Whenever I have a day where I’m struggling to find a blog topic, something usually turns up in my web searches. Like this article in the NYT discussing a movement to see autism not as a disability (registration required; just deal) but as another type of brain wiring that doesn’t require a cure. Their contention is that society is too eager to force people with autism to conform to accepted norms of behavior. Instead of tolerating the characteristics that make people with autism unique, we want them to act like everyone else. As the article points out, this attitude mirrors those of other groups who object to attempts to define them as sick or defective. Deaf culture is the most obvious example. Analogies could also be drawn to the gay community and the repulsive efforts to “cure” them. Many in the disability community would sympathize with the arguments made by the people quoted in the article. I’ve often said that it’s not my disability that poses the most problems for me; it’s the attitudes and preconceptions others have about my disability. And those attitudes (or, to be more accurate, ignorance) throw up all kinds of barriers, both physical and interpersonal. I’m not saying that the concerns of parents and families should be ignored. If I was the parent of a kid who screamed like a banshee because of the fluorescent lights in the grocery store, I’d be freaking out a little bit too. But I still think we need to balance those concerns with a heightened tolerance, maybe even appreciation for, the singular personalities of people with autism and their unique perspectives of the world
