2012-05-18T01:59:36Z http://blog.rethinkingautism.com/atom.aspx Quick Blogcast tag:blog.rethinkingautism.com,2012-04-16:591c1031-46d0-4458-8ccb-d3987ead1b0b Rethinking Autism 2012-04-17T05:19:34Z 2012-04-17T05:19:34Z ocumentProperties> 0 0 ages>1ages> 1398 7972 Deutsch Inc. 66 aragraphs>18aragraphs> 9352 14.0 ocumentProperties> Normal 0 unctuationKerning/> false false false oNotPromoteQF/> EN-US JA X-NONE ... tag:blog.rethinkingautism.com,2012-03-29:373a11a5-5a1e-49c7-a7bd-592d7f220a5e Rethinking Autism 2012-03-29T14:19:52Z 2012-03-29T14:19:52Z This article originally appeared on AmericanWomenMedia.com. My main audience was mothers. I thought I would post it here since Autism Acceptance Month is right around the corner. Dana CommandatoreIf you are a mother, I can guarantee that this won’t be the first piece you’ve ever read about autism. I’m sure you’ve heard the stats and the many stories of parents’ expectations being destroyed. You will not read about any of that today. It’s time to change the conversation from parents speculating on causation and cure to parents helping ... tag:blog.rethinkingautism.com,2012-03-18:103dcb39-81e3-4ff3-927d-72bad7ba0fb5 Rethinking Autism 2012-03-18T20:54:43Z 2012-03-18T20:54:43Z By Natalie DavisI don't get to converse with many siblings of autistics people so I was very happy to make the virtual acquaintance of Natalie Davis, Miss Minnesota. I asked her to tell us what she has been doing and she took time out of her busy schedule to fill us in. Thanks Natalie. --DanaAs the sibling of someone with autism, I have always seen my position as both a blessing and a curse. When I was a child, I knew my brother Trevor was different. He spent hours silently lining up toy cars into perfect rows instead ... tag:blog.rethinkingautism.com,2012-03-04:2e7ae297-24dd-47f3-b4b4-f12f656b1a42 Rethinking Autism 2012-03-05T05:51:37Z 2012-03-05T05:51:37Z By Dana Commandatore There is nothing more frustrating than feeling like you don’t have a voice. Andrew Breitbart knew this more than most. He believed that the mainstream media had a political narrative and devoted his life to counteracting that narrative. He was doing a fantastic job but, really, he had only just begun. Just after midnight on March 1st Andrew died suddenly of a heart attack. The neurodiversity movement and the adult autism community know what it feels like to be ignored by ... tag:blog.rethinkingautism.com,2012-01-30:dd934db0-e26d-444a-9c9d-074f430a94ac Rethinking Autism 2012-01-31T06:36:07Z 2012-01-31T06:36:07Z By Dana Commandatore Ladies and Gentlemen, this is not a post about autism. It is about a band. A few weeks ago, a bloke by the name of Rohan (don’t you just love that name?) emailed me to tell me that he liked Rethinking Autism’s message. I love getting emails like this, they balance out the ones from the people that really hate my message. Rohan is a music therapist and part of a band called Rudely Interrupted. I was intrigued when I discovered that ... tag:blog.rethinkingautism.com,2012-01-17:4b449be4-521b-427f-846d-725f6f586ffc Rethinking Autism 2012-01-17T22:28:41Z 2012-01-17T22:28:41Z By Dana Commandatore ocumentProperties> Normal.dotm 0 0 ages>1ages> 329 1877 Deutsch Inc. 15 aragraphs>3aragraphs> 2305 12.0 ocumentProperties> 0 false unctuationKerning/> rawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 ptrawingGridHorizontalSpacing> rawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 ptrawingGridVerticalSpacing> isplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0isplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery> isplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0isplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery> false false false ... tag:blog.rethinkingautism.com,2012-01-12:6a67d2bc-e0c3-4cab-ba90-10285be0b325 Rethinking Autism 2012-01-13T03:07:23Z 2012-01-13T03:07:23Z ocumentProperties> Normal.dotm 0 0 ages>1ages> 491 2801 Deutsch Inc. 23 aragraphs>5aragraphs> 3439 12.0 ocumentProperties> 0 false unctuationKerning/> rawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 ptrawingGridHorizontalSpacing> rawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 ptrawingGridVerticalSpacing> isplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0isplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery> isplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0isplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery> false false false ontGrowAutofit/> ... tag:blog.rethinkingautism.com,2011-12-12:ae33c22a-10f4-438e-a999-747b68aedff5 Rethinking Autism 2011-12-13T04:44:19Z 2011-12-13T04:44:19Z By Dana Commandatore1) Read Jim Sinclair's "Don't Mourn for Us".2) Tell your parents, family and friends that are close (maybe even your boss) for you are going to need support.3) Let go of any preconceived ideas for birthday parties, trips to the supermarket and vacations. Don't worry, sometimes the unexpected is just as wonderful.4) Discover what motivates your child and learn as much as you can about those topics.5) Figure out the best way to communicate. Whether it is through speech, sign language, PECS, Facilitated Communication or touch, you will need to reduce everone's stress by coming up ... tag:blog.rethinkingautism.com,2011-09-28:7640da59-3170-404a-8256-7384ca07ded6 Rethinking Autism 2011-09-28T19:32:30Z 2011-09-28T19:32:30Z I've been asked what I think about the Combating Autism Act from several people. Besides the name (I don't believe we should be combating autism) I have a few problems with the Act. It has already passed, and is now on Obama's desk and sure to be signed. I felt it necessary for people to know why many in the self advocacy community are against re-authorizing the Combating Autism Act. No one says it better than Ari Ne'eman of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, so I won't even try. On behalf of the Autistic Self Advocacy ... tag:blog.rethinkingautism.com,2011-09-17:95caae5f-ac17-47e0-96d7-42e25f8710d1 Rethinking Autism 2011-09-17T22:12:08Z 2011-09-17T22:12:08Z September is an interesting month for autistic kids and parents. There can be a tremendous amount of stress in trying to figure out if this school year will be better or worse than last year. For some people, the thought that it could actually get worse is enough to make you scream. But it can and for some it will. For those folks, my heart goes out to you. I hope that someone figures out a way to reach your child the same way you do. If you are autistic, I hope that someone ... tag:blog.rethinkingautism.com,2011-07-12:11cab0d5-681b-442e-b6f9-ab946934708e Rethinking Autism 2011-07-12T17:42:17Z 2011-07-12T17:42:17Z by Dana CommandatoreABC News just proved that the mainstream media still has a long way to go when it comes to covering autism. This past week they put out a report inappropriately titled "Rethinking Autism" based on the new study that suggests environmental factors may play a role in causing autism. Part of the study claims that pregnant women who take SSRI inhibitors (anti-depressants), are subjected to pesticides, and/or eat tuna are more likely to have an autistic child.Again, I like to leave science to the scientists. However, I get annoyed when lay people interpret the data ... tag:blog.rethinkingautism.com,2011-05-23:611e2b89-82e2-4cc2-b53d-ce952342d3fd Rethinking Autism 2011-05-23T19:38:02Z 2011-05-23T19:38:02Z I honestly believe that we’ve hit a turning point in the autism conversation. For the past few years I’ve pretty much been nothing but disappointed by the selection of autism documentaries. However, this April, I’ve been fortunate enough to screen two films that have the ability to move the autism conversation into a completely different direction--acceptance and progress. I can’t even begin to tell you how happy this makes me. I’ll start with Loving Lampposts: Living Autistic, a film by Todd Drezner. Like many parents of newly diagnosed children, ... tag:blog.rethinkingautism.com,2011-05-23:c00f4236-67c8-4208-97bb-7f9b3de699c4 Rethinking Autism 2011-05-23T19:34:39Z 2011-05-23T19:34:39Z Autreat is a retreat-style conference run by Autism Network International (http://www.ani.ac), for autistic people and our families, friends, supporters, and interested professionals. We are accepting presentation proposals for Autreat 2011, to be held Monday-Friday, August 8-12, 2011, in Johnstown, Pennsylvania (approximately 75 miles from the nearest major airport at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania). PROPOSAL DEADLINE: May 1, 2011 FOR HELP PREPARING A PROPOSAL: If you want to submit a proposal but you have trouble reading these instructions and ... tag:blog.rethinkingautism.com,2011-05-23:284400f7-2373-4f05-972c-29081736e150 Rethinking Autism 2011-05-23T19:33:42Z 2011-05-23T19:33:42Z Please welcome Rachel. She is an advocate and teacher of sex and relationship education to people with disabilities. Lupron (chemical castration) “therapy” for autistic children is back in the news. You can read here all about why this doesn't work, doesn't make sense, and puts these children at risk, from a scientific/medical point of view. I'm not a doctor, so I'll leave them to that piece. But I am an advocate, a teacher of sex and relationship education to people with disabilities, a family member and friend of ... tag:blog.rethinkingautism.com,2011-05-23:0b5f9725-b0c4-45a1-ba8c-d7c8cd11b7a5 Rethinking Autism 2011-05-23T19:31:47Z 2011-05-23T19:31:47Z “Many of us believe that wrongs aren't wrong if they are done by nice people like ourselves.” ~Author Unknown There are many scientists, doctors, parents and journalists that have been accused by the anti-vaccine movement of being shills for the pharmaceutical industry. Dr. Paul Offit, Steven Novella, Trine Tsouderos, and Orac (pseudonym) have long been targets of Jenny McCarthy and groups like Generation Rescue and Age of Autism for profiting from their support of vaccines. Even I have even been ... tag:blog.rethinkingautism.com,2011-05-23:1fec0118-4412-46c3-86b4-7d0afe221f58 Rethinking Autism 2011-05-23T19:29:14Z 2011-05-23T19:29:14Z Age of Autism has crossed a line. Earlier this week authorities found the body of a missing autistic boy after he had wandered away from his grandparents’ home. This is a horrible tragedy and my heart goes out to the family. In addition to reporting this sad news, Age of Autism decided to exploit the matter for what they hoped would be their own advantage on twitter. I find it incredibly obscene that they are blaming Ari Ne’eman for not wanting to “cure” autism. It ... tag:blog.rethinkingautism.com,2011-05-23:50945bdb-9585-48f7-a160-02f9acb2bc30 Rethinking Autism 2011-05-23T19:23:58Z 2011-05-23T19:23:58Z The autism community is extremely critical when Hollywood attempts autism. So when Hollywood does a good job, we should show our support. Go see Dear John before it’s out of the theaters. It’s one of the best autism portrayals that I’ve ever seen. Yes, Claire Danes did an excellent job as Temple Grandin (she really did) but the young Braeden Reed played the role of Alan in the movie so authentically that my husband turned to me and said : “He’s got to really be autistic”. Sure enough, Braeden Reed is autistic and ... tag:blog.rethinkingautism.com,2011-05-23:e03e7121-f0d0-4c4d-9863-0bb3ccf9d0f2 Rethinking Autism 2011-05-23T19:22:30Z 2011-05-23T19:22:30Z thank my friend for sharing his family’s story. It’s long, it’s heartbreaking, and it’s important. Please take the time to read it. I wish you and your family all the best, my friend, and I hope that one day you will be able to end this battle. ---- D.C. The 10 Year Battle, and counting… This is the story of our experience of trying to obtain services for our child with Autism and other co-morbid conditions. Please take the time to read it. ... tag:blog.rethinkingautism.com,2011-05-23:3bd80d37-9cd0-4219-b9fd-e281b3dac7ee Rethinking Autism 2011-05-23T19:16:21Z 2011-05-23T19:16:21Z Bruce Springsteen probably isn’t used to being on the receiving end of a protest. But if he is going to support Autism Speaks, then he better get used to it. This Tuesday night, November 17th, outside Carnegie Hall (154 West 57th Street near 7th Ave), there will be a group of autistic self advocates shouting “Nothing About us, Without Us”. Autism Speaks is holding their “Concert for Autism Speaks” on 11/17 and is supported by celebrities like Jerry Seinfeld and Bruce Springsteen. According to Autism Speaks website, Jamie Foxx, Ellen DeGeneres, Tina Fey, ... tag:blog.rethinkingautism.com,2011-05-22:ef612663-717c-4ab0-87c8-029b40217ab9 Rethinking Autism 2011-05-22T19:08:03Z 2011-05-22T19:08:03Z Welcome to my blog. Please check back soon for new entries. ...