A 16-year-old boy died last month. This boy had Down syndrome. This child was autistic and intellectually disabled. This boy was Black. He was sweet and smiling, energetic and dancing, and beloved throughout the community. He touched and changed countless lives. His value to community and to so many people was simply immeasurable. Of course,…
Autism is treated differently than other developmental disabilities. It goes directly to why Autism Acceptance Month—a critical step up from Autism Awareness Month—is so valuable and important a distinction and change. Awareness historically has been more about something being wrong and a cry for help and donations. Awareness has been more about the “plight” of…
I have been reading the proposed changes to North Carolina’s Innovations waiver services and supports, which are designed for individuals with significant intellectual or developmental disabilities, in order to offer some comment to the state and the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services. One thing I’ll be giving feedback about isn’t actually changing but…
Autism and disability pride movements assert unique cultures and identities. Can intellectually disabled people be more openly and equitably represented in them—and also better develop intellectual disability as a unique, empowered movement all its own? When I tell my intellectually disabled and autistic 19-year-old son, Nicholas, that I love him, he often responds with…
These weekend wintry early mornings in which at times I’m feeling a little drawn—hardly inclined to roll out of bed, bundle up, and get out into the forest and nature—are probably the most necessary times to get up and walk through the woods. I know that, and I’m skeptical I would still have the discipline…
I opened my talk at the 2019 HANd Autism & Neurodiversity Conference, themed as “My Autism Journey—Various Perspectives,” in this way, less for the little allegory itself, which is obvious and unremarkable, and more for my own realization with it, which comes near the end and then led into the substance of my talk. I also…
I told this story in my keynote address at the HANd Autism & Neurodiversity Conference in fall 2019 at Appalachian State University in North Carolina. Some of my son Nicholas’ hardest years were between age one and a half, when he experienced early regression in his verbal communication and outward connection, through about third grade.…
I was invited again this year to give a short talk as part of the Disability Day of Mourning vigil held in Western North Carolina on the campus of the University of North Carolina Asheville on March 1, 2019. The Disability Day of Mourning is an annual event to honor and remember disabled…
I think we widely recognize the silos of information and perspective we now live in, as a society and as individuals. Hopefully, even given the benefits it sometimes has of fostering identity and a certain kind of community, we also recognize and acknowledge the injury this siloing causes—the disconnection between communities and people, the lack…
Earlier this week I recorded a podcast with Melanie Vann for Springbrook’s Converge Autism Radio. It posted today. The podcast title is taken from my recent blog post, Autism Adulthood: Caring for the Future and the Present Moment, which the generous interviewer, Melanie, had just read when we had the conversation. However lovely that title…
Ray Hemachandra @ Golden Moon Circles 