Our next meeting is on September 15th, this coming Tuesday! See link for details.
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@asanofkc
Our next meeting is on September 15th, this coming Tuesday! See link for details.
Hello Supporters, You know that I have been an activist against police brutality especially when it comes to people with disabilities since the late eighties. Two years ago I reached one of my goal…
Sample Tweets to help #FreeNeli!!!
One of several ways to call on the Governor of Virginia and the Attorney General to #FreeNeli is via twitter. They both have Twitter (and facebook) accounts.
@GovernorVA is Governor Terry McAuliffe.
@AGMarkHerring is Attorney General Mark Herring.
Need some help getting started? Below the cut are some sample tweets you can use to help #FreeNeli, an autistic man of color inappropriately imprisoned and secluded in Virginia.
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Please note that the tweets below the cut have been updated to reflect that Neli was moved out of solitary! However, Neli IS still in jail. The dominant narrative from other groups is pushing moving him from confinement in jail to confinement in an institutional setting- that is not justice, and is not community.
Neli’s next court date is on the 7th, so let’s make today’s twitter bomb LOUD!
not only is self-dx important for people who are unable to get an official diagnosis or don’t want to, but also it helps if you do eventually pursue an official dx
i can’t describe how helpful it was for me to go into that office with prior research, educated, having deeply considered all of the facets of my material for a long time. that was priceless and made the process infinitely easier. i know not all doctors respect that, but it is still absolutely worth your time whether you intend to pursue official dx at any point or not
End of year email ask: Help us continue to do great things!
It’s been a big year at ASAN. This year, we ended the Combating Autism Act and began fighting for self-advocate inclusion in implementing the new Autism CARES legislation. We made sure that workers with disabilities working on federal contracts made the same wages as nondisabled workers. We helped get justice for disabled victims of violence from family members. On these issues and countless others, we are working to protect our community against those who seek to deprive us of our rights. And after many years of struggle, we are seeing tangible results. Just last Monday, the President signed the ABLE Act, which will let people with disabilities save up for college, assistive technology, housing and other major expenses while keeping their Medicaid coverage. But we still have a long way to go. Autistic people and people with other disabilities still lack many of the basic legal protections that we need to live independent, full lives - or even to live at all. Just this month, a Wisconsin court announced that people with disabilities don’t have a constitutional right to make our own decisions about whether to live or die. That decision denied justice to a developmentally disabled teenager who died of treatable pneumonia nearly eight years ago, after doctors at the state-run University of Wisconsin Hospital Center took him off of antibiotics. Not because treatment wasn’t working or because he wasn’t expected to recover, but because one of the hospital doctors had convinced his parents that his life wasn’t worth saving. Nobody asked him what he wanted. There was no oversight by either the hospital ethics board or the court system. Just a unilateral decision that the child should die. Before the court issued its decision, ASAN and eleven other disability rights organizations sent the court a brief explaining how important it was to protect people with disabilities from this kind of discrimination. We are committed to making sure that people with developmental disabilities are recognized as lives worth living. The fight isn’t over. This January, we’ll be sending in yet another brief to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, asking it to review the case. Even after that, we’ll still be fighting anywhere we can: courts, state legislatures, the media, anywhere where disabled lives are under threat. We’re in this to win - because the stakes are too high not to.
But we need your help in order for that to happen. Next year we’ll be even busier than last. We’ll be continuing our fight to make sure that autistic people are able to make their own decisions, live in the community, earn the same wages as everyone else, and get the health care we need. If you want to support the work we do, please take the time to send a donation our way. As the only advocacy organization that’s run by and for autistic people, our voice is vital, but there is still so much more that we could do.With your help, we can grow our advocacy arm so that we can do even more and respond to those who seek a world without us.
Donate now, and help us make sure that whenever our voice is needed, we’ll be there leading the conversation. Regards, Samantha Crane Director of Public Policy Autistic Self Advocacy Network
Students in the Blue Valley School District have found a novel way to soothe the stress and anxiety felt by children with autism, and they’re hoping the chairs they’ve designed can someday be produced.
There's this thing where...
an autistic person will- for example, in my case- line up rocks and shells, or tap patterns on their face, or wear inside out sweaters and carry acorns in their pockets because it makes them feel safe.
And well meaning people will go, “Oh! Behavior is communication! She’s doing that because she feels unsafe! We have to address the root problem of anxiety and then the behavior will stop!”
And it’s the wrong way to look at it.
Some people paint their room orange, because it makes them feel safe. Some people go to mass every week, because it makes them feel safe. Some people wear the pendant their grandmother gave them or their lucky socks or carry around a thermos of hot chocolate because it makes them feel safe.
Most people do things that make them feel safe. It doesn’t mean there is a problem to be fixed. And even if there is a problem in a specific person’s life- and even if the problem is anxiety- and even if the problem is fixable- after you get rid of my anxiety problems I am still going to carry acorns in my pockets and tap patterns on my face.
ASAN Condemns Maryland for Dropping Charges in Case of Autistic Men in Basement
Are there any books you could recommend for family members?
So the following are things that the staff personally came up with as being okay to give to family members. Quick note: We do NOT as an organization endorse any of the titles excepting those we’ve produced ourselves. :)
- All Cats have Asperger’s is a classic. Obviously there are some issues with the title (the traits in question are associated with autistics in general, not just the now defunct “Asperger’s” diagnosis), but it’s a very cute little book that compares autistic traits to traits that cats might have. This is child appropriate, though you might want to be clear that the title isn’t meant literally and is using cat behavior as an analogy rather than a direct demonstration.
- Welcome To The Autistic Community is one of our books! There are two versions, one being in more cognitively accessible/in plain language and the other isn’t. There are many reasons for the plain language including younger people who are still developing their vocabulary, Autistics with co-occuring intellectual disabilities and/or learning disabilities, and making it easier for English language learners to access. This has a lot of information that can make entering the autistic community as well as learning (self)acceptance easier. While written by and for autistics, it could help give a relative or friend a good perspective to start from.
- The Reason I Jump was actually pretty well liked by our programs director, though it has had a mixed reception in the community here on tumblr. The mod hasn’t read it, so the most I can give you is that it is an autobiography by an autistic Japanese young man and has been given a lot of positive reviews in the broader book world.
- Loud Hands is another of our books. This is an anthology of writing by and for Autistics on a broad range of autism related topics.
- We Thought You’d Never Ask is a documentary.
- Ask and Tell: Self-Advocacy and Disclosure for People on the Autism Spectrum Is about … well, self-advocacy and disclosure. It is written by autistics.
- Sparrow Rose's work was also rec'd by the programs director.
- Reasonable People is one that our policy director liked. While it can sometimes feel a little invasive, DJ apparently gave permission for it.
Saying that a disabled child or adult “will never live independently” is such a slap in the face. I think it’s unacceptable and I think it’s lazy. No one will ever live independently! No one is living independent of medical care, emotional support, and goods/services provided by others. Humans are a deeply interdependent species. Disabled people are sometimes rendered ~dependent~ specifically on a state or family apparatus in a way that makes them vulnerable to abuse or exploitation, but this isn’t the only way to experience “”dependency.”“
Some people are just told that they are “independent” because their lives and needs are normalized to such an extent that the enormous amount of support they receive is invisible.
Our world was shattered approximately a month and a half ago when we discovered that two of our children, ages 11 and 13 years, were going to be forcibly removed from our home and placed into a "more structured" "therapeutic" 8-bed agency group home facility the day after Christmas - December 26,...
Please help these kids stay with their family!
Celebrate #GivingTuesday today with ASAN! Check out the others in the tag, or donate with ASAN! http://thndr.it/1rsCRAF
This company, Stimtastic, is owned by an autistic person and sells chewable jewelry that’s NOT marketed towards teething babies but rather autistic/neurodivergent children and adults (as well as other stim toys & jewelry). Seriously considering buying the faceted bangle or droplet necklace from them, especially since it’s winter and it’s easier to mess up my skin with my bfrbs when it’s dry to begin with.
They sell off Amazon too on a separate website here. I usually prefer Amazon since my family has Prime.
Tell Governor McAuliffe and Attorney General Herring to #FreeNeli!!!
Back in 2010, Neli Latson was hanging out in a park when he was approached by police because someone reported him being black and autistic in public as “suspicious behavior.” Frightened, he tried to retreat from the police, not giving his name. When the police then violently assaulted him, he struggled- and got charged with assault.
Neli has been in prison since, and has been subjected to 24 hour solitary lock down for the past year in lieu of providing appropriate supports. We’ll be releasing a statement in the next day or so with more details, but the short story is Neli has suffered more than enough when he shouldn’t have suffered at all.
We are encouraging people to contact Attorney General Mark Herring and Governor Terry McAuliffe of Virginia to tell them that they need to let Neli out, and to ensure he is supported to live safely in the community.
There is no public safety or rehabilitation justification for his continued imprisonment. He could be significantly better served in a community-based setting with appropriate re-entry services and behavior supports, including someone to accompany him in the community. Tell those who can arrange his release and supports: Free Neli!!!
Attorney General Mark Herring Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AGMarkHerring Twitter: https://twitter.com/AGMarkHerring Phone: (804) 786-2071 Mailing:
Office of the Attorney General 900 East Main Street Richmond, VA 23219
Online Comment Form: http://ag.virginia.gov/ContactUsForm/ContactForm.aspx
Governor Terry McAuliffe
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Governor-of-Virginia/61634046094 Twitter: https://twitter.com/GovernorVA Phone: 804-786-2211 Mailing:
Office of the Governor 1111 East Broad Street, Richmond, VA 23219
Online Contact Form: https://governor.virginia.gov/constituent-services/communicating-with-the-governors-office/
I Have No Words
(Trigger Warning: Murder)
I have no words. Another innocent autistic child has been murdered by the hands of his mother. A beautiful little boy lost his life when his mother threw him off a bridge. I have no words.
This is a post I wrote in September 2013 when two other autistic children were murdered by their mother – MADNESS.
Why does this keep happening? If the child was not disabled, people would be shouting for justice! Instead we get people like Dee Shepherd-Look spouting garbage.
Dee Shepherd-Look is a psychology professor at California State University, Northridge, who happens to run an education group for mothers of autistic children, said “quite frankly, I am surprised this doesn’t happen more often.”
“These children are really unable to be in a reciprocal relationship and the moms don’t really experience the love that comes back from a child — the bonding is mitigated,” she told NBC News. “That is one of the most difficult things for mothers.”
Dee Shepherd-Look, YOU ARE WRONG! Autistic people of any age are loving and are lovable!
Here is an important message that Zoe Gross posted on Facebook:
“I know a lot of my facebook friends are part of communities of parents of disabled kids, or work with parents, and I want to get this message out there. On Monday night a 6-year-old autistic boy named London McCabe was thrown off a bridge by his mother.
In a video made a year ago, London’s mother says to her supporters that “You are making this experience livable versus us pulling a ‘Thelma and Louise,’ which I have totally thought about … I said it.”
After Alex Spourdalakis was killed by his mother and godmother, a family friend came forward to say, leading up to the murder, Alex’s mother “just kept saying this was the end of Alex.”
After Issy Stapelton’s mother attempted to kill her, personal care workers and relatives came forward to say that she had “stated that children with autism have to be taken care of, such as taking the child to the train tracks or off a cliff and suggesting a parent should kill his or her child,” and said that if Issy were a dog, she would be “put down.”
Contrast with this: in 2012, Kristin and Kiah Firth, ages 4 and 2, went missing when their parents fled with them after expressing frustration that treatments for Kristin’s autism weren’t working to their satisfaction. Hospital workers reported to police that the parents had mentioned they were considering murder-suicide. After a search for the missing family, the girls were found safe and removed from the custody of their parents, saving their lives.
If you ever hear someone say that they have considered killing their child, that they expect their child will die soon, or that they believe their child ought to be dead or wish their child were dead, you need to contact law enforcement immediately. Even if the person is your dear friend. Even if you are convinced they would never do such a thing. Although to some extent these sentiments have been normalized in the autism community, these are known warning signs and we’ve seen them over and over again in cases of horrific abuse, murder and attempted murder. Usually we hear about them too late.
I want #JusticeForLondon but I want SAFETY for those who come after him.”
I couldn’t I agree with you more, Zoe. Thank you for your words.
Here is ASAN’s Statement on the Murder of London McCabe.
[text heavy image removed, link to image- ASAN]
(A reminder from Karla Fisher – “I don’t need to walk in anybody’s shoes to know that killing your own child is WRONG 100% of the time.”)
I just supported #GivingTuesday with ASAN! on @ThunderclapIt // @autselfadvocacy
[cross-posted from Facebook]
ASAN did an excellent job at "Beyond the Diagnosis Autism Across the Life Span", the Kansas Autism Conference. I saw interested faces and note taking in the audience. Thank you to the speakers for presenting, and thank you to our audience for being so awesome!
- Mod T