It is never okay to blame the victim for sexual abuse. Or any other kind of abuse. It is never okay if the victim-blaming is cloaked in “humor.” It is never okay if the victim-blaming is ...[Read More]
Guest on 05/31/11 | No Comments | Read More
Archive for May, 2011
your dreams will be reduced down to breathing, and you will be grateful
The thing about not-being-a-person is: They will say those people and the price of being a person is to nod and agree that yes, those people aren’t people at all. They will have no idea who they are talking to. You yourself will start to forget, too. They will say a million small things that sow the seeds for violence done against you, and you will smile and let them. You will do math, constantly. How much do I want to be a person today? How much do I want this project to succeed? How much honesty can I afford? How much dishonesty will kill me? What is the cost of coming out? Is there a way to delay, soften, transmute? How long can I survive as half a person? Ever since the world ended ... I don't go out as much. People that I once befriended, just don't bother to stay in touch. Things that used to seem so splendid, don't really matter today. It's just as well the world ended -- it wasn't working anyway. Your dreams will be reduced down to breathing. [Read More]
Julia Bascom on 03/5/12 | 2 Comments | Read More
Many who have met me have supposed that I lack a sense of humor. Indeed the usual ‘humorous’ fare tends to do little for me, but my lifelong critics have failed to reallize that I enjoy another ...[Read More]
Zygmunt on 05/30/11 | No Comments | Read More
Disorder in Society, Disorder in Self
Some years ago, I took a two-year training course in Jewish shamanic healing. I came away understanding a great deal about the many ways in which ancient Jewish culture was similar to many other i...[Read More]
Rachel Cohen-Rottenberg on 05/27/11 | 2 Comments | Read More
Servers placated; more better backups in place. For those of you who caught the alternate-reality/time-travel sidetrip to the Shift Journal of 2005, no charge. Regular posting will resume tomorr...[Read More]
Mark Stairwalt on 05/26/11 | No Comments | Read More
How to Live With an Introvert Roommate
To comfortably share an abode with a Subtle sort of person, one must extend but one basic principle to all dealings: -Reduce social obligation and friction of association. I must begin by explai...[Read More]
Zygmunt on 05/23/11 | No Comments | Read More
Back when Willy was diagnosed with autism, we were told about all the things he would “never” do. Anyone who has read this blog for a while probably realizes that all these things the doctor s...[Read More]
Stephanie Allen Crist on 05/20/11 | 4 Comments | Read More
“Moms living with autism share their stories!” the headline proclaims. I know what it means. I know what it always means. And I know it will provoke some degree of wrath in me, but I cl...[Read More]
Guest on 05/19/11 | No Comments | Read More
The Eternal Song, Part Five: Gifts
Tahu-at had meant to speak with Awiyan early in the day, but she was in the temple. No man could set foot there. A small cave, nestled into the side of the valley and sacred to the Earth Goddess, it...[Read More]
Gwen McKay on 05/18/11 | No Comments | Read More
Most Westerners hold mass society as the self evident highest virtue. Yet mass society is a force of nature independent of human needs and desires. Mass society can be considered independent fro...[Read More]
Zygmunt on 05/16/11 | 3 Comments | Read More
Autism, Disability, and the Obligation to Get Well, Part Two
As a result, we find ourselves in the vortex of a great deal of distortion for wanting to simply be at peace with ourselves and carve out a meaningful life. It’s as though, having given up our “...[Read More]
Rachel Cohen-Rottenberg on 05/13/11 | No Comments | Read More
Autism, Disability, and the Obligation to Get Well, Part One
I’ve recently begun reading Robert Murphy’s The Body Silent, one of the great books on the social and cultural context of disability. Murphy, a professor of anthropology at Columbia, became a qu...[Read More]
Rachel Cohen-Rottenberg on 05/13/11 | No Comments | Read More
The Eternal Song, Part Four: Midsummer
Awiyan woke screaming before dawn, gripped by terror that had no name. In her dream she had seen the village on a sunny day, with everyone going about their usual work. Then a dark cloud swept into ...[Read More]
Gwen McKay on 05/11/11 | 1 Comment | Read More
“At work today, I was socializing with two extroverted co-workers. I wasn’t completely comfortable, but I was able to get a few words in every once in a while. Then, a third extrovert came up, a...[Read More]
Zygmunt on 05/9/11 | No Comments | Read More
It’s Not About Us: Debunking Neurodiversity’s Hero Myth
Avedon Carol at The Sideshow marked the passing of writer Joanna Russ this week in a post that quoted Russ' observation that "Homophobia isn't there to keep homosexuals in line. Homophobia is there ...[Read More]
Mark Stairwalt on 05/6/11 | 14 Comments | Read More
“Bullying” seems to be the word of the week here in the autistosphere, and some much-needed attention is being given the harm done by bullies and their supporters. There seems, however, to b...[Read More]
The Eternal Song, Part Three: Hunters or Hunted
Already the sun had traveled well past its midpoint, and Tahu-at had not seen even one antelope. They were fewer each year, as the settlers took more of the island’s grasslands to pasture their she...[Read More]
Gwen McKay on 05/4/11 | 4 Comments | Read More
Perhaps it’s the timing, perhaps it’s my unpreparedness, but I’m going to share a recent, deceptively simple success story. The Goldfish hosts Blogging Against Disablism Day on May 1st every...[Read More]
Stephanie Allen Crist on 05/3/11 | 2 Comments | Read More
The Irony of Modern Individualism
Members of the modern industrialized world are typically individualists in the sense of each individual competing for maximum gain with every other and thereby raising overall standards for all. ...[Read More]
Zygmunt on 05/2/11 | No Comments | Read More
