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• Controversy: Autism Backlash?

  I've been following autism reports in the media since my oldest son was diagnosed seven years ago, towards the beginning of what many experts have called the autism "epidemic."  And while I thought that as more children were diagnosed, and more people affected - even indirectly - by this disorder, the understanding and sympathy towards these children would also increase, recent stories indicate that is not necessarily the case.  In the past two weeks, an autistic teen was banned from his church by his own priest, and an autistic kindergartner was voted out of his classroom by his peers with the encouragement of his teacher.  I'm sure this isn't the first time something like this has happened, but it's the first time I ever heard about anything like it, and somehow it seems more ominous that these rejections happened so close together in time.    Read More... Posted May 30 2008, 07:34 AM by Amy S.F. Lutz with | with 5 comment(s) Filed under: autism, inclusion, St. Joseph's, Adam Race, Alex Barton, mainstream, voted out of kindergarten

• Church Files Restraining Order Against Autistic Boy

  In tough situations, I understand that devout Catholics are supposed to ask themselves, "What would Jesus do?" Apparently, when an autistic thirteen-year-old was disrupting services, Father Dan Walz of Minnesota's St. Joseph's church decided that what Jesus would do is expel the child from the congregation, and legally ban him from entering the church.    Read More... Posted May 20 2008, 08:26 AM by Amy S.F. Lutz with | with 16 comment(s) Filed under: autism, St. Joseph's, Dan Walz, Adam Race, Carol Race, restraining order