I just saw a post from John Elder Robison's from a couple months ago. His genuine sadness touched me and sparked me to share this post. John Elder Robison was a keynote presenter at an ICDL conference about 10 years ago. His presentation was one of my favorites. He is a genuine and caring person. As I read his Facebook post (below) about the current US government's changes in how it is approaching autism, I felt his genuine sadness. I share his sadness. The government should work to do better and it can be good to challenge past ideas and policies. But this could be done without tearing down years of work, without ignoring existing science, without ignoring the valuable input of autistic advocates, and it could be done without disrespecting autistic people and making them feel "on the outside" like John describes.
On a related note, ICDL has formally endorsed the joint statement on Upholding Scientific Integrity and Supporting the Autism Community that was developed by organizations like the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, Autism Society, and Autism Speaks.
Finally, ICDL's vision is "A world where individual differences are embraced and everyone achieves their fullest potential". We very intentionally start this vision statement with the focus on embracing individual differences. This has to be the starting place. It would be great if our leaders would start with the same intent.
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Thank you for your comment. -Jeff