Autism News: 2018/06/09

Media and Reviews:

• Elizabeth Cassidy reviews “Keep the Change”


• Lei Wiley Mydske reviews “Deej” 

Research and Science:

• An academic study of gender identity in AFAB autistic people


• Shanon des Roches Rosa on the CDC’s new autism prevalence numbers


• Shannon Rosa and Corina Becker interview researcher Laura Crane about how to support autistic people in education, criminal justice, and health

Other stuff about autistic women!

• The Autism Women’s Network is changing its name to the Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network.


• On April 5, there was a United Nations event on empowering autistic women and girls. Here is Julia Bascom’s keynote from that event.


• Reese Piper interviews 12 women and trans people who discovered their autism in adulthood or in their late teens.

Politics:

• The White House joined the Light It Up Blue campaign this year, despite widespread criticism from self-advocates. Here is an ASAN statement about it.


• U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services are considering barring immigrants with disabilities:


• ADAPT has been protesting to get other advocacy organizations to join with them in support of the Disability Integration Act, which prevents officials and insurance companies from denying community-based services to disabled people. The AARP called the police on them, but no arrests were made.


• Doug Ford, the recently elected premier of Ontario, has a lot of problems. The insulting comments he made about a group home for autistic people, including saying that autistic children and teens in such a home should not be allowed outside and that their presence ruined the community, are just one.

Posts about social masking and its costs:

• Robin Frolic lists the things they do in a typical conversation to put allistic people at ease


• Kieran from The Autistic Advocate on burnout [TW: graphic discussion of suicidal ideation] 

Posts about parenting and child care:

• MOM-NOS on age-appropriate interests 


• Real Social Skills on one thing that can happen when parents don’t tell kids that they are disabled


• Real Social Skills on how to babysit a child who doesn’t speak

Misc:

• Real Social Skills on autism and sexual orientation 


• Liz Jackson on disability design, and how disabled people’s contributions to their own assistive technology go unrecognized


• Real Social Skills explains why “helping people focus” isn’t the only valid way to use stim toys

Special Sad Things Section on the Judge Rotenberg Center and #StopTheShock:

• Jessica Banks on how absurd it is that the JRC is still using torturous electric shocks as aversives


• ASAN has joined the #StopTheShock campaign

Special Sad Things Section with a TW for Nazis:

• New historical evidence show that Hans Asperger, the discoverer of Asperger syndrome, collaborated with Nazi eugenics more than previously thought.


• Maxfield Sparrow and Steve Silberman discuss their changing thoughts and feelings about Hans Asperger and the Asperger’s label.

Other Sad Things:

• Emily Flores on #MeToo and disability


• Jamie Hale on why disabled people are worried by assisted dying laws