You Are Not Your Child

May 5, 2017January 31, 2022 by Shannon Des Roches Rosa

Sara Luterman www.NosMag.org Sara Luterman [image: Headshot of a smiling white person with short dark hair & glasses.] Recently, Amy Lutz, a parent advocate, wrote an opinion piece for Spectrum News titled, Adults with disabilities deserve the right to choose where to live. I wholehearted agree with that sentiment. Unfortunately, the article that follows argues nothing of the kind. It is, in fact, an argument to return people with developmental and intellectual disabilities to institutions. These new institutions have organic-biodynamic farms, swimming pools, and fluffy pillows. They are, however, still secluded and subject to all of the abuses of Willowbrook and Pennhurst. Amy Lutz and others who mask new institutions as a “choice” do not draw a healthy or appropriate distinction between themselves and their own children. When they say, “adults with disabilities deserve the right to choose,” they mean is that their opinions are their children’s opinions. They do not…

Disability

How I Deal With Arguments In Support of Institutional Care

November 4, 2016January 31, 2022 by Shannon Des Roches Rosa

Ivanova Smith @lauralovesian1 My name is Ivanova Smith and I am a proud autistic activist advocate. I advocate at the Washington State legislature! I testify at bill hearings about policies that affect me as a developmentally disabled person. One of the bills I put the most attention to is to shut down state institutions. [Image: Ivanova Smith testifying against a Bill that allow respite to be provided at an institution! They have brown hair. They are wearing black suit with grey shirt and tie. They are speaking into a microphone.] There are four state-run institutions in Washington, and they hold 800 people with Intellectual/developmental disabilities (I/DD). These used to be called training schools. I have heard the arguments for support of these institutions many times while I have waited to give testimony. I have had to listen to all these arguments on why it OK to imprison people like me.…

Disability

Hillary Clinton’s Autism Plan: In Which Autistic People Are Deserving Human Beings

January 7, 2016January 31, 2022 by Shannon Des Roches Rosa

Shannon Des Roches Rosa Senior Editor, Thinking Person’s Guide to Autism Hilary Clinton’s campaign published an autism plan yesterday. It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen in an autism-centric policy statement, in a good way. It’s not perfect, because this is politics, and politics are more about compromise and incremental gains than revolutionary change. But throughout the statement, autistic people are treated as human beings with legitimate and sorely unmet needs, and not the usual (infuriating-to-read) millstones, pity magnets, or financial black holes that are tearing the fabric of families, not to mention our nation’s budget, apart. Human beings who deserve to be prioritized. That’s welcome progress, and I would like to see such outlooks become our country’s policy reality. The author and her son [image: selfie of two white people on a twilight hilltop.] As the parent of a beloved autistic teenager, and as a person who adores her autistic…

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Disability

Talking With ASAN’s Sam Crane About Her Role on the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee

January 3, 2016January 31, 2022 by Shannon Des Roches Rosa

Sam Crane [image: A smiling white person with ear- length brown hair, wearing a black suit jacket and a white pearl necklace.] What is the IACC, or Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee, and what does it do? We talked with newly seated IACC member Sam Crane about her role, how the IACC works, its goals, why it needs to broaden its focus beyond causation — and her experience as one of the committee’s autistic minority. The next IACC meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, January 12, and will be webcast live. Community members who would like to submit written comments for the meeting should do so by Tuesday, January 5th. —- TPGA: How would you describe the IACC to someone who isn’t aware of what the IACC is, and what it does, beyond the standard — rather stuffy — description? Sam Crane: The Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee is the government’s attempt to…

Disability

TPGA’s Updated Comment Policy

January 4, 2014January 31, 2022 by Shannon Des Roches Rosa

We’ve updated our comment policy. Short version: Please keep comments on topic, and please do so without making conflicts of opinion personal. We want TPGA and TPGA Facebook to be forums in which people feel comfortable discussing and debating autism topics. We do our best to moderate threads and encourage respectful disagreement. However, as we are a tiny team of volunteers, we may not be able to moderate in real time. If you feel we have missed a moderation opportunity, please notify us at thinkingautism@gmail.com. The main part of our updated commenting policy is below. The full TPGA comment policy can be found at www.thinkingautismguide.com/p/community-guide.html, and is also linked in our website’s header as (wait for it) Comment Policy. —- The purpose of Thinking Person’s Guide to Autism is to share and discuss information from Autistics, professionals, and parents, as guided by our Mission Statement. We encourage an ongoing dialogue…

Disability

An Interview with IACC Member Dr. Matt Carey

March 18, 2013January 31, 2022 by Shannon Des Roches Rosa

As some folks in the autism communities seem to misunderstand the purpose and mission of the IACC — the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee, we asked recent IACC appointee Matt Carey to talk about why he joined the IACC, what the IACC does, and what he hopes to accomplish as a member. From the IACC member bios: Dr. Matt Carey joined the IACC as a public member in 2012. Dr. Carey is the father of a young child with multiple disabilities, including autism spectrum disorder, and is a frequent contributor to the Left Brain/Right Brain blog and other autism blogs. His writing focuses on reviewing current autism research in an understandable way for the public and he is deeply committed to communicating the importance of getting the science right for autism. TPGA: What is your elevator pitch, in terms of telling people what the IACC is and what it does? Dr.…

Disability

How the DSM-5 Draft Autism Criteria Will Affect Law, Policy and Service Provision

June 5, 2012January 31, 2022 by Shannon Des Roches Rosa

The Autistic Self-Advocacy Network’s Ari Ne’eman and Steven Kapp have released a policy brief: What Are the Stakes? An Analysis of the Impact of the DSM-5 Draft Autism Criteria on Law, Policy and Service Provision [PDF]. The full PDF brief can be found at bit.ly/DSM-5, and “…summarizes the legal and policy details of the program under discussion and attempts to identify the likely implications of the DSM-5’s outlined changes in the criteria for Autism Spectrum Disorder on eligibility, benefits, and access to services and legal rights.” The legal and policy areas in question are described, then followed by analyses of the proposed DSM-5 changes’ implications: Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (eligibility criteria) Impact of DSM-5 Shifts on Students with Disabilities Receiving Services Under IDEA ADA/504 Accommodations (guaranteeing non-discrimination re: disability in schools and in the workplace) Impact of DSM-5 Shifts on ADA/504 Protections Medicaid-Funded Developmental Disability Services Impact of the…

Disability

DSM 5 Autism Criteria: Clarifying Impact, Taking Action

January 25, 2012January 31, 2022 by Shannon Des Roches Rosa

Interview with Dr. Gil Tippy Clinical Director of The Rebecca School, Manhattan, New York www.drgiltippy.com How are the DSM criteria for autism changing? From the official site: “A single spectrum disorder [i.e., folding in Asperger Disorder and PDD-NOS] is a better reflection of the state of knowledge about pathology and clinical presentation; previously, the criteria were equivalent to trying to “cleave meatloaf at the joints.” “Three domains become two: 1) Social/communication deficits 2) Fixated interests and repetitive behaviors “[because] Deficits in communication and social behaviors are inseparable and more accurately considered as a single set of symptoms with contextual and environmental specificities.” We spoke with Dr. Tippy about what the proposed revisions to the DSM 5 will mean for Autistics, autism families, and autism professionals. Dr. Tippy also outlined actions everyone in the autism communities can take to prevent these changes from cutting off critical autism services and support. Why…