The Autistic Me

Newspaper (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) When I was an undergraduate, my goal was to teach high school photography , yearbook, and newspaper . If I could undo the last 27 years of my career... I would. In a heartbeat. Accepting a job that seemed right changed my life and took me away from that path. Instead, I ended up trying to make my skills work, somehow, from job to job. But, I always long to be back at the high school, teaching photography and media arts . The disappointment in myself doesn't fade. I should have made that lousy (abusive) job work long enough to clear my credential and do what I wanted. So, I went after the MA , Ph.D, and MFA all with the goal of teaching full-time. I've had one full-time, tenure-track post, and it was as bad as the high school job that I left. It's my social skills , or lack thereof. It's the way colleagues (especially supervisors) run over me and get me to do their work. It's many things. Too many. All I wanted to...

I have written about Dr. Mark Geier and his son, David, in the past. I refused to recommend a book that referenced the Geiers' "research" because I was so upset anyone would take these men seriously. (See previous posts .) The following article is not surprising to me. It is sad. Lessons from the shaming of chemically castrating doc who “endangers autistic children and exploits their parents” By Seth Mnookin Posted: May 4, 2011 According to this ruling (see original article for PDF download) by the Maryland State Board of Physicians, which was issued last week, Mark Geier has had his license to practice medicine suspended in the state in which he is based. (As far as I can tell, this doesn’t affect Geier’s ability to practice in the other states in which he’s licensed, including California, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, New Jersey, Virginia, and Washington.) That this move comes years too late for scores of children does not mean it is not...

The Los Angeles Times has published an interesting take on "Autism Now." A PBS series injects doubt back into the autism issue By James Rainey April 27, 2011 [ Excerpt only -- read the full column via the link above!] I asked her father whether he should have told the television audience more about his daughter, given her strong positions, which have been expressed on blogs for several years. MacNeil said it "never occurred" to him to make such a disclosure since he said the community of families involved in autism is familiar with her activism. I suggested that there were likely many others watching PBS who didn't frequent autism chat rooms, who had no idea that Alison MacNeil, a psychiatric social worker living in Cambridge, Mass., was such an activist. The veteran newsman — who has written a biography, novels and appeared occasionally on PBS since leaving in 1995 — said he was dismayed at the heated atmosphere that surrounds the autism question. ...