http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/09/02/436742377/neurotribes-examines-the-history-and-myths-of-the-autism-spectrum
This is an interest piece for a recently released book: a man's take on autism, its history, and the ways we look at it as a result. The article itself briefly summarizes several key parts of autism's history, including Professor Hans Asperger and the movie Rain Man. (I have yet to see the movie, but I'm a little afraid I'll wince all the way through it. Depictions of autism in media have yet to do justice to us, with the exception of the Temple Grandin movie)
What I find most useful about this article, though, is located near the end. It's a call to learn from the past, but not dwell on it. Instead, to deal with what is. We are here. We are often suffering from alienation and misunderstanding. And we're falling off the grid, because we don't stay small and cute, and the state and federal government stop paying to help us.
This is an interest piece for a recently released book: a man's take on autism, its history, and the ways we look at it as a result. The article itself briefly summarizes several key parts of autism's history, including Professor Hans Asperger and the movie Rain Man. (I have yet to see the movie, but I'm a little afraid I'll wince all the way through it. Depictions of autism in media have yet to do justice to us, with the exception of the Temple Grandin movie)
What I find most useful about this article, though, is located near the end. It's a call to learn from the past, but not dwell on it. Instead, to deal with what is. We are here. We are often suffering from alienation and misunderstanding. And we're falling off the grid, because we don't stay small and cute, and the state and federal government stop paying to help us.
I definitely had many more fans when I was small and cute (and didn't need a job!).
ReplyDeleteI listened to that podcast. I didn't know the modern understanding of autism didn't come about until the 80's. That is probably why in the early 80's I did see professionals like a speech pathologist but none of them by then would have had the knowledge to diagnose autism.