Two recent stories in the New York Daily News highlight the struggles of families to provide for their autistic children.

In Staten Island, a police detective got caught up in the subprime mortgage crisis when she bought a fixer-upper with the intention of renovating and quickly reselling it, to pay for therapy for her 3-year-old autistic son. The fixer-upper was to be auctioned off today and the detective, Regine DeBellis, is in danger of losing her own house, too. She says:

“I didn’t get into this because I wanted to shop at Saks - we wanted to get Matthew in a program that treats kids with his kind of autism how not to hurt themselves,.”

In Manhattan, federal prosecutors have accused the owners of an East Side building for discriminating against 11-year-old Aaron Schein. Schein has Asperger’s Syndrome and his doctors had said that a service dog would help him with anxiety. Among those demands were that “the dog could weigh no more than 10 pounds and that the pooch couldn’t be left alone for two hours or more.” As also noted in the New York Times’ Well blog, the lawsuit claims that the building’s owners violated the Fair Housing Act by imposing “unreasonable demands” on Aaron’s parents.

Hope the DeBellis’ story can have a similarly happy result.

Disney characters and penguins are 15-year-old Pamela Williamson’s favorite subjects to draw, and Microsoft’s Paint software is her preferred medium. According to today’s Saanich News, Williamson was diagnosed with autism at the age of 5:

While normally Pamela draws from her photographic memory, today she references a picture of herself at Disneyland to guide her drawing. The face, hair, arms, neck and torso take shape and colour in minutes - but she exercises her artistic licence by replacing the mouth with that of a robot’s.

“Pamela is a silly goose!” announces the 15 year old.

With a few clicks and drags of the mouse, she is transformed into Princess Jasmine from Disney’s Aladdin.

Pam is crazy about Disney.

Her family takes her several times a year and each time they stay at the same hotel in the same room.

Room 178, confirms Pam.

During every visit, she has a growth spurt, says her mom Gail. Her need to communicate is so great that her language skills improve by leaps and bounds.

Go to Artism Today to see a gallery of artists’ work—-more speaking with pictures. Am liking the colors on Trent Altman’s paintings.

Drawing pictures has been how Kim Miller, who’s autistic, is able to communicate her feelings, thoughts, fears and more. Now 20 years old, Miller’s pictures are the illustrations for a book about her story by her mother, Eileen, The Girl Who Spoke With Pictures, which is published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers (Oregon). Today’s News-Review features an interview with Kim Miller and her mother:

The dichotomy between Kim in real life and Kim on paper is evident throughout the book.

As Kim grew older, she illustrated the obstacles she faced during her daily routine, such as sensitivity to noise. As a 12-year-old, she created a drawing titled, “Today.” In the picture, she has her hands over her ears, a word bubble from her mouth screams, “I can’t take it!”

The crunch from someone eating cereal was enough to spoil her day.

As Kim got older and her drawings became more elaborate and personal, the family had to search through Kim’s notebooks to find any clues as to what their daughter was feeling.

“You had to dig for it, look for it,” said Eileen. “She wouldn’t just hand it to you. We had to be very active.”

As soon as Kim began drawing about her sensitivity to hearing, Eileen was able to advocate for her. When Kim drew a picture of kids chasing her home from school, Eileen could identify the kids from the details in the picture.

And when Kim’s pictures were heartbreaking —such as the self-portrait of a 13-year-old clutching a blanket, a tear rolling from her eye as she realizes she is autistic — Eileen was able to console her daughter.

She also could use the drawings to Kim’s advantage. Eileen would prepare teachers for the school year with a portfolio of art.

“Kim was afforded opportunity because of her drawings,” said Eileen. “They realized she wasn’t a glass half-empty. She was a glass half-full.”

It’s noted the Kim is able to articulate her “needs through her art”—-”loathing” at the word “retarded”

The Miller family was discovering Kim’s needs through her art.

And for Kim, art was an outlet. She was able to express her loathing of the word “retarded,” or the feeling of rejection. Masks appear frequently in her art:

“One reason is I adore ‘Phantom of the Opera.’ And second, one of the things interesting to me is deception or outward appearances,” said Kim, who added with a smile, “And I like costumey stuff.”

Yet another reason why art class, and art, are essential.

Something to watch: The September 16th New York Times reports on Reabilities: The First Annual NY Disabilities Film Festival, which will be held from September 21-23. Among the films is Ben X, a Belgian film about an autistic boy who “hides from the harsh reality of being bullied in school by escaping to his favorite online computer game.”

And somethings more on the West Coast: Creativity Explored is a San Francisco-based non-profit visual arts center where “artists with developmental disabilities create, exhibit, and sell art.” Go here to see an online gallery of artwork. The colors and forms on this painting of cakes by Camille Holvoet draw me in.

At Back to School night, Charlie’s teacher had mentioned that she was trying to work out an arrangement with the art teachers. I really hope she can. Just this past summer, Charlie—who’s shown near-zero inclination towards drawing or art—-became interested in making things, in doing art. Creativity can’t go to waste.

A theatre production of the 1988 movie Rain Man opens this week at the Apollo Theatre, today’s 24dash reports. The National Autistic Society has been involved with the production from the script and even rehearsals, and Caroline Hattersley, head of information, advice and advocacy, says:

“For many people, the film of ‘Rain Man’ was where they gained their first knowledge of autism, so we are very excited to be so involved in this production and we’re delighted that they were so keen to represent autism accurately.

“A lot has changed in our knowledge of this serious, lifelong condition in the 20 years since the film was released. We now have much more knowledge about autism and how people can be supported to live more independently.

“One thing we are keen to emphasise is that savant skills like Raymond’s are exceptionally rare. Although there is no doubt the Rain Man film put autism in the public mind for the first time, we hope that this new stage production will give us the opportunity to discuss more about how autism affects people in different ways and what further support is needed”.

The movie Rain Man is regularly cited as the source of the “Rain Man Myth—that every autistic person has extraordinary, savant-like qualities. Is a theater adaption of the film necessary, or helpful?

Getting a little Michael Savage has no idea what he is talking about fatigued? Check out the exhbition of art by artistic artists at dessert’s bar in Kuala Lumpur. It’s called Beyond Eclectic. There’s paintings and ceramics and portraits of each of the artists.

Exploring Nirvana is the title of a 97-page book of the works of artist Jessica Park of Williamstown, Massachusetts. As noted in The Transcript, the book was just released by the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, which gave Park an honorary degree in 2003:

Park’s more recent acrylic paintings are defined by their exact, geometric detail and bright colors. She transforms brownstone buildings by tinting them with rainbow hues.

“The way most people relate to one another, Jessy relates to colors,” said Jane Groden, director of the Groden Center for children and youth with autism, behavioral disorders and developmental disabilities, located in Providence, R.I.

A symptom of autism is restricted and repetitive behavior, which might be one reason why Park’s lines are exceptionally exact in her paintings, Groden said. She said she found Park’s work simply beautiful, however, and credited her mother for encouraging Parks’ talent from an early age.

Park’s mother, Clara Claiborne Park, has written two books about raising an autistic daughter when parents were blamed for “causing” their children to become autistic. You can see examples of Park’s paintings here.

There is something about her use of color and the delicate precision the lines and forms in Park’s paintings that reminds me very much of Charlie and the care that he takes to align objects on the floor and with each other. Even yesterday at the pool, Charlie—after tucking his socks into the backs of his shoes—leaned over and placed them several inches away from the wood bleechers, the heels exactly lined up against the lines between the chipped tiles.

And then he jumped into the pool.

13-year-old Nicolas Simms of Duluth, Minnesota, crafts tiny replicas of basketball players (Kobe Bryant, LeBron James) out of the foil from Pringles chips cans. Now that’s recycling (”green” art?). Wonder if he’s done J-Mac?

There’s a list of 23 unidentified modern eccentrics over on Gawker today. From the descriptions, some of those mentioned are homeless, one is a paraplegic, and more than a few have possible diagnoses; whether those who need it are getting any treatment or even care is not at all clear. The list is part of a “research project” to determine New York’s greatest modern eccentrics. Certainly I’m used to walking around New York with my own son offering some occasional eccentric behavior but I don’t think that “freakshow is the best, or an at all appropriate, word to use about anyone, and especially those who really may need some help and understanding.

After a lot of hesitation about riding his new bike, Charlie hoisted himself up, put his left foot on the left pedal, put his right foot on, and zoomed off with Jim easily catching up—that’s the image in my mind after a full week here.

• Parents Going Back to School
  Some parents of autistic children are returning to the classroom to study with a view towards helping their kids as they grow up.
• We Go to the Met
  Charlie and I spend a Saturday in Manhattan.
• So Much For Autism Awareness
  Robert Goldberg, the vice president of The Center for Medicine in the Public Interest in New York City writes about why Autism Awareness Month has become “not a noble search for a cure, but an annual war on the bookshelves, as scientists and activists - often with no medical proof - battle over lifesaving vaccines.”
• Eats, Shops, and Gives…..
  Another fund-raising event from mega-autism-organization Autism Speaks.
• Mother Guilt Returns
  A mother participates in a study on maternal antibodies and worries that she has “brain-eating blood” that “attacked” her son.
• Another Way to Access the Candidates: The Vaccine-Autism Question
  Senator Obama is quoted at a Pennsylvania rally saying that he is “suspicious” that the “skyrocketing” autism rate might connected to vaccines.
• The Case of Hannah Poling Again
  From the April 22 Scientific American: ““….. scientifically, from the documents presented in the vaccine court, the Polings did not make a case that deserved compensation.”
• Autism and Cancer
  To illustrate what some term an “autism epidemic” (including three presidential candidates), people regularly compare the prevalence rate of children diagnosed with autism to that of children diagnosed with childhood cancer (1.5 per 10,000 children) or to the rate of children who have three diseases, “pediatric cancer, diabetes, and AIDS combined.”
• Obama and Clinton, Autism and Disability
  While the presidential candidates’ views on vaccine and autism have become a sort of barometer for their views on science, it’s necessary also to consider their views on disability—on education, special education, employment, health care—more generally.
• Brain Tune-Up
  Researchers in the Department of Occupational Therapy and Occupational Science at the University of Missouri are using neurofeedback to “retrain” autistic children’s brains.
• Power Plants and Autism Rates in Texas
  A study published in the journal Health and Place makes a correlation between rates of autism and the proximity of schools in Texas to power plants.
• Politicking, Pandering, and Paranoia
  On the paranoid style in American science, in American politics, and discussions about autism.