Comments on: Autism is a trait

By: Brett

Brett — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 13:38:24 +0000

Kate,

Please feel free to link to my post about Tyrin.

While I can’t really speak for the site as a whole, I don’t think there would be any objection from the Left Brain / Right Brain team if you linked to the site from the United Way’s site.

Brett

By: Kate Kromann

Kate Kromann — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 12:32:29 +0000

Good morning! Thanks for mentioning Tyrin’s article here. Unfortunately, you seem to have caught us during our Web site upgrade this past weekend! Tyrin’s story is indeed online, at this address now:
http://www.stl.unitedway.org/tyrin.aspx

The video is on YouTube, linked on CZ’s post above, and to watch it from our Web site, click the Harley photo on the left side of the page.

I think your point about “in spite of his autism” is a great one, Luai. We certainly made an effort in our stories not include phrases like that. But of course, we can’t control what they print in the media :-)

Thanks for blogging about this! Do you mind if we link to your site?

Kate Kromann
E-Communications Director
United Way of Greater St. Louis

By: Elissa

Elissa — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 11:03:13 +0000

We definitely need more good news stories

By: VAB

VAB — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 20:59:38 +0000

In the spirit of letting people know when they are doing something I appreciate, I wrote to the media coordinator and thanked her. She wrote right back. Here is our email conversation.
———To: Carrie Zukoski
Subject: Autism is a trait – not a debilitation

Hi,

As a father of a child with autism, I would just like to say how much I
appreciate your publicity, featured here:
http://www.stl.unitedway.org/tyrin.aspx

which I heard about here: http://leftbrainrightbrain.co.uk/?p=687

These days, it is increasingly common to hear autism described as a horror when, in fact, it is as your publicity says, a trait and, in many respects, a very fine one. People need to understand that. Thank you for getting the message out.
——-
Thank you so much for your note. That really means a lot to us. And Tyrin is a great guy – it’s been fun to work with him through this!

I appreciate you sharing the link to the blog too. I will definitely share this with my co-workers.

Carrie

By: cz

cz — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 19:46:33 +0000

If the United Way site is down:

http://www.stl.unitedway.org/2.....0_240.aspx

You can also see the video on You Tube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yaTd4jGu48

Tyrin is the second story in the video.

By: Gonzo

Gonzo — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 17:32:06 +0000

Good point, Joseph.

By: jypsy

jypsy — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 16:59:21 +0000

cached version of the link http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:PTVSv6CWKroJ:www.stl.unitedway.org/NewsStories/default.aspx%3Fid%3D2456+united+way+autism+is+a+trait&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=ca&client=firefox-a

By: Joseph

Joseph — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 14:44:49 +0000

Hopefully things like “in spite of his autism” will get phased out eventually. It’s really no different to saying “in spite of being black” or something of the sort.

By: Luai_lashire

Luai_lashire — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 14:08:28 +0000

I don’t mean to belittle the united way campaign or the article, both of which are very good- but I really, really wish they hadn’t said “in spite of his autism”. It’s the only part of the article that I don’t like, which, compared to the rest of the media, is amazing. Like the other people here, I sincerely hope that this keeps going on and that we see more of this kind of thing! :)

By: Kristina

Kristina — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 05:20:27 +0000

Hope to read more stories like this and not to feel surprised!