Autism Reality is a 10 minute documentary film about autism by Alex Plank. The film features interviews with Dr. Temple Grandin, Alex himself, and a handful of others including Alex’s parents.
This film shows a perspective not often seen in autism media by portraying autism as a reality which is neither good nor bad, just a different way that some people are wired.
Alex is the founder of WrongPlanet.net, one of the earliest and largest online communities for people on the autistic spectrum.
Sometimes it is hard to be an aspie. I am very lucky because no matter how hard things get sometimes, I have people who can, and do, help me out. If it weren’t for those people, especially my family and Karen, I really don’t what my life would be like now. It is likely that …
Writing on the iPhone. Hard to breathe. Shaky. Strangely okay besides that. Sometimes writing helps. Been very busy lately. All Drupal all the time. Besides from the insane learning curve and non-intuitive UI, I am in awe of its power and flexibility. After more than 15 hours of video tutorials and reading tons of docs, …
To the Sponsors, Donors and Supporters of Autism Speaks:
Responses to the the Autism Speaks’ “I Am Autism” video have been growing quickly. Here is another awesome video response to the tune of “I Am Woman” by Helen Reddy.
More Responses:
Check out this awesome response to the exceptionally horrible “I Am Autism” video by Autism Speaks. Link leads to Mike Stanton’s Action For Autism blog with video and commentary.
This video is just one part of Autism Speaks’ crusade to educate the world about how horrible autistic people are and how they will destroy the happiness of anyone who crosses their path.
If you haven’t seen the Autism Speaks video, it is exactly the same as this one except for the audio, which is almost the complete opposite. Lyrics are below.
A list of responses to the Autism Speaks video
is being compiled at I Speak of Dreams.
I… Am… Autism… Speaks…
I am Autism Speaks…
I am invisible to your children. And I will be invisible to you until it’s too late.
I know where you live. And guess what? It’s no use hiding.
I have my eyes on all of you… I am watching you all.
I am Autism Speaks.
I have no color… no religion… no morals… no love….
I speak the language of despair and disease. And with every voice I steal. I grow stronger.
I work quickly to make people believe your children are suffering worse than cancer or AIDS victims.
I am Autism Speaks.
And if you’re happily married… I’ll distroy your marriage with unattainable dreams and broken promises.
Your money will fall into my hands… And I will bankrupt you… And pay myself hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.
I don’t sleep… And I’ll make sure you don’t either.
I will make it virtually impossible for you to leave your home without feeling the shame of diseased children.
I am Autism Speaks.
You have no defense against me…
Your advocates don’t have the money to fight me. And I relish your poverty.
I will make everyone think you and your children are diseased and disordered. And then… Turn on them.
I am Autism Speaks.
I have no interest in right or wrong.
I derive great pleasure out of your loneliness.
I will take away your hope.
I will rob you of your children and of your dreams.
I will make sure you will cry everyday.
You will wonder who will look after your children when you die.
And the Truth is… I… Do… Not… Care…
I am Autism Speaks.
And you are scared…
And you should be.
I am Autism Speaks.
You ignored me… And that was a Big mistake.
I am Autism Speaks…
And I speak in voices stolen from your children.
I am Autism Speaks.
Join the Protesting Autism Speaks “I am Autism” Video group on Facebook:
From Bev @ Asperger Square 8:
Thanks to Turner & Kowalski for stirring things up.
Tech Support Secrets (click to enlarge) [singlepic id=28 w=450 h=505 float=none] From xkcd. Thanks to Joni Mueller for the link 🙂
Through My Eyes, sung by Thanh Bui is an attempt to help people get a handle on what it’s like to live with an autism spectrum disorder.
Ordinarily, a song this sweet would make me gag. I admit that in order to listen to it all the way through, my brain started translating it into a thrashier version of itself (in classic rock power ballad style). Personal musical tastes aside, I really liked this song and Thanh Bui’s beautiful voice brought me out of the thrash from time to time.
Thanks to Sharon for the link 🙂
It will be available for download on iTunes soon.
This post was inspired by an article written by Rachel Cohen-Rottenberg and published on The Commons. More of Rachel’s writing can be found on her blog, Asperger Journeys. Rachel’s website includes a list of 100 Myths about Autism, and her article focuses on ten of those. After finishing the article, I found my thoughts lingering …
Update (8/3/09): Added SuperDuper! to list and changed title. Just got my aluminum imac replaced by Apple. The old one was kind of possessed by gremlins or some such thing. After several failed repair attempts, part replacements, and countless hours of phone support, Apple agreed to give me a shiny new computer. Loving it 🙂 …
This video, Nate Koechley: “Professional Frontend Engineering” from Yahoo! Video, is a great presentation about the current state of frontend web development (HTML, CSS, JavaScript). I was completely captivated for the full hour and a half that the presentation lasted.
Nate started out with a history of website development starting with a 1994 version of the Yahoo! website and continuing until the present. He also spoke about the evolution of technologies and trends over the years. It was interesting to hear about how table based design became popular and why it was necessary at the time.
Next up was an overview of current beliefs and principles of front end engineering, which covered progressive enhancement, unobtrusive javascript, and the importance of making the website available to the largest possible audience.
The next section, Knowledge Areas and Best Practices, covered rendering modes, doctypes, and using each technology appropriately, i.e. html for semantic markup, css for presentation, and unobtrusive javascript for behavior. One thing I found interesting was that he considered it more important to keep the css code for each area in the same place by using hacks for IE6 and IE7, even though it would prevent the css from validating. I usually use conditional comments and separate stylesheets for different versions or combinations of versions of IE and can definitely see the benefit of Nate’s approach, as well as how it could be a big timesaver.
The presentation wrapped up with the ‘Why It All Matters’ segment which brought everything together and included a call to action for developers to stay vigilant, keep up with modern technologies and the bugs that arise from them, and to continue making the internet a better experience for everyone.
Ok, not really a million things, but it sure feels like it lately. Luckily, my new combination of meds seems to be working and it a lot easier to do things than it was not long ago. There are a few bad effects too, but so far, I think more good than bad. It is …
Welcome to my world…
Me and K spent the past week in Baltimore and Florida and had a great time. We want to move to Baltimore, but we can’t. It sucks. We decided we wanted to move a few weeks before the economy crashed. Things looked pretty good for us then. Now we are stuck here for what could …
Project Spectrum was created to give people with autism the opportunity to express their creativity and develop a life skill using Google SketchUp 3D modeling software.
This video shows 3D models created by 4 children on the autism spectrum. Three of the models are of the child’s dream house. All are very interesting! Some of the children made paper sketches before trying SketchUp. Narration explains the children’s experience with the software compared to their experience with the paper sketches.
I wish there was something like this around when I was a kid! I wonder if it could be used to create 3D mind maps. I have found it helpful on occasion to use mind mapping software to translate the multi-planed thoughts in my head into the pictures and shapes of a mind map, and then have the software convert them to an outline of words that can be used in a way that I imagine is how “regular” people just use them automatically. Adding a 3rd dimension to a mind map would definitely make it more intuitive to use, as thoughts could be placed where they belong, rather than using lines that are too long to show a distance that would better be described by showing the thought’s proximity in space to the other thoughts.
Of course this kind of software will not benefit everyone on the autistic spectrum, but it is nice to know that a special effort is being made to give these children a new way to express themselves, especially one that is visual and 3 dimensional, AND teaches them a marketable skill in a growing industry.
For more information, go to http://sketchup.google.com/spectrum.html.
In February 2006, Karen and I made a comic. Then we got sidetracked for three years. K took the original pictures and I made them into comics in Photoshop. We wrote the story together. This morning we filled in the remaining text and put the images in order.
Click on the images to view in gallery. Fullscreen mode is supported.
This comic is dedicated to Shiki.
Thru-you is a video series created by Israeli recording artist, Kutiman (aka Ophir Kutiel) by doing an extensive YouTube search for clips of people playing music and mixing them into a single jam. In Thru-you – 08 – About, he explains the process.
Thru-you – 01 – Mother of all Funk Chords:
I checked out a bunch of his other videos and they are really amazing. Kutiman plays a multitude of musical instruments, including keyboards, drums, guitar, percussion, and bass. His music has been described as “urban psychedelic funk” and sometimes showcases his friends and favorite musicians from the scene in Tel Aviv.
Thanks to Ed for the tip!
18,000 couples are facing potential forcible divorce due to the legal briefs filed by Ken Starr and the Prop 8 Legal Defense Fund on December 19, 2008 defending the constitutionality of Prop 8 and seeking to nullify the 18,000 same-sex marriages conducted between May and November of 2008.
Courage Campaign asked people to respond by sending personal pictures with a very simple message:
“Don’t Divorce Us”
Over 350,000 people have signed this letter telling the state Supreme Court to invalidate Prop 8, reject Ken Starr’s case, and let loving, committed couples marry.
We, the undersigned, share President Barack Obama’s view that for too long, issues of LGBT rights have been exploited by those seeking to divide us. It’s time to move beyond polarization and live up to our founding promise of equality by treating all our citizens with dignity and respect.
Yet, on December 19, 2008, Ken Starr and the Prop 8 Legal Defense Fund filed legal briefs defending the constitutionality of Prop 8 and seeking to nullify the marriages of 18,000 devoted same-sex couples solemnized before Prop 8 passed.
The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in this case on March 5, with a decision expected within 90 days.
We, the undersigned, ask that the Court enforce the equality promised to each of us by our constitution and invalidate Prop 8. So doing will protect all loving, committed couples in California — including the 18,000 who said “I do” last year — and prevent the initiative process from being a tool for stripping vulnerable minorities of precious constitutional rights.
As Americans who believe in the rule of law and fundamental civil rights, we know that Ken Starr and the Prop 8 Legal Defense Fund’s shameful attempt to nullify equal protection and all these bonded unions will be condemned in the eyes of history. We know that, ultimately, love will prevail, no matter how hard they try to fight it.
Sincerely,
371,155 people have signed this letter*.
* Updated: 7:55 p.m. PT, Wednesday, March 4
This color scheme is updated regularly. (View Updates) Komodo Edit 5 has been my default code editor for the past week or so. It is much faster and nicer to look at than previous versions that I have tried. I switch default code editors almost as often as I switch default browsers. There are so …
I have been doing a lot of research into freelance networking. My favorite source of information is Freelance Radio, the FreelanceSwitch podcast. It is by far the best of the freelance podcasts I have listened to. The panel is excellent. The host, John Brougher, does a great job of keeping the podcast on topic while …
