InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "PUT SHOE ON HEAD"

dkmnow (dkmnow) wrote,
@ 2008-02-25 02:54:00

"Am I a Person Yet?" -- Amanda, Michelle, and Autistic intelligence.
This just in from Ari Ne'eman at ASAN. The latest issue of WIRED Magazine has a new article on Autistic intelligence. Discussed are Amanda Baggs' YouTube videos, and Michelle Dawson's collaboration with Laurent Mottron, among others. Excellent article -- another must-read for the self-advocacy community ... and an unequivocal in-your-face at the bulk of mainstream research and professions.

The full article is currently available only in PDF format, so expect to do a lot of enlarging and scrolling.

Blurb and links:

Traditional science holds that people with severe autism are prisoners in their own minds, severely disabled, and probably mentally retarded. Don't tell that to Amanda Baggs, an autistic woman who achieved viral fame with her YouTube video "In My Language," which has so far received more than 350,000 hits. Wired contributor David Wolman gets inside the life that Baggs has created for herself, which includes blogging, hanging out in Second Life, corresponding with her friends, and a "constant conversation" with the world around her. Wolman's conclusion: Much of past research about autism and intelligence is catastrophically flawed...

Main page for March, 2008 issue:
http://www.wired.com/services/press/2008/march

Full article [PDF], "Yeah, I'm Autistic. You got a problem with that?":
http://www.wired.com/images/press/pdf/autism.pdf

[Cut to clip of Bob Wright's head exploding]

PS: PASS IT ON. ;-)

(Post a new comment)

	thymindmaymove 2008-02-25 09:52 am UTC (link)
	Thank you thank you thank you for posting this! I'm off to read it now. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	dkmnow 2008-02-25 09:57 am UTC (link)
	[see icon] (Reply to this) (Parent)

dogemperor
2008-02-25 09:38 pm UTC (link)

Well put--well put :3

(And it turns out the good Mrs. Baggs isn't the only "OMG AUTISTICS CAN COMMUNICATE" person--nor are any of a number of folks. Apparently there's a very similar thing going on with fourteen-year-old kid named Carly in Toronto--she's a nonverbal autistic who does quite well in expressing herself in the written word (which is, from what I've seen, NOT uncommon with autistic people; many folks I know have commented how I must be an aspie when they've seen me write, and later heard me murder the English language in its bed because I have to literally sit and *think* how to say something). It's also been in part over the past five to ten years (where things like computer assisted communication are becoming more common) that much of autism is sensorineural hiccups, and autistic kids can be pretty damn smart despite being nonverbal and the outside world being like a big ball of fire to them sensation-wise.)

(Reply to this) (Thread)

dkmnow
2008-02-27 01:12 am UTC (link)

Thanks. :-)

The thing that bugged me most about the Carly hype was how her parents reacted, or at least how their reaction was portrayed: "Like, WOW, it never would have even occurred to us that there might be an actual person within that useless lump of flesh!" Yeah, I hyperbolicize, but that kind of "breakthrough" talk always ticks me off. "Normal" = "WE can't even be bothered to consider the possibility that you might be human until you start acting like US."

As for the rest, yeah, and yeah. :-p

I've been diagnosed as "Aspie," though not in any way as could ever be of any practical use (and not that I needed a second-opinion). Everything I've learned about myself has been depite the "help" of professionals, not because of it, but fortunately, I've managed to steer clear of those snakepits for the most part. As little regard as I have for Scientology, they're dead-on in calling the kettle black: the "mental health" professions have as many benchmarks of cultism as does any religion.

Inexplicable tangents aside, where I differ from most Auties is that 1) I don't dare try to tell anyone who doesn't already know me well, because they'll never believe me, and 2) for me, writing is much-much-much-muuuch harder than talking.

Moi = outcast among outcasts among outcasts. Go figure.

:-p

(Reply to this) (Parent)

	excellent article sapphoq 2008-02-26 04:47 am UTC (link)
	Yep this was a wonderful article. Thanks for the heads up. I don't know what the big deal is about needing help with some daily living stuff. I mean, N.T.s need help with some stuff too. Like the idea that autie/aspie//ness is just a ness and not a disorder. spike (Reply to this) (Thread)

	Re: excellent article dkmnow 2008-02-27 01:15 am UTC (link)
	:-) I say, plunk them NT suckers down in a world that's designed exclusively by and for Autistics, and see just how well THEY adapt! (Reply to this) (Parent)