Thoughts on points by Ari Neeman

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/10/exclusive-ari-neeman-qa/all/1

I wish I lived in a world where Caitlyn was simply accepted for who she is. Unfortunately, it's a pipe dream. Bowling for Soup's song "High School Never Ends" remains true in all aspects of life I see daily; people are judged on their looks, their mannerisms, their etiquette, their social standing, their peer group identification, and above all on their social skills.

I agree with some of Mr. Neeman's stated goals and ideals - stop trying to make Aspies into regular kids, because they are not. Stop focusing blame on the cause or the search for a cure, and focus on treatment and support for those living with autism.

Personally, I see this like I do our fight to have Caitlyn use an iPad at school. It's farking ridiculous that even though we're paying for it out of pocket, buying the apps ourselves, training her on all of them (and then training her teachers if all goes as planned!), weeks are being wasted in arguments and all the levels of approval needed to get this into her hands in the classroom, even though it has already been shown to directly and easily help  children on the spectrum. The school will pay for a crappy Alphasmart - by the way, this is an Alphasmart:

It looks a lot like the Brother word processor I used as a child in 1990. Yes, TWENTY YEARS ago.

This is what Caitlyn is freely allowed to use. Doesn't it look so EASY and intuitive to write full papers on or answer math problems? I'm sure it would really help her keep up with her seperate, handwritten student planner that's causing tons of issues too. /sarcasm off

Gosh I'm just not in a great mood tonight. I will say kudos to Mr Obama though for getting someone who is affected by the condition on the disability counsel. I feel for Mr. Neeman, who has received threats and vast anounts of criticism; many of those criticizing sound like someone complaining that because someone is only a paraplegic that they cannot understand the life of a quadraplegic. There are many examples, Temple Grandin being one of many, of people who have autism who are able to tell us in their own words what is going on in their heads, that give us a glimpse into what MIGHT be going on in our chidren's. Sometimes just having a clue is all we get; our children for whatever reason can't communicate it to us (whether due to a communication issue, a vocabulary issue, or just the ability to see cause/reaction).

And I will take all the clues I can get, thank you very much. I would like to buy a vowel, please!