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Role Modeling: The Evolution of an Apology

Jo Ashline joashline.com themomblog.ocregister.com/author/jashline I took the long way, but I think I’ve finally arrived First, I wrote I Told Autism to SUCK IT. Yeah. I Said It.   Then it was My Point Still Stands: Autism Can Take a Flying Leap. Then From Proud Mom to Bigot. Then Us vs. Them. Finally though, I think I get it. I think. Maybe it’s because I’m just a few short days away from my period … I don’t freaking know but in any case I’m over here bawling my eyes out because one week later I think I finally get it. I’m passionate. I’m truthful. I write truthfully with passion. And I wrote something that others found offensive and I came back and said…”Who gives a damn? This is MY SPACE, SO F$%% off.” Except. The universe doesn’t just belong to me. It belongs to everyone. And what I put out…

2011: The TPGA Year In Review

Liz Ditz What a year! We published 189 posts from 114 authors, many new to Thinking Person’s Guide to Autism. The complete list is below the fold. We branched out. I started to categorize the blog posts using the section headings from the book, and realized a lot of the posts didn’t exactly fit. We published a lot more posts by autistics, and more on adult issues in autism. Advocacy wasn’t a heading in the book, but was a big subject this year, and into the future. Technology and research were also covered with more posts than in previous years. Thinking Person’s Guide to Autism went to, and reported on, conferences: the International Meeting for Autism Research (IMFAR), the International Technology and Persons with Disabilities Conference, Hacking Autism’s App Hackathon, UCSF’s Developmental Disabilities Conference, and BlogHer.  In terms of virtual events, we observed Autism Awareness Month by posting daily, and promoted and…

The Self-Advocate/Parent Dialogues, Day Ten: Paula C. Durbin-Westby

We held a dialogue series last week between self-advocates Zoe, blogger at Illusion of Competence, and Ari Ne’eman, President and co-founder of The Autistic Self-Advocacy Network; and parent Robert Rummel-Hudson, author of Schuyler’s Monster and blogger at Fighting Monsters With Rubber Swords. The series continued this week with Melody Latimer, director of The Autistic Self-Advocacy Network’s Dallas-Ft. Worth chapter and blogger at ASParenting, Kassiane of Radical Neurodivergence Speaking, who prefers the term “advocate,” self-advocate Amanda Forest Vivian, blogger at I’m Somewhere Else, and autism parent Kristina Chew, who blogs at We Go With Him and Care2.com. You can read the entire series at thinkingautismguide.blogspot.com/search/label/dialogue Our thanks, once more, to everyone who had participated in the Dialogues. We’ll wrap up with a reminder of why we hosted this series in the first place: Because it needs to happen. Because being a parent of a disabled child is not the same experience…

The Self-Advocate/Parent Dialogues, Day Nine: Kristina Chew

We held a dialogue series last week between self-advocates Zoe, blogger at Illusion of Competence, and Ari Ne’eman, President and co-founder of The Autistic Self-Advocacy Network; and parent Robert Rummel-Hudson, author of Schuyler’s Monster and blogger at Fighting Monsters With Rubber Swords. The series continued this week with Melody Latimer, director of The Autistic Self-Advocacy Network’s Dallas-Ft. Worth chapter and blogger at ASParenting, Kassiane of Radical Neurodivergence Speaking, who prefers the term “advocate,” and self-advocate Amanda Forest Vivian, blogger at I’m Somewhere Else. You can read the entire series at thinkingautismguide.blogspot.com/search/label/dialogue. Today’s post is by autism parent Kristina Chew, who blogs at We Go With Him and Care2.com. -The Editors —- What A Parent Can Learn From This Dialogue As I started teaching my first class (8am, Elementary Latin) of the 2011-2012 school year, the thought occurred to me: The freshmen students in the first few rows are just a…

The Self-Advocate/Parent Dialogues, Day Eight: Amanda Forest Vivian

We held a dialogue series last week between self-advocates Zoe, blogger at Illusion of Competence, and Ari Ne’eman, President and co-founder of The Autistic Self-Advocacy Network; and parent Robert Rummel-Hudson, author of Schuyler’s Monster and blogger at Fighting Monsters With Rubber Swords. The series continued this week with Melody Latimer, director of The Autistic Self-Advocacy Network’s Dallas-Ft. Worth chapter and blogger at ASParenting, and Kassiane of Radical Neurodivergence Speaking, who prefers the term “advocate.” Stay tuned for two more autism parent posts: One from a neurotypical perspective, and one from an Autistic perspective. You can read the entire series at thinkingautismguide.blogspot.com/search/label/dialogue. Today’s post is by self-advocate Amanda Forest Vivian, blogger at I’m Somewhere Else. -The Editors —- This is just a theory, so be gentle. But I think a lot of problems between non-disabled people and disabled people might have to do with the fact that for most born-disabled people,…

The Advocate/Parent Dialogues, Day Seven: Kassiane

We held a dialogue series last week between parent Robert Rummel-Hudson, author of Schuyler’s Monster and blogger at Fighting Monsters With Rubber Swords; and self-advocates Zoe, blogger at Illusion of Competence, and Ari Ne’eman, President and co-founder of The Autistic Self-Advocacy Network. Readers let us know that they wanted more, and more perspectives, so we’re continuing the series through this week, and original participants Zoe, Rob, and Ari are stepping back and letting other voices have the floor.  This week’s first post was from a representative of both parties: Melody Latimer, director of The Autistic Self-Advocacy Network’s Dallas-Ft. Worth chapter, and blogger at ASParenting. You can read the entire series at thinkingautismguide.blogspot.com/search/label/dialogue For those who note that these Dialogues are a challenging and thorny process, and wonder about the usefulness of participation, consider a comment left on Melody’s post by OutOutOut: “I’m tired of the fighting, too. I really am.…

The Self-Advocate/Parent Dialogues, Day Six: Melody Latimer

We held a dialogue series last week between parent Robert Rummel-Hudson, author of Schuyler’s Monster and blogger at Fighting Monsters With Rubber Swords; and self-advocates Zoe, blogger at Illusion of Competence, and Ari Ne’eman, President and co-founder of The Autistic Self-Advocacy Network, You can read the entire series at thinkingautismguide.blogspot.com/search/label/dialogue Readers let us know that they wanted more, and more perspectives, so we’re going to continue the series through this week. Original participants Zoe, Rob, and Ari are stepping back and letting other voices have the floor. Today’s post is from Melody Latimer, director of The Autistic Self-Advocacy Network’s Dallas-Ft. Worth chapter, and blogger at ASParenting. -The Editors —- My favorite Autism “quote” is one we all know too well. “When you know one Autistic person, you know one Autistic person.” Given, there are variations to this, but this is the way I like to phrase it. In my world,…

The Self-Advocate/Parent Dialogues: Intermission

We are going to continue the Dialogues, at least through next week. (The entire series can be found at thinkingautismguide.blogspot.com/search/label/dialogue.) We’ve heard from readers that they’d like to see Dialogues posts from perspectives including self-advocates parenting children with disabilities, late-diagnosed self-advocates, and parents of children with autism. And, as commenter, advocate, and parent Cheri wrote in regards to the Day Five post from Robert Rummel-Hudson: “I imagine that engaging in this dialogue may have been uncomfortable, and I commend every one of you for agreeing to do it. This final post leaves me wanting — hoping — for more. I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m not sensing any closure here.” We don’t have closure. We need to continue the conversation. How? Self-advocate Rachel Cohen-Rottenberg also commented on the Day Five post, with insights as to how she has synthesized and recommends approaching the Dialogues overall (she is not…

The Self-Advocate/Parent Dialogues, Day Five: Robert Rummel-Hudson

We’re hosting a dialogue series this week, between parent Robert Rummel-Hudson, author of Schuyler’s Monster and blogger at Fighting Monsters With Rubber Swords; and self-advocates Zoe, blogger at Illusion of Competence, and Ari Ne’eman, President and co-founder of The Autistic Self-Advocacy Network. Why? We want to encourage constructive conversations about disability. Zoe and Rob disconnected spectacularly last month. If you don’t know the backstory, see Rob’s post, and Zoe’s reaction. Neither is satisfied with the way that scenario played out; they are using this space to attempt a do-over.  Dialogues Day One: Zoe Dialogues Day Two: Robert Rummel-Hudson Dialogues Day Three: Ari Ne’eman Dialogues Day Four: Zoe Robert Rummel-Hudson has the floor again today. All the participants — writers and commenters — have our gratitude. Not every exchange has led to greater understanding, but many did, and that could not have happened without you. -The Editors —-  The world is…

The Self-Advocate/Parent Dialogues, Day Four: Zoe

We’re hosting a dialogue series this week, between parent Robert Rummel-Hudson, author of Schuyler’s Monster and blogger at Fighting Monsters With Rubber Swords; and self-advocates Zoe, blogger at Illusion of Competence, and Ari Ne’eman, President and co-founder of The Autistic Self-Advocacy Network. Why? We want to encourage constructive conversations about disability. Zoe and Rob disconnected spectacularly last month. If you don’t know the backstory, see Rob’s post, and Zoe’s reaction. Neither is satisfied with the way that scenario played out; they are using this space to attempt a do-over. Dialogues Day One: Zoe Dialogues Day Two: Robert Rummel-Hudson Dialogues Day Three: Ari Ne’eman Zoe has the floor again today. -The Editors —- Dear Robert, In your letter on Tuesday, you were adamant that parents have a place in the disability rights movement. I want to begin by letting you know that we are in vehement agreement on this point: in…