The following brilliant excerpt comes to us via Inclusion Daily:
Aspergirls: We Are Creative, We Are Organized, And We Are Everywhere
(Psychology Today)
November 11, 2010
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA– [Excerpt] There are those who want to “wipe out autism” vs. the “neurodiversity” advocates. There are advocacy groups like Autism Speaks vs. self-advocacy leaders like Ari Ne’eman. There are the vaccine controversies and more.
Autism is believed to be caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors and researchers are really just beginning to hone in on what those factors might be. Of course it is good to know what they are and eliminate or reduce them. I understand the heartache of parents wanting to find out why their “once normal” child has become unreachable.
But to eliminate autistic traits altogether, as if it were some sort of plague is a very bad idea. As Temple Grandin often says, “eliminate my autism and you take away my genius.” Whenever I hear the words “defeat autism now” I feel like one of those bugs in the Raid commercials, scurrying to hide. I for one, do not want to lose my autistic traits and I can safely say, after interviewing hundreds of people on the spectrum, neither would most. The same spectrum that has me running from social situations is the same spectrum that has allowed me to publish hundreds of thousands of words in the last two years, illustrate my novel, learn a graphics program overnight and take up jazz singing and stand up comedy successfully within months….because I took a mind to.
I know I am not a ‘classic’ autistic and I don’t get involved in politics. But we, people with Aspergers, are cultural ambassadors; the bridge between neurotypical and autistic. We know what it’s like to be autistic and are high-functioning enough to express it. Any organization that has to do with autism simply must have aspies on its board. I believe that is the main criticism of the organization Autism Speaks – they had no autistic people on its board until recently and I believe, still have very few (translate: one).
Entire article:
The politics of autism: finding a cure vs. neurodiversity
http://www.InclusionDaily.com/news/2010/red/1111e.htm
Related:
Washington DC Chapter of Autism Self Advocacy Network planning on protesting Autism Speaks during November 6th fundraiser walk (Disabled World)
http://www.disabled-world.com/news/events/2010/autism-protest.php
Planet of the Blind 
The voices of happy, productive people with autism need to be heard. They are an important perspective in the overall picture of the many faces of autism. Of course, what “Anonymous” states is equally valid. If policymakers made policy that was based solely on the perspectives of those people with autism who are happy and productive, those policies may not “fit” people whose autism behaviors are a primary deterrent in achieving a fulfilled life. For this reason, policies that recognize diversity and treat people as ever-changing individuals might have a better chance of being effective than those that do not recognize and work within the context of individual differences.
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Wow! Let a hundred scools of thought contend I sat
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Wow…what a claim! Aspies know what it’s like to be autistic. Do they know what it’s like to self-abuse, be tactile defensive, unable to communicate, to have intellectual disabilities, to have to be supervised 24/7, to have a dangerous tendency to elope, to have violent outbursts, to suffer from the many physical discomforts that come with severe autism? Guess I can say that I know what it’s like to be African American because I have skin.
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