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Small but growing number of autism activists are proud

From The Observer:

The stark black-and-white photograph shows a large, ungainly young woman with a shaven head, wearing shorts and a T-shirt and sitting cross-legged on the floor. Her face is hidden. 'The young woman in this picture has autism,' reads the text beside it, 'a debilitating developmental disorder that affects communication, socialisation and behaviour.'

The next photo shows the helmet she has to use to stop her damaging her head when she bangs it on the wall, her adult-sized nappies and the picture board she has to use, because she can't speak. 'Sometimes she screams, and nobody knows what she's thinking,' explains the text, 'but she's clearly frustrated about her communication disorder.' More pictures show her lying on the floor staring at blocks of wood or sitting in a chair, unresponsive. 'If she had a voice, we wonder ... What is she thinking? What would she say?'

These are pictures designed to trigger pity and maybe a guilty twinge of revulsion; they might even move you to make a donation. But you've been suckered. They form the opening pages of an angry radical website designed to challenge familiar stereotypes. They are a knowing and brutal parody of campaigns to raise money to find a cure for a 'terrible disorder'.

What do you think?

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TruseraOnAutism

TruseraOnAutism

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Seattle, WA

"I'm the Trusera editor on Autism."

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