The Autism Rights Movement

Wonderful article from New York magazine on the neurodiversity movement. Mr. Solomon also does a brilliant job including the points of view of the bio-medical approach advocates and brushes lightly on the researchers focusing on a genetic answer. If there is a criticism, it's that he doesn't put much weight in the scientific responses to the bio-medical approach or the possible impact of the neurodiverse crowds arguments which would seem to include the suspension of ABA programs nationwide. Below are some choice quotes but I highly encourage you to read the entire article...THE AUTISM RIGHTS MOVEMENT.

“When you know a person on the spectrum, you know one person on the spectrum.”

“When your child is 12 years old and not toilet-trained, or is head-banging at age 15, how much of your acceptance is wise and how much is preventing recovery?” NIMH director Insel

“Why should I force eye contact or hugs on someone for whom that’s just noise?”

“The perception of people like us as lacking emotion is wholly inaccurate,” Ne’eman says. “It’s the failure of society to understand the communication styles of autistics.”

“I’d like nothing more than for her to develop the kind of consciousness that would allow her to join the neurodiversity movement,” Nash said. “If she decides to communicate without speech, that will be her choice, and I would love for her to be capable of such choices. It’s my fantasy that someday my daughter will go to her therapist to say what a terrible mother I was forcing her to do all this ABA. When that happens, I’ll know I succeeded.”

“I protest the wholesale characterization of people on the autism spectrum as toxic. It’s scientifically incorrect and symbolically offensive,” Seidel says.