Steve Silberman Keynote Speaker at the UN for Autism Awareness Day
By Anne Dachel
I can't imagine how bad this year's Autism Awareness Day/Month is going to be: A month-long indoctrination into accepting autism as a normal part of the human condition.
Scroll down to info on the FIRST Autism Awareness Day nine years ago in 2007. Back then, autism was described as "a growing global health crisis."
Today, according to these press releases, the UN is going to have a "celebration" of autism awareness.
What's changed?
Back in 2007, the U.S. autism rate was one in every 150 CHILDREN. Today, it's one in every 68 CHILDREN. Still no known cause, cure, or prevention.
We've given up.
Autism is no longer a worldwide crisis. We're learning to adjust to disabled CHILDREN. In fact, we pretend that it's not just children who are like this--it's everybody.
And what is really irrelevant are all those people who keep talking about environmental causes---especially the "vaccines cause autism" crowd.
I’m sure those who believe vaccines are related to autism will be even more denigrated---they're the reason we've never done anything for adults. We've been so busy looking for a link to vaccines--and there isn't one.
How horrible is this? Children are being destroyed across the globe and we're being told it's nothing new. And if it's YOUR CHILD, that's just tough. Reality is being stood on its head, Examples: Known neurotoxins--aren't toxic. An epidemic is "better diagnosing. Regressive autism following vaccination is coincidence.
Steve Silberman at the U.N. I'm speechless.
We only need to accept all those around the globe who can't function, need constant care, have a myriad of health issues, and are a danger to themselves and to others.
---only in the Silberman world, autistic people are high functioning, verbal and able to care for themselves. They're neurodiverse!
It must be our fault if we think autism is something bad. We need to ACCEPT autism. If we can't do do, we need to go away.
I keep thinking about all the ASD kids I've worked with over the last ten years.
Sad, pathetic individuals, many of whom are aging out of school.
I think of Max who's 20 and folds diapers two days a week for a total of four hours. (His grandmother is from Germany and she told me that she remembers how he was as a baby, "He could talk in sentences.")
There's 20 year old Ana, in diapers, with extreme echolalia, whose parents are very worried about where she'll be after high school next year.
There's Faith who's in high school, afraid of most people and has constant tics and talks endlessly about Santa Claus.
When have we so universally shut our eyes to such a catastrophe and pretended it just wasn't happening? Why are we so willing to let autism destroy everything before we'll recognize that something is horribly wrong? How can we possibly celebrate this nightmare?
It kinda reminds me of the British selling airplane parts to the Germans during the 1930s. I wonder if there were any feelings of guilt after Coventry was destroyed.
Events organized in celebration of World Autism Awareness Day, 2 April 2014
2016 Observance “Autism and the 2030 Agenda: Inclusion and Neurodiversity” Friday, 1 April 2016, 10 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. United Nations Headquarters, Trusteeship Council Chamber
The 2016 observance of World Autism Awareness Day (WAAD) will look ahead to 2030 and reflect on the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and their implications for improving the lives of people with autism, through a series of brief segments - compact panels, presentations and moderated discussions – centered around key SDGs.
10:00 a.m. Welcome and Opening
- Keynote: Steve Silberman, author of Neuro Tribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity
10:35 a.m. Inclusive Education (Goal 4)
10:55 a.m. Bridging the Inequality Gap (Goal 10)
11:15 a.m. Video
11:25 a.m. The Autism Advantage: Follow-up to the Secretary-General’s Call to Action to
Employers (Goal 8)
11:45 a.m. Accessible Communities (Goal 11)
12:05 p.m. Partnerships for Change (Goal 17)
12:25 p.m. Closing Remarks
http://www.un.org/en/events/autismday/
2016 Theme: "Autism and the 2030 Agenda: Inclusion and Neurodiversity"
Autism and other forms of disability are part of the human experience that contributes to human diversity. As such, the United Nations has emphasized the need to mainstream disability in the Organization’s development agenda. Mainstreaming disability requires an integral approach in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes in all political, economic and societal spheres, so that inequality is not perpetuated.
In September 2015, the UN General Assembly adopted the ambitious new 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which includes 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets that promise to leave no one behind.
While all SDGs are universally applicable, disability and persons with disabilities are explicitly referenced in the following goals: 4) Quality Education; 8) Decent Work and Economic Growth; 10) Reduced Inequalities; 11) Sustainable Cities and Communities; and 17) Partnerships for the Goals.
This year’s observance will look ahead to 2030 and reflect on the new SDGs and their implications for improving the lives of people with autism
Autism Awareness Day 2007:
About World Autism Awareness Day | What is Autism?/World Autism Awareness Day | Autism Speaks
On December 18, 2007, the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution 62/139, tabled by the State of Qatar, which declares April 2 as World Autism Awareness Day (WAAD) in perpetuity. Her Highness Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al-Missned, Consort of His Highness Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, the Emir of the State of Qatar, supported the campaign for a World Autism Awareness Day through the current 62nd UN General Assembly Session, garnering consensus support from all United Nations Member States.
This UN resolution declares WAAD as one of only four official health-specific United Nations Days and will bring the world's attention to autism, a pervasive disorder that affects tens of millions. The World Autism Awareness Day resolution encourages all Member States to take measures to raise awareness about autism throughout society and to encourage early diagnosis and early intervention. It further expresses deep concern at the prevalence and high rate of autism in children in all regions of the world and the consequent developmental challenges.
World Autism Awareness Day shines a bright light on autism as a growing global health crisis. WAAD activities help to increase and develop world knowledge of the autism epidemic and impart information regarding the importance of early diagnosis and early intervention. Additionally, WAAD celebrates the unique talents and skills of persons with autism and is a day when individuals with autism are warmly welcomed and embraced in community events around the globe.
By bringing together autism organizations all around the world, we will give a voice to the millions of individuals worldwide who are undiagnosed, misunderstood and looking for help. Please join us in our effort to inspire compassion, empowerment and hope.
Anne Dachel is Media Editor for Age of Autism.
Thanks Susan, it is an excellent documentary. I found it online here:
http://watchdocumentary.org/watch/louis-theroux-extreme-love-12-autism-video_daadc03a4.html
Posted by: ATSC | March 23, 2016 at 06:44 PM
Last night on BBC4 (in UK) there was a truly excellent programme 'Louis Theroux - Extreme Love' which actually showed the true reality of living with autism. It was really very moving. Although there was no talk of what may cause autism and, also, they incorrectly quoted 1 in 100, at least it didn't cover up how distressing, and sometimes impossible, it is to raise a child/children with autism. First time I've seen the real situation on mainstream television.
Posted by: susan | March 23, 2016 at 01:57 PM
Dustin Hoffman talked way too much.
Perhaps the best portrayal and true portrayal would have been Andy Griffith's visitors from the mountains; Briscoe Darling's boys. The Darling Boys (Doug, Rodney, Dean and Mitch) are never big on words, but love to play music as a savant would.
Probably too many typhoid shots every year from the cholera ridden mountains.
Always the stereotypes from as far north Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, all the way down to North Carolina and as far west as the Ozarks, of non talkative young men following around their Pa who is a non stop talker.
Posted by: Benedetta | March 23, 2016 at 12:04 AM
The thing that is almost always forgotten is the fact that most people, including and because of Silberman and other authors still think (especially after having familiarized themselves with Asperger and Kanner) that autism is an inherited or possibly psychiatric condition caused by a cold mother. They don't want to believe that toxins might cause this condition. Vaccines seem to be the most likely. But there are all kinds of other possibilities especially when you go back to the days of very little vaccination. "Gray ointment" has been around for a long time, and it is known that Lincoln said that "Blue pills" made him cross. These remedies were applied for all kinds of ailments.
Posted by: Birgit Calhoun | March 22, 2016 at 07:00 PM
I think Dustin Hoffman deserved an award, but it is misleading to come away with the idea that what he portrays is typical
*********
It bears little or no resemblance to the vaccine damage that was inflicted on my son.
But it's a whole lot closer to the truth, than what John Elder Robinson likes to masquerade as autism.
Posted by: Barry | March 22, 2016 at 05:44 PM
Yes I agree, Birgit. I can't believe anyone really thinks it's fun to be this way, anywhere on the spectrum.
Posted by: Grace Green | March 22, 2016 at 05:32 PM
Yep started in Scotland already poor souls..
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/real-life/one-mums-honest-touching-story-7604762#Hb1Zt7BVMKoHw7W4.97
MMR RIP
Posted by: Angus Files | March 22, 2016 at 02:51 PM
I think Dustin Hoffman deserved an award, but it is misleading to come away with the idea that what he portrays is typical. It is easy to stereotype and then feel really great about how wonderfully the Rainman succeeds. It makes you feel all warm inside and then you forget about the problem. Most autistic kids are not savants and even if they are, they are not very likely successful. We only wished.
Posted by: Birgit Calhoun | March 22, 2016 at 02:50 PM
Recently I was in a small airport bookshop in the UK(the WH Smith chain) where I found that Neurotribes* was on the best-seller list so on prominent display. I only had a few minutes to spare before my flight was called so I consulted the index to find absolutely no mention of Merck, the creators of the MMR.
A long time ago I was told that the omission of something is much more interesting than the presence of something. One day, Messrs Donvan and Silberman will discover that there is such a thing as the "sin of omission".
*No, I didn't buy it - I may borrow it from our local library. FYI I have bought about seventy books on ASD/Asperger's and related matters over the last twenty-three years since our child's diagnosis.
Posted by: British Autism Mother | March 22, 2016 at 02:10 PM
And Dustin Hoffman got an award for the part because it's so difficult to ACT AUTISTIC! (Even High functioning).
Posted by: Grace Green | March 22, 2016 at 01:28 PM
Steve Silberman speaks from a position of ignorance and book learning. He obviously has never really hung out with someone who is autistic and if he has, maybe it was Temple Grandin. The neuro-diverse crowd thinks they are autistic because they think it's cool to be Rainman. And Rainman is really not that typical. There is only one, and that is Dustin Hoffman.
Posted by: Birgit Calhoun | March 22, 2016 at 12:22 PM
Autism is characterized by brain and intestinal inflammation. Telling people to accept and celebrate autism is like telling miners to celebrate black lung disease.
Posted by: Carol | March 22, 2016 at 08:54 AM
"Autism and other forms of disability are part of the human experience that contributes to human diversity."
Why is it that AUTISM alone .. has a day dedicated to "celebrate" awareness of those ever-increasing numbers who are "experiencing" the "human diversity" of AUTISM .. why not a day to "celebrate" the "awareness" of those "experiencing" the "human diversity" of cancer or Zika virus?
We live in a very SICK world .. gone completely mad ..
AND THE BAND PLAYS ON AND ON ..........
Posted by: Bob Moffit | March 22, 2016 at 06:19 AM