Open Society

Life is such an odd thing. Right now, on several different fronts, I'm going through a really tough time. As such when we drove to Saint Jac...

How the right co-opted "meeting people where they are." And how the left can wrest it back

In the Western Educated Industrialised Rich Democratic (WEIRD) world we live in what philosopher Guy Debord described as The Society of the Spectacle. The reality presented to us via the media and …

(and wherever children are learning) Neurodiversity is the idea that different brains work differently, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing, even though some

Pete Wharmby discusses autistic special interests and how they should be embraced in schools

Here’s my neurokit: things that support me as a neurodivergent person in my daily life. Share your neurokit with me and add your own 🧠🌈 #AuDHD #Autistic…

Italic and bold emphasis are information-density additives. But as Kottke observes, used deftly, hypertext links are an information-density *multiplier*.

A Personal Perspective: Gentle parenting often gets a bad rap as too permissive. But it can really help neurodivergent kids.

Psychiatry is slowly catching up with the concept of neurodiversity amongst animals, including humans, taking clues from animal biology/psychology and from the neurodiversity movement. The language…

The Case Against Grades - Alfie Kohn

How can we ignite and inspire curiosity-driven, authentic learning? Published by Human Restoration Project, a 501(c)3 organization restoring humanity to education.

Gaia is facing a metacrisis. But humanity is primarily facing a crisis of institutions and collective imagination. Many of us would be unable to recognise a healthy human scale cultural organism if…

SpeEdChange.at.Medium

As libraries become public stages for social problems — homelessness, drug use, mental health — the people who work there are burning out.

The youth mental health crisis isn’t caused by one thing. It’s a million tiny things that add up. Don't let young people take it on alone.

Background: The challenges that autistic young people face when accessing support have been well documented. However, such issues may be exacerbated for autistic young people who have additional marginalized identities (e.g., being from a minority ethnic group or minority gender) compared with autistic young people who do not have additional marginalized identities. Methods: We took a participatory approach that included autistic young people with multiple marginalized identities at every stage of the research process. Our team interviewed 13 autistic young people (aged 16–25 years) who also identified with other marginalized identities. We analyzed the data using reflexive thematic analysis. Results: We generated one superordinate theme, which reflected how accessing support was perceived to be challenging for all autistic young people but especially so for this group with multiple marginalized identities. Within the superordinate theme, we generated three subthemes that provide examples of how common challenges were felt to be exacerbated for our participants. First, our participants reported difficulties in obtaining timely diagnoses, which hindered access to appropriate support services. Second, they expressed a sense of exclusion from existing support structures, with services often failing to address their unique needs. Finally, cultural and linguistic barriers meant that our participants’ parents and caregivers did not always know how to help them get support. As a result, some of our participants had to advocate for themselves. Conclusion: Our findings highlight the need for more inclusive and accessible support services that meet the diverse needs of all autistic young people, including those with multiple marginalized identities. Recommendations include offering a variety of support options to accommodate individual preferences and providing ways to empower all autistic people to advocate for their support needs.

Autistic psychiatrists’ experiences of recognising themselves and others as autistic: a qualitative study - Volume 10 Issue 6

Autistic traits are over-represented in transgender populations, and gender variance is high in autistic individuals. Furthermore, some evidence sugge…

Researchers from Stockholm University, Bocconi University, and the Rockwool Foundation have studied poverty’s lasting impact across generations in wealthy countries. By examining the United States, Denmark, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Germany, the team found that welfare systems play a significant role in whether children born into poverty will remain poor as adults.

In this month’s research roundup, Ann Memmott picks out some of the current big debates on Autistic lives, and showcases new and important research from teams and academics working within the field.

There is limited literature on the association between parenting practices, parenting stress and externalising behaviours in autistic children. We investigated ...

The New York Times released a report today on the legislative successes and failures of President Joe Biden’s first two years in office in advance of the US midterm elections. The report emphasizes where Biden’s Democrats were able to work with Republicans to make important fiscal investments.I could not help being struck, however, with the difference between those parts of Biden’s agenda that passed and those that did not. The difference is stark if looked at it through a childist lens. It is a

The Story Massage Programme combines the benefits of positive touch with storytelling. It is an engaging sensory activity for all ages and abilities.

This article is concerned with teacher populism on social media in England. This has grown in the last 10 years, facilitated by Twitter. While it appears to be a response to challenging working condi...

Abstract During the covid-19 pandemic, online learning allowed for accommodations that were previously unavailable. However, this reconfiguration of supports did not always occur. Research centering student experience alongside the complexity of social contexts in online learning is lacking. Using Intersectional Critical Disability Studies and Queer Phenomenology, we investigate disabled students’ experiences with online learning. Interviews with secondary and postsecondary students reveal that online schooling reinforced barriers and hindered full inclusion and support. The pandemic emphasized the feelings of insignificance of their education, restricting their societal roles. Disabled students in this study relied on individual relationships and support to navigate their schooling. Using the concepts of inheritance/disinheritance to explore how the shift to online learning further affected secondary students with disabilities, this paper argues that the changes functioned primarily to protect the non-disabled and perpetuate ablebodiedness, thereby placing access further out of reach and thus entrenching limitations to dreaming past barriers.

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