Autism Acceptance Month 2016 (Year 6)

Copied and pasted from my Facebook account:

March 27

Hello all,

This April and April 2nd specifically is, for members of the Autistic Culture such as myself, Autism Acceptance Month and Day respectively. Note I say ACCEPTANCE, as opposed to AWARENESS, which are very different, and which is the theme of April and April 2nd for those who believe in the medical model of autism, such as Autism Speaks, the National Autism Association, and the Autism Research Institute. AWARENESS, symbolized with puzzle pieces and blue clothes and lights, generally focuses on autism as a medical disaster causing divorces and taking children from their family, and allows Autism Speaks executives to continue making their six-figure salaries while paying less than 5% of their organizations to any meaningful supports for autistics and their families. The blue lights, alluding to AS's puzzle piece symbol, comes from this fastly discredited notion that there are four autistic boys for every autistic girl, while autistics such as myself reject the puzzle piece as we are not broken pictures to be reassembled, and we, and our diversity, fit together naturally, with no beginning and no end, like the Autistic rainbow infinity piece. ACCEPTANCE, which we launched to take back April, embraces the social model of autism, being a difference to be respected as with homosexuality or any other difference, not caused by vaccines, genetic deformities, bad parents, bacon, tanning beds, and so on, expressed through links, photos, art, poetry, blogs, and events that portray my condition POSITIVELY-certain not as always peachy, as, like with every way of living, life with autism isn't perfect and has its problems, but this should not be the focus of how we view this segment of our humanity. I shall be doing this certainly, but I have one final "piece" to mention. THIS MONTH is celebrated by wearing and lighting GOLD, RED, TAUPE, and ORANGE, for the chemical symbol for gold (AU), the first two letters of the word "Autistic"; red, a heart, to symbolize autism, rather than a puzzle piece; taupe, the Tree of Neurodiversity (various mental wiring, including autism and neurotypicality, being valid); orange, the spark from the Celebrate Autism Foundation. Their is also green from the coil-and-jump logo for Great Britain's Autscape and purple for royal purple (indicating royalness) from Scotland's Autistic Rights Group Highlands, and the rainbow, but, not blue alone. Note, this is different from awareness, for its not just what we see, but the lens (or lack of) with which we are to see them. I have said before, we have enough awareness, but awareness is not enough. We need acceptance, and rather than donating to Autism Speaks, realize their our groups that will allow autistics their socially crucial need of acceptance, such as the Academic Autism Spectrum Partnership in Research and Education, the Autistic Union, the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network, the Autism Women's Network, and so on. I realize many may have a lot to learn, and I have a lot not to judge, but note this, throughout the entire month of April, I will not only be wearing gold, red, taupe, and orange (and green and purple), but I will be wearing no blue (except for my rainbow Autism Acceptance Day shirt, which is different, and make sure to put a photo of it on Facebook every day, so you can be sure of my promise. I did this last April from the 5th (when I got the idea) to the 31st, with clothes from the Salvation Army store in Warrensburg, a bottle cap necklace, glow bracelets covered in Cheetos bag strips, and handwoven friendship bracelets. And the results were amazing. All-in-all these posts got at least sixty likes altogether, over half a dozen from the UCM community, and more if you counted the faculty and staff and alumni. This time I shall do it again, all thirty-one days, somehow fitting it all in with school, work, my social life, and working on my novels every day as part of my New Year's resolution. I do not ask that anyone try this, but know that to me, blue does not signal an immediate ally to my solutions, and while everyone can learn more in cultural competence, I will not let my world go unaware of my message when I have the words, actions, and clothes to embody it. So if you see me and you notice I am not wearing blue, I hope this will explain why. ‪#‎AutismAcceptanceDay6

March 28

Today, I went to Ten Thousand Villages, and found this red leather bracelet made from scraps of leather from Columbia's textile industry, which says, "Be the change you wish to see in the world." -Mahatma Gandhi. I got it because it is red, in honor of 2016's Autism Acceptance Month in three days, and for its quote, which meant a lot to me as an autistic activist at UCM and elsewhere. ‪#‎AutismAcceptanceDay2016

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Autism Positivity Day 2015 Post: 7 Years after Embracing My Identity

Today is Autism Positivity Day, and, conveniently for me, it almost coincides with the day where seven years ago I decided to fully embrace the fact that I am an autistic man, not man with autism, but autistic, with a Capital A. I know seven years is not much of a period, but for me, this coincides with the time I finally got my Bachelor’s degree, after seven years of college, fighting uphill against two college environments that for an autistic were hard to adjust to. Yet, in that time, I also started and led collegiate organizations on both campuses that stressed an environment where autistics could be themselves. I also started two autism blogs, which have now together garnered over fifteen thousand views in over sixty countries, spoke to children at an autism camp twice—which I had formerly attended as a teenager, the high school students of my former school for youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities, the Psych Club, Pursuit of Happiness Day forum, and the 2015 Spring Leadership Conference at UCM, wrote for the Autistic Speaking Day blog, the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network of Kansas City, the Horizon Academy (my high school) newsletter, the UCM Muleskinner, KCTV, the Kansas Legislature, JCCC’s Autism Beyond the Diagnosis 2008 Conference, and Autism and Neurodiversity in the Classroom on the struggle of the autistic community. I would also write The Friend of Autism Pledge, donate artwork to the Mission Project Housing for people with I/DD, and make poster presentations for Disability Awareness Week in 2013 and 2014, and Autism Acceptance Month in 2014 at UCM. I would also graduate UCM’s intellectual and developmental disability THRIVE program two years before I became the first, and so far, only THRIVE student to graduate with a Bachelor’s degree, although many did go on to become regular students at UCM and other universities. The thing is that my life has changed so radically, as have others I’ve heard, from embracing who I am, something I have only truly done for less than a third of my life.

                But despite all this, I actually feared telling my story to just anyone. I feared I would become an idol for “inspiration porn,” which is frequently the tone of any disabled person who rises above societies abysmal expectations of them, or, worse, overcoming autism. At no point was I free from self-doubt that largely seems to go unheard of with autistics like Temple Grandin and John Elder Robison. I questioned my decisions frequently and even blamed myself for whatever suffering came the way of my fellow autistic UCM students. In fact, if it were not for my meditation, spiritual life, true friends, family, and fellow Autistic Student and Peer Organization, JCCC Autism Spectrum Support Group, ASAN-KC, Camp Encourage, Horizon Academy members, various autistic and ally Facebook friends, I literally do not think I would have survived the last four years of completing the collegiate autistic advocacy experiment in Warrensburg. At every point, I encountered opposition from people who claimed to be true friends of autism and am still learning much of the backhanded nature of their acts. Many said to me that given our societies unaccommodating nature of autism, these people did the best they could. However, all of them had in fact acted selfishly. Over my time at UCM, I learned four valuable lessons of how to get autistics to create a community that truly embraces people like us, including:

1.       Do not, under any circumstances, use the puzzle piece. Yes, the puzzle piece may be very well known, but if groups advocating for autistics care about us more than the group, they will sacrifice their commercial success for individual’s welfare. Any point where the name of autism advocacy is used to gain a competitive edge over others is almost certainly for selfish reasons. What really annoys me these days about the autism puzzle piece is that it seems to be a socially acceptable way of calling someone the R-word. Yes, every autistic person is unique, but I found rainbow mosaic or kaleidoscope symbols (not with just primary colors) also represented every autistic person’s uniqueness in a cohesive, natural way. A kaleidoscope’s changing ways can also represent autistic’s struggle to adapt to society.

2.       ACCEPTANCE, not awareness, is a mantra for change. When young, naïve neurotypicals stop me in the streets asking them to support their cause of autism awareness, I wish to ask them, “I live with autism 24/7, and it is in my sleeping patterns, dietary habits, and even the way I move. How can I not be aware of it?” The fact that a person would automatically assume I am not autistic leads me to wonder how much their cause is really promoting awareness. Awareness tends to emphasize elite neurotypicals and institutions lending their name to the cause of autism then it does the diverse stories of autistics in our own words. It is a paternalistic relationship, enforced by the perception that autistics are basically all children, not an empowering one.

3.       Blue lights cannot be away to welcome people you wish to be fully accepting, self-respecting autistics, for their only true association with autism is the logo of an autism an autism organization (Autism Speaks) whose financial, commercial, and corporate aspects are, at best, questionable. It would be like wearing gray for Black History Month, as gray was the color of the Confederate soldiers. Instead, I wear gold, whose chemical symbol Au is the first to letters of the word “autistic”; red, the color of a heart, which has been proposed as an alternative symbol for the puzzle piece; taupe, the color of the Tree of Neurodiversity, also suggested as an alternative symbol for the puzzle piece; and orange, the color of the spark logo of the Celebrate Autism Foundation, also suggested as an alternative to the puzzle piece; or rainbow colors, not just blue, representing the diversity of autism throughout life, and the Autistic Self-Advocacy Networks rainbow heptagon symbol, also suggested as an alternative for something. No prizes for guessing what.

4.       Autistics must be empowered to speak for themselves, as individuals, and as a community, not by neurotypical parents, celebrities, school spirit faces, or institutions. While neurotypical loved ones may help, they must not talk over, manipulate, or review for approval the voices of autistics, because while many doing so do intend to help, let’s look at what picture this creates of autistics: individuals, regardless of their age, who need mommy and daddy to fight their battles. Rather than empowering images of people you’d want for your company, social life, or any aspect that is a key to autistic integration, autistics are devalued as children, much the way slaves in the American South were called “boy.” The Autistic Self-Advocacy Network meanwhile, has created resources for everything from improving autistic services to preventing murders of children to stopping disabled discrimination in organ transplants, and has made substantially more difference than elite individuals who wish to speak for autistics. For the first few years I knew I was autistic, these things—puzzle pieces, blue lights, awareness, and helicopter parents— were all I knew of the autism world. Consequently, I did not embrace my autism, and would not have done all this stuff for the autistic community if I hadn’t. I hope my fellow autistic individuals will be motivated to do the same things I have done and make this a better world for people like us.

Acceptance Is

This month (Autism Acceptance Month) the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network is posting signs that people send them that are done on their Autism Acceptance Month templates, which can be found on Facebook and e-mailed to SB@AutisticAdvocacy.org until the end of April.  So I just wanted to share it with readers, and hope you enjoy, though you can also find them on ASAN's Facebook page.

It's an orange fist (orange for the Celebrate Autism Foundations spark logo, which you also see in the background) coming out of a lotus with a rainbow infinity symbol against a winged heart, all much bettersymbols for autism than puzzle pieces, with a quatrain saying:

Guess what.
I'm autistic.
Better get used to it.
I love myself the way I am.
Got it?!

 

Four Autism Acceptance Month Cartoons

Drew them myself.  I think they're alright.

 

 

Happy Autism Acceptance Month!

 

Thoughts of My Own on the Perception of Autism

A moment of your time on Autism Awareness? Many autistics, and I myself have been and still find myself in this situation, spend every hour of every day-at work, at school, at home, even with our families-trying to pretend we're "normal." We must concentrate every ounce of effort we have not put into the jobs, families, and work we already struggle in due to lack of accomodations, to avoid doing anything that might sell us out as autistic. That means flapping our arms, being blunt, avoiding eye contact, and even mentioning about a novel we read last night for fear it show our "special interests." In short, we spend all our remaining energy trying to blend in with the crowd, and then people come along-celebrities, high management autism organizations, parents, politicians, frat boys and girls all meaning to do the right thing-and tell people to be aware of US. And we're told constantly and constantly by the same people that if we don't learn to look neurotypical-using eye contact, avoiding stimming, etc.,-we'll never get a job, go to school, get married, have children, or lead a fulfilling life. We strive harder then ever to look like we're "normal" because the puzzle piece symbols tell us there's a missing piece to be found of us before we can belong. Anywhere. And so autism is presumed by the do-gooders to be some troublesome child who's a constant wreck because that's what gets the numbers up-people afraid their career, their home lives, and their marriages will be ruined because of a child we've already been taught we were, and act so hard not to be. And since we, or none of us fit this image, we may as well be presumed to be neurotypical, or basically almost so because we've had ABA, or are high-functioning, or whatever, just so do-gooders can let the people know those they now fear aren't doing their behaviors to be rude. But God forbid that us "high-functioning" people or ABA graduates should ever stim, avoid eye contact, or have their own interests. We are considered "too evolved" to do these things, not because we do them to help us process sensory stimuli which are brains are already hard-wired to receive differently. And we by no means are capable of speaking for the "low-functioning" community, let alone our own selves. We're afraid to get help, many of us just to stop painkillers the next day, so we can live our lives healthily and comfortable, while still expressinng our own identity. So I ask you, will you, next time you think you're going to do us right as victims and not humans, think of reaching one individual at a time, to be empowered to be his or her own self, and forget this idea that the most attention-getting messages or people are the ones who spread the most progressive attitude towards the masses, and think about what you want for us, not FROM US. We commonly are too complacent or uncritical to examine the conventional wisdom of our approaches to problems. We think if we just let the river flow our boat downstream, not noticing where it's going, we will arrive in the safest place, and all will be better for everyone. Well if you down row upstream, honey, and watch where you're going, the river might well lead you to a waterfall that you'll bring us all down with you.

My Autism Acceptance Day Post 2015

For me, and thousands of my friends in the fold of the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network and Autism Women's Network, we view April as Autism Acceptance Month. To many there might be some confusion as you may have heard some call it Autism Awareness Month. For us, we have changed it to Autism Acceptance Month because we feel while "awareness" tends to imply a passive pity for how autistics "don't fit in" acceptance means an active role... of refusing to be people who autistics cannot fit in with. Whereas Autism Awareness Month and a Day on April 2nd has focused on blue lights and puzzle pieces, Autism Acceptance Month focuses on reading poetry by and celebrating autistics, along with art, blogging, positive, unhumilitiating storytelling, and often donating to groups where you see openly autistic members in at least a third of their highest leadership giving the bulk of their funds to services allowing autistics to reach their highest potential and showing a balanced view of autism's strengths while respectfully respecting our challenges, bearing symbols like a rainbow infinity or a multi-colored pie chart showing that while autistics are diverse and part of a larger picture, it is a picture that naturally goes together to make a unified image with no beginning and no end. Double palms are also acceptable symbols, indicating many autistics need to flap their hands to self-regulate while still paying attention to those around them. We operate within a diversity model of disability and pan-disability culture, where all are responsible for any message they send.

I helped spread the word from the window of my dorm, with a sign that says, "Wear Gold for Autism ACCEPTANCE Month April 2, 2015/Gold=Au, Autism Acceptance, Beyond Awareness, and changed my profile picture to that. I also put up signs, one representing hand-flapping; one arm-flapping-two movements done to self...-regulate; one of two people embracing, representing autistics search for connection, like the logo of the National Autistic Society in the UK; one an infinity, representing the fluidity of autistic abilities, rather than being fixed; a brain with butterfly wings that I drew months earlier, along with my Autistic Pride sign, all done in black ink. 

 

I put out on the door of my dorm, in addition to my Autistic Self-Advocacy Network of Kansas City poster that I drew a few months ago, I put up an autism pie-chart logo, a design created by autistic Andrew Lerner, with four slices, one blue, one yellow, one green, and one pink, making a peace sign; with white eyes, the left one with the letter A and the one on the right with the... letter S for Autistic Spectrum or Asperger syndrome; while at the top it reads, "AS PIEces fit in piece." Its colors and pieces represent diversity within the autistic community only, unlike the puzzle piece symbol, they fit together naturally to make a coherent symbol. Along with it is a paint slip with various shades of gold for Autism Acceptance Day's Light it Up Gold as the chemical symbol for gold is Au, the first two letters of the word autism, which I made at a UCM Pinterest party, each part with a place where I might be at the time along with a white button on a red paper clip to point to them, red being for Light it Up Red, created like LIUG in response to blue lights used to raise money from pitiful images of autistics.

I made a cross drawn with blue in the background with rainbow stars along it to represent the autistic blue rainbow stars ribbon created by autistic Carol Ann Acorn (and its also Easter season), along with three drawings: a mandala (Buddhist-Hindu meditation image) that is a representation of Turkey's whirling dervishes, which I hung because of autistic activist Lydia Brown's long-time interest in Sufi music and dance; a triskele, an Asian symbol with three curved lines going the same direction in a circle, with one segment green, one segment red, and one segment yellow-the colors of ASAN's and the Autism Network International's color-coded communication badges, each corresponding to how comfortable you are talking to people at their meetings; another "mandala" that was inspired by a Moroccan tile design with various colors representing the diversity of autism, but diversity that is fluid and makes a complete natural picture, and it also has a yin-yang symbol in the middle representing how autism's existence as a disability and a difference exist in balance, and helping the disability should not be disrespecting the difference; along with a mandala thatis based off a kaleidoscope design, also with various colors representing the same thing, and how diversity of autism, or functioning labels, depend a lot on one's point of view, and it is a picture that can move around a lot, and it also has in it the shape of an eight-rayed star the symbol of the Men of Gondor in The Lord of the Rings, who represented honor and nobility.

 

Today for Autism Acceptance Day, I wore an Autism Acceptance Month t-shirt everywhere I went at UCM and in Warrensburg, that says, "Acceptance is Action," showing I'm not going to hide from who I am regardless of how others might think. Also, in honor of the various movements created in response to blue lights, Light it Up Gold, gold's chemical symbol Au being the first two ...letters of the word autism; Light it Up Red; Tone it Down Taupe; and Light it Up Orange, perhaps because orange is the color of the Celebrate Autism Foundation's autism spark symbol, I wore on my left wrist my red Buddhist prayer beads that I made from straws a year ago, which I don't normally wear; on my right wrist an orange bracelet that I made from cutting an orange bag along the sides and spinning the length and a gold paracord bracelet I made, especially considering Warrensburg is the home of an airforce base; on my neck my Lucky Buddha Beer bottle cap lockets, which are red, from the beers my dad gave me last year for Easter; and on my hoody I wore a gold ribbon pin, which used to be a puzzle piece ribbon, which many autistic's object to due to the idea there's a "missing piece" of them or they need to be put together, at I took apart, turned inside out, colored with a gold sharpie, and glued it back together; my pants today were taupe; and on my shoulder was a red bag, with other gold paracord bracelets I made to give to people for this day. I wore my grey UCM hoody instead of my regular blue hoody, and I made a commitment not to avert stranger's gazes as I walk past them or avoid interaction with people to avoid questions, and will go to eat in town to show this shirt to all I can. I also wore on my wrist a tile bracelet made from cardboard, with one an autism pie-chart symbol, a half-transparent butterfly symbol used by the Hidden Wings autism organization, a blue ribbon with rainbow stars created by autistic Carol Ann Acorn, an autism rainbow infinity symbol, a blue and white infinity symbol used by the Metis in Canada, rainbow scribbles representing "beautiful chaos" by autistic James McCue, the orange spark from the Celebrate Autism Foundation, and a porcupine symbol I created, representing autistics ability to defend themselves against larger groups without being aggressive, their affection even if they don't like physical contact, and the quills representing their voice even if they cannot speak. Through this, I plan to get the word out. Happy Autism Acceptance Day everyone!

 

Helping a Friend Come Out of the Autism Closet

For months I have wished to support a friend I have known for over two years

who may need to “come out of the autism closet,”

and who is also one of the kindest, bravest, strongest, most selfless human being,

more than any neurotypical person I have known;

someone whose selflessness I could only compare to some of my friends and allies at the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network or the Autism Women’s Network.

This may be a shock for her, and if she is upset with me for that, I understand.

Autistic people naturally feel low self-esteem and self-loathing, not because there is something wrong with autism,

but because of years of discrimination and inequality. 

If she is upset for me for breaking the news, I understand.

It is a lot to ask of anyone, and something you should be able to expect someone you trust not to hoist upon you.

Now when I say help her come out of the autism closet, let me explain what I mean:

I do not mean that I plan to gain recognition for letting her know she is diseased or needs to be fixed. 

I do not mean that I wish to have her read books by professionals who call her emotions or character flat or immature or treat her like some person who can’t “get it together.”

I do not mean to treat her as if she or her chances of getting where she was in life can be measured by some autistic who I consider to be a basket case.

I do not mean that I need to treat her like someone whose unique idiosyncrasies I need to constantly remind her of or patronize her for.

I do not mean treat her like she is a punching bag for me as a person who is against things like vaccines, Monsanto, lead poisoning, non-organic milk, abortion, or homosexuality.

I do not mean that she is someone I have to consistently point out or blame for her past struggles with going to Burger King, keeping up in school, following teacher’s instructions, or tolerating fluorescent lights.

I do not mean that I am going to strut around wearing autism awareness on my sleeve, making her feel like some complete freak show or charity case. 

I mean to treat her like someone who has the same right as any other person to have their individual needs to grow to her greatest potential met without debating over whether it is due to being diseased or treating her like I’m doing her a favor, no ifs, and, or buts, and no excuses, hidden agendas, whatsoever.

I mean to treat her as a member of a group of people who frequently don’t need to use small talk about weather or the price of gas to avoid topics I am too uncomfortable to honestly talk about,

who don’t need someone with a grocery cart to make more room between themselves and the sliding doors to get through when there’s ten times as much room in the gap on the other side,

as someone who doesn’t need to hear or see something at the next table and automatically assume it involves them,

who does not let themselves be judged by the presence or the state of her things,

who have the courage and tenacity to follow their dreams into fruition whatever the cost,

and probably included the cofounder of the Constitution, the United States, and one of the best Universities in the world and the smartest man who ever lived.

I mean to treat her as someone whose shortcomings are not more severe rather than more tolerated.

If anyone wants to help a friend come out of the autism closet, I suggest you follow my lead.

The World Without an Autistic Woman's Contributions

This semester I have been taking an Anthropology of Food class as part of my degree in Cultural Studies.  For this class, we have been asked to keep weekly food journals that describe experiences related to food, and how they are relevant to what we are learning in class. This week I have learned many important things about food to me, both as an autistic activist and a Buddhist. After doing my last two food journals, which talk about the things I learned, I learned the importance of one autistic woman, and how the world would be if autistic people weren’t here. These two pieces below are my food journal entries, which show what these lessons are, and what together, what I learned from writing them.

The Value of Humanely Treated Animals

                When we were talking in class the other day, something a student said rang a bell. We were discussing how cobras in Thailand, fed in many restaurants, were agitated more they were slaughtered, in order to get their blood increasing, in order to add a certain value to the meat for its consumers. That makes me think back to a story in the meat processing industry that sort of relates to this story. I learned years ago that a woman named Temple Grandin, an autistic activist and professor on animal studies, once helped change the humaneness of animal treatment in slaughterhouses. I don’t know what she did (I think it was allowing the cows to be less cooped up in small spaces), but she said that the animals were stressed from the aspect to the slaughterhouses she helped change. I realized when we were discussing cobras how cows may produce more blood when they are agitated. Back when I was a kid, I used to hear a lot of scared talk over Mad Cow Disease, which can happen due to ingesting blood from sick cows. Cows perhaps can become sick due to just as humans can. Being cooped up in small spaces is also more likely to cause disease, just as stress here in the dorms at UCM we are often prone to the flu. Auschwitz and other Nazi German concentration camps were infamous for disease, which weakened people’s ability to work until soon they would be sent to the gas chambers. Being cooped up in small spaces when it is not necessary clearly seems like it is an awful way to live, and perhaps for that reason it is good that we now have free-range meats available.

To Eat Steak or Not to Eat Steak

                For many years, I have sometimes doubted my decision to eat meat.  I am a convert to Buddhism and many Buddhists are vegetarians, believing that vegetarianism best follows the Buddhist teachings of respect for all life.  The problem is my many ‘taste issues,’ that would make doing so a real challenge.  I could eat free-range meat, but even meat being free-range is not always what it seems, and still contributes to the deaths of animals.  For that reason, many Buddhists and followers of other faiths choose not to eat meat.

                However, I think, if one wanted to stop contributing to the destruction of life, there are other things one could look at.  Currently, machines that help plow fields use large amounts of energy that contribute to the destructions of animal’s homes.  Slash-and-burn, a technique used in many countries to raise farm land, also helps contribute the destruction of habitats.  Raising farm land also causes trees to be cut down, thus further endangering animal’s habitats, in addition to taking life.  Rice farms in Ghana, a great exporter of rice, have workers living in inhumane, life-threating conditions, much like China’s Apple factories, where many workers commit suicide.  Rice farmer’s children in Ghana, not having enough to live on, wander off into the cities to make a living, where crime is rampant and they often don’t have places to live.  In Southeast Asia, where great rice producers are located, indigenous people are often forced off their land to raise fields for rice for outsiders who threaten the native flora and fauna.  These in turn, such as in Burma, cause armed conflict with indigenous militias and government armies, whose families also depend on them for support.  That being said, it seems that a “vegetarian” life-style could lead to the endangerment of children and armed conflict in the Third World, and destruction of wildlife and deforestation in the Third World and elsewhere.  As I understand it, the Buddhist precept “Do not hurt the life of any living beings” does not apply in cases where it is necessary, such as where your life or the life of your loved ones is threatened.  Rather than seeing all this death and destruction, I think slaughtering cows would be more human.  Obviously we need grains in our diet, and we must treat animals more humanely.  Farmers in the Third World could be treated more humanely too, but a diet based more on grains could possibly lead to all this devastation at home in the Third World that has yet to be taken care of.

The Friend of Autism Pledge

I pledge:

-to never victimize, abuse, discriminate, or defame a person for having autism.

-to see the entire person when looking at an autistic person, rather than merely their disability.

-to be cautious of the picture today’s media paints of autistic individuals, knowing that they are often exaggerated or only half-true.

-to do thorough research on autism organizations before investing, donating, or working for them, such as learning how much of their money raised actually goes to autism services, how much autistic people are represented among them, and how they represent people with autism and help others do the same.

-to be aware of what autistic people may experience from other people due to their disability.

-to respect both the challenges and strengths that autistic people have on account of their disability and learn to see themselves from their own eyes.

-to honestly strive to never help an autistic person in a way that takes away their dignity.

-to help any person with I know or suspect might be autistic when I see them struggling with a situation with my own discretion.

-to recognize that if a person with autism is involved in an interpersonal or social crisis or accused of something that seems unlikely to remember that they often might have trouble presenting their side of the story and to help them if I can to bring it to the people in charge of dealing with these situations.

-that when I read anything or view anything mentioning autistic people, to pay attention to the tone that the author or maker on autistic people.

-to speak the honest, entire truth to the best of my knowledge whenever I talk about autism.

-to not turn a blind eye when I see an autistic person in a crisis involving other people due to misunderstanding on account of their disability and bring the issue to the attention of someone who would be an appropriate and likely candidate to help them.

-to not deliberately misrepresent an autistic person’s voice on their disability for my own or someone else’s reasons, whether they be selfish reasons or otherwise.

-to reevaluate any mistaken first impression I may have of an autistic person due to behavior of theirs as a result of their disability.

-to find a way stand up for myself when and if I am pressured by other people into doing something reprehensible to an autistic person on account of their disability.

-to be aware of the feelings of autistic people when responding to or talking about their disability and anything related to that.

-to value the opinions of autistic people on matters about themselves.

-to judge the ideas, actions, and other effects of autistic people by their inherent qualities, not the person’s disability.

-to show empathy and support for autistic people I encounter who are going through pain on account of things related to their disability.

-to talk about autistic individuals as with respect to their diversity, avoiding terms such as “suffers from autism,” or using broad generalizations or mentioning an autistic person’s disability when not relevant to the discussion.  I pledge to recognize that people with autism, like everyone else, seek food, water, physical support, free self-exploration, and love.

Please put your name in the comment section if you agree with these principles.

The Myth of the Spectrum: Diversity of Autism is Not Diversity of Weakness

Every living thing is a genius; however, if a fish was judged by its ability to climb a tree, it would spend its entire life believing it is stupid.

                                                                                                                                                -Albert Einstein

                A little over a year ago, when I was looking on a page from the Autism Support Network called Top 10 Terrific Traits About Autistic People, I came across a comment by a mother asking if they could say any good things about level five autism (which her son had), which requires twenty-four hour supervision. At the time I thought, he already cannot live on his own; what’s the point? Today I realized that was wrong and was very cynical and fatalist. 

                Over the years, I’ve gotten to know people with very diverse abilities with incredible personalities, talents, and who have shaped the way I see the world. I happened to know of a non-verbal girl with autism who could not speak, but who also sang beautifully and made beautiful pottery. I know a man with Down syndrome won second place in a pottery contest in high school. I can barely get my hands the right way on the wheel. 

                What I was fortunate to learn in my first year of university life was that there are many different types of intelligence, besides the predominant one of logical/mathematical intelligence, by which our society judges intelligence. The other types of intelligence include natural, musical, existential, interpersonal, bodily-kinesthetic, linguistic, intrapersonal, and spatial intelligence. But in our culture it seems that a person’s level of logical/mathematical intelligence is used to judge the person’s intelligence in every other area. Unfortunately, the prevailing medical model of autism goes by the traditional model of judging intelligence. Autistics and other disabled people who cannot live on their own are simply deadweight, burdens on the rest of society. Of this idea, non-verbal and lower-functioning people with autism are the biggest victims. However, I happened to have met many non-verbal autistics and learned they can communicate and often times live independent or semi-independent lives. Among the non-verbal community is autistic activist, blogger, writer, and poet Amy Sequinza. I’ve been in touch with Sequinza through Facebook and happen to know she is a better wordsmith than many verbal neurotypical people I know. Yet for many parents of non-verbal children with autism, they are feeling, “I wish my son/daughter would say ‘I love you’ or ‘thank you’ for all the work I do for them,” when in fact they are, through the stimming (flapping arms, rocking) that parents like them raise millions of dollars to cure. The definition of stereotyping or caricaturing is to define a group of people by a single or limited number of traits while ignoring individual differences among them. When Suzanne Wright, cofounder of the largest medical model think tank on autism, Autism Speaks, spoke at George Washington University, she said that autistic people are people who cannot dress themselves, brush their teeth, or take a shower. That is what I believe Mrs. Wright was doing, describing certain people with autism yet ignoring differences in their personalities, temperaments, and opinions. For people with that mindset they are assuming that they could never connect to an autistic of this type, but they do not know because they’ve never communicated with them in a way they can both understand. They judge them by how their abilities are in one area (independence), and mistakenly believe that it is an indicator of their abilities and potential in every other possible endeavor. The reality of the idea of autism as a spectrum of abilities is that it is a spectrum of the ability to live independently, not the ability to thrive in any pursuit. The terms “high-functioning” and “low-functioning” deal mostly with an autistic person’s ability to live independently, not the ability to live fully and dignified. Autism is different for everyone, but the desire and right for and to respect and access to reach one’s full potential is not. While independence and self-reliance are gifts that ought to be treasured, we also should value every autistic for what it is they can contribute and realize they have their own gifts to share with the world. 

The A-Z Om Guide to So-Called Autism Acceptance: Ideas Claiming to Be Autism Acceptance and Why They Are Not

“Albus Dumbledore: Indifference and neglect often cause more damage than outright dislike.” –Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

                In today’s culture of modern day political correctness, it seems to become almost impossible to criticize anyone for prejudice, racism, sexism, and other bigotry unless it is a premeditated, front-brained notion.  What we end of with is that no one seems to want to confront the ordinary prejudices of society and individuals that help perpetuate injustice.  We hear racism doesn’t manifest in burning crosses and wearing brown shirts like it used to, but inequitable and racial practices still persist even if a lot has been done to combat that.  No one hates women; they just don’t always accept them as they would themselves.  Immigrant communities aren’t called bad outright, but just are associated with negative social and economic problems often for simply enjoying the same social status as natural-born citizens.  LGBT groups aren’t considered intrinsically bad, but just aren’t considered entitled to respect and freedom the way heterosexuals are.  None of this rhetoric wants to admit its uneven level of respect and dignity for others or to take responsibility for their current plight.  These attitudes are unfortunately seen all the time in the autism world and people, particularly the privileged, dominant ones, want cudos for how far they come without fair feedback on how far they have to go. 

                Injustice isn’t just injustice.  For many ethnic and minority groups, their plight is the consequence of historical circumstances and/or genocide, rather than the perpetuation of it.  For LGBTs, disabled people, and women, inequitable treatment did not start this decade and may not have simple, clear-cut origins, and have happened in virtually every culture and society at some point.  Civil rights struggles may not be like a movie where there is one good side and one bad side, with clear-cut villains such as Sauron or Voldemort, and obvious heroes such as Frodo and Gandalf or Harry and Dumbledore.  Oppressed view and treat different groups with the same lack of humanity that their oppressors treat them and not everyone in these struggles are as commendable as King, Mandela, or Gandhi.  If I were to view discrimination as acts committed by clansmen, brown shirts, or red guards, and fought by Gandhis, Kings, and Mandelas, I would have very little case.  The truth is that most injustice is perpetuated by people somewhere in between these two types of personas, who in any case, don’t respect other groups of people are equal in their rights, presence in society, and way of being.  The title of the article “The A-Z Om Guide” refers to two things: one is how the various strands of autism prejudice are numerous, just as are the sounds in the English alphabet, hence “A-Z.”  The other thing my title refers to is that while these various strands of prejudice may be varied, the differences on closer inspection appear meaningless, in the same way the word “Om” is believed by many Hindus to contain all the sounds of the world.  Among neurotypicals (and self-hating autistics) there are several ways of perceiving autism that, in the end, do not amount to acceptance.

“I don’t hate you.  I just wish you weren’t different from me in this respect.”

                Someone could always say to a person of a different racial/ethnic background, “It don’t hate you, the individual.  I just wish you had as light/dark/medium skin tone as me.”  Similarly, autistics hear everyday, “I don’t dislike you.  I just don’t like autism.”  In both these cases, we see the person saying these worlds has to hate dislike something about the person that cannot be changed.

“I just wish you were more like me because then your life would be better and/or easier.”

                The classic line of European colonialism that lasted for over two centuries was, “We (the Europeans) need to bring Western civilization/the word of Christ to the indigenous people so they can enjoy the benefits of modern civilization/become civilized.”  A line I have heard fed to me before as an autistic by neurotypicals is, “I think if you were neurotypical, your life would be easier/better.”  Both of these lines assume that the autistic/indigenous person is not capable of succeeding/being civilized without the European/neurotypical’s help respectively.

“I should accept/not judge you because you have to struggle against so much.”

 

                I’ve heard people say, when talking about the so-called Third World cultures, “I guess we’d be like them if we didn’t have what they did.”  This may sound tolerant, but instead it just says to me that if Third World cultures had what we did, they’d be just like us.  We characterize these cultures as living in mud huts, being technologically ignorant, war torn, badly governed, or uncivilized.  We don’t see big cities, laptops, cell phones, and politicians such as Nelson Mandela.  Nor do we take into account the rich traditions of food, music, art, and literature to come from these countries such as Nigerian author Chinua Achabes’ Things Fall Apart.  In the case of autism, neurotypical and other non-autistic people ignore strengths autistic people have such as superior-working memory, 3D-drawing skills, graphic recall, and perfect pitch of voice. 

“I don’t hate these people.  I just don’t think they should be allowed to do/given this.”

                I’ve heard it said by people that, “I don’t hate gay people.  I just don’t believe they should be allowed to marry.”  We also hear, “I don’t hate women.  I just don’t believe they should have a choice to abort a pregnancy.”  The latter one could potentially seem much more compelling to me than the former.  Certainly, depending on your belief in when life begins, do not want a baby to be killed.  However, this argument would be much more convincing if it weren’t for the fact that politicians and political think tanks who say this openly support bombing innocent civilians in another part of the world without a solid threat coming from the area, or to execute criminals. 

                In a similar sense more or less to both of these other examples, I’ve heard it said, “People don’t hate people with autism.  They just don’t want to see them be given the educational and medical services that will help integrate them into society for this or that reason.”  All of these views deny someone else the right to enjoy or benefit from freedom or accessibility the way they do.

“We don’t deny these people their rights because we hate them.  It’s just a financial/economic issue.”

                I’ve heard people say that, “This society doesn’t look down on, devalue, or hate autistic people.  They just don’t want to pay higher taxes needed to give them the same social advantages.”  This logic has also been used to argue against desegregation of America, equal health coverage for homosexuals, and the decolonization of the Philippines.  It essentially implies that autistics/ethnic minorities/LGBTs/indigenous people are not as important as a fraction of the earnings of middle class Americans.  Currently the average American makes $60,000 per year, while the average amount of dollars each tax payer pays to fight the War on Poverty is $34.  Middle class Americans, particularly white conservative ones, complain about being bled dry by the War on Poverty.  In the meantime, the average American taxpayer pays $870 dollars in taxes to provide for corporate subsidies.  World powers from America to Britain to China argue against greater freedom and equality for their ethnic and religious minorities saying it is not cost effective.  In fact, government studies indicate that every dollar spent on people with special needs as children save $17 spent on them later in life.  South African archbishop and social activist Desmond Tutu once said, “When will governments learn that freedom is much cheaper than oppression.”

“I don’t hate these people.  I just don’t like how they cause all these problems for us.”

                This is commonly said about migrants to the United States, particularly ones from the Latin countries, most often in reference to taking jobs and services from natural-born Americans.  The “they took our jobs” mantra implies three things: (1 That these jobs belong to natural-born Americans, 2) That is as immigrants/Latin Americans that they are taking jobs, and 3) That these migrants being given jobs makes employment opportunity scarcer for natural-born citizens.  (1 and (2 In the six years that I’ve been in college, both junior college and university life, I see natural-born workers, many but not all white, texting, web-surfing, talking on their phones while many of the international and ESL student workers go out of their way to help me with whatever issue I come to them with.  Shouldn’t people be given jobs based on their hard-work and loyalty to their company, rather than their nationality or ethnicity, and (3 economists have pointed out for decades that migrants come to the U.S. willing to work for less pay and harder work, and both of these in turn save and make companies money, which actually opens up jobs because it grows companies.  Meanwhile, equal health coverage for homosexuals is criticized on the grounds that it would cost society more money.  This sort of thinking doesn’t explain why homosexuals are denied benefits while others such redheads, left-handed people, and Asians are not.  

                In the case of inclusive education for autistic people, parents of typical children have said they worry it will cause their students to get less attention from teachers.  In fact, studies have indicated that disabled students in inclusive classroom settings develop better social skills, school performances, and self-confidence that would actually require them to need less attention from teachers, while typical children in inclusive classrooms learn better leadership, problem-solving skills, and empathy that allow them to work more on their own without a teacher’s help.

“I don’t hate these people.  I love this one celebrity who is from that group.”

                We hear, “I have nothing wrong with gay people.  I love movies with Neil Patrick Harris.”  Temple Grandin, in my opinion, has become Neil Patrick Harris for autistic people.  The fact that you have appreciated something they have done does not mean you respect them as equal human beings.  Liking a celebrity from a particular group does not mean that one believes that group is entitled to the same rights and benefits from society.  Comparing autistic people to John Wayne, Michael Jackson, or Kurt Cobain just ignores each autistic person as an individual.

“I must be like you because I’m acting/feeling this unpleasant/inappropriate way.”

                Individuals with bipolar disorder will often hear their non-bipolar peers say, “I’ve been feeling awful.  I must be bipolar.”  People with AD/HD hear their peers who can’t pay attention say they must have their condition.  I’ve heard people who were stressed over getting their house remodeled or starting a new job say, “Oh, that’s my autism acting up.”  All these words depend on stereotypical oversimplified notions of these conditions lack the understanding societies need to accommodate them.  It would be like me saying, “I must be neurotypical because I can’t just ask a girl out without droning on endlessly about our school work.” 

“Underneath your so-called differences, you are just like me.”

                This kind of rhetoric is frequently said towards transgender individuals, whose parents say, “I still love you, but you’ll always be my son/daughter to me.”  A common autistic variant of this rhetoric is, “Underneath your autism, there is a completely normal child.”  Neither of these ideas accommodates to accept these people knowing who they really are.  Both of them suppress the individual’s own identity, which in turn, makes it harder for the world to accommodate for their differences. 

“I don’t hate these people.  I just don’t like how they do certain things.”

                This “keep it in the bedroom” rhetoric is heard all the time in the autism world.  People say, “I just don’t like how autistic people flap their hands/speak in monotone/lack eye contact.”  To accept someone, you do not need to like everything they do.  You just need to respect that they have every right to do these things without changing them, just as I can accept neurotypical’s right to talk about trivial things such as weather, or not know how to make operable a railway system or develop the Silicon Valley.  I don’t say, “I accept neurotypicals, but…”  To me, “but” means that there is something to compensate for lack of prejudice, which in the end is not accepting at all.  Acceptance means no ifs and/or buts.  If you see autism organizations that put forward any of these ideas when talking about autism acceptance, be aware.  Acceptance means accepting autistic people as individuals who are equal in way of being, rights, permanent belonging, and importance to society. 

Towards Real Autism Awareness: a 2014 Autism Acceptance Month Post

For the past nine or so years, a lot of questions and a lot of fascination have been surrounding the world of autism.  Over one hundred million dollars has been raised by various organizations to research causes, treatments, preventions, and cures for autism.  Meanwhile, while all this money has gone to various organizations such as Autism Speaks and the National Autism Association, very little of this money has gone to services that would make a difference in the here and now, when people with autism most truly need it.  The fact is that the overwhelming majority of autistic people have been underemployed (or unemployed), without access to education after college, and many of them not yet living on their own despite being even six or more years over age, and these statistics have not been challenged by the various monies raised to create an understanding of autism.  That’s because you have two different ideas about autism.  One is the medical model, which sees autism as a condition to be treated, prevented, and cured like cancer or AIDS.  Even though autism does not kill or cause you to live in perpetual pain or agony like these conditions, you still have people who want to treat it like that. 

Another model you have for autism is a social one.  This model deals with autism as a difference rather than a medical condition.  More recently, this model has been taken up by psychologists, sociologists, anthropologists, and political scientists at various prominent universities throughout the world.  It hearkens autistic people’s struggles in employment and education to the struggles of women and ethnic minorities across the world, stemming from our government and other governments where autistic people have relatively low status, seeing that the fact that modern day public schools and health care divisions, while very effective if you are an able-bodied neurotypical people, is not so effective if you have conditions such as Asperger syndrome, Pervasive Developmental Disorder, and such.  Of all the money that organizations such as Autism Speaks has raised, charity monitor’s and the organization’s own tax return sheets that all charities are federally mandated to publish, show Autism Speaks’ has given only three to four percent of any money it is given to services for autistic people.  It’s 2012 report verifies that statistic (its 2013 report is not yet available).  Autistic activist Amy Sequinza was once quoted as saying, “Autism Speaks’ latest media budget was shown to be $10 million.  With that money they could have provided 14,226 speaking tablets to non-verbal autistic children.”  The bulk of that money has been spent on medical research that for the average under/unemployed and undereducated person with Asperger syndrome, hasn’t changed our standard of living or our levels of happiness and acceptance.  For the problem is that so much investment in things that will theoretically help the autism community in the future, rather than what is shown to help them now, is a perpetual problem of the medical model autism community.  This model was once applied to the homosexual community, and now that it is no longer used on them, it cannot be denied that they have made significant (albeit unfinished) progress. 

Like the LGBT, autistics are not diseased, but different, and by different, I mean that they are not the same as neurotypicals and allistic (having other intellectual/developmental disabilities-AD/HD, bipolar disorder) people who the world does not revolve around.  Have any of you ever seen the Silicon Valley in California?  Do you think it is like that because all the hard-working citizens there are miss prom queen USA?  Do you think this world would function better with constantly static television sets, no knowledge of the theory of gravity, a world without the U.S. Declaration of Independence or Louisiana Purchase?  Maybe you think it’s odd that (some) autistic people will flap their arms and rock their bodies, but in truth, there are many variations of this behavior, which is called stimming, and in many autistics it is too subtle for many to even notice.  And why not ask yourself why you bit your lips or fingernails, or play with your hair or your earrings?  Is it perhaps because you are nervous or uncomfortable around people?  Why does that make you do those things may be what you should ask. 

One could argue that the Cure Autism Movement and the Autism Rights Movement believe in essentially the same thing: a better life for autistics.  Yet in truth, I see two crucial differences that cannot be bridged.  One is the fact that the Cure Autism Movement would only push for bringing universal equality of life towards autistic people on a condition that has not yet been met, that being a cure for autism.  Meanwhile, the Autism Rights Movement believes in universal equality for autistics based on educational and behavorial accommodations that there are already people qualified to facilitate.  I myself was lucky enough to have those accommodations when I was younger (something my mom’s father had provided as they were not free to the public like public schools that seem to be willing to only adapt to neurotypical and allistic learning styles), and for this I believe that I am able to function as effectively and easily as any person who does not share my condition, and with the knowledge that is available to this world now, I believe the same could be true for the over seven million Americans who are autistic today.  And for me to live a fully integrated lifestyle and success, I don’t have to have something about me, whether it’s part of my brain or otherwise, be changed first.  It’s not enough for people to just have mechanically material equality.  They also have to have integrity and live on their own terms, not objective by other people.  So for parents and advocates of autistic children, I have to ask, do you want your children to be equal assuming that a cure for autism will come out of all this money being donated to public charities, or with the knowledge and information that has already been given to the scientific and education community on the development and functioning of autistic people that can be utilized as soon as the world decides that is what is going to be done.