different voices

Here are a variety of perspectives on autism by a variety of people

Disney therapy

here is a great read about one individual's experience with a son on the spectrum, as someone on the spectrum with a son on the spectrum I can appreciate the various perspectives

school district criminals

My very own school district subject of a investigative journalistic report for destroying school documents relating to the special education needs of an autistic child... led by the head of special services (or as it is called here, integrative services) the very person charged with aiding those children most in need actively sabotaging this child's (and many, many others you can bet) chances at development and growth - DISGUSTING!

yes, autistics possess affective sympathy!

Perceiving others in pain generally leads to empathic concern, consisting of both emotional and cognitive processes. Empathy deficits have been considered as an element contributing to social difficulties in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging and short video clips of facial expressions of people experiencing pain to examine the neural substrates underlying the spontaneous empathic response to pain in autism. Thirty-eight adolescents and adults of normal intelligence diagnosed with ASD and 35 matched controls participated in the study. In contrast to general assumptions, we found no significant differences in brain activation between ASD individuals and controls during the perception of pain experienced by others. Both groups showed similar levels of activation in areas associated with pain sharing, evidencing the presence of emotional empathy and emotional contagion in participants with autism as well as in controls. Differences between groups could be observed at a more liberal statistical threshold, and revealed increased activations in areas involved in cognitive reappraisal in ASD participants compared with controls. Scores of emotional empathy were positively correlated with brain activation in areas involved in embodiment of pain in ASD group only. Our findings show that simulation mechanisms involved in emotional empathy are preserved in high-functioning individuals with autism, and suggest that increased reappraisal may have a role in their apparent lack of caring behavior.

more evidence for intense world theory?

http://sfari.org/news-and-opinion/blog/2014/resting-autism-brains-still-hum-with-activity

exposing the myth of environmental toxins causing autism

http://www.forbes.com/sites/emilywillingham/2014/02/20/on-autism-environmental-toxicants-and-bias/

more evidence of the genetic basis for ASD

Exome sequencing of extended families with autism reveals genes shared across neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders