Gerard,
YOu asked:
> What I would like to ask of list members is to what extent this "scandal"
> about Donna Williams was reproduced or occurred at all in other countries
> than Australia. Is Donna Williams's claim to being a person with disability
> still contested by autism experts, groups, or readers of her autobiography?
> And by whom is she supported?
I've been heavily involved with autistics groups both in Australia and
internationally, for nearly 2 years, and this issue has never surfaced. I
was vaguely aware that DW's credentials had been questioned, but only in a
small article in the SMH, and it never reappeared.
Donna Williams is held in high regard in autistic circles.
I am forever indebted to her first book, because it was what finally
allowed me to "name" the "family problem-with-no-name". Her
self-descriptions matched exactly the kinds of behaviours that were
mystifying me in family members. This was knowledge that she cd only come
by thru hard-won personal experience.
I can't speak for her later books, as I haven't read them.
People and families affected by HFA - High-Functioning Autism (autism with
normal, and frequently high "intelligence") or Asperger's syndrome, all
have tales of the endless daily battle to defend their own version of
their/our lives, and neurological differences, against claims that they
are using disability as an excuse for "malingering", "trouble-making",
"lack of self-discipline", "stupidity", "laziness", "unnattractive
personalities".
Fortunately the feeling of constant embattlement, "damned if you claim
disability, damned if you don't" is being offset by the growth
of autistic self-advocacy movements.
Some good entry sites on the web:
InternAut : http://spidernet.nl/~martijn_dekker/internaut/cover.spml
OASIS
and the InLV homepage at http://www.inlv.demon.nl/
Good luck with your work. It sounds interesting.
Judy Singer
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|