INTRODUCTION

I am including autism related links because it was in my capacity as NAS West Norfolk branch secretary that I was invited to attend the SCOPE christmas meal (our organisations are looking to work more closely on various things). 

THE MEAL

The meal was arranged for The Gatehouse, a Hungry Horse pub located near the South Gate, at the edge of King’s Lynn (hence the name) with food booked for 3PM. The plan was for a few things to be discussed as well. I arrived at the pub not long after 2PM, purchased a pint to drink slowly while I waited for others to arrive (SCOPE were paying for the food, so I reckoned I could allow myself a couple of drinks) and settled down to wait. 

Others began arriving at around 2:45, and Chloe Yianni from SCOPE, who was running the event, arrived just before 3PM. 

Most of the ‘meeting’ element of the day took place between the main course and dessert, accompanied by a very impressive sunset (yes folks it gets dark early in these parts in December). 

I enjoyed the occasion and look forward to working closely with the people from SCOPE in 2018 and beyond.

SOME AUTISM RELATED LINKS

A majority of the links in this section are to posts on USian (acknowledgement to New Zealander Heather Hastie for this term) blogs/ sites, and most of the rest are British, although a few other countries also feature. As an internationalist I am proud that people from many countries visit this blog (108 in the last year, 123 all time). 

ON TERMINOLOGY

This section relates to a wonderful post put up by Autism Mom a couple of days ago under the title “I WANT TO BE CALLED AUTISTIC” I offer you my own comment in immediate response to that post, which I stand by:

Well done to both you and your son. Although my own strong preference is to describe myself as an autistic person I am quite happy for those who choose to do so to describe themselves as people with autism – what I will not accept is a well meaning neurotypical person seeking to make the decision on our behalf – it is our decision and we should make it ourselves.

Also, here is a quote from the end of the post:

Person first versus identify first: He cocked his head and asked me to explain more.

“I want to be called autistic,” he announced after I had finished. “Saying “person with autism” sounds like I have a disease. I don’t have a disease, this is just how I am.”

And then he added: “Actually, I want to be called by my name, but if you need to describe my autism I want to be called autistic.”

Make it so.

If you are reading this and have an autistic spectrum condition please feel free to add a comment about how you would prefer to be described.

I finish this section with a link to post mentioned in the Autism Mom piece linked to above which appears on Autistic Not Weird under the title “A plea to the autism community from one of your own“

THE “TO SIRI” ISSUE

Many splendid pieces have been produced about this subject since I last provided links relating to it, and I append a bulleted list of the best links:

• Tales By The Unexpected has produced “book analysis: To Siri with love by Judith Newman“
• Kaelan Rhywiol who I mentioned the last time I provided links on this subject has posted a piece on bustle.com titled “Why I Believe ‘To Siri With Love’ By Judith Newman Is A Book That Does Incredible Damage To The Autistic Community“
• Ryan Boren of boren.blog has produced a detailed chapter by chapter take down of the book titled “An Actually Autistic Review of “To Siri with Love”“
• Eve Reiland of American Badass Activists, as well as signposting most of the pieces to which I refer in this section has produced one of her own titled “Judith Newman, How Do You Like Me Now?“
• Aspie Under Your Radar has produced a piece titled “Re: #ToSiriWithLove I actually blame the publisher“
• Eve features again with this piece titled “Steve Silberman, author of “Neurotribes,” Doesn’t Get Judith Newman Either” – and if you have not yet read Neurotribes I suggest that you rectify that omission asap.
• Finally, from The Thinking Person’s Guide to Autism comes this piece titled “Why To Siri With Love Is a Wrecking Ball of a Book“, written by Maxfield Sparrow, who blogs at Unstrange Mind.

A FINAL LINK

I conclude this post by linking to a story from the excellent John Pring of Disability News Service. As a strong supporter of “Nothing About Us Without Us” I hardly need to tell you why I was delighted to read “Autistic-led taskforce will address ‘hypocrisy and injustice’“