March 10, 2022
Psychology 198
time again been proven to be written for the average white male. Though there are sections and laws in the Constitution and Bill of Rights that protect those with disabilities, there is so much more to be educated about then just what rights an autistic person has. In July of 1990, the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act was introduced officially to the world, but this date was not the beginning of what was an advocacy of local groups and organizations. The Disability Rights Movement was established from the many thousands of people who fought for what they believed in. MorHi Matt, is this still available?e specifically, in “ The History of the Americans with Disabilities Act ”, an article written by Arlene Mayerson, tells the story of ADA and its portrayal of persistence and perspective of people with disabilities.
The ADA began far before its introduction in Congress in 1988, ‘people who have worked for years organizing and attending protests, licking envelopes, sending out alerts, drafting legislation, speaking, testifying, negotiating, lobbying...’ are the creators of the movement. The contribution of people to the movement demonstrated a tight knit community amongst those with disabilities and/or those closely related to the movement, allowing for people with disabilities to be seen publicly. For some time, it was a taboo topic to speak on, and it created an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ mentality that was beyond outdated. The ‘reversing’ of this long pattern of history was difficult, but with movements like the Civil Rights Movement became an outlet for people to seek strategy. Mayerson speaks on the unbelievable change of history stating, “For the first time, the eclusion and segregation of people with disabilities was viewed as discrimination”. Compared to today, this particular perspective came from a lack of information and the deprivation of educating people on what it means to have disabilities. Today, education comes in all shapes and sizes, whether it’s an online quick read or an instagram post, news and information can spread like wildfire. In the late 70s, it was common for people to assume that the ‘problems faced by people with disabilities, such as unemployment and lack of education, were inevitable consequences of the physical or mental limitations imposed by the disability itself’. Though there is always more to learn, today this perspective would not be a sufficient reason for the lack of inclusivity.
In the passage of Section 504 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act, it was asserted that the ‘discrimination on the basis of disability by recipients of federal funds, was modelled after previous laws which banned race, ethnic origin, and sex based discrimination by federal fund recipients’. Because the introduction to this Act was such new information, Section 504 was also historic because people with disabilities were seen as an actual minority group. The similar discrimination faced with ‘unemployment, education, and access to society’ was finally being recognized. With the continuance of advocacy amongst the disability community, involvement increased with Section 504 cases in the Supreme Courts through the 1980s. Along with this, the Americans with Disabilities Act was portrayed in the media as ‘unannounced’ while those who fought tremendously agreed these rights were ‘long overdue’. The active and persistence of the disabilities community demonstrated how much work and dedication can create movement and change in the world, and the law.
The importance of this Act was not only to see publicly that people with disabilities were a minority group that deserved the same recognition that they too are victims of discrimination. Apart from being seen, people with disabilities also must interact with the law and law enforcement. In Interacting with Law Enforcement– Autism Speaks”, a website that reports on all things across the spectrum, this article focuses on possible interactions between law enforcement and people with autism. The author, Dennis Debbaudt, is a parent of a young man who has autism, has suggestions of what can occur when ‘people with autism may find themselves in situations in which they need to talk to or deal with law enforcement professionals’ and some strategies to teach people with autism to respond. Expert Dennis Debbaudt provides some insight for anyone interested in tips to teach people with autism the best way to interact with law enforcement. Debbaudt argues for the importance of teaching people with autism how to interact with law enforcement. In the exception that a police officer or first responder has some experience with ‘recognizing, communicating, and responding well when interacting with individuals on the spectrum during field contacts’, most of law enforcement is not trained for this reality.
Some options Debbaudt provides for law enforcement interactions, in the chance that you want to disclose your autism to a police officer. One popular option he suggests, is a handout card that ‘can be easily copied and laminated’, this way when approached, an individual with a disability can provide important information before something can go wrong. If someone works with a person, they can also obtain permission or verbally let the officer know about the situation before making any sudden movements. This was especially interesting to learn about, because there are so many scenarios that an abled person goes through everyday that one does not even stop to think about the possible struggles for a person on the spectrum. The intersection between autism and law (here it is law enforcement), is something one might miss or not think too much about, but this is an important topic to be educated on.
Art is a form of expression, as many people know. For autistic people, art can be an especially good outlet since they often feel stress during social interactions. According to the American Art Therapy Association, “.. the creative process involved in artistic self-expression helps people to resolve conflicts and problems, develop interpersonal skills, manage behavior, reduce stress, increase self-esteem, and self-awareness, and achieve insight.” It is important to note that there is no guaranteed outcome of an experience, as all autistic people have different experiences, however the bottom line is that engaging with art can be therapeutic and a great way to express oneself without the social pressures of face- to-face interaction. Art does not always require a lot of verbal interaction, and I think that is part of the beauty, especially for people who do not have the ability to express themselves with words. Emotions can often be expressed through art and going through that process can be incredibly important.
When I googled “autistic artists,” I came across a number of incredible people I had never heard about before. The artwork on the first slide is a collage of the first eight artists which came up in google. I wish I had the time to do a mini report on each artist because all of their work is truly incredible.
One artist in particular who stuck me was Kambel Smith. He is an autistic artist from Philadelphia who primarily makes intricate sculptures of buildings and famous landmarks out of recycled cardboard. Smith has worked with oil painting as well. I really like the way that Smith speaks about autism as his superpower, and clearly this guy is a very talented and astounding artist. Today, he has pieces in the Fleisher-Ollman museum in Philadelphia and is still creating more!
I know that not all autistic people like/want to do art, and I know that becoming famous for it is not at all the goal. But I still think it’s cool to see people who have been marginalized in society for being autistic and Black, like Kambel Smith, to represent their communities b being so talented.
Sources:
https://www.verywellhealth.com/art-therapy-for-autism-260054
https://www.phl.org/at-phl/art-exhibitions/kambel-smith
https://onmilwaukee.com/articles/kambel-smith
https://www.fleisher-ollmangallery.com/about
3. The Intersection of Autism and Being Black by Kalina Elliot
Kalina ElliottMarch 10, 2022
1:54 ASD
Along with the stigma that is associated with having Autism, being a black person with Autism is furthermore stigmatized and misunderstood. From diagnostic struggles to miscommunications with police, black autistic people do not have an easy time navigating through our current society. This is in no way the fault of black autistic people, and is instead due to the lack of knowledge, acceptance, and action taken by the rest of society to make it a more inclusive place for all.
As mentioned above, black autistic people face difficulties when getting diagnosed with Autism. In fact, “black children with ASD are diagnosed at older ages than are White children (Mandell, David S et al., 2009). This delay can lead to those affected not getting
the treatment they need or certain adaptations to their environment that would benefit their developmental growth. Not being able to know how to correctly interact with a child who has Autism can hinder their well being, which makes early or on-time diagnosis even more important. The white children with autism who are normally diagnosed on-time have an unfair advantage. This inequity is due to statistical discrimination, which can be influenced by “institutional factors such as access to health care, general prejudices held by the clinician, clinicians' and families' interpretation of symptoms, and clinicians' application of rational (if erroneous) algorithms on the likelihood of a child having ASD” (Mandell, David S et al., 2009). Bias and preconceived notions of what Autism should look like in children combined with the stigma connected to being black can severely alter when a black autistic child begins to receive proper care for their needs. The knowledge is out there, it is just that people need to be willing to learn it.
Aside from the struggles that black autisitc people face in childhood, more obstacles are thrown their way in adulthood. Nicholson, a transgender autisitc black man, writes about his experiences with his various identities. Focusing on the intersection of being black and autistic, he mentioned that family members often whispered about not knowing what to do with him because he acted differently than other children. The lack of knowledge about what Autism looks like in children, specifically black children, prolonged Nicholson’s diagnosis until he was thirty four. As he got older and transitioned into a man with diagnosed Autism, Nicholson explains that he “strive(s) to never have a meltdown in public, because for me, it could mean the difference between freedom and incarceration” (Nicholson, 2017). The lack of knowledge of how Black Autistic people present themselves and act in social situations contributes to mistreatment and wrongful arrest, perpetrated by police officers. The target that is sadly already on black people’s backs from systemic oppression gets bigger when they are autisitic, in the eyes of the police. Having a disability should not increase your risk of being arrested, or worse, and neither should one’s skin color.
A podcast on NPR titled, “For Parents of Young Black Men with Autism, Extra Fear About Police”, delves into the apprehension that Black autistic men and their families have
about police encounters, as well as the steps that are being taken to lessen the fear. The first person mentioned was Jermaine Spencer, a sixteen year old Black autistic young man, along with his mom’s worries surrounding the recent Ferguson shooting. The Ferguson shooting involved the death of an eighteen year old black man, Michael Brown, who was shot six times by a police officer, even though Brown was unarmed. Due to this unrest and thinking of what her son’s future could be like, Spencer’s mother declares that “it's my worst nightmare ... him not understanding, possibly, a command to put your hands up or to get on the ground” (Hersher, 2014). The lack of understanding about Autism that police have combined with the stigma of being violent that is associated with black people ends up creating a very unsafe environment for Autistic black men and women to grow and live in. The next person mentioned in the podcast was Chris Akubuilo, a Black twenty-eight year old who has severe autism, along with comprehension and speaking troubles. He was at a convention where Autistic people get the chance to interact with and get to know police officers, as well as watch a video that provided tips on how to communicate withpolice officers. This is beneficial for all Autistic people, especially Black people, and all police officers because it bridges the gap and allows for both parties to understand how to cooperate with each other.
Some interesting facts from the NPR podcast about Autistic people and police officers interacting were that people on the spectrum are seven times more likely to interact with police officers throughout their life. Also, when someone is not making eye contact with a police officer it is not always a threat, and could simply be someone with Autism who is shy. Since much of Autistic behavior is misunderstood by society, people are quick to call the cops in unsure situations, especially when the Autistic person is Black. In better news, the Justice Department is supposedly in the process of training police officers about cognitive disorders.
An incident that I remember hearing about in the news, involving an Autistic Black man and police officers, took place in 2019 and resulted in the death of Elijah McClain. McClain was a twenty-three year old Autistic Black man who worked as a massage therapist in Colorado. One day he was walking home from a store, wearing a ski mask because he was anemic and ran cold, and listening to music with earbuds. Nearby police officers thought that McClain looked sketchy since he was waving his arms and wearing a ski mask, and after receiving no response from him to their calls, they decided to tackle McClain and put him in a chokehold. The paramedics arrived and gave McClain way too much Ketamine, and he was announced brain dead a few days after arriving at the hospital. This news was really disheartening to learn about and I hope that more precautions are being taken in the present to prevent situations like this from going too far.
Before learning more about the struggles that Black Autistic people go through, I did not know the depth of it nor how much society needs to be improved upon in order to adapt to their needs. Despite these systemic setbacks, many Black Autistic people have gone on to become doctors, famous artists, and fulfilled their lives in other ways. Black Autistic people don’t need to change themselves to feel more comfortable, rather society needs to conform to a new normal that includes neurodivergent acceptance.
Sources
“What does a Black autistic man look like?”
https://autisticadvocacy.org/2017/04/what-does-a-black-autistic-man-look-ike/
“Racial/Ethnic Disparities in the Identification of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2661453/
“For Parents Of Young Black Men With Autism, Extra Fear About Police”
https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/08/23/342688183/for-parents-of-young-black-men-with-autism-extra-fear-about-police
“Here’s What You Need to Know About Elijah McClain’s Death”
https://www.nytimes.com/article/who-was-elijah-mcclain.html
4. Autism and Visual Art by Ren Weber
February 27 2022
ASD Decal - Midterm Paper
Differences in Visual Experience and Perception
Research has shown that people with ASD can have different color preferences, which may influence how they perceive the world and therefore how they choose to represent it visually. One study found that boys with autism tend to prefer green and brown over yellow, because yellow can be too bright and overstimulating (1). These differences can affect how the artist chooses to make their visual art. I have taken into account these color perception differences in my own life as a non-autistic artist. I was a graphic designer for a website made for users on the spectrum to sign up for coding and design classes. I researched how to make the site as accessible as possible for the target demographic by omitting bright colors and only using colors that contrast clearly between the font of the text and the background. Many graphic designers today are not taught how to make content accessible for people on the spectrum.Additionally, eye-tracking technology has found that people with autism tend to focus on patterns and objects more than people’s faces (2). The difference in focus could influence the artist’s subjects, with some preferring to focus on animals, objects, landscapes, etc. over choosing human subjects. The artists in the following section tend to fall in the former category.
Artists with Autism
Nadia Chomyn is one autistic artist who had a special interest in horses and animals. She showed a remarkable ability from a very young age to skillfully draw, especially gifted in realism (see page 5 for examples of her work from ages 3 to 7 years old) (3). Specifically, Nadia differed from other artists because she seemingly skipped the usual stages of scribbling. Her first subjects were horses and fairground carousel horses, even though she had very little real-life experience with these. This implies that limited memories still allowed her to create detailed works of art in the absence of frequent exposure. These drawings were particularly important to the people in her life because she was nonverbal.Although the aforementioned study concluded that some autistic individuals dislike vibrant colors such as yellow, this is not alway the case. Autistic artist Amrit Khurana uses yellow frequently in her large paintings (page 4). Amrit’s mother said that “art is Amrit’s primary form of communication and social integration”, and that she even has her own exhibit called “Views from Planet Autism” in New Delhi (4).
Finally, Dr. Temple Gradin is a well-known example of an autistic visual thinker who describes herself as always thinking in pictures instead of words. While her work may not be considered visual art, her story mirrors those of Nadia’s and Amrit’s as she describes how language does not come naturally. Her ability to visualize detailed designs in her mind has helped her create livestock innovations. There is also plenty of speculation about artists from the past being neurodivergent, such as Andy Warhol, Leonardo di Vinci, Michelangelo, and Vincent van Gogh, though these cannot be confirmed..
Art Therapy
Art therapy is considered to be beneficial to many groups, including for people with autism, by “increasing self-esteem and self-awareness, developing coping skills...achieving insight, structuring behavior, [and] reducing stress” (5).One study found that portrait drawing for adults with ASD could improve communication and create a greater understanding of facial expressions. It may be overwhelming or intimidating for certain individuals to directly interact with people during therapy as a way to learn the subtle differences in emotions. Thus, providing a structured way to develop facial processing and recognition skills from a distance allowed the participants a more comfortable way to look at faces and maintain eye contact, as well as grow their motor skills while sketching peoples’ faces.
1 Grandgeorge, M., & Masataka, N. (2016). Atypical Color Preference in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Frontiers in psychology, 7 , 1976. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01976
2 Rebecca Harrington. “Fascinating Images Reveal How People with Autism See the World.” Business Insider Australia, January 22, 2018.
3 Lorna Selfe “Nadia Chomyn obituary”. The Guardian, 2015.https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/dec/09/nadia-chomyn
4 Debra Hosseini. “Amrit Khurana Autistic Artist from Noida India Expresses Herself through Her Unique Art.” The Art of Autism, August 31, 2018.
https://the-art-of-autism.com/amrit-khurana-autistic-artist-from-noida-india/.
5 Chelsea Harris. “Portrait Drawing: An Art Therapy Intervention for Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder”. Florida State University, 2015.
Examples of Art by Autistic Visual Artists
By Amrit Khurana:
Jordan Bermender
1:54 Autism Spectrum Decal
15 March 2022
Intersectionality between Autism and Video Games
As an autistic person, I often use video games as a way to help navigate the more difficult parts of my autism. I’ve maintained most of my current friends through a shared interest in video games (who, coincidentally, are also neurodivergent in some way by a mass majority), and if I find a situation to be too overwhelming or need to process an experience I’ve had, video games can help me to refocus on something exterior and give me extra time to work through new information in my head. Video games have even helped me when facing new experiences and situations, as more than once I’ve found myself comparing events in my life to mechanics from games I’ve played in order to make unfamiliar situations more familiar. Video games have been used as a tool by autistic people for almost a long as video games have been around. From social benefits and stress release to even influencing the study of ASD itself, video games have and continue to play a big role within the autistic community.
The points I mentioned above (shared interests, self regulation, and information processing) are not exclusive to only myself. In fact, there has been a lot of research in recent years on the benefits that gaming can bring to autistic people. For example, a common struggle for autistic people is difficulties with starting and maintaining friendships, but video games can be a good moderator for those who struggle with this (Finke et al , 2018). When asked about how video games may help autistic people in day to day life, a participant in a study on autsitic people's motivations for playing video
games said “if there’s nothing to talk about, I’ll usually bring up videogames. I’ll tell them what kind of games I like.” (Fink et al , 2018). It can take off a lot of the pressures of getting to know a new person if you have something in common that you both enjoy, and talking about something you already know you enjoy can help to bring familiarity to a situation that might be stressful and uncertain (Mazurek, Engelhardt & Clark, 2015).
Another common usage of video games by autistic people is information processing (Mazurek, Engelhardt & Clark, 2015). Many autistic people (myself included) use video games as a way to better understand new experiences. To use a personal example, if I’m ever unsure how to react in a social situation or I feel overwhelmed by a situation, something I’ve found to be helpful is to think of the situation in terms of a video game I’ve recently played or am very familiar with. Even though I am still unfamiliar with the actual situation, thinking of ways in which it’s similar to something I find a lot of joy in helps a lot with processing the experience in my own terminology and remaining calm during it.
In addition to interpersonal influences that video games have for autistic people, the academic study of autism has also been influenced by video games. For instance, the study An Accidental Pokemon Expert: Contemporary Psychoanalysis on the Autism Spectrum by Christina Emanuel takes a new approach to researching autism by interviewing the case study subjects (Joey and Serena) about their autism under the context of one of their special interests; Pokemon (Emanuel, 2015). Something very prevalent in the medical field is doctors and clinicians encouraging parents to restrict access to special interests and the like to make the child appear more “normal”, and in Emanuel’s study, she remarks “Viewing perseveration as a meaningless and common behavior in autism is an example of the overly reductive approach to autism that I have encountered” and she goes on the remark that this restricting “treatment” didn’t help her interviewee, Serena, in the slightest, and if anything only made her intense interest in
Pokemon stronger. (Emanuel, 2015). Emanuel also discusses the hyperempathy that Serana experiences about Pokemon, something that researchers often ignore in autsitic patients, or even misinterpret as low levels of empathy because of the differences in which autistic people outwardly display their feelings of empathy. However, by communicating with the participants in terms of video games, they are able to understand autistic thinking in a way they likely wouldn’t be able to do otherwise (Emanuel, 2015).
Autistic people have been using video games as a means of communication and regulation for a long time. From conversing with people in a social context and processing new information to communicating with researchers in an academic setting about their thought processes and interests, video games can be useful as a tool for many people on the spectrum for a multitude of different reasons. While the academic field of studying autism still has many flaws and issues, when used correctly, video games can provide a way for autisitc people to be better understood not only by researchers and doctors, but by society as a whole.
Works Cited
Clark, K. E., Engelhardt, C. R. & Mazurek, M. O. (2015) “Video games from the perspective of adults with autism spectrum disorder”
Computers in Human Behavior, Volume 51, Part A, Pages 122-130, ISSN 0747-5632, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.04.062.
Emanuel, C. (2015) “An Accidental Pokemon Expert: Contemporary
Psychoanalysis on the Autism Spectrum”, International Journal of Psychoanalytic Self Psychology , 10:1, 53-68, DOI: 10.1080/15551024.2015.977485
Finke, E. H., Hickerson, B. D., & Kremkow, J. M. D. (2018). “To Be Quite Honest, If It Wasn’t for Videogames I Wouldn’t Have a Social Life at All”: Motivations of Young
Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorder for Playing Videogames as Leisure. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 27 (2), 672–689. https://doi.org/10.1044/2017_AJSLP-17-0073
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