Author Archive

Shift Journal at One Year

Imagine, just as an exercise, that beyond the one percent of the population diagnosable with autism, there is another four percent whose cognitive style is describable under the less rigorous category of the Broad Autism Phenotype, or BAP—a total of five percent for whom an autistic experience of the world is the norm.  Again just as an exercise, imagine the weight that norm would carry if the total autistic population were ten percent (roughly that of gays and lesbians).  Imagine it again at twenty percent, and then forty—still a minority, but a sizable one, and one that can begin to rival the remaining sixty percent as “the” defining neurology for the population.  Imagine it at fifty, and then sixty—at what point might the diagnosed autistics mysteriously become more “able,” living in a world where the social and environmental standards were increasingly defined by their own phenotype?  Imagine the world they’d be living in were their numbers to combine with the B...[Read More]

Mark Stairwalt on 09/3/10 | 2 Comments | Read More

Normie (part two)

In a part of his brain that he seldom communicated with, but fortunately, was ultimately in charge, he knew that the only way he was going to be able to live and support himself would be to join the N...[Read More]

Clay on 04/6/10 | No Comments | Read More

Normie (part one)

How he hated that name, how it made him shrink to hear it.  For the longest time, he thought it was the cause of all his problems, the snickering, the disrespect he had endured.  He cursed his mothe...[Read More]

Clay on 04/6/10 | No Comments | Read More

Who ARE You, Really?

Mark Stairwalt, one of the editors over at Shift Journal wrote an article (about me, or a previous post of mine), and brought up something I've been meaning to write about.  He writes: Coincidentall...[Read More]

Clay on 03/15/10 | 4 Comments | Read More

Uncharted Territory of Autism

We all do it, to some extent anyway.  Whether we're neurotypical or neurodiverse, we find it easier to say things that we've already said.  When President Obama gives a speech, I'm sure that he prac...[Read More]

Clay on 02/25/10 | No Comments | Read More

What Darwin Never Knew

Here's a link to an excellent PBS Nova show I saw the other night.  It's nearly 2 hours long, 1 hr 51 min, but I hope those who are interested will find time today or over the long weekend to watch i...[Read More]

Clay on 02/15/10 | No Comments | Read More

Autism, Asperger’s, and Chicken Broth

Anyone who has been in the online "autism community" for any length of time, whether they're autistics or parents, knows that there is a sort of person who trolls autistic advocates' blogs, and gives ...[Read More]

Clay on 02/2/10 | No Comments | Read More

Becoming Human…

[caption id="attachment_1240" align="alignleft" width="315" caption="Homo Habilus, two million years ago"][/caption] The other day, on "Cat in a Dog's World", Sarah takes to task the originator of ...[Read More]

Clay on 01/27/10 | 6 Comments | Read More