Aspies For Freedom

Autism Breakthrough: Girl's Writings Explain Her Behavior and Feelings:
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=4311223&page=1

It is a nice article, but why do they say it is a breakthrough?
After all, thousands of mute autistics express themselves fluently in writing, so why is it a breakthrough?

because.....it is not known by the general puplic?

/guesswork

No.  It's a classic case of people- the media, professionals, parents, etc- claiming that something is a "breakthrough" because it breaks the usual stereotypes of the prison of autism.  Yes, thousands of mute autistics express themselves in writing just as fluently as Carly, but these people must be "exceptions" or "unusual", because if they weren't, then the stereotype would be wrong- or so the thinking goes.