Shame on Green Bay High School

I have been following the case of Green Bay High School excluding a student who has Aspergers and other special needs, a case that the school lost in the High Court. The school lost that case for very convincing reasons. … Continue reading →

Disability Representation on School Boards of Trustees.

Here in New Zealand, legislation and the New Zealand School Trustees Association, (“NZSTA”) both encourage school boards of trustees to be representative of their community. Specifically, they advise that when a school board is seeking to co-opt or appoint new … Continue reading →

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Autism Grows Up: Issues for autistic adults highlighted in Radio NZ interviews.

I happened upon two interviews today, that aired on August 25th on Radio New Zealand, covering issues affecting autistic adults (in New Zealand, but it’s clear these issues are international ones too). They made up a regular segment that Radio … Continue reading →

Book Review: “Unwritten Rules of Social Relationships,” by Grandin and Barron.

“Unwritten Rules of Social Relationships; Decoding Social Mysteries Through the Unique Perspectives of Autism,” is written By Temple Grandin and Sean Barron, with input and editing by Veronica Zysk. This is a remarkable book. It is quite unlike any other … Continue reading →

Murderers, Retards, and Geniuses.

Murderer, retard, genius. Hacker, monster, miracle with super-human senses. What is my son to you? What does the word “autism” tell you? It tells you that he meets the current criteria for a developmental delay. That he falls in to … Continue reading →

Autism: The Wrong Answer to the Question of Mass Murder.

I was previously reluctant to deal with this topic on my blog; I didn’t want to re-share the claim that there was a link between autism and mass shootings, by even repeating the idea in a public forum. I had … Continue reading →

Two Versions of “Pathologizing Normal.”

I recently realised that people with diametrically opposing views on the existence and validity of conditions like autism, appear to make the same argument about the modern trend to “pathologize normality.” So I decided to break-down the argument that is … Continue reading →

Autism in the ICD-10 / ICD-11 vs the DSM-IV / DSM-5

The dominant diagnostic instrument used to identify autism in New Zealand, is the DSM-IV-TR (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, Fourth Edition, Text Revision). The DSM-IV was published in 1994, and the text revision in 2000. (Those revisions did include some changes … Continue reading →

Allen Frances on the Problem with the Primacy of Diagnosis, and the DSM-5

“Allen Frances” is a name that doesn’t come with positive connotations, in the autism world, principally because of his out-spoken views on the over-diagnosis of autism. Those who think autism is caused by environmental assault or vaccines, think he is … Continue reading →

Scientists, or Service Providers; Critiquing the Choice of Targets in the Attacks on DSM-5 Autism Changes

Today, I found myself reading yet another attack on the scientists in charge of the changes to the criteria for autism, that are due to come in with the DSM-5. And again, the attacks were made on the scientists because … Continue reading →