There is much more to the story than just autism and art…

I heard Eileen speak about issues of advocacy, communication through art, building support between educators and families utilizing stories of her own personal experience. A truly inspiring experience.

For other autistic children (and adults!) who do not have Kim’s degree of artistic talent, AAC (augmentive/alternative communication) techniques — and the training to use them — can provide that expressive-communication-medium-taken-seriously. Keyboarding, sign language, and picture-boards and -books are some of the alternatives available.

Wider adoption of AAC is hampered by too much red tape, and not enough funding, training, and education of teachers, providers, and case workers.

Every autistic individual should have the opportunity to establish a trusted, reliable expressive communication medium that is taken seriously.

AAC can enable far more non-speaking autistic people to be treated “glass half-full” rather than “glass half-empty”.

I’m on the board of directors of the Autism National Committee (“AutCom”), which has as its mission the advancement of civil and human rights and of access to communication for all autistic people, at all points across the spectrum, regardless of severity of handicaps.

AutCom is holding its 2008 annual conference in Ann Arbor, MI, in mid-October.

The theme and agenda of the conference is, I think, a constructive response to the story of Kim’s picture of herself clutching a blanket, a tear rolling from her eye as she realizes she is autistic: by coming together and sharing experiences and know-how with autistic peers and forward-thinking parents, educators, and providers, despair at the realization one is autistic can be turned around into hope, and humor, and shared experience, and camaraderie in the process of surmounting the challenges involved.

And AutCom is not the only venue in which to find such community: every June, in western Pennsylvania near Buffalo, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh, there is Autreat — the annual conference/retreat of Autism Network International, the autistic self-advocacy and networking organization founded 16 years ago by Jim Sinclair, Kathy Grant, and Donna Williams. (Follow the Autreat link above and look for the link for the online discussion group, to get on a mailing list for updates on next year’s Autreat.)

My son Jeremy has attended most years’ Autreats with me. By doing so, he’s come into contact with a wide variety of other autistic people — kids younger than him and older than him, young adults, older adults; some who speak, some who don’t; some who need a great deal of help from a support person, some who are independent, and all points in between; some who can’t read, some who’ve finished graduate school, and all points in between. And he’s come away with positive attitudes about what it means to be autistic. About what he can do, and grow and learn to do, not what he can’t.

I think it is vitally important for our autistic kids (and adult family members!) to meet and share with fellow-travelers in positive ways. And it’s equally important for us, their caregivers, to be doing the same. And to make that happen, we need to enable expressive communication, whether through speech or AAC, or a combination.