I post here the statement issued by ASAN opposing the legislation introduced into the US Senate to blame gun violence on “mental illness” when the problem, it is plain to see, is too many guns.
Category: Autism
Aug 12
OLLI University Day: Civic Engagement Panel
I gladly accepted an invitation to participate in a panel discussion on Civic Engagement for the OLLI University Day program on August 15, 2019. Here is a link to the Panel Presentation Outline I prepared for the program. I was allotted five minutes to share my thoughts before entering into the panel discussion. This post …
Apr 20
OLLI Nomination for Least Qualified Speaker
OLLI Spring 2019 Course TH104: A Walk Through Berkshire History Michael Forbes Wilcox is a Berkshire native, having been born in the House of Mercy in Pittsfield. His parents lived in Stockbridge, where he spent the first 17 years of his life. He currently resides in Alford, where he is the Town Moderator. Wilcox is …
Jan 29
The Four Kingdoms of Autism
I attended a lecture at Simon’s Rock College at which the presenter mentioned a 2013 post by former NIMH Director Thomas Insel, entitled The Four Kingdoms of Autism. I was not familiar with this description, and it seemed to me to be a useful way to think about how autism is viewed. Dr. Insel offers four different …
Nov 26
Friendships
This past winter, I taught a course on autism for OLLI, our local (Berkshire) adult education outfit. Along the way, I discussed the theme of friendships. One of the overriding messages I was attempting to convey in the 6-lecture course was that autism is not a deficiency, but a difference. To illustrate this, I shared …
Nov 25
It Runs in the Family
Here’s a great picture of me with my Georging friend Ed, photobombed by his daughter Eve. Actually, as you can probably tell, this was a selfie by Eve, with Ed and me in the background. Very clever! The setting here is a classroom at CIP in Lee, very generously made available to us twice a …
May 01
Steve Silberman @AutismConnectMA
Autism Connections was honored to have Steve Silberman keynote our 28th Annual Autism Conference on April 27. Among many other services, Autism Connections houses the Department of Developmental Services (DDS) Autism Resource Center for the western four counties of Massachusetts. I was privileged to introduce Steve to the Conference. I prepared remarks for the 15 …
Apr 29
Blogging Hiatus
I’ve not been a regular blogger lately. That’s about to change (I hope). I have been doing lots of writing over the past few months, but haven’t shared it here. I’ve given lectures and talks for which I’ve prepared notes, and I have more in the works. Most of what I’ve just described relates to …
Feb 12
The Parenting Spectrum
A recent article in the Washington Post has garnered some much-needed attention to a long-standing problem for the autistic community. A mother tells the story of a family outing in a park, which she thought had been going very well. It had been a good day at the park. A miracle day, in fact, for …
Dec 11
Hello OLLI Interview: Autism in the Age of Neurodiversity
Advance publicity for my OLLI course on autism is in full swing. Last week (on December 6), I attended an Open House in Pittsfield and gave a short pitch, and then (on December 7) I appeared on local public access TV in a half-hour interview, available here. The interview was a lot of fun, giving …