Click Here for an Outline of My Presentation

I will be conducting a workshop, as part of the December 2 AANE Annual Conference at Bentley University.

The outline is really just a teaser. I cannot possibly do justice to all of the topics listed, in the time allotted.

I hope to generate discussion and to get a feel for which topics (and maybe many others) might merit further exploration via some blog posts.

Just to be clear: the last section within the “Pathology” heading is meant to mock the kind of research commonly done, not necessarily to pick on this particular study. By using the language illustrated here (“pathology” and “abnormality” and “risk” and “inefficiency”) the researchers have clearly drawn their conclusions before they even begin their study. Adherents of the neurodiversity paradigm would flatly reject such derogatory labels being applied to autism. Instead, autism should be viewed as a different way of being, not as a “disorder.” The role of science should be to explore and explain differences, not to pass judgment on the natural order of things.