A list of blog posts and columns worth reading: Compliance / Social Skills / ABA / Indistinguishability Resources | Parenting Autistic Children With Love & Acceptance Applied behavior analysis (ABA) has evolved since it emerged in the 1970s, but I have still observed what I consider coercive techniques within the…
The Autistic Me
The Autistic Me goes in cycles, as do most blogs, based on my “free” time (irony quotes) for this endeavor. Since it isn’t a paying gig, it has to come after work, school, and family. I’m sure most readers understand that. In January, I resumed work towards my MFA, something…
It’s apparently that time of year when we’re expected to increase awareness of autism (which I forgot until Apple posted a video). Yeah, because the millions spent by Autism Speaks, the proliferation of puzzle pieces and ribbons, the endless public service announcements on Internet radio feeds, the countless feel-good “news”…
Life is okay, if more than a little hectic at the end of this first month. With one month down, I’m 11 months away from my MFA in Film and Digital Technology. Though things might happen and things do go wrong, so far I’m on schedule and things are going…
I understand that holiday fundraising is a tradition. “Here’s a cute child. You care about children. Send us money.” At the end of every year, I receive dozens of emails from autism advocacy groups. The higher-end email newsletters from Generation Rescue and Autism Speaks offer “hope” for a cure… someday.…
This fall was a respite of sorts from academia while I concentrated on writing and considered my path ahead. For the last few months, I’ve been working on a mix of screen and stage projects, while also collaborating on some creative writing projects. As December ends, I’m returning to both…
Our lives continue to be normal middle-class suburban lives. We sometimes feel that there’s too much happening, but then I listen to other couples and friends and realize how rather routine and uncomplicated our daily routines are. Many of my friends and neighbors are returning to school in their 30s…
I have been away from blogging to deal with some family matters, and I honestly don’t have much to add to the autism community at this time. One of the questions that I’ve received a few times during the month, “Will you review NeuroTribes?” Although I consider Steve Silberman‘s work…
We lack diversity in the autism community. Think about what you see, online and in the media. I see upper-middle-class parents, able to afford iPads and tutors and official diagnoses. I see parents who have the resources to fight for IEPs and physical accommodations. I see self-advocacy leadership that has…
School must be better today than in the 1970s or 80s, right? Especially since we know so much about autism. Probably. Maybe. Or it is bad in different ways. As students, teachers, support staff, administrators, and others head back to campuses across the United States, I anticipate the annual questions about…