Where the autistic rights movement IS the news!
When Cornell Woolridge finally ventured out of his Northwest Austin home to get water and food following the extreme weather last week, he noticed police vehicles outside an elderly neighbor’s house. “It left me with a lump with my throat,” he said. A younger man was crying outside the house. It was his neighbor’s son, …
Ever since the film Music was announced by its director, Sia, the autistic community was outraged because of its portrayal of a nonspeaking autistic girl by a neurotypical actor, Maddie Ziegler. In response to the backlash, Sia cursed at and insulted her critics, later deleting her tweets entirely. However, another controversy has arose, in which …
Fashions in virtue change rapidly, as Australian pop singer Sia learnt to her cost last November when publicity for Music, her first film as writer-director, sparked outrage from much of the internet. The trouble was that Maddie Ziegler, the precocious young dancer from Sia’s video clips, appeared to be playing a character on the autism …
Farm animals have been known to share a co-dependent relationship with humans as far back as civilization itself. Farm animals serve many purposes however there’s one that is often be overlooked: Therapy for autistic children. Green Chimneys and Pegasus, both based in Brewster, New York, conceived to simultaneously aid children and animals alike. WORKING WITH …
A young autistic man who was arrested for assault on Sunday remained in a Tel Aviv lockup for a day and a half because it wasn’t possible to find an institution that would accept him so he could be released. Finally, close to midnight on Monday, the court agreed to release him to a temporary …
A young man with autism and developmental delays suffered abuse and neglect and almost died in his family’s care in Tacoma, a lawsuit against the state alleges. The Department of Social and Health Services had warnings that 22-year-old Dustyn Wilson wasn’t safe with his family, both as a child and as an adult, according to …
Last week, President-elect Joe Biden took the stage in Delaware to address the nation. Millions of people were watching including Sarah Colero, a disabled activist. When Biden mentioned people with disabilities in his call to action, Colero burst into tears. “Disability is never mentioned. So when I heard disability, I started crying. I felt seen. …
A new independent user-led organization – modeled on a trade union – is hoping to provide disabled people with a collective voice powerful enough to influence policy at a national level, while also offering them solutions to their disability-related problems. The Disability Union, which launches officially on Monday, will concentrate at first on providing a …
The Muscular Dystrophy Association is bringing back its signature event: the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon. Running from 1954 to 2014, the show, which could last as long as 23.5 hours, defined the genre. Crying mothers and disabled children were trotted out along with a variety of entertainers and celebrities to convince an audience of millions …
A new article, published in Lancet Psychiatry, calls for an anti-racist approach to mental health care and outlines how to practice as an anti-racist clinician. The author points to the need for increased awareness, culturally appropriate assessments, humanistic approaches to medication, and treatment approaches that directly address racism. The author, Jude Mary Cénat, an assistant …