In this presentation I relate how African-Americans’ fight for their Civil Rights 50 years ago mirrors the autistic community’s fight for equal opportunities and the “presumption of competence” today.
Continue reading →Sacred Tests, Broken Theories, and Disabilty: Legacy Mindsets of the 1920s © Copyright 2015, John Smyth. All Rights Reserved This presentation of “Sacred Tests” was written as an 11th grade English class assignment in March, 2014. I wrote the text … Continue reading →
[Note: This essay has been revised to fix typographical and grammatical errors, and to repair or add reference links.] When seemingly busy, upstanding citizens of a small town in the rural southern farming district of Maycomb, Alabama in 1932 make … Continue reading →
As human beings, we attend to ready wants with quiet walking as if they are what is real each inspiring day. The reality we are walking without awareness around is easily witnessed when questions are asked, however. Real loss of … Continue reading →
My dad asked me my thoughts for those who won’t learn new ways to reach the nonverbal. Here is my response: Losing a child is a grave offense. It offends God, your profession, and your personal knowledge of inspired commitment, and writes … Continue reading →
US History Class Project, Mr. Phillip Smith, Teacher Nov. 21, 2013 An Invention to Change the World: Customized Individual Student Curriculums © copyright 2013, John Smyth My business will transform education for all of humanity: Problem: Students are safely bored … Continue reading →
Last summer, John and his parents, Jim and Denise, traveled from Central Indiana to Syracuse, New York to attend Syracuse University’s (SU) Institute on Communication and Inclusion (ICI) to attend their 2013 Facilitated Communication (FC) Summer Institute: Connection, Communication, and … Continue reading →
This was a Reflective Essay assignment for school: People who stay in their fictions far longer than is healthy embalm others with their rules and prejudice and blindness. As Frederick Douglass reinforces in his autobiography My Bondage and My Freedom, … Continue reading →
Dear Friends, We are growing as more learn about what lasting abilities we typers really waste. We thirst to do more and quietly do all that we can. Each day, we witness to what is possible. When a new typer … Continue reading →
All that I learned seemingly hit or miss is part of the story, as is everything I really will think to express as I sadly leave the comfort and security of dependence. Axing old ways of taking life expectantly and … Continue reading →
It is estimated that 110,000 people nationwide, including a number of severely autistic children and young adults like myself, are trapped in unresponsive bodies. Being trapped, we are unable to communicate without a trained expert to discover us. We can’t tell our … Continue reading →
My personal mission is to: introduce processes that can allow whoever is “autistic” to express their hidden competence; enable relationships with school and family that discover competence among the mislabeled and pathways to acceptance and growth; be a catalyst to opportunity and accomplishment … Continue reading →
You know what its like to speak at will? Do you know what its like to share your thoughts with those you love? Well not all people have the ability to do that. People with autism seldom get a chance … Continue reading →
