Two days ago I wrote a fierce post about a specious and cruel article by Amy Lutz over at Slate and I’m grateful to the folks at Ollibean for reposting it. We at Planet of the Blind urge you to read Shannon Des Roches Rosa’s piece over at Thinking Person’s Guide to Autism.
Ms. Des Roches Rosa wonders what would possess Amy Lutz, a mother of a child with autism, to attack the concept of neurodiversity and writes:
Autism parent Amy Lutz did her damnedest to verbally maul the Neurodiversity movement last week, at Slate.com. I’m still trying to understand her rationale, because why would she publicly attack disabled people for the crime of appearing less disabled than her own child? Especially the very advocates who are fighting to ensure a better future for all autistic people — including her son?
I’m used to seeing questionable writing at The Huffington Post, but was surprised to see Lutz’s baldly biased reporting in the Slate.com Medical Examiner section. She only cited sources — outraged parents like herself, mostly — who also believe “…that those who argue the Neurodiversityposition do so out of ignorance.” A statement which is not merely offensive but untrue: those who support Neurodiversity tend do so because Neurodiversity is their reality, and the neurodiverse their community.
Of course the answer to the question regarding Lutz’s attack lies with the discomfort that able bodied people have with non-speaking people, a discomfort that is not lessened by the act of parenting children with autism. That there is ableism in the autism parenting community is unquestionable, that there is so much of it is horrifying.
Planet of the Blind 