When Do Autistic People Count? An Open Letter to Maggie Gallagher

Dear Ms. Gallagher, I am terrified. I recently read your article on Yahoo news - titled "When Science Doesn't Count".  It is the latest in a choking wave of hatred towards the Autistic community that has overflowed since the Newton massacre last Friday.  I am tired.  In fact, I am exhausted.  But your article inspired such fear in me that I knew I had to respond. Autism is...

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Praying for Time: The Sandy Hook Shootings, Mental Illness, and Ableism

I sit across the table, discussing the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings with people I love, people I respect, people who I trust.  I know I'm treading on thin ice, but it's like a car wreck, I can't stop, can't look away.  And then the ice cracks, oh god, here it comes, it always boils down to this.  With smug conviction she says: "We need to keep guns out of the hands of the...

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Boldly Going Nowhere: An Open Letter to William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and Sir Patrick Stewart

Dear William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, and Sir Patrick Stewart, Star Trek was created out of a simple vision - a vision of an Earth that has advanced beyond hatred, prejudice, greed and war.  To that end, an organization like Autism Speaks, that seeks to destroy an entire population of people, does not seem to fit in with that vision.  And yet it was with great disappointment that I heard...

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Its Not Your Fault - International Day of Persons with Disabilities

Today is the International Day of Persons with Disabilities.  The theme this year is "Removing barriers to create an inclusive and accessible society for all".  There are innumerable barriers I could talk about, from physical barriers like lack of access, to societal barriers, to medical and legal barriers .  But I feel like no matter which of these barriers I choose, I'm only talking...

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