August 23rd, 2008
After a priest filed a restraining order against the parents of 13-year-old Adam Race back in May, there was a lot of (often very heated) discussion about the exclusion and inclusion of autistic individuals in public spaces. The August 22nd Morning News reports on The Point at Bella Vista, a church meant for families with […]
By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 2 comments
August 16th, 2008
This Associated Press story about autistic children and disruptive behavior has been making the rounds of news outlets and websites—-Jen Miller of Tacoma, whose daughter is autistic, writes this in the News Tribune:
….it’s funny how easy it is for some to complain when they haven’t walked a day in an autistic parent’s shoes.
Miller refers to […]
By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 5 comments
August 13th, 2008
In the ocean this morning with Charlie, I noted a boy about his age looking more than a few times in our direction. Charlie’s a super swimmer, and clearly comfortable in the water, and still has to have someone out there with him. This morning it was me. The waves were perfect—big but soft and […]
By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 11 comments
August 9th, 2008
Compassion Deficit Disorder is the title of an August 7th article by writer Judith Warner in the New York Times. Starting with Michael Savage’s over-the-top claims that autism is incorrectly diagnosed in 99% of cases and that it’s just a way to seek “undue sympathy, victim status, and services” for autistic children, Warner writes in […]
By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 42 comments
July 21st, 2008
Now we’ve got the New York Times weighing in on radio host Michael Savage’s savage language about “bratty” autistic kids. As About.com notes, Savage is “successfully sucking time, money and energy” from the autism community (and sucking in ratings, I would think). All I can say again is, ’nuff said!
And, we have found the actual […]
By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 30 comments
July 18th, 2008
It seems no wonder that right wing talker Michael Savage’s last name is, well, “Savage” after reading what he said about autism on his radio show. I’ll list the words he uses to refer to autism:
moron, putz, idiot, fool, dummy, a girl, losers, beaten men
More of Savage’s savagery is quoted on Left Brain/Right Brain.
If […]
By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 41 comments
July 17th, 2008
A Georgia mother and her daughters were kicked out of a Jackson restaurant because one daughter, 4-year-old Alyssa, who is autistic, was crying. Another customer—-Jackson Police Chief Dennis Rushton, it turned out—-said that her crying was “‘beginning to make [his] head hurt.’”
Excluded, again.
Share This
By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 28 comments
July 5th, 2008
Daycare. And, afterschool care.
The very idea of these have long seemed a luxury to me. There’s basically five people on this planet who’ve provided these for Charlie: My parents, our speech therapist who we’ve known since she was in college, Jim, and me. As my parents live in California (they’re retired and can visit a […]
By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 16 comments
June 22nd, 2008
A study underway at the University of Michigan seeks to get 60% of kids with disabilities (Down syndrome, autism) riding a bike in five days. Afterwards, the children are tracked for a year to chart the effects on their emotions and intelligence. Kinesiology division professor Dale Ulrich is overseeing the study; he started to work […]
By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 20 comments
June 18th, 2008
Very late on Monday, Charlie and I took a red eye flight back to New Jersey from San Francisco. He set his mouth, clutched my dad’s blue jacket to his chest and handed it back just as we got into the line for the security check. No crying or painful encounters with airport security personnel. […]
By Kristina Chew, PhD -- 14 comments
Recent Comments