Boundaries, redefined
Andy Carvin posted today on Amanda Baggs, a “low-functioning” autistic woman who’s been using YouTube and blogging to communicate.
I found the first half of the video is extraordinarily moving and beautiful and in the second half, Amanda describes, nay, translates for us, the first:
…people doubt that I am a thinking being and since their definition of thought defines their definition of personhood so ridiculously much they doubt that I am a real person as well. I would like to honestly know how many people if you met me on the street would believe I wrote this. I find it very interesting by the way that failure to learn your language is seen as a deficit but failure to learn my language is seen as so natural that people like me are officially describe as mysterious and puzzling rather that anyone admitting that it is themselves who are confused not autistic people or other cognitively disabled people who are inherently confusing…
This blows me away and is truly the first time I think I’ve ever understood autism. I love the internet - it redefines all the boundaries we know and have been taught.
