Aspies For Freedom

This is great Joe, it looks as if your protest really got some serious attention!  Bravo for you!!!

We all (and I mean all) should write in and thank the NY Times and Amy Harmon for addressing our concerns.  Let them know how many people agree with this point of view, so that they'll keep it in mind when writing future stories that mention autism.  

I have good news. Another board I frequent, with all but two members being parents of LFA children/teens, posted the same article. The members expressed their opinion that "there's nothing wrong with being autistic" and liked the article.

Ideally, several thousand vocal, articulate, and determined autistic activists getting in their faces, wherever they look.   :twisted:  They won't be able to pretend we don't exist if they see us everywhere.

**WARNING, MAJOR RANT AHEAD**

Before I say anything more, Rob, I want to make it clear that I am not expressing any opinion on whether you, personally, ought to be receiving SSI payments.  I don't know you, so I can't comment on your circumstances, and I am certainly not suggesting that you ought to have chosen to remain homeless instead of applying for SSI.

But ALL of us??  What in blazes are you thinking?

Every time I look around, some pro-cure speaker or government official is describing autism as a plague, an epidemic, a horrible disabling condition, a crushing expense for society.  One man was even quoted as saying that autism is worse than cancer because a child with cancer will at least die, instead of burdening society with the cost of his care for an entire lifetime.  Do you want to prove these bigots right?

If every Aspie in the US applied for SSI tomorrow, one thing is for sure--contributions to CAN and other pro-cure groups would increase exponentially the day after tomorrow.  Prenatal testing and routine abortion would be a certainty; after all, what parents would want to raise an unfortunate child who would be doomed to spend his life on disability?

Granted, there are some autistics who genuinely cannot work, for various reasons, and they should be supported by disability payments.  But many of us are unemployed not because of any mental impairment but because of unsuitable work conditions and discrimination.  The more we allow society to classify us as mentally disabled, the less effort will be made to end discriminatory practices.  The prevailing attitude will be, "What are you complaining about, you're eligible for disability benefits, now take them and shut up and go away."

Throughout history, Aspies have always been the great scientists, the inventors, the engineers, the artists, the philosophers, the prophets and the mystics.  It would be a great loss, both to our people and to the world as a whole, if our children's dreams of great things were routinely crushed by a society that assumed them to be mentally inferior and denied them any hope of equal opportunity.  Such a future is not far away, if we do not act to prevent it.

Rob, I am sorry, that is not at all what I meant to say.  My post was not as clear as it should have been.   :oops:   I have edited it for more clarity, and I apologize for any misunderstanding.  I just meant to say that I was not talking about you personally.

I'm not passing any moral judgment whatsoever on you, and I don't look down on you in any way because you're on SSI.  But I don't want to see all young Aspies put on disability allowances and discouraged from seeking jobs as a matter of routine practice.  I don't want to see the entire autistic population of the world end up feeling as ashamed and depressed as you describe.

OK, as I said, I don't have a problem with people who need SSI applying for it.  No problem at all.  But there are teenagers who are being put on SSI and told that they are mentally disabled and will never be able to work, just because of the stereotype that very few Aspies are capable of holding jobs.  These kids have never tried to work; they don't know their limitations, and neither does anyone else.  Their parents, and the professionals who are advising their parents, shouldn't assume that they will never be able to work.

So what are you saying--we should all just give up on our dreams, unless we happen to inherit a trust fund or have some great talent?  I don't think so.

I just noticed this quote on Aspergian Island and thought it was very relevant to the topic of how to survive without abandoning one's goals:

Of course, it is also possible to create original works of genius while living on a disability allowance, but what often happens instead is that the label causes young people to lose faith in their abilities--to dismiss their hopes and dreams as nothing more than the pointless ramblings of a disordered mind.  

Stella, I was not, in any way, denying the existence of discrimination, and I completely agree with you that we need to fight for equal opportunity.  I posted the quote about everyday jobs in reply to Joe's comment that most people can't get paid for their passions.  My point was that this has been true all through history; there were always starving artists, struggling writers, philosophers who couldn't pay the rent, and so on.  They found ways to survive, while still pursuing their ambitions.

As for working at menial tasks in order to free one's mind, that quote was taken from a larger article, which contrasted a life of what is often described as voluntary simplicity with the rat race Joe was talking about when he mentioned those 40+ hour workweeks and expensive suburban houses.  (The complete article wasn't posted on Aspergian Island, and I don't have a link to it, but that's the general idea.)

My job doesn't pay much, compared to the careers of many other people with the same professional degree and years of experience, but I am able to work from home, I can choose my hours, the job is so well suited to my skills that I can get the work done in much less than a 40-hour week, and there is very little stress involved.  Granted, it took me years to find a job that fit in so well with my lifestyle, and not everyone is so lucky, but I wouldn't have found it at all if I had been overly focused on the rat race, or if I had gotten discouraged and given up.

MY UNPUBLISHED lletter To the Editor at NY TIMES
=================================

To the Editor:

Re "How About Not 'Curing' Us, Some Autistics Are Pleading" (front
page, Dec. 20):

I am writing to clarify some misconceptions.

First, Most people with autism are verbal and intelligent. The non
verbal and low functioning are far easier to spot and recognize.

Second,  Low functioning children often progress into HFA or Aspergers
with NO therapy. Also I have seen the claim that children started to
speak because of a therapy. This contradicts what is known about
language. Humans speak language in the manner birds take flight. They
only do so at a certain age and it comes as second nature. Birds are
built for flight and humans are built for language. A child only
starts speaking when it is time within his internal biology. There is
NO therapy that exists that can make a child speak if it is not time.
Autism is delayed development NOT  halted development. The
amelioration of the severe impairments for a majority happens without
intervention.

Third,  Autism is NOT the impairments per se. The co morbidities do
not exist for everyone. For example, There are autistics out there who
have fine motor control.

Therapies such ABA usually involve aversives.  Aversives consist of
electric shocks, sniffing ammonia, pinches and denial/delay of meals.
I find it rather repugnant that a mother would have her child undergo
mild electrocution simply because he wants to be mickey mouse and not
frodo .

Joe Mele
Director
NY Chapter of  Aspies For Freedom
http://www.aspiesforfreedom.org

Not at all.  I've known quite a few Aspies in real life, and in my experience, many of us take a long time to mature socially and emotionally.  Someone mentioned on another board that Aspies, like Hobbits, aren't fully grown until age 33, and there's some truth to that comment.  I expect you'll feel more in control of your life when you're older, Dreamer.

Very well stated.  Even though they didn't print your letter (or mine either), at least we have made them more aware of the issues.

weintraub had no problems tho!!!!

also

kim

please see the parent site

http://www.aspergersexpress.com

they have info. Also aversives consist more of than shocks

the article was referenced here


http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/12/21/1527/4295

http://www.livejournal.com/community/no_...mode=reply

http://bbs.babycenter.com/board/toddler/...ad/1676290

a really interesting link

http://hnn.us/blogs/comments/9171.html

another mention of article

http://www.the19thfloor.net/archives/000697.html