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kitchen_kinkThis article, exploring the "difference model" of autism (as opposed to the disease model), seems like one of the more important things I've read in a really long time.
In a synthesized voice generated by a software application, [Amanda Baggs, a severe autistic,] explains that touching, tasting, and smelling allow her to have a "constant conversation" with her surroundings. These forms of nonverbal stimuli constitute her "native language," Baggs explains, and are no better or worse than spoken language. Yet her failure to speak is seen as a deficit, she says, while other people's failure to learn her language is seen as natural and acceptable.
In a synthesized voice generated by a software application, [Amanda Baggs, a severe autistic,] explains that touching, tasting, and smelling allow her to have a "constant conversation" with her surroundings. These forms of nonverbal stimuli constitute her "native language," Baggs explains, and are no better or worse than spoken language. Yet her failure to speak is seen as a deficit, she says, while other people's failure to learn her language is seen as natural and acceptable.
