One of the saddest, most chilling aspects of reading the words of those who claim autism is solely mercury poisoning is the cheapening of the word ‘autistic’ to reflect illness, negativity, inhuman, uncaring, amorality. To those who would rob my daughter of the identity she has I would like to ask: why? So your children may be ill. Your children may have been misdiagnosed as autistic and your children may be in pain.
None of that gives you the right to denigrate the person that my daughter and thousands of other autistics is/are. Imagine the public outcry if we suddenly decided that a dark skin was a ‘treatable illness’ and that we could ‘reclaim our dark-skinned children’. If your children had dark skin as, for example, a result of being burnt in a fire, then no-one would deny them medical treatment. But would it be right to categorise _all_ dark skinned children in this way? Of course not.
In the article I want to recommend people read, Amanda Baggs details the sort of world she wished she lived in. It sounds like a great place to me. However,
Currently, I can find exactly one printed book which tells me what I know to be true — it is okay, even beautiful, to be autistic. The book is Through the Eyes of Aliens, by Jasmine Lee O’Neill. I carry a copy of this book everywhere, and even sleep with a copy of it. It is the only concrete and lasting object I own that tells me, directly, “It is okay to be you.” Someday, I hope there will be more.
Amanda writes eloquently about dignity and respect. Dignity for the autistic to be autistic without the impediment of a society trying to ‘cure’ him or her and respect for the genuine nature of autism – not as the side effect of a toxic metal overdose but as the unique difference that it represents. Please read Amanda’s piece and remember that it is written by a woman once regarded as ‘low functioning’. If Amanda is low functioning then I can only hope that my daughter stays low functioning for the rest of her life.
Left Brain Right Brain 
A very powerful piece there, certainly an eye opener, if only more people could take the time to sit and read.
I feel very privaliged to be able to read this blog and get such an insight into a world I would have otherwise never seen, and more importantly, never understood.
I agree with the article.
I want the world to change into an autistic friendly place.
I do not want to struggle to adapt, everyone else could find it easier to adapt, so why shouldn’t they.
Helen
ps – Have you read the Age of Autism series in the washington times?
Another fine article from you Kev – I agree with it whole-heartedly.
I hope some of the people claiming that Autism is ‘only mercury poisoning’ read this….and I hope it sinks in under their skin (whatever colour it is!)
I’m lucky to appreciate what you mean…many can’t and many more won’t even bother. Ahhh…the way an Autistic views their own identity in society is a unique and valued perspective that should never be overlooked – (why can’t more people understand that and show more respect?)
I’m going to read ‘Amanda’s Piece’ shortly.
Helen: Is that the series about the Amish? If so, then yes, I’ve read some of them. I’m not really sure where he’s going with his whole hypothesis to be honest though. Because the Amish don’t usually vaccinate they don’t usually have autistic kids? They don’t usually drive cars either but no one seems to be suggesting that as a causative.
Yep.
I have no idea where they are going – but of the 6 true amish children found with autism 4 also have high levels of mercury.
That was a beautiful article. Thank you for posting the link. Articles like that help to undo some of the damage that is spoken about in the article itself.
Its good isn’t it? Amanda used to have a blog but when autistics.org server went bad a couple of weeks ago, her blog seems like it was one of the permenant casualties which is a great shame as it was a fantastic read.
Okay Kev: I’ve read Amanda’s article.
It almost made me cry! I’m a grown man, rather tough round the edges, I don’t take sh*t from anyone and can be a bit of a hard-bas*ard when I want to be…and yet Amanda’s article was so unapologetically open and moving that I really found it emotional to read. The ‘beautiful place’ she suggests, would definitely be a great place…one day, I hope it exists, somewhere.
Glad you got something out of it Matt :o)
Amanda Baggs has a new blog at http://ballastexistenz.blogspot.com/ . Sadly, none of the stuff on the old blog is available – and I didn’t get to read it! I want a world like she describes – not just for autistics but any disabled person. For example, I want people to see the beauty of a profoundly MR person rather than view them as tragic and nonhuman vegetables. If you look at the http://www.livingwithtrisomy13.org/ it’s obvious that kids with t13, who are profoundly MR, are not “vegetables”. I wonder if anyone really is, if it’s even possible for someone to have no cognitive function and still be alive.
A very moving script which I give thanks to have read………
I am the very proud mother of a beautiful 7 year old boy who has Asperger Syndrome – I tell everyone I meet about Asperger because I love my son dearly and he deserves to be understood and respected. He did suffer quite major discrimination when he attended mainstream school which I attribute to a severe lack of understanding on the part of the teaching staff, however those days are gone and he now attends a special school where the staff are caring and dedicated and treat my son with the greatest of respect. For now at least, I feel like my son is part of the ‘beautiful place’ Amanda Baggs speaks of. I hope and prey it lasts!