• Photo of open books. Text reads: Intelligence, as defined by a normalizing society, is not a requirement to be a worthy human being. Amy Sequenzia on Ollibean

Autistic, Non-Speaking, and “Intelligent”

Autistic, Non-Speaking, and "Intelligent" by Amy Sequenzia "Being Autistic is not the same as being intellectually disabled". "Non-speaking Autistics are intelligent". "When non-speaking Autistics learn how to type they can ‘prove’ their intelligence'". All the statements above are true. They are also incomplete. Statements like these are assumptions that do not help in making the world more respectful of all disabled people. They are incomplete because some non-speaking Autistics might also be intellectually disabled; Because some Autistic people might be Autistic AND intellectually disabled; Because while some typists are able to show that the assumptions about their IQ were

By |March 3rd, 2017|Categories: Amy Sequenzia, Autism, blog|Tags: , , , , |2 Comments

Disability History and Pop Culture

X Company is respectfully educating viewers about the ableism, discrimination and elimination of disabled people during the war. Hopefully, it will make more people aware of how disabled people are still discriminated against and abused in unthinkable ways.

  • NAACP picketing St. Louis schools circa 1950s. Photo credit AARP

Surviving Inclusion: At The Intersection of Minority, Disability and Resegregation

Kerima Çevik on Surviving Inclusion: At The Intersection of Minority, Disability and Resegregation “I see the work of inclusion as probably the last frontier of desegregation. If you read the brief from Brown v Board of Ed, The board of education argued that if we let the blacks be integrated then the next thing you know is that we’ll be letting people with disabilities be integrated.” Joe Petner, Principal, The Haggerty School,  Including Samuel  NAACP picketing St. Louis schools circa 1950s. Photo credit AARP In October of 2008, we discovered that our son, who was transferred into a full special education

  • Image of group of students and Professor standing with arms crossed looking at the camera.Text reads: "Princeton University students Stand By Henry. We are inspired by you and your family. Thanks. The Spring 2015 Student from Seminar "A History of Disability as Told By Personal Narratives" taught by Professor Wurzburg Anschutz Distinguished Fellow in American Studies."

Now you know . You cannot unknow .

I  told  Professor Wurzburg's class in March and April  about my life and advocacy for inclusion, communication and civil rights. The class asked me questions and I answered. On April 8 I talked to the class on Skype. "This is good. Princeton thank you for this class. Learning about disability experience and discrimination from people who are disabled is the only real way.   I share my experience to change my reality and the reality for my neurodivergent brothers and sisters. No person should experience the abuse. All people deserve respect, inclusion and communication.   Now you know . You cannot unknow

LOOPS

My body movement speed is not average. It is not in the mean. My thinking speed is. My thinking speed is faster than average. My body takes time to agree to cooperate with my mind. If my body chooses not agree to cooperate my thoughts remain my own. More anxiety less body cooperation. Less body cooperation more anxiety. Less anxiety more body cooperation. More body cooperation less anxiety. Excerpt from Wurzburg Seminar at Princeton University

  • Ollibean News Headline ON SURVIVING INCLUSION, Written by: Kerima  Çevik, These groups view inclusion as an educational disaster, as racist educators saw racial integration in its time. Photograph of Gail Etienne age 6, one of the Mcdonogh 3, being driven to school by federal marshals looking very sad. Photo credit: NOLA.com

On Surviving Inclusion

On Surviving Inclusion by Kerima Cevik Three young Black soldiers, bubbling over with the news that the Civil Rights act was just signed into law, and ready to demand a front door entrance and equal treatment everywhere rushed around places where people of color were formerly unseen and unheard. Image is of the first page of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Credit National Archives. I cannot impart on you what this moment in time meant to them. Imagine being told all your life that you were less than others. Imagine approaching your local supermarket

The Reason I Blog

This blog (The Autism Wars), and all the other blogs and projects associated with it, are for my autistic son, Mustafa. But this blog is actually not talking about him without him or about daily life with him with some rare exceptions for times when his daily displays of empathy, kindness, and love towards me move me to write. When I say it is for my son, I mean it is part of my activism and my exploration of what it means to try and ally myself to his cause. This cause is something that too many of us are aware of

Go to Top