Controversial advocate with Asperger’s nominated to federal post
January 5th, 2010
From the Newark Star-Ledger:
Ari Ne’eman, a 22-year-old man with Asperger’s syndrome, has been nominated by the president to sit on the National Council on Disability. Ne’eman’s appointment has been criticized by some autism advocates who say he is “not quite autistic enough.” He is the first person with autism to be nominated for a seat on the NCD and, if confirmed, would be the youngest person to serve on that board in at least two decades.
The founder of the Autism Self-Advocacy Network, Ne’eman has been aggressive in his criticism of some of the best-known autism advocacy groups, including Autism Speaks.
The exclusive focus on a cure, Ne’eman contends, amounts to medically engineering people like him out of existence. “We should be spending at least as much money on improving our quality of life instead of trying to get rid of us,” he said.
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January 6th, 2010 at 12:31 am
Is there any reason he – or the others – won’t be confirmed?
And a good idea to keep your copy of the Constitution in your wallet/purse.
Autistic Self-Advocacy Network is not just in the US (though the 12 states are pretty good). British and Australian people have their own as well.
An earlier article talked about Ne’eman’s love of Thai restaurants. His politics have as much spice as some of the meals there!
“The real war is against [...] prejudice [...]”
It was also good to hear from Monique, whose son is about the same age as Ne’eman.