This Week in Neurodiversity

Each Friday at NOSmag, I post some links relevant to neurodiversity news and culture criticism around the web. This is what I’ve been reading and that I think you should be reading too. Feel free to add links of your own in the comments and email suggestions for future link roundups to nos.editorial@gmail.com or Tweet us @NOSeditorial.

Government Committee Recommends Increase in Autism Research Funding

The Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) recently recommended that autism research funding double, including an increase to adult services and supports. They also called for an increase in research funding for co-occurring conditions like epilepsy or Ehler-Danlos syndrome, which cause death and chronic pain for many autistic people. IACC is a government advisory panel made up of federal officials, autism professionals, family members and autistic adults. Currently, only three of the 31 IACC members are autistic. None of the federal members are autistic, nor is their chair. IACC is responsible for setting federal autism  research priorities. John Elder Robison, an autistic member of IACC, is pleased with the increase, as well as increased attention to issues beyond basic biology and genetics. “In accordance with out new President’s wish to make America great and get things done, we have recommended a level of funding that we feel will take us a … Continue Reading ››

Micah David-Cole Fletcher, Autistic Hero

Last Friday, a terrorist attack occurred in Portland. A local white supremacist had heaped verbal abuse on two young women, one of whom was wearing a hijab. Three men intervened to try to help these young women, and were violently stabbed. Those who stand up to hate, even at risk to themselves, deserve the title of hero. Tragically, two of these heroes, Rick Bestand Taliesin Myrddin Namkai-Meche, died of wounds sustained in the incident. The third,  Micah David-Cole Fletcher, is now recovering from being stabbed in the neck after two hours of surgery to remove bone fragments from his throat. He is also openly Autistic. As , Micah discussed his diagnosis in a 2015 profile in Venture Magazine, a literary publication affiliated with Mt. Hood Community College.
You got to understand that middle school was not a good point in my life at all," Fletcher said. In fact, he was institutionalized … Continue Reading ››

Bill Nye Can’t Save the World Without Disabled People

In many ways, I'm the perfect audience for Bill Nye Saves the World, the new Netflix show from the former Boeing engineer and Science Guy. Like many Millennials, I grew up watching Bill Nye the Science Guy. I still love informational science videos, especially those focused on debunking pseudoscience. I'm autistic, a group that's regularly in the crosshairs of science denial like  anti-vaxxers and alt-med quack "cures." I live in Austin, not a hard place to find people who believe in juice cleanses or panic about GMOs. When the new show debuted last weekend, I was more than ready for Bill Nye to teach me science again, and to arm me with arguments against the science denialists in my life. Bill Nye's show might not save the world, but it did promise to make my own life smarter and more fun. My optimism grew as the show drew opposition from … Continue Reading ››

Ford Foundation Breaks Commitment to Disability Rights, Funds Institution

Sometime in the next few years, a new institution will open in Delaware. Despite the New York Times and Boston Globe's pearl-clutching angst about the supposed devastating social impact of deinstitutionalization and lack of desire to consider newer, better, cleaner asylums. This institution, like many similar ones cropping up mostly unnoticed outside disabled activism in the past several years, claims to be an “intentional community of choice” offering people with disabilities more options for housing with supports in place that they might need. That rhetoric is extremely misleading at best, and outright dangerous at worst. It completely twists the meaning of the word “choice” beyond all recognition, to an extent that should make any English teacher cringe in shame. Over the past several years, I've been working on policy advocacy around a set of federal regulations known as the Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services Rule. This is better known as … Continue Reading ››