Once again, it is Autistics Speaking Day. I want to write a post about the positive aspects of autism, but at the moment, it is hard. It has been almost 8 years since I found out that I was autistic. At first, it freaked me out because there is no cure. Eventually, I started to …
I have been running my freelance web development business for over 15 years, the last 8 of which have actually involved a business license, paying taxes, and making money. Each year, I do a little better than the last. Running a business can be challenging to everyone, and as with most things, can provide extra …
Last night, Karen and I attended Exhaling Beauty: an Evening Celebrating Females on the Autism Spectrum. The aim of the event was to share and showcase the talents, experiences, and spirit of the female ASD community. They definitely did that. I have never heard of another event like this and I am very thankful that …
Please vote for the Autism Women’s Network (AWN) in the Pepsi Refresh Everything Project. I have been working with AWN since the beginning as director of web development and technical services and it is a truly awesome organization. AWN is a unique organization that was founded by women on the autism spectrum. Our mission is …
Alex Plank gave the keynote presentation at the Autism Society’s 41st National Conference on Autism Spectrum Disorders.
Alex speaks honestly and openly about being autistic and connecting with other autistic people online. His website, WrongPlanet.net, has been helping autistic people connect with each other since 2004.
Alex’s keynote is the first of 7 videos from the conference. The panel discussion also features Sandy Yim from the Autism Women’s Network.
I have been different from other people for as long as I can remember. Over the years, I have had many different diagnoses, opinions, and treatments that were not quite right. My parents have tried to get me help since I was a little kid, but no one really knew what to do with me. …
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.
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, …
The Autistic Self Advocacy Network and other organizations representing the Cross-Disability Community are distributing this joint letter to the sponsors, donors and supporters of Autism Speaks following the organization’s latest offensive and damaging Public Service Announcement, “I am Autism“. If you are an organization that would like to sign on to the letter, please e-mail ASAN at info@autisticadvocacy.org before Close of Business Tuesday, October 6th, 2009. If you are an individual who would like to join ASAN’s upcoming protests of Autism Speaks in Ohio, New England, New York City and elsewhere across the country please e-mail ASAN at info@autisticadvocacy.org Thank you for your support and please feel free to distribute for additional signatories.
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.
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.
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.
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 …
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.
Chocolate, from Magnet Releasing, is a martial arts film from Thailand coming to theaters on Feb. 6th, 2009, and DVD Feb. 10th.
Directed by Prachya Pinkaew, this sweet, action-packed martial-arts drama features the debut of young female fighter Jeeja Yanin Vismitananda as Zen, an autistic savant who learns to kick heads by watching Bruce Lee and Tony Jaa movies.
Zen’s father, a Japanese gangster, has been driven out of the country by a rival Thai gang, so her mother has been forced to raise her alone. When her mother becomes sick, Zen goes on a candy-fueled rampage to collect debts from the corrupt gangsters that owe money to her mom.
I was reading an article called “Shutdown: A Specific Type of Meltdown” written by Gavin Bollard this morning. Shutdown is a pretty hard thing to put into words, but he did a pretty good job of it. Technically, there aren’t too many differences between meltdowns and shutdowns. Both are extreme reactions to everyday stimuli. … …
I was having some trouble thinking earlier and ended up looking at the wordle pix again to quiet my brain. The one below caught my eye because it is a picture of what was going on in my head. It is a pretty accurate illustration of what I mean when I say (or write) that …
Do or do not. There is no Try. –Yoda I am not a Jedi, so I suppose those words were not meant for me, but from what I can tell, trying = effort and everything takes effort. Therefore, there is a try. Went to another aspie meeting on Sunday. Not sure if I liked it …
My friend d has written an excellent article about living with asperger’s. I can relate to much of what she said in the post and I am guessing that a lot of people who visit LBnuke will too. The article is called about asperger’s syndrome, in plain english. Definitely worth the click 🙂
Friday night I went out to dinner with the people from the asperger’s meetup group that I’ve been to a few times. It was lots of fun. Really nice people. I liked it way better than meeting at someone’s house. Less pressure somehow and I didn’t feel trapped like I sometimes do. The dinner was …
