Wednesday, April 1, 2009

True Stories of Autism Awareness: Part One

An agency asked me to write about issues for adults on the spectrum. This was to be included in a publication for Autism Awareness Month. I was wary; I don’t tend to think “awareness” is a reasonable goal. I told the person who asked me that I didn't want my name associated with what usually goes by the name Autism Awareness. But I was told I could write this from my own perspective. I insisted I needed to have final control over any edits, and this was accepted. I wrote the piece. It took a day and a half of my life. Then I was told they wouldn’t be using it. Although this was early in March, although the meeting in which this decision was made occurred on the very day I submitted the work, there simply wasn’t going to be time to include it. What did they choose to publish instead? Something on recognizing the first signs of autism. Because no one has heard that story before, right?

Happy Autism Awareness Month! This has been a true story, not an April Fool’s Day prank.

9 comments:

  1. Wow. That really sucks.

    Just keep spreading the truth on your blog. That's all you can do.

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  2. Maybe you can recycle the article for someone less ignorant to publish, without any autism awareness stuff.

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  3. To add to what abfh said... you could always post it on your blog. And on other community blog sites, if you belong to any.

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  4. Sigh.

    I agree; firing off a couple of letters to the editor might not suck up too much of your life. And the preface . . . this post, I guess. Dear Editor, this post.

    But anyway. Sigh. Meanwhile, guess who appears in TIME. My word verification: "diccibag".

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  5. Fear makes people so rigid. The pseudo scientists who feverishly discard any data that dares to compete with their hypothesis starve themselves from the opportunity to chance up on the true. There are real scientist -- actual truth seekers -- but the prerequisite is to abandon loyalty to your own theory. I fear awareness in these editors lexicon is synonymous with extermination.

    I join those who would like to read what you wrote ---if you print it then the real message continues.

    Had I written the piece - not only would I have been discouraged I'd
    have been most bothered by the dishonesty. There is no nobility in saying they couldn't fit in... at least w/dignity they should have voiced their 'why'.

    I'm sorry this happened ... but since you did give that piece of your life over to the time to write it ---get it out there for people to read. I'm sure it will be worth it for your readers.

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  6. Thanks for the encouragement, everyone. Pretty much everything in the article has been said here in the blog in a varitey of ways. I was hoping to get it out to a new audience, and I'll continue trying to do that.

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  7. Hi Happy Autism Awareness month/Day.

    I'm UK medical student with asperger's and I've started a new blog. Hopefully what i have to say will be of interest to followers of this blog

    http://aspiemedic.blogspot.com/

    Many thanks
    AspieM

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  8. I can understand your frustration! Keep on writing here, I learn so much from you!

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  9. How frustrating this must be. I'd be annoyed too. Spending hours working on something that matters to you only to be told it won't be published is disheartening. Don't give up ~ find another way to publish it.

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