Autism Conference Aftermath

The November 2nd Fordham Observer contains a front-page article about last week’s October 27th Autism and Advocacy conference. Conference organizer Jim Fisher (aka Charlie’s dad and my husband) is quoted as saying:

“‘…this is probably the first time issues of spirituality, faith communities and autism have been treated in public forum.’”

The article describes Kassiane Alexandra Sibley’s speech more extensively:

Sibley…began her speech by saying, “I’m not broken. Don’t try to fix me!” She expressed her frustrations with people who call themselves advocates for autism, but are actually searching for some kind of cure.

Sibley expressed that being an advocate for autism meant being an advocate for the person with autism and not for the eradication of autistics. ……..

“Nobody listens to the autistic child,” Sibley said. She continued, “If a child communicates who finds it hard to communicate that should be respected. The autistic child has every right to say ‘Shut up!’ Sometimes, smarting off is self-advocacy.”

Thank you again to all who came and to all who, though not actually in the McNally Amphitheatre, were present in spirit. Jim and I have not been able to stop talking about the conference and we would like to know your thoughts about where do we go from here?.

I have been writing posts about the conference—about what each speaker said and more—and will put together a page with links to all of my posts over the weekend. (You can also see a list of all the posts about the conference by clicking here and/or by clicking on Autism Advocacy Conference under Categories in the middle blue sidebar.) The entire conference was videotaped and I will keep you informed once the videos are available on the web.

• Go here to read Autism advocacy spans the spectrum: Conference held in McNally Amphitheatre .
• Go here to read an article from Fordham’s Public Affairs office, Conference on Autism: Witness and Hope.