The Sunday Sidebar - The Autism Issue.
Autism is a disease on the rise, affecting millions around the world. But many people, me included, know very little about the condition.
April 2nd was World Autism Awareness Day. In celebration of this, there was an avalanche of articles, news stories, and television specials about autism - what it is and how it affects people.
CNN in particular put together an extremely informative and heart warming series about Autism. Here’s a few clips that caught my eye…
But the best article I found was this one ‘The Truth About Autism: Scientists Reconsider What They Think They Know‘ over at Wired.com. It features an interview with 27-year-old Amanda Baggs…
Like many people with autism, Baggs doesn’t like to look you in the eye and needs help with tasks like preparing a meal and taking a shower. In conversation she’ll occasionally grunt or sigh, but she stopped speaking altogether in her early twenties. Instead, she types 120 words a minute, which the DynaVox then translates into a synthesized female voice that sounds like a deadpan British schoolteacher.
Amanda created this video ‘In My Language’…
…that provides a powerful dialogue about being autistic. The first few minutes of the video is in Amanda’s ‘native language’ of actions and movements. Keep watching. The second part provides a translation and explanation of her language.
It says a great deal about autism and how society sees autistic people.
Tags: Autism
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