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Ari Ne'eman on Autistics Speaking Day 2011-Community Matters

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KenG
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02 Nov 2011, 2:13 pm

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President of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, Ari Ne'eman, published an article for Autistics Speaking Day 2011:
http://blogs.plos.org/neurotribes/2011/ ... community/

For further information about Autistics Speaking Day 2011, read this:
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt177772.html


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Gedrene
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02 Nov 2011, 3:25 pm

I see KenG post so much up but noone ever seems to comment. Well I'll make it worth his while. Thankyou very much. I especially liked these lines from the article.

Quote:
The goal of the event — touted by a roster of “celebs” including actor Steven Segal — was to give non-autistic people a taste of the frustration some people on the spectrum face in trying to communicate by convincing them to log off of all social networks for 24 hours (while downloading a $5 “charity app” that funneled money to the organization.) It seemed almost perverse to honor autistic people by shunning the very medium that has empowered many of them to find their own voices at last, after decades of being silenced behind the walls of institutions and well-meaning organizations that claim to speak for them


Quote:
Then I read an inspiring post from a young woman named Corina Becker calling for a counter-protest on November 1 that she called Autistics Speaking Day. She wrote: “What’s the tragedy? That people can’t speak? Or that too few are listening? Whether we’re verbal or nonverbal, does telling people to stay off social communication networks really create empathy for us? The Internet is how we find one another. It’s where many of us feel heard. It’s where many of us feel most comfortable.



CockneyRebel
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02 Nov 2011, 3:58 pm

The Internet has allowed myself to have my voice be heard. It used to be that every time that I tried to tell people in real life, they tried to silence me. The people here on WP don't do that at all.

I feel that having people log off for 24 hours is an insult to those of us who are on the spectrum.

Autistics Speaking Day is a very good idea. People around the world get to know what we're thinking and what our opinions are and they can't hide from us, anymore.


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OrangeCloud
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02 Nov 2011, 4:57 pm

Yeah I think this is a great idea, really inspiring stuff. I also really enjoyed reading that "community matters" article, there wasn't a sentence in the entire article that I disagreed with, and I really felt like I could relate to many of his experiences and the way he thought and reflected upon them.