Column: ‘Autism is equality’s last frontier’
January 13th, 2009![Gary McKinnon, photo from [UK] Telegraph](http://www.patriciaebauer.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/20090113_gary-mckinnon.jpg "Gary McKinnon, photo from [UK] Telegraph")
Gary McKinnon (left), a man with Asperger’s syndrome, is fighting extradition from the UK on charges of hacking into NASA computers. Writing in the [UK] Guardian, Nadine Stavonina de Montagnac says McKinnon’s case is an indication of what could happen to any child with autism who does not receive the appropriate supports.
An excerpt:
Asperger’s syndrome and years of no support absolutely affected McKinnon and caused him tremendous anxiety and stress, triggering coping strategies which resulted in extreme obsessions that were impossible to control without outside help. McKinnon started to live in a world of his own. His obsession happened to be the search for alien technology and evidence of UFO’s, via his computer.
Autism is the last frontier in the fight for equality of all human beings. In the current difficult economic climate, it makes logical sense to support people on the autistic spectrum to become independent, productive members of society. Instead of persecuting them for having a disability they were born with, helping and nurturing their natural talents, to encourage them to feel accepted. That would be for the benefit of all.
De Montagnac is the mother of a son with autism.
See also:
Mom: My son was just looking for ET — From the [UK] Times
(Photo from the [UK] Telegraph)
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January 14th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
I’m a mother of two children on the autistic spectrum, and I myself have also been diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome in 2006. If we don’t speak up for the need of support for our autistic children — who will? Many parents of autistic children are on the autistic spectrum themselves and many have struggled like crazy just to survive. So they know what it’s like to have no support and how lucky it is to get accidental help to live life as normal life as can be, get jobs, marry, have children of our own.
But many of us, adults on the autistic spectrum, still have a lot of difficulty and some even drop out of society altogether. Some take own lives. Nikki Bacharach did, in 2007, and she’ll be missed. And so did Genevieve Edmonds, in 2008. Rest in peace, ladies! Asperger’s doesn’t just affect males — autistic women are here and we want to be part of life, part of society.
I hope the world is now ready to accept ‘different’ and people — both autistic and neurotypical — are ready to meet each other half way. I really hope so. Best wishes to all of you! Nadine (a.k.a. Rozagy)