Autism News, 2018/08/10

A nice light news cycle this month (or maybe I was just paying less attention – lots of big stuff happened for me this month, including moving in with a SO for the first time!) So we won’t bother with as much categorization as usual. Still some good autism stuff that came out, though:

• Maxfield Sparrow discusses a study that elucidates how non-speaking autistic children’s communication is ignored by their teachers.


• Maxfield Sparrow on meltdowns as a warning signal (Tw: abuse discussion. I am struggling to figure out how I feel about this article – I am very fixated on the idea that my meltdowns could cause harm to other people, which is an issue that it doesn’t address – but I found it very powerful and thought provoking and I definitely recommend a read.)

And some good pan-disability stuff:

• Captain Awkward explains why we don’t diagnose real people with mental disorders based on a secondhand account of their behavior – and where the temptation to do so comes from. (This is not at all specific to autism; I include it because it’s the best and most thorough explanation I’ve seen of a disability issue that I often struggle to articulate. For bonus points, the part that mentions autism describes EXACTLY the reaction that I have in that situation, lol.) 


• J.R. Jackson on special minority-focused issues of magazines


• Henry Claypool on accessibility and self-driving cars