Multicoloured Mayhem vs Light It Up Blue? Informing, Forming, and Responding to Public Opinion.

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World Autism Awareness Day (WAAD) isn’t far off, and always manages to attract a fair amount of both attention and controversy. One of the most controversial aspects of the day (for the Autism community at least) is the way that … Continue reading →

Passing for A High-Functioning Autistic; A Cause for Celebration..?

“Passing” in the autism world, is a word typically used to discuss the experience of an autistic person being expected or being successful in the endeavour to present themself as “normal” (or as “neurotypical” if you prefer). It is a … Continue reading →

Thoughts on Being Your Normal

The word “normal” gets a bad rap these days. The idea of normalcy is attacked and undermined with the aim of leaving it toothless; supposedly also then removing the sting in the tail of identifying someone as “abnormal” and (thereby) … Continue reading →

Speech Therapy Gatekeepers

After my eldest son’s autism diagnosis, he was placed on a waiting list for various government provided services, including speech therapy. Getting past all the gatekeepers to an actual speech therapist who is there to help my child, was a … Continue reading →

Mainstreaming special needs children; re-looking at the recent New Zealand controversy

There has been a lot of recent media attention and public debate over the barriers faced by parents attempting to enrol their special needs children at mainstream schools, here in New Zealand. The problem has been identified as primarily one … Continue reading →

“It’s criminal that they exist, and they exist as criminals…”; More Language of Exclusion

There are a variety of rhetorics that can be used to exclude our special needs children from being accepted in and taking part in society. The function of these rhetorics – these ways of referring to and marking out our … Continue reading →