Autism Street

Closer To The Heart

As I’ve written previously in this series:

“One of the things I enjoy most about blogging is the thoughtful discussion that often follows any particular post. Make no mistake about it, the posts are often only my take on something, but the comments probably provide much more valuable content to readers in the big scheme of things - they allow for question, criticism, and support from time to time, but most of all, they provide diversity of thought in general. While such diversity in no way assures any degree of correctness, it does provide for alternative hypotheses and interesting points for consideration”.

On that note about the potential value of varying perspective, here’s another quotation for your thoughtful consideration and discussion. This one comes from one of my favorites - Rush.

And the men who hold high places
Must be the ones to start
To mould a new reality
Closer to the heart

- Neil Peart (Rush) and Peter Talbot

Discussion ideas:

How might this apply to acceptance and inclusion?

Who are some of the men and women who, “hold high places”?
(Employers? School Principals? National leaders?)

What would a reality “closer to the heart” look like in the context of pervasive human diveristy?

The graph below is loosely based on some ‘data’ that can be found online. By “loosely,” I mean it could range from “plotted point for point,” to “twisted, stretched, and manipulated beyond all recognition.” Okay, probably not “manipulated beyond all recognition”, but certainly not perfect.

The blue bars may already be familiar to anyone who has ever looked at data and reports from the California Department of Developmental Services. The bars represent autism caseload in California from 1987 through 2002. Of course this is not necessarily actual autism prevalence, and there are always important limitations to any interpretation of this data, as noted by the CDDS themselves - see page 4 of the linked report.

The red plot, however, is a mystery!

Read more…

The TED talks are fascinating. Here’s one I found interesting.

The Hole In The Wall Project [India - Sugata Mitra, PhD]

At about the 15 minute mark:

But, it had to be in groups. And that may be of great, you know, interest to this group. Because all of you are talking about groups. So here was the power of what a group of children can do, if you lift the adult intervention.

Fascinating.

As I wrote in part one of this series:

“One of the things I enjoy most about blogging is the thoughtful discussion that often follows any particular post. Make no mistake about it, the posts are often only my take on something, but the comments probably provide much more valuable content to readers in the big scheme of things - they allow for question, criticism, and support from time to time, but most of all, they provide diversity of thought in general. While such diversity in no way assures any degree of correctness, it does provide for alternative hypotheses and interesting points for consideration”.

On that note about the potential value of varying perspective, here’s another quotation for your thoughtful consideration and discussion. This one comes from a speech by a New Zealand Member of Parliament:

“What takes real skill, intelligence, and determination and results in a better place for everyone to live in is the ability to lead by inclusion, to involve everyone, and to harness the benefits of diversity.”

- Sue Moroney 

Source

Possible discussion ideas:

What are some specific barriers to inclusion?

What are some of the specific benefits of diversity?

What could president-elect, Barack Obama do, to ”lead by inclusion”?