Unpacking the Complex Nature of the Autism “Epidemic”?

The upcoming issue of Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders includes an article entitled Unpacking the Complex Nature of the Autism Epidemic. Judging from the fact that it is a 7-page article only, I didn’t expect it to really unravel the complicated matter surrounding the increase in autism diagnosis over the years, and I was right. [...]

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Book Review: Born on a Blue Day

I just finished reading the Dutch version of Born on a Blue Day by Daniel Tammet. The book is the autobiography of a savant with Asperger’s Syndrome. Tammet starts by describing his childhood, including his experience of epilepsy, which may or may not have shaped his synesthetic savant abilities. It is intriguing how he describes [...]

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Abortion as a Matter of Bodily Autonomy

Over at Feministe, Frances Kissling writes an interesting post, entitled When Does Life Begin?. Frances does not attempt to answer this question, even though she appears to feel that life does not begin at conception. Her point, rather, is that it doesn’t matter when life begins: no-one should be forced to give their body to [...]

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Despite Rules, Restraint and Seclusion Problem Persists in Iowa Schools

In 2008, new regulations took effect in the state of Iowa limiting the use of restraint and seclusion in schools. The regulations determine how and under what circumstances students can be restrained, how long a student can be locked up into a time-out room, and specifically state that seclusion and restraint cannot be used as [...]

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Autism, Intellectual Disability, and the Concept of “Primary Disability”

Over at Autism Speaking, there’s an interesting post on autism and intellectual disability. It points out a few misconceptions about autism and intellectual disability. For example, Kanner and Asperger originally both excluded intellectually disabled persons from their autism descriptions, so it is not true that autism with intellectual disability is the original or “real” autism. [...]

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Disability Blog Carnival Announcement

In 2007, I signed up to be host for the Disability Blog Carnival for the first time. Unexpectedly, I had to cancel that carnival – or precisely, it didn’t show up and no-one knew why -, because of my acute hospitalization. Now, still hospitalized but with a relatively stable Internet connection, I am giving it [...]

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Autism, Intellectual Disability, and Research Participation

Harold L. Doherty of Facing Autism in New Brunwswick has yet another post criticizing the new autism spectrum disorder DSM-V category, at least, that’s what I thought. I told Harold for the umpteenth time that there is no evidence of an autism-with-intellectual-disability subtype and that such a subtype doesn’t exist in DSM-IV, either. His statitistics, [...]

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Intellectually Disabled Man to Visit Sex Worker at Taxpayer Expense

In today’s Daily Mail, there appeared an interesting opinion piece on taxpayer-funded sex for a man with intellectual disabilities. The man apparently needs to visit a prostitute in order to enhance his independence or dignity, as the article words it. He will be traveling to Amsterdam to see the sex worker, because, according to the [...]

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Then and Now: On Changing Abilities, and Why Those Don’t Make Me “Fake”

When I was reorganizing my blog a few weeks ago, I discovered a large number of posts from when I was still in high school. These reminded me of the relative ability I displayed at the time, as compared to my current impairment. That is, if you feel that high school performance and locked ward [...]

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On the Medicalization of Safety

There’s been a lot of discussion about autism as a health hazard, due to autistics having an increased risk of dying in accidents. An example involves the autistic man who died in a hot van a few weeks ago. Rather than blaming a careless caregiver who locked him in, it is reasoned that a non-disabled [...]

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