An in-depth series in the Los Angeles Times examines whether the increased recognition of autism as a syndrome has led to skyrocketing rates of diagnosis, and how social, ethnic, and geographic factors affect the treatment a child is likely to receive. (via)
Part One: An epidemic of disease or of discovery?
Part Two: Warrior parents fare best in securing autism services
Part Three: Families cling to hope of autism 'recovery'
Part Four: Finding traces of autism in earlier eras
posted by Horace Rumpole on Dec 18, 2011 - 59 comments

Autistic and Seeking a Place in the World. Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter Amy Harmon spent a year observing a young man with autism named Justin Canha, who took part in a new kind of “transition to adulthood” program for special education students at Montclair High School in NJ. The experimental program was intended to ready him for an independent life as an adult and integrate him into the community. [more inside]
posted by zarq on Sep 18, 2011 - 26 comments

"We need to stop making autism advocacy about trying to create a world where there aren't any autistic people and start building one in which autistic people have the rights and support they deserve." In December, Ari Ne'eman was nominated to the National Council on Disability (NCD), becoming the first autistic presidential appointee in history. In response, "one anonymous emailer to a federal agency in Washington wrote that 'assholes like Ari Ne'eman' should 'have their tongues cut out' for suggesting that autistic people need respect, civil rights, and access to services more than they need pity and a cure. This conviction has made him a leader of the emerging neurodiversity movement, which Ne'eman sees as a natural outgrowth of the civil rights, women's rights, and disability rights movements of the late 20th century." (Previously.)
posted by scody on Oct 11, 2010 - 50 comments

Ari Ne'eman, best known as the founder of Autistic Self Advocacy Network, will be the first person with Autism to serve on the National Council on Disability. [more inside]
posted by lexicakes on Jun 22, 2010 - 4 comments