Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #NeuroTribes
Most recents (9)
For the first week of #Pride2022: a brief thread about why the fates of LGBTQ+ and #ActuallyAutistic people are intertwined (to say nothing of LGBTQ+ autistic people). This right here is Ole Ivar Lovaas, the father of modern-day Applied Behavioral Analysis. 1/ 
Lovas ran a clinic at UCLA, where autistic children were slapped, administered shock therapy. LIFE Magazine profiled his practices in 1965, showing how one girl was taken to a "shock room" when she made little progress.
neurodiversity.com/library_scream…
neurodiversity.com/library_scream…
When children behaved well, they were given food and affection. Children were initially not given regular meals and only spoonfuls of food at first.
[1/4] Important and still under the radar: Trump's cronies are pushing to get their untested and potentially dangerous drug oleandrin approved as a *dietary supplement* to sidestep the usual process of clinical trials and peer review. This would be disastrous. [cont.]
[2/4] I wrote in depth about the supplement industry in my bestselling history of autism #NeuroTribes. It's virtually unregulated, and misguided parents of #autistic kids spend thousands of dollars a month for alleged "cures" that do nothing or much worse. Now imagine... [cont.]
[3/4] ...a world in which Trump supporters create Facebook groups about the "oleandrin protocol for #COVID19" that "liberals" and "experts" are suppressing, encouraged by statements from the President himself, along with shills like Ben Carson and the MyPillow guy. [cont.]
I fell asleep watching a British series on the history of how humans came to understand the universe, computers, and information technology.
Nearly every key person featured *mysteriously* had hyper focus, obsessive interests, and difficulty socially communicating w/ peers.
🤷♂️
Nearly every key person featured *mysteriously* had hyper focus, obsessive interests, and difficulty socially communicating w/ peers.
🤷♂️
For those asking me the series, it was various documentaries by physicist Jim Al-Khalili. It was on YouTube, so after watching one, the algorithm prompted me to watch more by him (so, it turns out not one documentary series, but multiple. However, they all had the same “feel”).
They were all very well-done science presenting. ‘Everything and Nothing’ was one series on cosmology. I remember that. The others I saw were other series mixed in.
I watched one, fell asleep, woke up to another, and repeated.
I really enjoyed them when I was awake!
I watched one, fell asleep, woke up to another, and repeated.
I really enjoyed them when I was awake!
[1/18] Thread on why @CripCampFilm, just out on @Netflix, is not just one of the most powerfully uplifting and joyous movies you'll see year, it's the film you need to watch right NOW in #coronavirus hell. It's a doc about a camp for disabled kids run by hippies in the Catskills.
[2/18] This camp was FUNKY, not some quaint heart-tugging situation. The kids had a wide range of disabilities, from cerebral palsy to epilepsy to spina bifida and more. Some came from family homes in the Bronx; some from institutions where they were warehoused like animals.
[3/18] Some came in wheelchairs; some could only speak a sentence with herculean effort. One thing all the campers shared was a life-long experience of being shunned and sidelined. No one was sidelined at Camp Jened. Everyone, kids and counselors, learned to help each other.
Today I want to talk about how ‘Autism Warrior Parents’ Harm Autistic Kids. These thoughts are from an evergreen article I wrote for the dearly departed Establishment: medium.com/the-establishm…
This is going to be a thread.
#autism #parenting #Neurodiversity 1/
This is going to be a thread.
#autism #parenting #Neurodiversity 1/
Parenting approaches differ, but mostly, everything we consider “good parenting” fulfills two basic needs: It makes children feel safe, and it makes them feel loved. Parents and non-parents alike tend to scorn any parenting approach that doesn’t meet these goals. #autism 2/
…That is, unless the kids in question are #autistic—in which case parents are too often encouraged to pursue approaches that traumatize & alienate their kids. I call these types “Autism Warrior Parents,” & people caring for autistic kids can learn a lot from their mistakes. 3/
My #Autistic Son Needs 24/7 Support. And That's OK.
We have a good life, because we stopped buying into mainstream notions about what happy families look like.
This is going to be a thread.
#neurodiversity #autism 1/
We have a good life, because we stopped buying into mainstream notions about what happy families look like.
This is going to be a thread.
#neurodiversity #autism 1/
I’m the parent of a high-support autistic teenager, which means some people would say he “has severe autism.” By our own parameters, my family is a happy and well-adjusted crew. But before you make assumptions about me being a positivity unicorn… 2/
…or that my son must be only “mildly” #autistic, please know that my beloved dude is a mostly non-speaking ball of# autistic energy who requires 24/7 support. 3/
You can’t make this up. I am at the Climate crisis rally to cover the rally with @GretaThunberg, probably the most famous #ActuallyAutistic person, and this dude outside has a sign about vaccines and autism.
Update. One person in my mentions noticed that the person was most likely a woman. I didn’t look carefully enough. My bad
Ok, caught up with this woman with the anti-vaccine sign. She gave me the same spiel you get from anti-vaxxers. She said autism used to be 1 in 10,000. She said she only had one vaccine growing up. It said vaccines didn't reduce disease. It was quality of living.
Listening to @stevesilberman and @JHMarble in conversation about #autism and #neurodiversity at @square! Will be Live-tweeting as much as possible. :)
@stevesilberman @JHMarble @Square Steve is talking about the origins of #NeuroTribes in the early aughts, and how before he began his research he though #autism was rare. And how the conspiracy theories about causation were really running rampant.
@stevesilberman @JHMarble @Square He then wrote his classic article The Geek Syndrome, talking about how some autistic people were finding refuge in the Tech industries of Silicon Valley — and would often have #autistic offspring.
Getting ready to listen to Bryna Siegel on @KQEDForum, re: autism & the new prevalence rate.
Fun fact: I had lunch with Dr. Siegel & two autistic friends a few years ago. She talked about some of her theories for her new book. They both told her she was wrong. She ignored them.
Fun fact: I had lunch with Dr. Siegel & two autistic friends a few years ago. She talked about some of her theories for her new book. They both told her she was wrong. She ignored them.
@KQEDForum So even though Dr. Siegel has had “more than 40 years of clinical experience” with autism, if she ignores autistic insights, her opinion on autism is flawed.
@KQEDForum “Diagnosing for dollars” is absurd. We know from research that, if anything, #autism is under diagnosed, especially in girls, people of color, kids from low SES scenarios. Yes, there is always a small % of diagnostic error, but that is a dangerous misdirection.
