Whose Planet Is It Anyway?

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Thank You, President Obama

When I endorsed Barack Obama's presidential candidacy on this blog in early 2007, it was because I judged him to be an enlightened and progressive thinker who would be capable of seeing the autistic population from a multicultural perspective—not as a plague to be fought and eradicated, but as a minority constituency made up of human beings and worthy of the same respect and representation as any other citizens.

I can't think of a time when I've been happier to learn that my first impression was accurate. President Obama made it clear that he is indeed a good friend of the autistic community when, as announced in this White House press release yesterday, he nominated Ari Ne'eman of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network to serve as a member of the National Council on Disability.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:


President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts, 12/16/09

WASHINGTON – Today, President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to key administration posts:

•Marie Collins Johns, Deputy Administrator, Small Business Administration
•Gwendolyn E. Boyd, Member, Board of Trustees of the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation
•Jonathan M. Young, Chair, National Council on Disability
•Carol Jean Reynolds, Member, National Council on Disability
•Fernando Torres-Gil, Member, National Council on Disability
•Chester Alonzo Finn, Member, National Council on Disability
•Gary Blumenthal, Member, National Council on Disability
•Sara Gelser, Member, National Council on Disability
•Ari Ne'eman, Member, National Council on Disability
•Dongwoo Joseph "Joe" Pak, Member, National Council on Disability

President Obama said, “I am grateful that these fine individuals have chosen to serve in my administration. They will bring a depth of experience and valued perspective to their roles, and I look forward to working with them in the months and years ahead.”


YEE-HAW!!!

Labels: , , , ,

posted by abfh at 3:30 PM

26 Comments:

  • Excellent news!

    By Blogger Unknown, at 5:03 PM  

  • Yes, it was you, (and trk), who convinced me to switch to Obama, and I gave all I could to his campaign. This is indeed, good news. It doesn't quite make up for disappointments in other areas, such as health care, and rights for everyone to marry whoever they love. Well, it's something, it's a start in the right direction for us.

    By Blogger Clay, at 5:52 PM  

  • Good for Ari! Yay!

    Also, a very slight congratulation for the O-hole; I am reminded of the old saw about the blind pig and the acorn, and the other one about even a stopped clock being right twice a day.

    You might surmise from what I just wrote that I really don't care for Barack Hussein Obama in a positive way, and you would be right. He was, however, lawfully elected, so I reckon we have to put up with him until 2012.

    By Blogger Justthisguy, at 10:39 PM  

  • P.s. Uh, I mean, until January, 2013. Gotta get the details right, there are auties watching...

    By Blogger Justthisguy, at 10:53 PM  

  • There's an Adjunct Associate Professor in Queensland who will be thrilled to hear this news - NOT!

    Ha ha haa ha ha!

    Mr Ne'eman most certainly wouldn't be the only autist working for the Obama Administration. There's a person in the National Economic Council who is no stranger to controversy and who has been identified as autistic by some people.

    I would like to wish a very merry Christmas to ABFH, to Mr Ne'eman and to President Obama!

    By Blogger Lili Marlene, at 12:21 AM  

  • "There's an Adjunct Associate Professor in Queensland who will be thrilled to hear this news - NOT!"

    Perseverative hatred like yours needs treatment.

    He's not an Associate Professor; he's an Adjunct Professor - and has been such since 2005.

    http://www.griffith.edu.au/health/school-psychology/staff

    See under Adjunct Staff.

    By Blogger David N. Andrews M. Ed., C. P. S. E., at 2:08 AM  

  • Get your facts right before criticising others!

    This is a direct quote from near the top of the home page of Dr Attwood's very own website:

    "He is currently adjunct Associate Professor at Griffith University in Queensland."

    Link:
    http://www.tonyattwood.com.au/

    Straight from the horse's mouth!

    By Blogger Lili Marlene, at 2:58 AM  

  • And The Professor, through his own website, is still helping to promote groups such as "Cassandras", ASpar and "Families of Adults Afflicted with Asperger Syndrome" (no shit, that's exactly what it says on Attwood's web site). Bless his heart! What a c*&#!

    By Blogger Lili Marlene, at 3:17 AM  

  • Seems the usual hatemongers are getting there knickers into a twist over this, go google ...

    As for adjutant witchfinder general or whatever he calls himself these days, 'Prof' Atwood is yesterdays man.

    Even Bernie Rimland had something good to say once, but time moves on and Tony's obsession with dinosaurs is showing, he has become a fossil.

    By Blogger Larry Arnold PhD FRSA, at 7:33 AM  

  • Amazing! Congrats to Ari, I can't wait to talk to Elle about this!

    By Blogger Bard, at 10:12 AM  

  • LM: "Straight from the horse's mouth!"

    And straight from the university's mouth, I can tell you (and ABFH can substantiate):

    "Tony Attwood has held an appointment as an Adjunct Professor of Psychology (not Associate Professor) continuously since 2005. This status was renewed just last year (14 Nov 2008). So, he is able to use the title Professor legitimately.

    He has at various times during the last 8 or more years convened and been responsible for the Child and Adolescent Psychopathology course in the postgraduate clinical psychology program at the Gold Coast campus. He currently is not responsible for it, but does provide guest lectures into this course and more generally into our postgraduate program when asked.

    In addition, we have had several of our clinical students go on External Placement at Tony's practice and he has provided clinical supervision for them.

    I therefore do not believe that Tony is misleading the public, but it does appear to be the case that he has not updated his website since he no longer convenes the child psychopathology course. I will alert Tony to this.

    Finally, we have only recently begun to list Adjunct staff on our website but if you check our website, you will see that we have now added Adjunct Professor Attwood's name to this site."

    That was from the Deputy Head of School (Psychology) at Griffith University, no less.

    LM: "And The Professor, through his own website, is still helping to promote groups such as "Cassandras", ASpar and "Families of Adults Afflicted with Asperger Syndrome" (no shit, that's exactly what it says on Attwood's web site)."

    Yes, and I'm not happy that he's doing that. But you hate him not just what he's doing in bed with those people. There's the difference: I hate what he's doing; you hate him. And you so bloody love to let people know it! Every bloody chance you get.

    And - on the University's site:
    --------------------------

    Adjunct Appointments

    * Dr Joseph Reser35
    * Prof Tony Attwood
    * Prof John O’Gorman
    --------------------------

    He's at the bottom, with the other Adjunct staff: even they call him "Professor". Stop being an arse.

    By Blogger David N. Andrews M. Ed., C. P. S. E., at 2:11 PM  

  • All I have to say is Merry Christmas Everyone and a happy new year.

    David, I had to shut down my blog because of what you said. I let my own personal hate get in the way. You are correct. I should only hate what they do.

    I should know better than that but I still let my own hatred get in the way. Why did my anger get in my way?

    I will have to reflect on that and see if I can obtain soem CBT therapy like you suggested a while back.

    I guess I'm only human no matter what my mind configuration is.

    Do you know what? I do want to move to Australia someday.

    With Tony Attwood, he may be trying to do a political ploy that will benefit everyone therefore creating a win-win. I do not know. The thing is though we may not have all the facts.

    By Blogger A better future for all, at 3:04 PM  

  • David

    I do have a question about the cassandra theory?

    Could we legitmately apply it to John Best Jr's wife if Best was an aspie? If john best jr is an aspie could there be others like best out there? If yes, could we apply the cassandra theory to their wives or husbands or is there another name for it already in the DSM?

    By Blogger A better future for all, at 3:21 PM  

  • Dearest Ari,

    I remember us as children when we were fighting an uphill battle just to be recognized. We swore we would never give up and that someday, we would do great things.

    And now, we got our desserts. Happy Hannukah, my dear friend! You have gotten only what you deserve!

    Elle

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:58 PM  

  • WOOHOOO!
    What a wonderful early Christmas present.

    By Blogger stopbeingstupid, at 6:36 PM  

  • Congratulations Ari. I could argue with David till the cows come home, but this posting is really about Ari and his achievements.

    (No Australian would bother to argue about the appointments of a Gold Coast-based university. The words "Gold Coast" and "university" should never be seen in the same sentence.)

    By Blogger Lili Marlene, at 9:42 PM  

  • :D :D :D It's wonderful news, isn't it ABFH? I'm going to RT this, I'm happy to see your post! Have you done the ol' writing your senators about your pleasure thing yet?

    By Blogger Unknown, at 10:25 PM  

  • @nicocoer: Happy to see your post too, and I'll link back to it for the benefit of those who may also want to write to their Senators and to the President about Ari's excellent qualifications. You've given a very good explanation of how to go about it and where to find the contact info.

    By Blogger abfh, at 10:25 AM  

  • LM: "(No Australian would bother to argue about the appointments of a Gold Coast-based university. The words 'Gold Coast' and 'university' should never be seen in the same sentence.)"

    This is one of those stupid 'no true Scotsman' things, isn't it?

    There are many Australians who would be righteously fucked off with you about your attitude towards the Gold Coast universities, and to the matter of who they appoint to what posts.

    In response to which, of course, you'd like to trip out a "no true Australian". Pissed in your chips there, then.

    Stop being such an arse-hole!

    (with apologies to ABFH, I just think that LM's very open campaign of hatred against Attwood is totally over the top and irrational; I hate what he does, but I don't hate him!)

    By Blogger David N. Andrews M. Ed., C. P. S. E., at 10:32 AM  

  • CD: "David, I had to shut down my blog because of what you said. I let my own personal hate get in the way. You are correct. I should only hate what they do."

    It's a better approach. Gets you less fucked up... as you can see.

    "I should know better than that but I still let my own hatred get in the way. Why did my anger get in my way?"

    You're human - and you recognised that this is what you've done... but you've recognised that it is not good for you to get that bound up in hatred.

    "I will have to reflect on that and see if I can obtain some CB therapy like you suggested a while back."

    Would do you a fair bit of good, I'd say ... it's about building up critical thinking skills.

    "I guess I'm only human no matter what my mind configuration is."

    Yep.

    "Do you know what? I do want to move to Australia someday."

    Might like the idea myself. Maybe an appointment as lecturer at Griffith... weird but I've never seen anybody else from Australia being that negative about the Gold Coast (and its universities) - and I have come into contact with a good many Australians.

    "With Tony Attwood, he may be trying to do a political ploy that will benefit everyone therefore creating a win-win. I do not know. The thing is though we may not have all the facts."

    We don't, indeed. I'm not happy that he's in bed with the Cassandra lot.

    "I do have a question about the cassandra theory..."

    Ask...

    "Could we legitmately apply it to John Best Jr's wife if Best was an aspie? If john best jr is an aspie could there be others like best out there? If yes, could we apply the cassandra theory to their wives or husbands or is there another name for it already in the DSM?"

    Without knowing Mrs B, we can't really say - even if there was such a thing as this Cassandra thing ... which there isn't.

    Don't go worrying yourself about it, man. It's bollocks.

    By Blogger David N. Andrews M. Ed., C. P. S. E., at 10:51 AM  

  • If you run with the fox and hunt with the hounds sooner or later there is going to be some confusion and your own side (whichever it is) will tear you to bits.

    Sorry Tony, you are yesterday, and only you can salvage your reputation for posterity.

    Ari, congrats mate, make sure you live up to it, don't become tommorrows Tony or Bernie.

    And don't become Larry either, Obama would have to swallow a dictionary or three to translate.

    By Blogger Larry Arnold PhD FRSA, at 7:01 PM  

  • Tell yer what me deario I even dun sent a message on that Obama fella an all :)

    An 'e better keep 'is promise cos I bin watchin.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11:13 PM  

  • Here's another thing to thank President Obama for: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/12/21/obama-sets-a-good-example/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BadAstronomyBlog+(Bad+Astronomy)

    By Anonymous rglovejoy, at 10:31 PM  

  • If David was an Australian he would know about the many negative cultural associations that are attached to the Gold Coast:

    http://www.skyscrapercity.com/archive/index.php/t-191201.html

    The Gold Coast only has two major university campuses - one with the Bond University which was founded by and named after an Australian millionaire who went to jail following the biggest corporate collapse in Australian history, and a campus of the Griffith University to which The Professor is somehow attached. I'm sure The Professor is really in his element at the Gold Coast campus.

    By Blogger Lili Marlene, at 4:08 AM  

  • My cousins and other relatives are Scottish Australians; I know many other Australians (and people who have lived there for many years as foreigners) ... they have said nothing of this 'many negative cultural associations that are attached to the Gold Coast' ...

    You just have an irrational hatred for the guy and you cannot fucking justify it. Stop being an arse.

    By Blogger David N. Andrews M. Ed., C. P. S. E., at 2:01 PM  

  • Ari Ne'eman is one of my heroes. He's younger than I am and yet he's an extraordinarily successful lobbyist. I'm very glad that Obama chose to nominate an actual autistic individual, rather than someone who thinks we need someone to speak for us.

    I do worry a little about Ari Ne'eman's stance on autism, but I doubt I'm going to find anyone who agrees 100% with me on autism. Ari Ne'eman will be a powerful voice on the council, I am sure, and I am glad that he is there.

    By Blogger Four Tael, at 3:55 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home