An inspirational update to the story of Jason McElwain.
posted on Jul 17, 2008 - View this thread

"Tests have shown that oxytocin reduces anxiety levels in users. It is a hormone that facilitates social contact between people."
posted on Jun 24, 2008 - View this thread

5-Year-Old Autistic Student Voted Out of Kindergarten, Survivor-Style. (Link to interview with a representative of the school district).
posted on May 31, 2008 - View this thread

"What the autistic 12-year-old can't express verbally or in social interaction he can show through his carefully cut out geometric shapes assembled into characters in a paper collage."
posted on May 7, 2008 - View this thread

Kathleen is the owner of neurodiversity.com, one of the most comprehensive resources online in the topic of Autism Spectrum Disorders. Neurodiversity is just one person with a domain name and a computer, not a corporation, or a money-making enterprise, but apparently having good research skills and a willingness to share what you know is becoming legally problematic. Last week, Kathleen has received a subpoena commanding her to appear for deposition and document production in Rev. Lisa Sykes and Seth Sykes’ $20,000,000 personal injury lawsuit, Sykes v. Bayer.
posted on Apr 4, 2008 - View this thread

Facial Expression Simulator Apparently it's useful for helping autistics learn facial expressions, among other things. Related.
posted on Apr 1, 2008 - View this thread

Hannah Poling is a nine year old girl with mild to moderate symptoms of autism, which developed three months after she received vaccinations. The Department of Health and Human Services announced that her family will receive a settlement from the vaccine compensation fund. Autism activists are encouraged, but the DHHS officials insist they are not admitting a link between autism and vaccines and maintain that for most, vaccines are safe. Rather, they say, the series of vaccines Hannah received exacerbated an underlying mitochondrial condition, causing the symptoms of autism.
posted on Mar 7, 2008 - View this thread

Autistic retired pot-washer Gregory Blackstock creates striking artworks of everyday items. Short YouTube interview here. If you're in Seattle, you can see him tonight at the opening of his exhibition at the Garde Rail Gallery.
posted on Dec 5, 2007 - View this thread

An interesting article by Simon Baron-Cohen on honesty, deception, and autism.
posted on Oct 4, 2007 - View this thread

MIT researchers can reverse some symptoms of autism and mental retardation in mice by suppressing a specific enzyme. The research, conducted at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, is due to be posted on PNAS Online some time this week. Here is the MIT article. The specific symptoms reversed included hyperactivity, purposeless/repetitive movements, attention deficits and learning/memory challenges. The research was funded by the FRAXA Foundation, the Simons Foundation, the Wellcome Trust, and the National Institutes of Health. According to the CDC, the genetic causes treated by this particular technique (called FXS) affects one in 4,000 males and one in 6,000 females of all races and ethnic groups. I would be interested in hearing about reactions that might be taking place in the various autism-related communities.
posted on Jun 26, 2007 - View this thread

Convicted as an ecoterrorist, a brilliant young scholar nose-dives in prison. An article on Billy Cottrell, a physics genius with Asperger's Syndrome who was sentenced to 8.5 years in prison for his role in destroying $5 million worth of SUVs. His case was previously discussed here. [Via BB.]
posted on Mar 2, 2007 - View this thread

Robert "Bobe" Cannon's 1951 Oscar-winning animated short "Gerald McBoing Boing" (u2b), is an early example of a modernist animation style (previously) experimented by UPA studios in an attempt to counteract the mounting realism of Disney cartoons. (The 2005 series it inspired is currently re-running on Boomerang.)

On another note entirely, Theodor "Seuss" Geisel's character Gerald is considered one of a number of celebrities with autism.
posted on Feb 24, 2007 - View this thread

AutismTown? Autism is a puzzling and disastrous disorder which has recently spread to affect 1 in 150, according to new government data; now there is a new non-profit "pixel-based" site to organize the community and fund research and services. A bit of a "who's who" in the field...
posted on Feb 17, 2007 - View this thread

An autistic woman "speaks" her language, then ours. (YouTube) "My language is not about designing words or even visual symbols for people to interpret. It is about being in a constant conversation with every aspect of my environment, reacting physically to all parts of my surroundings." [more inside]
posted on Jan 25, 2007 - View this thread

Born with a rare syndrome that left him profoundly autistic, seven-year-old Luke was trapped in his own body. But then his dad took him surfing. More on Izzy Paskowitz and Elliot Zuckerman
posted on Jan 8, 2007 - View this thread

The Woman Who Thinks Like A Cow. A documentary about Temple Grandin (previously discussed here and here.) [Via MindHacks.]
posted on Dec 18, 2006 - View this thread

Another incredible cityscape drawn from memory by the amazing Stephen Wiltshire (previously featured). The same clip on YouTube for those who don't like wmv's.
posted on Nov 23, 2006 - View this thread

Does television cause autism? A statistical study by two professors at Cornell appears to find a correlation between autism and toddlers watching television.
posted on Oct 16, 2006 - View this thread

Autism is growing, especially in the Silicon Valley. We’ve talked of this twice before, but what are we missing about the connection between autism, geekhood, and the Silicon Valley? Let’s talk about this more [inside].
posted on Aug 13, 2006 - View this thread

Device warns you if you're boring or irritating MIT develops emotional intelligence prosthetic.
posted on Mar 30, 2006 - View this thread

Welcome to Urville, the city that autistic Frenchman Gilles Trehin has been designing since he was 12 years old. The drawings, in particular, are incredible.
posted on Mar 28, 2006 - View this thread

The Tokyo skyline [Windows or Real media] drawn from memory by savant Stephen Wiltshire.
posted on Feb 5, 2006 - View this thread

Inside the Spectrum: a hauntingly beautiful and thought provoking little collection of photographs of autistic people by Chris Combs, a fiercely talented photographer in his early 20s who works at the Washington Post. Read Combs' project description here. For more on autism, see here.
posted on Dec 8, 2005 - View this thread

Inventor of CTRL-ALT-DEL ridicules Bill Gates. "'I may have invented CTRL-ALT-DEL, but Bill Gates made it famous". Video clip of the episode, via TUAW, who say "The funniest part is the expression, or lack thereof, on the face of Bill."
posted on Jul 28, 2005 - View this thread

A "stunning" link between an ingredient in childhood vaccines and autism leads to a cover-up conspiracy. "But instead of taking immediate steps to alert the public and rid the vaccine supply of thimerosal, the officials and executives at Simpsonwood spent most of the next two days discussing how to cover up the damaging data. According to transcripts obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, many at the meeting were concerned about how the damaging revelations about thimerosal would affect the vaccine industry's bottom line." An earlier post (concerned only with fish) asked, "Got mercury?" Why, yes you do - and fish is the least of your problems. Interestingly, hints of this story surfaced in the media in the Spring/Summer of 2005. There may also be a link between thimerosal and Alzheimer's, A.D.D., and Asperger's Syndrome. A thimerosal resource guide. Maybe we'll take notice this time around?
posted on Jun 16, 2005 - View this thread

Could autism be a result of "extreme male" mind? A UK scientist has devised an intriguing theory as to the character and cause of autism. and yeah, this is my first FPP, for those who care about that kind of thing
posted on Apr 27, 2005 - View this thread

30 years of Sundays in the 23rd century. Magic Time Square of all Fridays. Magic Square portrait of Queen Victoria. A few pieces from the web site of Savant artist George Widener, whose extraordinary memory, drawing skill and calendar calculating abilities have "only recently come to public notice." Found via Dr. Darold Treffert's fascinating Savant Syndrome site, with tons of info that raises compelling questions. [previous Savant-related MeFi threads]
posted on Mar 14, 2005 - View this thread

Taking the "idiot" out of "savant" For many of us, the word "savant" conjures up images of Dustin Hoffman's character in "Rainman", or,more recently, Mike Haddon's wonderful hero of "The curious incident of the dog in the night". Now let Daniel Tammet take you inside the autistic mind. (link via Boingboing)
posted on Feb 14, 2005 - View this thread

Israeli researchers discover gene for altruism Why are some people more prone to give charity or put themselves in danger in order to help others? A team of Israeli psychologists claim they have the answer - they've located the first gene linked to altruistic behavior.
posted on Jan 24, 2005 - View this thread

In her new book written with Catherine Johnson, Animals in Translation (NYTimes), Dr Temple Grandin, an animal behavior expert and inventor of the squeeze machine, uses her experiences with autism to explore the intricacies of animal behavior. She argues that animals do have consciousness, that language is not a prerequisite and other theories that bring insight into both animal and human behavior. (More)
posted on Jan 11, 2005 - View this thread

neurodiversity
An amazingly wide and varied site which began as a collection of articles about Autism but which has expanded to survey such varied topics as left-handedness, gender and sexual orientation, hysteria, and a fascinating collection of articles on "Neurotypical Issues." Hours and hours of material from a wide variety of viewpoints.
posted on Sep 13, 2004 - View this thread

They only way they could get the care their child needed. "Nobody should have to make this decision"
posted on Mar 15, 2004 - View this thread

Is testosterone the root cause of autism?
posted on Mar 2, 2004 - View this thread

Savant art: the amazing work of Richard Wawro.
posted on Dec 19, 2003 - View this thread

Matt Savage is a promising young jazz pianist whose trio recently performed at the Blue Note in New York City. He's also autistic. He's also 12.

(Challenges of raising an autistic child previously discussed here.)
posted on Nov 21, 2003 - View this thread

Planet Autism
"Last summer, a man in California shot his 27-year-old autistic son to death and then shot himself. I understand why." (warning - Salon link)
posted on Sep 27, 2003 - View this thread

Autistic boy dies at faith healing service 'An 8-year-old autistic boy died during a prayer service at a Milwaukee church that the pastor said was meant to heal him of "spirits," and the pastor's brother is facing child abuse charges...' This is sad. Evil spirits? What can be done to protect children from ill-treatment by religion?
posted on Aug 25, 2003 - View this thread

Savant for a Day! NYTimes journalist Lawrence Osbourne becomes a guinea pig for a University of Sydney's professor's mind-enhancing device based on the theories of autistic "Rainman" cognition with interesting results.
posted on Jun 20, 2003 - View this thread

This isn't irony. The Department of Justice wants to deny justice to the families who have to deal with kids with autism I guess if you're a vaccine manufacturer, you don't want people to know that what you're putting in kids is gonna screw their lives up forever, right? That would cost you alot of money

If the Vaccine makers are scared about huge rewards for families harmed by their products, they should have made sure their vaccines didn't cause children to develop autism
posted on Nov 27, 2002 - View this thread

The link between geekiness and Aspergers Syndrome (a mild form of autism) is fairly well known, if not scientifically proven. But now, a study reported in tbe BBC says that there's a wildly high incidence of childhood autism where geeks are mostly mating with other geeks...
posted on Aug 17, 2002 - View this thread

Autistic's guide to asking a girl out Autistics.org has written a helpful set of instructions for autistics wanting to ask a girl out for a movie. I'm not sure if this is terribly interesting, but apparently the folks at memepool did. Plus, it humbled me so much that I felt deathly ill as I read it - that's got to be worth something, am I right or am I right?
posted on Apr 23, 2002 - View this thread

"I don't think it's a big problem," Willy told her. "It's a lot of little problems, and I think that's good, because little problems have little solutions." Leave it to a 6-year-old to describe my life far more eloquently than I ever could. I have an autistic son, and deal with the little things on a daily basis. I don't think I am all that unusual; what kind of little things are a part of your life that other people might consider a big problem?
posted on Feb 24, 2002 - View this thread

"It seems that for success in science and art, a dash of autism is essential." But now the techies in Silicon Valley who prospered with that dash are having children with far more pronounced problems. Is having too many shy programmers in one spot the equivalent to pissing in the gene pool?
posted on Dec 19, 2001 - View this thread

1337 h4X0r or idiot savant? USA Today quotes noted animal behaviorist Temple Grandin observing that uber-hacker Kevin Mitnick exhibits many of the symptoms of Asperger's syndrome, a mild form of autisim from which Grandin herself suffers. Mitnick doesn't seem to disagree, in fact he noticed it himself. Grandin, Mitnick and others speculate as to whether many "hackers" are, in fact, autistic.
posted on Mar 29, 2001 - View this thread

Vaccine linked to Autism? Something every parent should know. I don't know if it's true or not, I mean it's not proven, but it is kind of scary.
posted on Mar 6, 2000 - View this thread

Yet another story on geeks having a form of autism. This one sounds a bit farfetched, it's almost as if someone made up a syndrome for all the classic geek 'symptoms.' I know a lot of geeks with an amazing capacity for empathy, in fact I think geeks understand human suffering more than the average joe because much of their childhood is spent being tormented.
posted on Sep 27, 1999 - View this thread