Autism Acceptance: Watch, Listen, Read, and Save the Date!

We are closing out April and Autism Acceptance Month by honoring the autistic experience, as shared by autistic people. Whether you prefer to read, watch, or listen there is something here for you to expand your mind and see a different way of looking at the world.

Save the Date!!

Join us Thursday, May 12th at 1 pm for a conversation with Kristofer Perkins – Self-Advocate and Chair-Person of the Central/Eastern MA Human Rights Committee, a title he’s held for almost 12 years. (Invite to follow)

Watch

Stephen Wiltshire: Stephen is an artist who draws detailed cityscapes. He has a particular talent for drawing lifelike, accurate impressions of cities, skylines and street scenes after having only observed them briefly. His nickname is the “Human camera.”

Ethan Lisi: What it’s really like to have autism. Ethan describes the spectrum and breaks down common stereotypes.

Temple Grandin: Educating Different Kinds of Minds. Awesome TED Talk on the great minds of human history and what would happen to them if they were stunted for their thinking. Stresses the importance of neurodiversity.

Temple Grandin: Temple Grandin On Her Search Engine. “Everything in my mind works like a search engine set for the image function.” – Temple Grandin in 2008, from an oral history at Colorado State University

Love on the Spectrum – Netflix series that highlights people on the spectrum searching for love.

Fantastic review of ‘Love on the Spectrum’ by someone who is Autistic. Highlights the positives and areas that could’ve been improved on.

Listen

We Can Do Hard Things with Glennon Doyle: Hannah Gadsby

Amazing conversation with author and comedian Hannah Gadsby. She discusses her later-in-life Autism Spectrum Disorder diagnosis and how neurodiversity affects her relationships–and how she connects to the world through what’s “interesting” instead of what’s “important.”

Read

“Autistic person” or “person with autism”: Is one more correct?

The language we use to refer to or describe ourselves and others is a highly personal choice, and there is a debate in the autism community over identity-first (“autistic person”) versus person-first (“person with autism”) language. The discussion has gained momentum and attention in recent years, particularly as more adults on the autism spectrum have come of age and are advocating to have their own voices represented.

The Electricity of Every Living Thing by Katherine May

The New York Times bestselling author of Wintering writes a life-affirming exploration of wild landscapes, what it means to be different and, above all, how we can all learn to make peace with our own unquiet minds .

In anticipation of her 38th birthday, Katherine May set out to walk the 630-mile South West Coast Path. She wanted time alone, in nature, to understand why she had stopped coping with everyday life; why motherhood had been so overwhelming and isolating; and why the world felt full of expectations she couldn’t meet. She was also reeling from a chance encounter with a voice on the radio that sparked her realization that she might be autistic. And so begins a trek along the ruggedly beautiful but difficult path by the sea that takes readers through the alternatingly frustrating, funny, and enlightening experience of re-awakening to the world around us

The Electricity of Every Living Thing sees Katherine come to terms with that diagnosis leading her to re-evaluate her life so far — with a much kinder, more forgiving eye. We bear witness to a new understanding that finally allows her to be different rather than simply awkward, arrogant or unfeeling. The physical and psychological journeys of this joyous and inspiring book become inextricably entwined, and as Katherine finds her way across the untameable coast, we learn alongside her how to find our way back to our own true selves.