I have had a lot of teachers throughout my life. Some taught me because they were paid to, some because they were supposed to, and some because they wanted to. Many of the best teachers in my life, though, had no idea that they were teaching me. (Or, perhaps more accurately, that I was learning [...]
Also tagged acceptance, Asperger's Syndrome, autism, Life, parentingEvery now and then when I’m out with friends, or introducing myself to someone new, the topic of conversation winds its way around to autism. Sometimes the person knows someone who has an autistic child/niece/nephew/etc, or maybe they have an autistic child themselves. Since I am the parent of an autistic son they ask me [...]
Also tagged acceptance, Asperger's Syndrome, autism, Life, parentingEvery year when April – otherwise known as Autism Awareness Month – rolls around, I ask myself, “Awareness? Awareness of what exactly?” In the past I have often forgotten my own advice and tried to find a “one-size-fits-all” answer to the question. (My advice: there is no such thing as one-size-fits-all for anything.) Some years [...]
Also tagged acceptance, Asperger's Syndrome, autism, parentingBack in April I wrote a post titled Different is the new normal. In that article I looked at “normal” and “different” in the cultural sense; this is the primary context in which most people put this discussion. It occurred to me a week or so ago, though, that it would be interesting to see [...]
Also tagged 2.0, acceptance, Asperger's Syndrome, autism, DIfferent, LifeThe HBO film Temple Grandin, which I wrote about back when it first aired, recently won 7 Emmy awards, including Outstanding Made for TV Movie. Here’s what I had to say about the movie back then: I encourage you to watch this film with an open mind. It may just help you understand the sentiment [...]
Also tagged Asperger's Syndrome, autism, HBO, Temple GrandinA while back I had lunch with an old friend, and the topic of conversation wound its way to autism. I, of course, am the parent of an autistic son. As it turns out, his nephew is also autistic. He wanted to understand autism, and I wanted to help him understand. But I didn’t know [...]
Also tagged acceptance, Asperger's Syndrome, autism, parentingIf autism could be cured, and if we, as a society, chose to cure it, what would that mean for our future? How would it impact our lives, and the lives of our children (and descendants many generations down the line)? What would society look like 50 years from now? 100 years from now, when autism [...]
Also tagged Asperger's Syndrome, autism, LifeIn his book Unstrange Minds: Remapping the World of Autism, author Roy Richard Grinker mentions chess legend Bobby Fischer (p. 63) as someone who may have been an undiagnosed autistic. When I read David Edmonds’ book Bobby Fischer Goes to War: How A Lone American Star Defeated the Soviet Chess Machine, I thought the same thing. (For [...]
Also tagged Asperger's Syndrome, autism, Books, Life, parentingA few years ago, a friend asked me the question: “If someone told you there was a pill you could give your son that would cure his autism overnight, would you give it to him?” Sounds like an easy question, right? I hadn’t really thought much about it for some time, as it had been [...]
Also tagged acceptance, autism, Life, parentingThe following ties in well with my recent post Parents should be leaders (not managers) and my overall theme for Autism Awareness Month, so I’m reposting it in its entirety. I first posted this in April of 2008. – – — — —– What would you think if your friend/neighbor/sibling told you that they had [...]
Also tagged acceptance, autism, leadership, learning, Life, parenting
