Benediction

I hope that for all of you, and yours, that 2007 is peaceful, prosperous, and exciting (but only in a good way).

Right now some folks have let off fireworks, and in the distance, the coyotes are signing.

Coyote luck to you all.

Comments

[lisa]

Hi and Happy New Year. I found you in a general google search for "martial arts disabilities". I am hoping to find folks that have experience with promoting students with disabilities (specifically in our case asperger's) to a black belt rank in the martial arts...or to any other position of responsibility. Can you direct me to some good resources? Thanks!

[Liz Ditz]

Hi Lisa! Thanks for the comment! You might want to look at these threads at Schwablearning

How many LD kids in Martial arts?

Tae Kwon Do & Karate

Activities for the non-athletic

I wonder if you have seen some of these (I haven't vetted them for "goodness" -- just passing them on:

AspergianPride">http://www.aspergianpride.com/">AspergianPride website

Aspergian Pride advocates recognition and acceptance of the autistic community as an intelligent, competent minority group with many worthwhile qualities. This site contains articles, web links, and forums that present positive views of autistic identity as a unique, meaningful culture and as a way of being. Here we affirm our strengths, our joy in life, and the value of our existence as capable, healthy, purposeful individuals within the normal range of human variation. We are a part of creation in all its beauty and wonder.

Passing for Neurotypical:

PASSING FOR NEUROTYPICAL
Officially, we don't exist.

The hordes of psychological "experts" who regularly comment on the supposed near-impossibility of productive, independent lives and successful marriages among autistics, and in so doing blithely consign thousands of children to society's trash heap with every keystroke, haven't yet noticed that we're here.

That's because, after more than a half-century in hiding, we're pretty good at staying out of the experts' way. We raise our children in quiet, secluded environments where their differences can often go unnoticed, just as our parents did when they were raising and protecting us. We enroll our children in small private schools or educate them at home. When they need counseling or speech therapy, we pay in cash, to ensure that no record of any neurological differences gets into the health insurance database. And we never mention the word "autism" in front of our children.

We are likely to choose careers in which we can work with computers or in laboratories, thus minimizing our social interaction and the ever-present risk of employment discrimination. We are not protected under the equal employment opportunity laws, and finding new jobs can often be difficult, no matter how excellent our references, just because interviewers think that we look or sound "weird." Some of us have found it easier to work as independent contractors or to start small businesses.

How many of us are there? Thousands? Millions? No one knows.

We seek out others like ourselves, tentatively, in the safe anonymity of Internet bulletin boards, taking the first small steps toward the creation of a fledgling autistic culture and community. A new word emerges from the discourse: "neurodiversity." We dare to dream that, some day, we will be able to come out of our dusty closets and be accepted as intelligent, healthy people within the normal range of human variation.

But until then… we, and our children, remain in hiding.

If you don't find answers there, please let me know.

[Shinga]

Happy New Year to you and yours, Liz.

Regards - Shinga

[tamarika]

Happy New Year, Liz! May it be a grand one for all of us.