A MUST READ: The Autism Rights Movement!

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Pezar:I do not feel anyone is saying that all autistics are in "pain" but they often do suffer, not allowed or understood from birth, parents unable to cope or understand often find the easy option for themselves and go as far as drugging there children...

I do feel unfortunately a lot of the mental problems people on the autism spectrum often go on to have are partly caused by having to living on the edge of society quite often.

Of course more and more autistic children people are doing really well in this world, but there are more and more parents now embracing and truly trying to understand.

That's probably the best article I've ever seen on the subject; it's very helpful!

I like that Alex Plank guy.There is no cure, and won't be, get used to it, we are here now, deal with it.

Of all of them he has the most powerful non agenda, I'm Autistic, so what!

I thought it well writen and honest. When someone states he takes seven medications a day for depression, the most common NT ailment, and there is no medication for Autism, he is telling it like it is.

The Mercury Mafia is looking to score big time on a lawsuit, which has no Scientific basis.

Autism Speaks brings in $20,000,000 a year, and keeps half.

ABA is by the Professional hour rate.

The activists are enjoying an obsession,

Alex Plank is dumping the value of a really cool sports car into Wrong Planet.

Support Wrong Planet Awareness, click on the link on top of the page and keep the good work going.

I liked reading that article, compared to most articles on autism that make me feel like I've just inadvertently started a nuclear war. It was good to see some familar faces from WP commenting on it too.

The 'pain' that people with autism/AS is normally caused by an inability to be in touch with the world that we really want to be part of. Physical pain as a result of autism/AS, such as that caused by wearing itchy clothes, for example, is minimal in comparison.

I completely agree with pezar's sentiment about the parent's pain being projected on the kid, who hasn't grown into the child that his/her parents were expecting. But isn't one of the joys of having children the sheer unexpectedness of what your kid will be like? That's what I've been told, anyway. Autism is not a death sentence, and it should never be referred to as a disease or an epidemic - that automatically puts it in the same league as the Black Death. Connotations of death, disease and disappointment should be avoided, and portraying at least some aspects of autism/AS in a positive light wouldn't hurt.

So, good article. We need more like that.

Not a bad balanced article. I just wonder why they couldn't find a better counterpoint than vaccine nutters.

The second sentence in the last post is why I don't really see it as all that balanced -- balanced means more than just giving a couple of sides and then attempting to find the point in between them, and really doesn't mean finding whatever extreme viewpoints you can find and putting them (or approximations of them that fit the most readily into how an outsider might view them from a distance) side by side.

I think our side was fairly well-represented. The author's biggest sin was in tossing out several vague generalizations about people who he spoke to.

That said, those generalizations aren't that different than a lot of posts I've read around here. So I take him at his word that they're real.

No one will ever get it 100% right to suit everyone, but its a great start!

Probably the most balanced, well thought out article on this issue I've read so far, even if imperfect. It's definitely a step in the right direction.

The article was surprisingly well-balanced - most of what I've read has come across as press releases from Autism Isn't Allowed To Speak. I was kind of hoping there would be someone interviewed with a circumstance similar to my own (undiagnosed AS, largely because the diagnosis didn't exist until I was in my 30s, with a profoundly autistic child), but I suppose there aren't enough of us out there to blip the radar.

I do note that the excruciating ABA schedule discussed doesn't really seem necessary - I've never done that with Morgana, but she's stopped self-harming, has lessened tantruming, is expanding her food repertoire, and is increasing her vocabulary rapidly. (It wasn't until she was in preschool that I learned I'd been using a "therapy" for years. The books call it Floortime - I just called it "playing with 'Gana on her own level.")

Those people who made comments that we are a nuisance and we are accepting brain damage made my blood boil. To me that is the equivalent of calling a black person the N word.

It is a well-balanced article, but I wish they would study ABA just a little more. What usually is said to be cured by ABA is not autism but environmental traits like tantrums and bad behavior, which is ultimately caused by bad parenting. In every other field such behaviors are seen as the result of bad parenting, so why is it "autism" in this context? I have to wonder if ABA doesn't just shut the autistic kid up so it cannot protest against the bad parenting or if it actually does some good as well?

Author of New York mag. article was recently featured on PBS's special program called "Depression: Out of the Shadow", he seemed to "get it" (whatever that is) for the most part, about brain differences.
Here's link to newspaper article mentioned in this one (I hadn't heard about it), interview with creator of Neurodiversity site. Title: "A Forceful Voice in the Autism Debate" from Concord (N.H.) Monitor:
http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs ... ate=single
Hope the link works (considering length)-highlight & paste if necessary. Also don't want it to stretch out the format (width) of page.

I feel in the middle at the moment of wanting to take more action for change, have started up a ACTION Autism NZ Group but also found as soon as mention any think to do with autism rights people back away, so trying to keep a happy media...

Here in NZ I feel if push the issue too much, my group becomes exclusive to only those wanting to push autism rights, I know it should not be like that but I really want to include everyone and feel its vital we all work together for real change and I do share and agree with many, if not most views with the Autism Rights Movement etc.. but maybe not ready to be so forceful myself, yet

Just wondering really what peoples general views are on autism rights etc.. the way forward

I read a bit of it, but I have enough reading at the moment to read the whole thing. But (and yess I have bad grammer) from what I read it is realy sending out the message of whats it like.

I think the answer would be to celibrate diferences, that would solve all of the problems in the world, unless you thought that in accepting a difference was a problem but thats ok i accept our differences.

Please pardon the comparison, because I'm NOT saying X is just like Z-only that there are issues in common. There's raging debate about whether to focus resources on people who already have AIDS vs. focus on prevention of acquisition of AIDS by new people. You could substitute other dx's for AIDS, this is just the example I've heard a lot about lately & the pattern/dynamic seems relevant.

I've seen stories on this, where constituencies argue on importance of more funds for treatment/care for those with the dx vs. constituencies arguing instead for more funding of prevention strategies. Neither side seems able to consider position/circumstance of the other category/group/population-though it can be for variety of reasons, not necessarily dismissal of one another's urgency but having to make "tough choices" about what to prioritize.

As with many medical (or however you want to label whatever this is) situations (differences that are likely to be considered disadvantageous), quarrels break out between those who are desperate for help & already in the group (have the "condition") vs. those who are primarily concerned with avoiding further instances of people getting the "condition" (and moving into the group of those who have it). Not all folks with an ASD are desperate for help & not all people without an ASD are fixated on no one else being born with it, but the basic premise holds.

Hope people can read past the comparison to see what I AM saying. How does one bridge gap when resources are scarce & one group wants "the whole pie" or feels so financially powerless that all of us (in the "community", which includes those who don't agree with each other's priorities) end up fighting amongst ourselves (against the larger population) for limited opportunities/assistance/support ? I haven't any answers, only restatements of the problem.