update (5/16): to see the newsweek article mentioned below, click here. it will also be in the 5/25 issue (hitting newstands on monday). to thank newsweek for the coverage, please write to editors at letters@newsweek.com. thanks!
abfh and i are on the same wavelength! i recently made a donation to the autistic self advocacy network as a way to fight the hate and death threats those involved with ASAN are receiving. hope you will consider doing this as well. you can find out more about this at abfh’s place and donate through the change.org website. below is a letter i wrote in regards to newsweek’s upcoming coverage of neurodiversity and the response to it.
-cripchick
Dear Newsweek,
As someone that witnesses the struggle of disabled people fighting to have their voices heard every day, I want to commend you on your recent interview with Ari Ne’eman, president of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network. I hope you will move forward with the pending article as the mainstream media continues to miss the struggle of this rising civil rights movement in their overwhelming coverage of autism issues.
History continues to illustrate that every social movement first begins when a group of people realizes both the power of their own agency and the birthright of self-determination that they carry as human beings. Once this realization has manifested, people move towards freedom with an urgency that seems unstoppable.
Unfortunately, history has also illustrated that when a group of people begins to believe in their own power, other people will attempt to silence their voices by claiming that these people are unable to know their own experience, let alone speak in their best interest. We saw this with first wave feminists and the resistance they faced from government, fathers, and husbands when they began to believe that they could speak for themselves. We also see this with other struggles, such as those of people of color, workers, and others who are still fighting for self-determination.
You may have seen a blog post titled “Ask Newsweek to Kill Ari Ne’eman” from John Best, a blogger who also writes that Ne’eman should be “put to death” and calls autistic self advocates “psychopaths”. As a leader of an organization that promotes autistic people’s right to self-determination, Ne’eman has received death threats from people claiming that he is not a “real” autistic and that autistic self advocates are so ignorant that they could not possibly ever understand the breadth of experiences that make up their community. There are other bloggers, such as Jake Crosby at Age of Autism, who, among other inaccuracies, say that Ne’eman and other advocates of neurodiversity deny autism as a disability* and despite scientific evidence that says autism is not vaccine-related, continue link to radical fringe groups on their sidebar.
Sadly (and quite outrageously), these inaccuracies are often what cloud mainstream media’s coverage of autism issues and the community rarely gets to hear from self-advocates. As a Newsweek subscriber, I’d rather read about the important work advocates of neurodiversity are doing, such as last year’s victory against the Ransom Notes campaign, advocacy against aversives and school abuse, or work promoting the right to receive services in the community. I hope you will remember ways that other social movements have been denied ownership of their own experience and continue publishing pieces like the one that is to come out soon.
Respectfully,
cripchick
*For those that say Ne’eman and others do not recognize autism as a disability, here is a link to a keynote Ne’eman recently gave at National Federation of the Blind’s Jacobus tenBroek Disability Law Symposium.
Many thanks for the link and for your support!
Posted by abfh on May 8th, 2009.
That’s a great letter!
Posted by Clay on May 9th, 2009.
Cripchick, you are awesome. So is abfh. And so is Newsweek (at least, it’s awesome by mainstream media standards).
Posted by itchynarwahl on May 9th, 2009.
Neurodiversity is brainwashing. It is devious propaganda designed to destroy all autistic people. I can help rescue you from this attack on your brain if you will let me.
Posted by John Best on May 9th, 2009.
Ooh, it’s the troll again! Time for another donation.
Thanks John, you’re really helping ASAN’s fundraising.
Posted by undergroundaspergian on May 9th, 2009.
I tried to do a trackback but couldn’t get it to work.
http://woodsrules.blogspot.com/2009/05/hoo-boy.html
Posted by Virginia S. Wood, Psy.D. on May 9th, 2009.
Thank you so much for writing this!
:)
Posted by Gonzo on May 9th, 2009.
you guys are awesome and i love being in community with you.
virginia, i’m definitely feeling this last sentence in your blog entry:
“The movement isn’t about not curing disorders. It’s about not othering us.”
Posted by cripchick on May 10th, 2009.
Cripchick,
Stop drinking the Kool-Aid. The brain damage known as Asperger’s can be repaired.
Posted by John Best on May 10th, 2009.
*Love!*
Posted by Tera on May 10th, 2009.
John Best – difference is not damage.
Bigotry is damage. It’s damage society does to your brain. It tells you some people aren’t people, just The Terrifying Other. It is curable, but only through constant vigilance.
Please actually listen to what people say, instead of just letting your prejudiced assumptions do the talking.
Listening is the first step towards a cure for bigotry.The second step is using what you’ve learned to modify your actions. Of course, you have to KEEP LISTENING CONSTANTLY to avoid a relapse, because everyone is constantly exposed to poisonous ideas about The Terrifying Other, and only listening can flush these poisonous ideas out.
Posted by itchynarwahl on May 11th, 2009.
Itchy,
You did too much listening when you should have been thinking. You are a victim of cult brainwashing.
I don’t listen to sadists who try to convince people to remain disabled and neither should you. You see, unlike you, I’m not a victim, my son is. My brain is intact as I’m too old to have been poisoned by the vaccines.
I’m always available to help you recover from the damage that was done to you by vaccines.
Posted by John Best on May 11th, 2009.
[...] has made death threats against Ne'eman, Amanda Baggs, and other autistic self-advocates. Other people have already said most of what I want to say, so I have a simple question. Imagine Best is the [...]
Posted by Ari Ne'eman is receiving more death threats - Disaboom on May 11th, 2009.
Miss Cripchick, Wonderfully written as always! You are right on the money about backlash just being part of the journey on the road to Civil Rights–it shows we are indeed on the right path. At the same time I applaud the respectful, constructive, compassionate and assertive approaches that people are advocating for setting boundaries on people’s inappropriate and hurtful behaviors.
Posted by terri on May 12th, 2009.
[...] writes to [...]
Posted by This Is The May Disability Blog Carnival « Same Difference on May 13th, 2009.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/197813
Posted by Of interest on May 16th, 2009.
First of all, the statement that I inaccurately said Ari Ne’eman, among other NDs, denies autism is a disability smacks of dishonest goal-shifting. Last year I saw Ari on Good Morning America talk above a caption quoting another ND activist proclaiming: “There’s nothing wrong with us! Autistic and proud!” That’s why I said neurodiversity denies autism is a disability, if this is not true then you can take this issue up with ABC and leave me out of it. The first person to coin the term “neurodiversity” used it to disassociate autism from its definition as a disability anyway.
And I would think someone who describes herself this way…
“a hyphenated corean-american
powerchair-roaring, vent-using disability activist
radical woman of color feminist
wannabe poet
army brat
internet nerd
pansexual queer
young person/youth
mixed girl”
…would buy into the lies of pharma tools, but I was wrong.
Posted by Jake Crosby on May 19th, 2009.
*wouldn’t buy into the lies of pharma tools. :P
Posted by Jake Crosby on May 20th, 2009.