"Positively Autistic" (click on the link) is a short video that must be viewed by anyone and everyone, not just those associated with autism. It is so unique and different from all those videos that show individuals with autism as being prisoners of an incurable disease. It dispells the myths that autism is something that must be cured and that autistics are people who must be made more "normal" and indistinguishible from neurotypicals so that they will blend in with them in society.
Please watch this video and take the time out of your day to do something that may change your perspective on how you view and understand autistics to be. The video is written in part by autistic individuals who speak out against being treated like they are diseased and abnormal, they only wish to be respected just as they are and understood to be functioning individuals with something to contribute to society/their community.
This video may change your life and leave you with a good feeling about how autistic individuals feel about themselves. If you do watch it, please leave a comment on how you feel and think about it.
2 comments:
Can I trust the plug in?
Dear Lora
I watched part of it, but there was something wrong - it kept on pausing and in the end it just became to difficult to follow - will try again another day - there might be something amiss with the website today.
Anyway it is very interesting - In some people I suppose autism could be seen as a gift - they can be so creative. I do feel for the parents though, especially those whose children are severely low functioning and whose lives are just miserable. I had one such a child in my class (a school for severely mentally handicapped children) many years ago. She cried for weeks. It was the first (and only) time it had happened in my teaching career. I could not divert her attention to make her feel better, because she simply could not focus on any activity: all the usual non threatening, fun activities to help children stop crying like finger paints, play dough and baby activity centres had no effect on her. The poor little five year old was just put on the school bus and sent off to school. All she knew was that she was in a strange place and she felt lost and lonely. The only comfort she sometimes got was to rock herself to and fro on her mattress or to swing the hook by the door.
If I recall higher functioning autistic children in my previous school, I can see how how the notion that they have their own way to communicate could apply.
All people should have the right to be themselves and not forced to function in a "normal" world - it is cruel to try to integrate low functioning children in ordinary schools, where they have no real buddy. Downs feel much safer among other Downs for instance because they understand each other better. How do you feel about schools for autistic children?
Wishing you a very blessed 2009 in your new home.
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