April is Autism Awareness Month, so it’s not surprising there are more public/media things going on than usual.
Sesame Street recently announced that its characters would be lighting it up blue in a partnership with Autism Speaks
- Beth Ryan explains why this is a bad idea, and the autistic community’s response
- You can sign this petition asking Sesame Street to reconsider their decision.
Other public affairs:
- Last time I posted about problems with Lindt and Autism Speaks, someone told me I should write to Lindt and explain the problem directly to them. I didn’t have the energy to do so, but someone else did. The response was disappointing.
- Sonnolenta on why she is passionate about raising funds for the Autism Women’s Network [TW violence against women statistics]
- The Caffeinated Autistic on how knowing the truth about Autism Speaks makes World Autism Day complicated
Storytelling!
- Phil Smith has a fascinating poem about autistic ways of speaking/writing
- Rachel Edidin on allegory, emotions, her diagnosis, and Abed from Community
- Matthew Rozsa evaluates several different television characters with Asperger’s
Science!
- New research shows brain abnormalities in the majority of autistic children which appear to date from “long before birth“. (On the one hand, cool! On the other hand, all the usual caveats about autism research and where it seems to be heading. :-|)
- M. Kelter makes a provocative point about empathy
- Musings of an Aspie on the “autistic gaze“
- Joel from Evil Autie questions the connection between autism and fecal smearing
- Chavisory on abilities that suddenly appear