High Profile for a "New Wave" · May 26, 10:39 PM

The latest edition of New York Magazine includes the provocative article, The Autism Rights Movement: The New Wave of Autism Rights Activists by Andrew Solomon, recipient of the 2001 National Book Award for his eloquent exploration of depression, The Noonday Demon.

I am grateful for Andrew’s sympathetic depiction of me, and for his willingness to go far afield to absorb the range of perspectives associated with the term neurodiversity. His article also profiles fellow disability-rights activists Ari Ne’eman of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, Alex Plank of Wrong Planet, and the redoubtable Autism Diva. Also featured are voices critical of the “neurodiverse,” such as Lenny Schafer and Mark Blaxill. Anthropologist Roy Richard Grinker, author of Unstrange Minds, contributes some sharp insight into the interactional dynamics of the various “factions” in the autism world. Solomon also interviewed a number of autism researchers and policymakers, including Gerald Fischbach, scientific director of the Simons Foundation, Harvard University provost Steven Hyman and Thomas Insel, head of the National Institute of Mental Health.

There’s a comments thread at the article itself, and additional commentary at Autism Vox and Left Brain/Right Brain.

Comments


  1. There are plenty of nits to pick in the article, but I would say that Andrew passed your short class in that nebulous concept known as neurodiversity. I agree with his conclusion that social acceptance and self-acceptance have the capacity to redeem lives.

    I think the article would have been improved if Solomon had interviewed some people who would be considered to have more severe autism. Parents appear to be speaking for them, contributing to the impression that self-determination is possible only for Aspies.

    I liked the picture of you; you hardly looked geeky or weird at all. I wish there had been a picture of La Diva, too.

    — Anne    May 27, 12:34 AM    #

  2. I love the photo of Kathleen. Especially since “I am Kathleen” in more than one way. If I wear sunglasses and my black hat (which is very similar to Kathleen’s) I may be mistaken for her (not likely, but I could hope).

    The NY mag had originally wanted my photo, and told me they would be sending out a photographer on some unspecified day. I was grateful that it never happened. It might have been ok if they’d let me wear my dark glasses and black hat…
    Too much exposure you know, it’s not good for a microcelebrity.

    I’m thinking of applying for a grant from Autism Speaks to hire at least a manager to manage my microcelebrity status. :-D

    — Ms. Clark    May 27, 02:29 AM    #

  3. I thought that Andrew Solomon did a good job overall as well. And it was admittedly fun to see so many familiar online names in a different medium — and of course to see a picture.

    — Mary (MPJ)    May 27, 10:19 AM    #

  4. I’m taking this quote as my motto for the work I do with kids:

    “I wanted to figure out what my child needed,” Seidel said. “I wanted to figure out what my child needed to thrive, for fulfillment.”

    — Liz Ditz    May 28, 01:06 PM    #