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Neurodiversity
Self-Portrait
Moontain M.U.K.
Self-Portrait
Eddie Callis
"19. What is neurodiversity?
Neurodiversity is the idea that certain conditions, including Autism, are natural variations of the human genome, and are not defects that need to be fixed. Neurodiversity says that the ability of an individual should be augmented and supported, and the disability should be mitigated and accommodated. It says that the value or worth of the individual is not less because of Autism, and that Autism is an important and valuable aspect of a person's identity.
Historically speaking, neurodiversity is an extension of the Disability Rights Movement of the 1970s, which advocates the civil rights model of disability -- that the primary and most significant challenges for Autistic or other disabled people are mostly societal problems such as non-inclusion, discrimination, or ableism."
-LYDIA X. Z. BROWN, Autism FAQ, on her blog Autistic Hoya
Autism is a World by Sue Rubin
Sue takes the audience through her daily life and struggles to do what, for most, would be mundane tasks like making a salad or tying her shoes. We learn that Sue clutches at plastic spoons because they bring her comfort. We see her play for long stretches at the sink in a trickling flow of water during which, she says, the autistic side of her brain takes over. It is a startling juxtaposition—the clear, intelligent, articulate words of a woman who is behaving in the world in exceptionally strange ways.
For more information on Sue and her movie, visit her website!
"The focus should be each person should be left to define themselves. This lesson is true whether there is a disability or heaven help them they are neurotypical”
-Alex Kimmel, "Interview", in Typed Words Loud Voices
(Sequenzia, A. & Grace, E. J., 2015, p. 30)
What is Passing? by Amythest Schaber
Read Amythest's blog here!
"So you can't expect an autistic child or an autistic adult to look neurotypical and to learn what they're teaching them, to be present in the moment, to work efficiently, to be a good employee, to even be a good friend because constantly they're thinking about their body. About keeping it from moving the way it wants to move"
“More importantly I have to admit that other people’s attitude to autism and to its various attributes are even more fascinating. It may be that the social deficits which are the cornerstone of an autism spectrum diagnosis tell us far more about the person who made them markers for such a diagnosis than about the child whom he observes.”
- Lucy Blackman, "Reflections on Language"
in Autism and the Myth of the Person Alone
(Blackman, 2005, p.149)
Wretchers & Jabbers
In the film, Tracy and Larry take to the road to promote awareness of the hidden intelligence in those who face speech and communication challenges, connecting with others like them across the globe who struggle to find a means of expression. Tracy, Larry and their support team, Harvey Lavoy and Pascal Cheng, visit Sri Lanka, Japan and Finland, giving interviews and presentations and learning about the lives of people with autism in these countries. Viewers share in their eye-opening experiences as the men negotiate the terrain of travel, culture and new friendships on what they aptly named The World Intelligence Magnified Tour.
"My issues are not another's, I know. Autism is so individual oriented, issues and solutions both. I often wonder at why they are so intent on recognizing us as a group experience. Autism is as diverse as neurotypicalism but no one calls NT a "spectrum". "
-Mike, More of the Same Old Arguments,
From his blog, In My Voice: Journal of an Autist
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