should be bipartisan goals. I hope going forward that the Republicans will learn that they cannot win national elections by acting with disregard and flagrant contempt for the 53 million Americans with disabilities.

By Alex Plank

The post This is the Most Important Election of My Life Because I’m Autistic appeared first on Wrong Planet.

“My name is…”

Let’s start with my ‘declaration’. Getting to know someone, personally, allows us to see what we share in common. So, let me introduce myself. My name is Mike. I’m a multiplatinum music producer who’s been privileged to work on gold, platinum and diamond rated records. I’m an author. I’m a contributing editor for an award winning entertainment magazine. I ride a sport bike. I’m a tech nerd. I’m into anything involving engineering. I’m a veteran of the military. Eating, for me, is vegan. It is my opinion that cashews are crazy delicious. I’m an award-winning entrepreneur. I’m an ambassador. I’m a dad. Hi, everyone!

Nothing particularly fear inspiring or frightening about that introduction, is there? Well, glad you agree. I’m quite the non-confrontational spirit. Look, I’m a musician. It’s all about peace, love, blueberries and music, no matter the genre. Give me a cabin in the mountains (with a custom built recording studio) and I’m cool. I’m pro human race. The behavior of people intrigues me and I want to learn as much as I can from everyone I meet. However, I, quickly, became aware of people who’ve been taught I’m insignificant and there is nothing of substance I can ever learn that would teach them anything.

“Lesson learned.”

My very first experience being harassed by someone, who, clearly, did not have my best interest at heart, was in kindergarten, School No.3, Elizabeth, New Jersey. She was my first teacher. My mom taught me to respect my teachers and listen to their instruction. I did that at home, so, this was a piece of cake. While other 4 and 5 year olds were crying things like, ‘I don’t wanna go!’, I stoically told my mother I’d see her later. Once in class and settled, lessons began. I enjoyed the regimentation. It felt like I was doing something really important, until, the kid next to me started talking. Moments before, when the teacher instructed us to work in silence, it just made sense to me that talking was out of the question. Simple, even for a 5 year old, right? Apparently, dude did not get this home training lesson. Next thing I hear is, “Michael! I said, no talking!” WHAT?! I hadn’t opened my mouth! Composed, I raised my hand (as instructed) and quietly refuted, “It wasn’t me. It was him.” I had (and continue to have) no snitching loyalties. I didn’t do it. I shouldn’t take the blame. The teacher did not acknowledge my complaint. I thought the matter over. Then, he spoke…again. It’s as if he knew none of the blame for doing so would ever be attributed to him. He was right. “Michael!”, my teacher excoriated, “That’s it! Everyone! This is what will happen when you talk in my class. Michael, get in the corner and face the wall! I’m calling your mother, too!” Lesson learned. Remember, all of this is happening to a 5 year old child on the autism spectrum in 1970. I’m sure, today, there’s quite a bit more diversity of teachers and students, along with fair treatment.

“Many…experiences would shape what I, now, know as racism.”

The result? I observed that no matter how neat, quiet, attentive or smart I was as a student, many teachers that didn’t share my brown color, treated me quite horribly, without reason. Thankfully, I have parents (and a grandparent) that showed me unconditional love, growing up. I had no doubt I was loved. Many more incidents, student and acquaintance experiences would shape what I, now, know as racism. Me? I refused to perpetuate the legitimacy of that academically elitist caste system designed to render Brown people invisible, but, another major experience would cement my understanding about how many in society were taught to perceive me.

“I was not fearful. I hadn’t done anything to invite this police response.”

Just turned twenty. I’m living in Mountain View, California, minutes away from Naval Air Station, Moffett Field, where I was employed. Fresh back from a deployment to Okinawa, Japan, my new experience, in another country, broadened my mind to the acceptance of different peoples and their unique cultures. I was an enlightened twenty year old who’d saved enough to purchase a car with cash. Yes, I was carrying quite a bit of cash, but, what’s menacing about a clean-cut, clean-shaven, Izod shirt wearing Brown guy walking down El Camino Real? I, soon, found out when a police car, clearly speeding, was driving up the street (I’m on a sidewalk) toward me. Screeching to a stop, catawampus in the street, both doors of the cruiser flung open with two police officer’s drawing guns on me. Many of my autistic traits kicked in. One, I was not fearful. I hadn’t done anything to invite this police response. Two, I’m clean-cut! Can’t they tell I’m from the military base? Three: I can clear up whatever confusion is happening here. I’ll tell them the truth. What I did not know is that ALL of these reasoning’s and reactions could get me killed. After being ordered to stop, turn around, walk backwards toward them, get on my knees and lock my hands behind my head (my hands were already up), this is starting to feel like more than a misunderstanding.

Handcuffed (behind my back) and placed in the back of their police cruiser, I was cordial. Told them I was active military, but, they never checked my ID, military or otherwise. When they illegally searched me, they found my wad of cash, you know, to buy my car with. Not good. After, briefly, explaining I was back from a deployment to Japan, they pulled up to a mall entrance. Running toward the police cruiser was a greying man shouting obscenities. “That’s him! That’s, f@%*ing, him!” The officer driving asked if he was positively sure and he answered yes. The man was the store’s manager. In tow of the manager was a store worker, who just happened to be Latina. She looked inside the police car at me and said, “That ain’t him!” This started a bit of debate with her manager. “That’s definitely not him!”, she said emphatically. “His hair is buzz cut. The other dude had, like, an afro and was much darker.” Without a positive ID, they couldn’t hold me, but, I was guilty. ‘Walking while Black’, many of us Brown people call it, here in the United States. I ‘fit the description’, even though I didn’t. Thanks to another Brown person, I survived that moment alive, no arrest record and no unnecessary time served in prison ending the prospect of contending with a systemically unequal justice system. There are people who perceive us to be what they’ve been taught we are and people who can physically see us as we are. Lesson learned.

“My sensory issues cause me to feel things exponentially. Their is no chill.”

Now, compound being perceived as an eternal suspect, criminals, dangerous, lazy, complainers, ghetto proud, unmotivated, irresponsible, talented, musical, athletic, materialistic consumers, beast-like, threatening, someone who reduces property values, super-predators, having a high pain threshold, unable to swim and any other propaganda driven stereotype about Brown Multiethnic peoples, while living in the body of someone disabled, on the autism spectrum, or, both. My sensory issues cause me to feel things exponentially. Their is no chill. It feels like I’m under siege, all day, everyday. I never feel safe. I have had “the talk” with my daughter. I could not afford to teach her that the world is candy canes, Unicorns and rainbows. Sadly, as long as we are Brown, some form of targeting, or, mischaracterization will be forced upon us out of fear.

It is my hope just one person will empathize with the millions of peoples, like me. We have much more in common than not. We do have a voice. I’m making everyday Independence Day. Enough, already. It’s time to stop. It’s time to listen. It’s time to learn.

The post Brown and Autistic: A terrifying encounter with the police. appeared first on Wrong Planet.

While being interviewed on Access Hollywood, Braxton said: “My youngest son, everyone knows, suffers from, or I should say, suffered from autism.” When asked to explain, she added “I’m one of the lucky parents. Early diagnosis changes everything. I will tell you this. I will shout it from the rooftops. My son Diezel is off the spectrum.”

First of all, by implying that all parents need to do to “cure autism” is get an early diagnosis and enroll their child in the right programs, Braxton is essentially blaming parents whose children haven’t been “cured” of autism. It’s 2016 and I’d like to think that we’ve gotten past mother-blaming, which was unfortunately a common belief decades ago when the refrigerator mother hypothesis first gained traction.

Second, the idea that autism can be cured before adulthood is not only completely false, it is also damaging because it gives the public the dangerous impression that autism is only a childhood disorder. There is already a tendency for the media to focus on children with autism and forget about the millions of adults living with autism, which has created the misconception that autism is a childhood disorder. This fallacy has resulted in there being far less support for autistics once they reach adulthood, a tragic state of affairs because transitioning to adulthood is a time when autistics need a lot of support.

This is certainly not the first time that celebrities have been irresponsible when talking about autism. For many years, Jenny McCarthy has spread misinformation by repeatedly claiming that vaccines cause autism and convincing many parents to go along with her in refusing to have their children vaccinated. This not only hurt those with autism but caused dangerous outbreaks of diseases such as the measles. Later McCarthy made a similar bogus claim that her son had been cured of autism.

Celebrities have a responsibility to be informed when speaking about important issues because they have a lot of influence on what people think and can impact the lives of those of us with autism. We need to urge more celebrities to speak about autism in an accurate and productive manner and we need to call out those celebrities who spread false information.

The post Toni Braxton’s son was not cured of autism and it’s irresponsible for her to say so appeared first on Wrong Planet.

He begins by talking about his wife not wanting to get their son Hank vaccinated and how he did it anyway, which required forging her signature on multiple documents. After Hank received the vaccinations, he behaved oddly. In response, Jefferies freaked out at the doctor’s office and was rocking, stimming with his fingers, and repeating the same phrase over and over: “my son is autistic, my son is autistic.” The doctor told him “you know that you have a tendency to overreact because you’re on the spectrum,” to which Jefferies responded with astonishment. This routine is hilarious, but Jim Jefferies is one of the least politically correct comedians and some of the things he says could potentially offend those who are overly sensitive.

However, he does stress the dangers of parents not vaccinating their children and pointed out the ridiculousness of getting medical advice from people like Jenny McCarthy. That is certainly a positive message in this day and age, where parents are endangering the lives of others by refusing to vaccinate their children and multiple presidential candidates have made erroneous statements linking vaccines to autism. Jefferies also should be commended for bringing awareness to the fact that you can be a successful adult and still be diagnosed with autism.

As I mentioned, Jefferies is not politically correct and he did make some comments that are controversial. In response to his being diagnosed, Jefferies says, “I don’t even know if I believe it because the spectrum is very broad, like one percent to Ben Carsons or something. . . I think a lot of times, people just diagnose personalities. Like I’m just a bit of a dick.” This is certainly not an accurate statement because autism is in fact underdiagnosed and saying that “people just diagnose personalities” somewhat undermines the real struggles faced by those of us on the spectrum. However, I think Jefferies doesn’t entirely believe this opinion because he said it in a tongue-in-cheek manner for the purposes of humor. He is a comedian, after all.

Despite joking about being skeptical of the diagnosis, Jefferies later makes it clear that he does actually believe that he is autistic. He goes on to explain how “it’s weird when you find out that you’re autistic at 36, because [it was] big news for me.” He describes how he called up everyone he knew to share the news but “no one was surprised.” After leaving a message on his mom’s voicemail saying “I have the biggest news ever,” she called back thinking he was getting married to which he responded “No! I’m autistic!” She said “Oh, everyone knows you’re autistic. It’s not that bad, when I was a child I had polio.”

Jefferies has a history of creating entertainment related to individuals with disabilities. He produced and starred in the show Legit on FX which centered around a fictionalized version of himself and his wheelchair-bound friend with muscular dystrophy, Billy, played by DJ Qualls. While the fact that Billy was not played by a disabled actor was criticized by some disability rights activists, the show included other minor characters with disabilities such as Down syndrome and the production did cast actors with disabilities to play those roles. The series was widely praised for portraying disabled characters as real people, not caricatures or plot points, which is something that is unfortunately uncommon in Hollywood.

Jim Jefferies is a comedian first and foremost, so his main goal is to make people laugh. That hasn’t stopped him from tackling political issues in the past and it hasn’t stopped others from using his routines to back up their political arguments. In an earlier standup special, Bare, he commented on the absurdity of Americans’ arguments against gun control. The clips went viral, were shown on the news, and were used by gun control advocates to point out the hypocrisy of right-wing gun rights advocates.

Similarly, the things Jefferies says about autism have the potential to raise autism awareness, promote acceptance, and point out the importance of vaccinating children. I hope in the future that more autistic entertainers will follow suit and tackle the issue of autism in an informed way because autism affects millions of Americans and I do believe there’s truth to the cliché “laughter is the best medicine.”

Check out FreeDumb on Netflix

The post Comedian Jim Jefferies on his Autism Diagnosis and Vaccines appeared first on Wrong Planet.