By Ariane Resnick — 2021
Ableism centers around the notion that people with disabilities are imperfect and need fixing.
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CLEAR ALL
The benefits kids reap from nature are well documented, which is part of the reason school field trips often involve excursions into the Great Outdoors. Children with disabilities, however, sometimes get left behind.
It remains controversial—but it doesn’t have to be. We need to embrace both the neurodiversity model and the medical model to fully understand autism.
By focusing on play, schools are finding ways to bring students with and without disabilities together, to the benefit of both groups.
When developing a culture of inclusion, colleges and universities have specific responsibilities to students with disabilities to ensure they can learn and achieve their goals.
Progress has been made in providing more accessible campuses, but for too long, students with physical disabilities have had to self-advocate for their needs.
Despite what popular culture says, we all know that people with disabilities are not actually the same (ha!), and that what will work with self care with our disability won’t necessarily work for someone else’s.
Filmmaker Evan Mead, who has Asperger’s, exposes struggles with dating and intimacy for people on the autism spectrum and runs events featuring speed dating and exploring facial expressions.
As they reach adulthood, the overarching quest of many in this first generation to be identified with Asperger syndrome is the same as many of their nonautistic peers: to find someone to love who will love them back.
Just because you value neurological differences doesn’t mean you’re denying the reality of disabilities. This piece is in response to another Scientific American article by Simon Baron-Cohen.
Disability activism is empowering. Keys to getting started are staying open, sharing the stage, working collaboratively, listening and learning, and being willing to ask for help to make it less scary.