Tag Archives: compassion

Obesity, disability are not capital offenses

This is unbelievable.  The AP story as published here by ABC News begins with these words: “Eric Garner was overweight and in poor health. He was a nuisance to shop owners who complained about him selling untaxed cigarettes on the … Continue reading

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How do we make people want to change? – Lynne Soraya

Over at her Psychology Today blog, Lynne Soraya asks “How do we make people want to change?” For me the answer is “we don’t”. One of the biggest problems I see today is this epidemic of worrying so much about … Continue reading

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My position on #BoycottAutismSpeaks

There’s a bit of a debate in the autism community concerning Autism Speaks and today I got pulled into a heated Twitter discussion on it.  It’s a bit ironic that a group of people characterized by difficulty communicating with the … Continue reading

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The humility/noteriety spectrum

The first part of my life could be described as a long string of attention-seeking incidents. Some of them, like getting bitten in the head by a big dog at the age of 4, didn’t start out that way but … Continue reading

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A working definition of hate in three acts

Yesterday I participated in a virtual march on Autism Speaks.  There was a rather large outpouring of tweets and Facebook posts. I thought it would be great if we had some news coverage so I looked up the news staff … Continue reading

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US Autism Caucus activist directory

Yesterday in a Twitter chat with Lynne Soraya (you can visit Lynne on Twitter or Facebook), several of us were discussing how to compile a directory of the US legislators involved with the Autism Speaks to Washington event. Many of us … Continue reading

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Paradigms and puzzle pieces

I’ve been lucky enough in my lifetime to witness sweeping cultural changes with respect to race and gender equality.  Part of this was the changing larger cultural context of the times in which I grew up and part of it … Continue reading

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My journey to the brink and back

I originally wrote this in response to a question received in the first week after starting the blog, and then I shelved it.  After leaving school I never gave much thought to these events so when I undertook to put … Continue reading

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What not to celebrate

Trigger warning: ableism, bigotry, bullying, callous disregard for others, dehumanization, forced isolation Sorry to dredge up something from last year, but dissecting this cadaver in the name of science will do much to advance our understanding of mental illness and … Continue reading

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