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Thursday, October 28, 2010

Comments

Xtremeparnthood

Thank you very much for including me in this list.

I look forward to speaking out and for those with Autism on November 1st!

Alysia

I'm not going silent either. Thanks for this great list and I look forward to "hearing" everyone on this day.

KWombles

The Autism Blogs Directory has a list of bloggers on the spectrum for folks to go by the blogs, read, comment and show support. That's awareness. :-)

Ellen

Hey, Liz. I've seen you on Shannon's blog, especially your brilliant responses to the post on vaccines. I was thinking of pitching in at first, because this group asked (note, my child has cp, not autism), I admire them and they do good things for raising awareness. But I'm not. On Monday, I will be doing my usual blog. I started speaking out to raise awareness about our kids. Going silent won't help and, to me, sends the wrong message.

My little boy has trouble talking. I am his voice. And I will keep right on talking.

Elise

I will not be shutting down. Here is my post about why:
http://asd2mom.blogspot.com/2010/10/october-happiness-project-friends-also.html

Kat Bjornstad

So many names! Thanks for getting this together. By the way, anyone wanting their names added to the list on the site for the Facebook event can private message me or e-mail me at [email protected]. I'll be including this list on my page just in case I don't have time to message everyone on it.

Thanks for your help, Liz. You're awesome.

Roger Kulp

Not being a Facebook or Twitter user,I had no idea what this was all about.I tried watching the video at the site,but couldn't handle he loud,pulsing noise at the start.

Given how computers,and the internet have given many autistics,myself included,the ability to communicate to a degree we otherwise could not,this whole idea makes no sense at all.I kind of wonder if the woman who started this is really autistic after all.

Marianne

Hi,
I’m Marianne and I’m part of the Communication Shutdown Team. I just wanted to let you know that we fully support Autistics Speaking Day (great acronym btw!) and would love to share your experiences with our supporters. Although our executions are paradoxical, I believe we have the same goal to encourage understanding and acceptance in the wider community. We would really like to give your voice more reach, while at the same time giving our supporters a deeper understanding of autism.

We will keep an eye on your blog and with your permission, we hope to share any of your positive experiences or challenges with our supporters when they get back on November 2. As well, please feel free to email me at [email protected]

Many thanks and hope you have a great Autistics Speaking Day.

Liz Ditz

Here is the text of the email I sent to Ms. Harvey

Dear Marianne Harvey,

Thank you for your nice comment. As I said in my blog post, I believe the " Communication Shutdown" project was well-intentioned, but misguided.

Please feel free to link to my blog post and to use the links therein to explore the voices of people with autism, especially on this issue.

As I said in my blog post, my objection to the "Communication Shutdown" project is that it perpetuates the stereotype that people with autism "don't communicate" or can't speak for themselves.

In other words, the "Communication Shutdown" project presumes incompetence.

For an alternative view, I invite you to read Kate Ahern's essay at The Thinking Person's Guide to Autism

http://thinkingautismguide.blogspot.com/2010/07/living-least-dangerous-assumption.html

Here are the first two paragraphs:

Some of the most difficult things we face in our field are those things which are intangible. One of the most damaging to our students and possible our sense of purpose as educators is that our students must somehow prove themselves, repeatedly, to show they are capable, competent, and are acting with intentionality when they attempt to communicate be it through language, AAC or behavior. We live in a land of prerequisites and accountability, which leaves little room for "The Least Dangerous Assumption" as pioneered by Anne Donnellan and clarified by Rossetti and Tashie (2002). The least dangerous assumption is, of course, the premise that (in the absence of evidence) we believe we not yet found a way to make it so a child or adult with a disability "can" instead of believing he or she "can't".

The issue, sadly, sometimes becomes that making the least dangerous assumption and thus presuming competence uses resources (time, money, energy). We must come to understand that refusing to presume competence is, in the long run, more costly than making that least dangerous assumption.


Sincerely,

Liz Ditz

Clay

I don't do Facebook, but will be tweeting links to well-written blog posts. (If I can get that organized.)

David

being an avid Facebook user and on Twitter 12 hours a day I was surprised to not know about this shut down at all.

As it is I agree with you. Going silent doesn't seem to ever help anyone!! (Even Ghandi had a physical presence even if he was silent) Let's get out there and shout it out loud!

Sarah

Thank you for including my post! My son can't have a conversation with you, but I can. If I am silent, he has no voice.

Geekbabe

I'm the Shoppinqueen, thank you for including me on this list! I've had 23 yrs of being told to shut up, I'm not shutting down now!

I'm going to go thru, read, comment on the posts here over the next few days. I'd do it tonight but 5:30am comes really early& I want to be fully awake& present as I read important posts.

codeman38

I posted today to try to debunk some classic autism myths... in a sequel to a post (also linked within) that I did on DKos back in April.

http://aut.zone38.net/2010/11/01/speaking-up-for-autism/

Caitlin

Hi Liz, here's my response to the Communication Shutdown if you'd like to add it to your list: www.welcome-to-normal.com/2010/11/advocating-101-how-to-write-letter.html

And an excellent one I don't think is on your list yet from the blog "What We Need" - at http://asdmommy.wordpress.com/2010/11/01/i-will-not-be-silent/

Both would fit into the caregiver blog category.

Caitlin
www.welcome-to-normal.com

Darcy

Thanks, Liz, for including me on your list. It's an honor to be here.

Kate Ahern

Thanks for the link to my post about presuming competence. It would be amazing if instead of shutting do to promote autism folks worked for promoting presuming competence by sharing about those in their lives who face struggles with autism or other disabilities. I find the more I speak about my students or other loved ones with disabilities the more people become open to new experiences and understanding. We should be speaking out, not shutting down. Kate Ahern

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