Clinton unveils autism plan and "Don't try to make autistic kids 'normal'"
Originally posted at T*A*S*C
All:
Sigh....seems Mrs. Clinton has never met a peer-run org or considered the adult issue. Anyone care to fork GRASP a $50,000 grant so we can get a full-time lobbyist in DC? [Alex?](that was sarcasm, though with a splash of frustration) . More money's great, but...God, we have so much work to do.
Also...Not a large article, nor one that does much more than preach to the choir, but I found it touching; and for those not in the choir, it was probably a very poignant thing to read in Newsday.
Clinton article and Letter to the Ed is below my signature. With thanks to Pat.
Yours, y'all,
Michael John Carley
Executive Director
GRASP
The Global and Regional Asperger Syndrome Partnership, Inc.
666 Broadway, Suite 830
New York, NY 10012
646.242.4003
mjcarley@grasp. org
www.grasp.org
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Clinton unveils autism plan
By AMY LORENTZEN, Associated Press Writer1 hour, 18 minutes ago
Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton on Saturday pledged to help autistic families by boosting funding for research and education to $700 million a year.
"Driven by their love and devotion, mothers and fathers across the country have raised awareness, demanded funding, and opened our eyes to the needs of so many children," she told a crowd of hundreds gathered at the Jesse E. Marshall Boys Club of Sioux City. "It's up to us to reclaim the future for our children, and ensure that every child can live up to his or her God-given potential."
She said when it comes to autism, "we don't know how to cure it, and we don't even know the best ways to treat it."
"I think it's time we had a government and a president who recognized the seriousness of autism and addressed it head-on," Clinton said.
The number of autism diagnoses has risen from one in 10,000 in 1993, to one in 150 in 2007 - or about 25,000 children diagnosed with autism each year, Clinton said. She called the disorder a national health crisis, saying it costs the nation at least $35 billion each year.
Clinton outlined her years helping children with autism, including co-sponsoring legislation called the Combating Autism Act in 2006, and earlier this year the Expanding the Promise for Individuals with Autism Act. She criticized President Bush for refusing to fully fund such efforts.
If she's elected, Clinton said she would also take other autism initiatives including:
* Expanding research to identify the causes of autism, including potential environmental reasons.
* Improving education and early detection and intervention, including creating a task force to investigate autism treatments and services.
* Training for teachers to instruct children with autism.
Lee Grossman, president and CEO of the Autism Society of America, said the investment America makes in early identification, services and support "will create opportunities for these individuals to contribute meaningfully in our society - as is their right."
"Senator Clinton's plan is a very important step in that direction," Grossman said in a statement provided by Clinton's campaign.
Clinton used the opportunity to talk about health care. She said families dealing with conditions such as autism find that "often times insurance is so expensive you can't afford it, or the insurance doesn't cover the very thing you need it for."
The universal health care plan she's proposed would help all families, including those dealing with autism, to afford quality health care - as good as what members of Congress are getting, she said.
"Parents will no longer be burdened by unmanageable premiums just because their children have autism," Clinton said.
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Newsday News/Opinion
Saturday November 24, 2007
Don't try to make autistic kids 'normal'
BY MARC ROSEN | Marc Rosen lives in Roslyn Heights.
November 24, 2007
It seems nowadays that autism has become a center of controversy. As an autistic person, it disheartens me to see that most people lack a clear understanding of what autism is like for their children, peers, students and so on, yet they claim to know what is best for us.
Autism is called abnormal and a disorder only because neurologists operate under a Philistine's notion that there is "normal" within all things, and that only their arbitrary definition of "order" is valid.
An autistic person often is said to think outside the box, or deliberately cross the line. I can tell you from experience that we don't. To us, there's no box, there's no line. And we find neurotypical people absurd for complaining about something that just doesn't exist. This comes from the fact that many of us don't naturally develop intuitive thought and imagination, though once we learn how, we're quite capable of these feats.
I have been diagnosed with various autistic spectrum disorders. As I proved more capable than the charts predicted, the diagnosis was modified repeatedly, from PDD (pervasive developmental disorder) at age 2, to low-functioning autism when I learned to speak in sentences at age 4, to high-functioning Asperger's Syndrome when I was found to have an IQ well above average, to high-functioning autism when the Asperger's Syndrome diagnosis no longer fit.
This is a common experience for autistic people, but even more common is the idea among those of us who have found acceptance that we're happy the way we are and don't want to be "cured." The part about us that is especially different is that we don't process data via symbological means. In other words, we don't consider things to have greater meaning than themselves.
I had severe social difficulties from preschool onward, and by the time a term like "autism" would have had any meaning to my peers, most had already drawn conclusions, and would continue to do so.
My isolation, combined with a longstanding rift I had with my family, led to severe depression by age 9, which went undiscovered until I was 14 or so. Unable to express my emotions, I was placed in outpatient therapy for four years, which was enough to allow me to see my existence as valid. In all, I'd say that part of my life wouldn't have happened if I were better understood and wasn't persuaded that I was diseased, disordered or sick and in need of a cure.
Parents, educators and others who work with autistic people should take these words to heart, and continue to do all they can to work with autistic kids and teens, rather than trying to make them normal.
_________________
"The cordial quality of pear or plum
Rises as gladly in the single tree
As in the whole orchards resonant with bees."
- Emerson
28 Nov 2007, 10:12 am
