A request to readers: does anyone have a Dreamwidth code that they can send me? I'd really like to get a journal there.
Edited to add: I have one now, thanks to reader Iseryn. Thanks, Iseryn! I now have an account as allies_person. (The username refers to my lovely feline companion.) I invite readers to add me, though for now I think I'd prefer only to allow people I already know and trust access to my journal. I am really, really sorry to be exclusive like that, but I kind of feel I have to be in order to feel any sense of comfort and security. If you don't have a Dreamwidth account, you can add me through Open ID.
I'm not sure what will happen to this blog, to be honest. I'm feeling very upset and disillusioned with the blogging world right now, and it's not enjoyable to me anymore. All of the infighting and bullying and sides is too much for me.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Where Ableism Leads
I really, really hate having to write these kinds of posts, but I can't not.
This is where hatred leads. A woman in Texas is believed to have strangled her two autistic children. In her words:
This is the kind of rhetoric that our mainstream autism advocacy organizations give us. Maybe they don't always put it in such naked terms, but the underlying feeling of entitlement to a "normal" child, and the feelings of victimization upon having an autistic child, is a staple of autism rhetoric. This kind of rhetoric really is dangerous.
This is the reason why hateful representations from well-meaning people and organizations need to be firmly opposed.
This is where hatred leads. A woman in Texas is believed to have strangled her two autistic children. In her words:
They are both not normal, not normal. They are autistic. Both are autistic. I don't want my kids to be like that. I don't want, I want normal kids," said the woman. "First, I tried to give them bathroom cleaner. I put in their mouth, but they don't drink it. I want them to drink, but they don't drink it.
This is the kind of rhetoric that our mainstream autism advocacy organizations give us. Maybe they don't always put it in such naked terms, but the underlying feeling of entitlement to a "normal" child, and the feelings of victimization upon having an autistic child, is a staple of autism rhetoric. This kind of rhetoric really is dangerous.
This is the reason why hateful representations from well-meaning people and organizations need to be firmly opposed.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Watch this Video
If you watch any online video this week (or month), I highly recommend that it be "Grading People," a video about how dehumanizing it is to grade autistic people (and others) into "high-" and "low-" functioning categories. It's edifying, historically informed, and sadly horrifying. Captions are provided.
Posts about Autreat and other things will (hopefully) be incoming. I'm quite busy and exhausted right now.
Posts about Autreat and other things will (hopefully) be incoming. I'm quite busy and exhausted right now.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Autreat 2010: Presentations
Part I: Thoughts on the Presentations
Early this morning, I returned from Autreat 2010. This was the second Autreat that I've attended, and I'd like to share some of my thoughts on the experience. This first part will cover the formal presentations, particularly the presentation on airport security, which has become something of a pet issue for this blog.
The presentations were excellent. I was able to attend part of all but the presentation from Amanda Baggs, Morton Gernsbacher, and Drew Goldsmith. Unfortunately, I fell asleep in my room before the beginning of the presentation and it was all but over by the time I managed to wake up. As I was quite looking forward to the presentation, this was disappointing.
Jim Sinclair's talk about belonging and community was excellent; I don't think I can really do an adequate job of describing it, so I won't attempt it. I'll just say that ou is a very astute observer of both autistic and non-autistic social dynamics. The people who say that we are always completely clueless when it comes to social interactions are full of shit.
Susan Golubock's presentation on executive functioning was helpful and informative. I now have some new ideas for strategies and assistive devices to try out to make life run a little more smoothly.
And, of course, Ari Ne'eman's presentation on prejudice against autistic people was great--historically informed, social justice-oriented from start to finish, and truly inspiring. Full disclosure: Ari and I are friends. But I'm pretty sure I would have loved it regardless. While the lecture title, "How They Hate Us," is fairly depressing, and some of the examples of anti-autistic prejudices discussed by Ari and various audience members were rage-inducing indeed, the talk managed to instill hope anyway. I was left with a renewed sense of purpose and determination. We're going to change the world here, folks, one hand-flap at a time.
I was also delighted to see Rhonda Basha's presentation on airport security. I have been a pretty outspoken critic of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) on this blog. One of my earliest blog entries here was about the difficulties of flying while autistic, and this post included some pointed critiques about how autistic-unfriendly the security procedures are. I actually wrote the post in response to being treated like shit by a TSA agent on my way back from my first Autreat, two years ago. So it was great to see someone from TSA actually coming to Autreat and discussing these issues with autistic people. This is one issue where I can actually see some tangible results of my blogging, and I'm glad that so many autistic people were able to talk with Ms. Basha, who is head of the Office of Disability Policy and Outreach at TSA. While it's unlikely that the procedures will be completely autie-friendly any time soon, it is wonderful to see this dialogue happening at all. Ms. Basha provided several useful tips that I will be keeping in mind for future travels. (As there were no lines or problems at the airport leaving Autreat, I didn't have to utilize any of the strategies suggested on the return trip.)
As a result of some of the explanations Ms. Basha provided, I have altered my position on new airport security technologies somewhat. I now see that there are advantages to the full-body scanners which are being implemented in the U.S. I am okay with the use of this technology so long is entirely voluntarily. It seems as though passengers will be given the option to choose between the body scanner and the traditional pat-down, and this is a good thing for many autistic people. Like a lot of other spectrum people, I'm hypersensitive to touch. I would much prefer going through this machine than be touched by an unfamiliar security agent. This technology is also more accessible to many PWD who cannot use the current metal detectors at all (i.e. people with pacemakers). As long as walking through such a machine is entirely voluntarily, and the privacy procedures are in fact strictly adhered to, I think these machines are actually a step in the right direction, given everything else.
The body scanners are not accessible to all PWD, and that is of course a problem. People who use prostheses or wheelchairs, or who have medical implants, probably won't be able to use the machines. But since people in these groups generally can't use the current metal detectors either, the new machines probably won't make security any less accessible than it already is. As I do not currently have any physical impairments myself, I am speaking from a position of privilege and could very well be wrong about some of this. (Please do tell me if I am!)
Someone in the audience asked, quite astutely, about access issues for people who are both wheelchair users and hypersensitive to touch. There aren't any easy answers to this question, unfortunately, at least as long as the world is in love with the airport security industrial complex. But the fact that the body scanners are not universally accessible, IMHO, is not a particularly good reason to oppose them altogether. Unfortunately airport security will continue to be inaccessible to many people with physical disabilities regardless of whether the scanners are used or not. The scanners can, however, make airport security more accessible to many other people with disabilities, myself included.
So that's a brief summation of some of the things which caught my attention during the presentations. There were quite a few excellent presentations which I didn't mention, but this post is already running very long and I'm rather short on energy after all of the travel and sleep deprivation of the past six days.
Coming next: discussion of social life at Autreat--the main reason why most of us go!
Early this morning, I returned from Autreat 2010. This was the second Autreat that I've attended, and I'd like to share some of my thoughts on the experience. This first part will cover the formal presentations, particularly the presentation on airport security, which has become something of a pet issue for this blog.
The presentations were excellent. I was able to attend part of all but the presentation from Amanda Baggs, Morton Gernsbacher, and Drew Goldsmith. Unfortunately, I fell asleep in my room before the beginning of the presentation and it was all but over by the time I managed to wake up. As I was quite looking forward to the presentation, this was disappointing.
Jim Sinclair's talk about belonging and community was excellent; I don't think I can really do an adequate job of describing it, so I won't attempt it. I'll just say that ou is a very astute observer of both autistic and non-autistic social dynamics. The people who say that we are always completely clueless when it comes to social interactions are full of shit.
Susan Golubock's presentation on executive functioning was helpful and informative. I now have some new ideas for strategies and assistive devices to try out to make life run a little more smoothly.
And, of course, Ari Ne'eman's presentation on prejudice against autistic people was great--historically informed, social justice-oriented from start to finish, and truly inspiring. Full disclosure: Ari and I are friends. But I'm pretty sure I would have loved it regardless. While the lecture title, "How They Hate Us," is fairly depressing, and some of the examples of anti-autistic prejudices discussed by Ari and various audience members were rage-inducing indeed, the talk managed to instill hope anyway. I was left with a renewed sense of purpose and determination. We're going to change the world here, folks, one hand-flap at a time.
I was also delighted to see Rhonda Basha's presentation on airport security. I have been a pretty outspoken critic of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) on this blog. One of my earliest blog entries here was about the difficulties of flying while autistic, and this post included some pointed critiques about how autistic-unfriendly the security procedures are. I actually wrote the post in response to being treated like shit by a TSA agent on my way back from my first Autreat, two years ago. So it was great to see someone from TSA actually coming to Autreat and discussing these issues with autistic people. This is one issue where I can actually see some tangible results of my blogging, and I'm glad that so many autistic people were able to talk with Ms. Basha, who is head of the Office of Disability Policy and Outreach at TSA. While it's unlikely that the procedures will be completely autie-friendly any time soon, it is wonderful to see this dialogue happening at all. Ms. Basha provided several useful tips that I will be keeping in mind for future travels. (As there were no lines or problems at the airport leaving Autreat, I didn't have to utilize any of the strategies suggested on the return trip.)
As a result of some of the explanations Ms. Basha provided, I have altered my position on new airport security technologies somewhat. I now see that there are advantages to the full-body scanners which are being implemented in the U.S. I am okay with the use of this technology so long is entirely voluntarily. It seems as though passengers will be given the option to choose between the body scanner and the traditional pat-down, and this is a good thing for many autistic people. Like a lot of other spectrum people, I'm hypersensitive to touch. I would much prefer going through this machine than be touched by an unfamiliar security agent. This technology is also more accessible to many PWD who cannot use the current metal detectors at all (i.e. people with pacemakers). As long as walking through such a machine is entirely voluntarily, and the privacy procedures are in fact strictly adhered to, I think these machines are actually a step in the right direction, given everything else.
The body scanners are not accessible to all PWD, and that is of course a problem. People who use prostheses or wheelchairs, or who have medical implants, probably won't be able to use the machines. But since people in these groups generally can't use the current metal detectors either, the new machines probably won't make security any less accessible than it already is. As I do not currently have any physical impairments myself, I am speaking from a position of privilege and could very well be wrong about some of this. (Please do tell me if I am!)
Someone in the audience asked, quite astutely, about access issues for people who are both wheelchair users and hypersensitive to touch. There aren't any easy answers to this question, unfortunately, at least as long as the world is in love with the airport security industrial complex. But the fact that the body scanners are not universally accessible, IMHO, is not a particularly good reason to oppose them altogether. Unfortunately airport security will continue to be inaccessible to many people with physical disabilities regardless of whether the scanners are used or not. The scanners can, however, make airport security more accessible to many other people with disabilities, myself included.
So that's a brief summation of some of the things which caught my attention during the presentations. There were quite a few excellent presentations which I didn't mention, but this post is already running very long and I'm rather short on energy after all of the travel and sleep deprivation of the past six days.
Coming next: discussion of social life at Autreat--the main reason why most of us go!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
