Monthly Archives: October 2015

Autism, Sesame Street

I See Amazing Potential in Sesame Street

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This week, Sesame Workshop launched a campaign, ‘See Amazing,’ to help educate their audience about autism. A new puppet, Julia, helps beloved characters Elmo and Abby Cadabby model how to interact positively with autistic children in a digital storybook. Parents and siblings of autistic children share their experiences and provide a glimpse into their lives. A new music video, The Amazing Song, stresses that people communicate differently and that’s OK. All children are amazing in their own way. The ‘See Amazing’ campaign is heartwarming and accepting. Full disclosure, I cried (in a good way) the first time I saw the video for The Amazing Song. Instead of asserting that alternative forms of communication and expression, like hand flapping, are wrong or pathological, they’re presented as simple difference. In videos that feature real people, autistic children communicate using augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices … Continue Reading ››
Election 2016, Mental Health

Bernie Sanders is Wrong About Roseburg

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This is a screencap of Bernie Sanders speaking about the campus shooting in Oregon on MSNBC This Tuesday, presidential candidate Bernie Sanders once again linked the recent mass shooting at Umqua Community College to mental illness. This wasn’t the first time Sanders has conflated the two issues and that makes me nervous. Mental health policy based on the assumption that mentally ill people are more likely to murder others is not only untrue, but heaps stigma onto an already vulnerable population. The day of the massacre, Bernie Sanders appeared on MSNBC. One of the first policy positions he took on the subject was that people who are mentally ill should not be able to own guns. Personally, I don’t have any desire to own a gun, but it’s utterly fallacious to lump disabled people and violent criminals together without even a pause. In the … Continue Reading ››
Autism

What It’s Like to Be David

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This is an image of a person holding a sign. Their face and legs are out of the frame. The sign reads, "Nothing About Us Without Us."
This is your intrepid author.
Last weekend, I protested an Autism Speaks rally at the National Mall. A handful of us, mostly Autistic, stood and watched as thousands of people went to raise money for the biggest autism organization in the United States. Upbeat music blared from an enormous stage. Cheerful college students and families with young children packed the sidewalks, despite the dismal weather. Some people wore homemade t-shirts and hoodies with their autistic relatives’ smiling faces emblazoned across the front. These people are, for the most part, good people. They care about their families. They care about their communities. They love the autistic people in their lives and want to do … Continue Reading ››
Autism, communication

Screen Backlash is a Disability Issue

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A mother, a father and two children are looking at their cell phones and tablets while sitting together at the dinner table. It seems like hardly a week passes without some pearl-clutching thinkpiece bemoaning how social media is destroying meaningful human interaction. People are looking at their screens instead of making eye contact. We aren't using our mouths to talk to each other. Instead of telling each other how we feel in detail, we click the “like” button to express approval. We sit next to each other in cafes and don’t look up. This phenomenon has been described as the end of intimacy. However, it’s the exact opposite. As an Autistic person, I’ve never felt more understood or free. I’ve always felt more comfortable communicating in text. In high school, I had a lot of difficulty making friends. I was bullied. I’d happily expound … Continue Reading ››