ASDay Articles 2012

lovenlearning Articles from Autistic Adults ,

Here are the two articles I most enjoyed from Autistics Speaking Day 2012:

Independence through reliance on others, by Catsidhe. While the author can work around some of his difficulties (eg asking people to email information to him, or have one person speaking at a time), certain other tasks like choosing doctors and mechanics, making appointments with them, and successfully travelling on public transportation cause significant stress. He describes how smoothly the problems of the week were managed by his wife, and gives a contrasting explanation of how they may have unfolded without her help.

Communication Partners, by Nightengale of Samarkand on LiveJournal. Communication can take many forms, but never occurs in a vacuum- however many autistic people lack communication partners. They are often excluded from conversations about autism. Autistic people are speaking- are non-autistic people listening?

ASDay Articles 2011

lovenlearning Articles from Autistic Adults

Sharing some of my favourite articles from Autistics Speaking Day 2011:

How Autism makes me a better parent, by Bridget (ItsBridgetsWord blog). Annoyed at some people’s belief that Autistic adults raise families  in spite of their autism, she cites examples like less expectations than non-autistic parents, truly listening, honesty and lack of embarrassment as ways in which her autism helps her to be a better parent.

I’m very high-functioning, by Twitchy Woman on WeirdLaw. She has some great responses for people’s disbelief about her Aspergers diagnosis, eg thanking them for noticing how hard she has worked on her social skills, but outlining the particular reason for which she shared this information.  However, she is very reluctant to share her diagnosis at work, despite acknowledging the need for autistic trailblazers, as she feels that it could negatively interfere with her career.

The Power of Autistic Community, by Ari Ne’eman. I haven’t seen any of Ari Ne’eman’s articles that I haven’t liked! He compares the immediate sense of community he experiences as a Jew, wherever he is, with the grudging accommodations available to people with disabilities. He welcomes Autistics Speaking Day as an opportunity to braid individual narratives into a collective one, as many other minority groups have done, and thus carve out some cultural space for the Autistic community.

Finding the Right Planet, by Rainbow Goddess. Great points about looking so similar and therefore being expected to behave similarly to others in her own culture, but not when with people of different cultures.  Her best culture is Aspie social groups, which are her “Right Planet”.

The Problematic Notion of a Cure, by AutistLiam. He highlights some of the difficulties and advantages of autism- I especially liked his sensory explanations.  He notes that most conversations around “cures” for autism both treat it as an illness, and seek to make autistic people as much like non-autistic people as possible, whatever the cost.

Autistics Speaking Day

lovenlearning Articles from Autistic Adults

1st November is Autistics Speaking Day.  I had seen the odd post here and there as I browse blogs, but hadn’t realised until this week that there is specific Autistics Speaking Day blog, which republishes and links to many other posts.  So many great articles by Autistic adults, took me most of a week to browse through (including those from previous years).

Corina Becker, one of the founders, has written an article explaining the Beginnings of Autistics Speaking Day.

“Ghost Boy”

lovenlearning Books for Adults

One of the best books I have read in a while is “Ghost Boy“, an autobiography by Martin Pistorius. At age 12, he became sick with an illness the doctors were unable to diagnose, which resulted in severe muscle weaknesses and lack of speech. He was unable to use his body to show his family and caregivers that he was mentally aware, so his physical needs were attended to, while his unstimulated mind retreated into imagination. His use of language is beautiful, but also rightfully disturbing, as he describes the abuses he suffered at the hands of certain “care”-givers. Eventually, one caregiver realised that he was understanding and responding to her, and spoke to his parents about having him assessed for AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication). He described the joy of communication, then discovered some of its limitations- and ultimately its power to help facilitate his dreams. As we are starting down the road of AAC ourselves, I found his comments and experiences to be insightful.

It’s a sign!

lovenlearning Autism - Resources (Misc), Autism - Therapies and Therapists

“It’s a sign” is about the benefits of teaching children with delayed speech and language how to sign.  (This article refers to Makaton, which is known as Key Word Sign in Australia, and is based on signs from Auslan [Australian Sign Language]).  Like the author, we have found that by consistently modelling signs for our daughter, she is starting to use signs to communicate with us- and is starting to try to vocalise some words.  There are many different places to learn Key Word Sign- many Speech and Language Pathologists know some sign, Disability Services Queensland occasionally host workshops for their Early Intervention families, and Deaf Services Queensland run Introductory-level Auslan courses.

“Othering” in church

lovenlearning Articles from Autistic Adults, Autism/Disability - Church and Faith

Ann Memmott has written about feeling valued- what it is, and what it is not, and the “othering” of people like her, in churches.  Being tolerated and being exhibits in the name of awareness raising, versus being seen as friends and being offered the same chances.  Jesus didn’t feed the 5000 and leave all the Autistic people hungry- Autistic people aren’t seen as “other” in front of God.

Mr Spock in church

lovenlearning Articles from Autistic Adults, Autism/Disability - Church and Faith

Autism, faith and church is a difficult subject, which is why I appreciate personal accounts like this one by Brant Hansen.  It’s real, and it’s both humorous and sad.  He often felt like an alien at church, eventually wondering if God had rejected him because he had never had an emotional experience of God’s presence.  While he still felt alienated from many parts of Christian culture, he finally found that Jesus was the only one who made sense- and explained why.

What parents think about

lovenlearning Autism - Parental Mental Health

This article is titled “The reason why your friend with a child with ‘needs’ hasn’t been in contact recently“, contains a bit of language, and ends with a “give us a break” and some suggestions for how friends can help.  That wasn’t what interested me in this article.  The author has created lists of what parents of typical children think about, and what parents of children with needs think about.  Needless to say, the difference in length between the two lists is substantial!

Picture card resources

lovenlearning Autism - Resources (Misc)

The Living Well with Autism site has some great resources under the “How to use picture cards and schedules” and the “How to use social stories” tabs, available for downloading and printing.  Some of the subjects covered include pragmatic language (eg I want that, I need a break, I don’t know), feelings, behaviour management (eg don’t run from me, say excuse me, quiet voice), self care (eg teeth brushing, dressing, toileting), food visuals, dental resources, picture cards for speech therapy, and feeling sick/in pain.