Caroline Hearst
Aug 24, 2017 · 1 min read

As a regular attender at Autscape while this seemed well I found it a difficult read. I was put off by the statement “ I, unbeknown to the others, am the only one who is not autistic.” for many reasons.

  1. How does he know. Nobody is asked to declare their neurology. I met other lurking researchers who did not identify as autistic.
  2. People declaring they are not autistic make me want to ask the question I get asked as an autistic person — “who diagnosed you?” Either we need a medical practitioner to diagnose our neurology or we don’t.
  3. Many of us have “adar” we can pick up autistics just as gays have “gaydar” . My “adar” is activated by many family members of autistic people (not that suprising seeing autism is influenced by genes) and professionals in the field (some of whom privately acknowledge they are closet autistics).

Another problem for me was the referencing of Amy Sequenzia. This is someone I have met in person and who communicates soley by the discredited method of Facilitated Communication (FC). While FC has been beneficial in helping some people communicate and I have seen it used authentically in the case of Amy S. it was evident that the only way communications made in her name emerged was through another human being moving her body. While it is possible this could be authentic — there are simple tests to prove this which have been steadfastly refused. It is worrying that the showcasing of a severely disabled individual is allowed to continue unchallenged.

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    Caroline Hearst

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