* Frank Klein, on the difference between low functioning autism and high functioning autism; in the article, “But my Kid is Low-Functioning . . . You’re Not . . . What You Wrote Does Not Apply!”
Autism itself is not the enemy… the barriers to development that are included with autism are the enemy. The retardation that springs from a lack of development is the enemy. The sensory problems that are often themselves the barriers are the enemy. These things are not part of who the child is… they are barriers to who the child is meant to be, according to the developmental blueprint. Work with the child’s strengths to overcome the weaknesses, and work within the autism, not against it, to overcome the developmental barriers. You do not have to wipe all of us out (”cure autism”) to solve the problems that the low-functioning autistics face. As I see it, autistics are another kind of person, almost like another species, that has an unfortunately high rate of sensory dysfunction and resultant mental retardation in its children. You do not have to get rid of the whole group (again, by that, I mean curing autism) to get rid of the retardation that is all too common among my kind. That would be like trying to get rid of sickle-cell anemia by “curing” blackness (eliminating blacks). We have too much to offer society for that to be allowed to happen… if we are helped to develop as much as possible. I think that is a great and wonderful goal, and I hope you will agree.”
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