Toward a More Joyful Future
As we go through our days planting small seeds of understanding and acceptance in our blogs and in our daily lives, it can sometimes look like an overwhelming task when we consider how much still needs to be done. I try to think of it like gardening: when seeds are given plenty of light and warmth and water and good healthy soil, they will grow. It's a natural process. Love is organic, not mechanical. Love grows. Love multiplies.
One joyful little seedling to which I would like to draw my readers' attention is The Autism Acceptance Project, organized by Estée Klar-Wolfond, and its exhibit of autistic artists' works at the Lonsdale Gallery in Toronto, Canada, from October 5th to November 5th, 2006, as part of an event called The Joy of Autism.
In addition to the exhibit, those who visit between October 10th and October 16th will have the opportunity to attend a lecture series, which is described on the TAAProject website as follows:
The Joy of Autism: Redefining Ability and Quality of Life brings salient lectures to challenge popular views about autism. Presentations are by numerous autistic people with a variety of views and will be presented both at Al Green Theatre and Lonsdale Gallery in Toronto. Lectures by researchers vested in critical thinking and accurate science will discuss recent studies in autistic cognitive abilities. Clinicians and autistic people will present views about autism heard all too seldom, but which are authentic and unfiltered views about life with autism. Parent authors and advocates will talk about their journey to not only accept autism in the midst politicized and negative semantics of "autism as tragic epidemic," but to help us realize the awesome nature of the autistic child.
To find more information about the speakers (including Michelle Dawson, Jim Sinclair, and other well-known advocates) and the topics of the lectures, please visit the TAAProject site. Some of the lectures are free, while others have an admission fee.
Even if you are not able to attend, you can help to bring more joy and beauty to the world by telling friends about the event, blogging about it, and sending a donation (even if it is a small one) to The Autism Acceptance Project, P.O. Box 23030, Toronto, Ontario, CANADA M5N 3A8.
TAAProject also has an excellent video – check it out!
One joyful little seedling to which I would like to draw my readers' attention is The Autism Acceptance Project, organized by Estée Klar-Wolfond, and its exhibit of autistic artists' works at the Lonsdale Gallery in Toronto, Canada, from October 5th to November 5th, 2006, as part of an event called The Joy of Autism.
In addition to the exhibit, those who visit between October 10th and October 16th will have the opportunity to attend a lecture series, which is described on the TAAProject website as follows:
The Joy of Autism: Redefining Ability and Quality of Life brings salient lectures to challenge popular views about autism. Presentations are by numerous autistic people with a variety of views and will be presented both at Al Green Theatre and Lonsdale Gallery in Toronto. Lectures by researchers vested in critical thinking and accurate science will discuss recent studies in autistic cognitive abilities. Clinicians and autistic people will present views about autism heard all too seldom, but which are authentic and unfiltered views about life with autism. Parent authors and advocates will talk about their journey to not only accept autism in the midst politicized and negative semantics of "autism as tragic epidemic," but to help us realize the awesome nature of the autistic child.
To find more information about the speakers (including Michelle Dawson, Jim Sinclair, and other well-known advocates) and the topics of the lectures, please visit the TAAProject site. Some of the lectures are free, while others have an admission fee.
Even if you are not able to attend, you can help to bring more joy and beauty to the world by telling friends about the event, blogging about it, and sending a donation (even if it is a small one) to The Autism Acceptance Project, P.O. Box 23030, Toronto, Ontario, CANADA M5N 3A8.
TAAProject also has an excellent video – check it out!
Labels: activism, neurodiversity
posted by abfh at
10:47 AM
3 Comments:
That's a heck of a video - in particular in its level of professionalism. I suspect that TAAP may become a project of some significance.
By
Redaspie, at 3:30 PM
Redaspie, I was also very impressed by the quality of the video, as well as by the professionalism shown in all of TAAProject's activities, and I share your expectation.
By
abfh, at 3:15 PM
There's another upcoming pro-neurodiversity conference that I would like to mention: Witness & Hope, held at Fordham University in New York City on October 27th, 2006. It addresses neurodiversity issues in the context of moral and religious traditions of advocating for the dignity of all human beings. To register (free), send an e-mail to jafisher@fordham.edu or call 212-636-7698 or 718-817-0662.
By
abfh, at 9:00 AM
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