Several years ago, one of my youngest's (my non-verbal autistic) well-meaning teachers gave us a video to watch by the name of Autism is a World -- a CNN documentary that was nominated for an Academy Award back in 2004.
The story is told from the viewpoint of a non-verbal autistic who could not communicate with the world at large until she was 13 years old. Deemed retarded and written off by most, her world opened up when introduced to facilitated communication. It turns out that this girl had an IQ of 134... by measurable standards. As those of us with autistics know, it can be very hard to get an accurate accounting of their intelligence.
It was meant to be encouraging, but we were horrified. This was our nightmares come to life. Highly intelligent and trapped by autism, unable to break free. Our youngest is now almost 16, and still unable to communicate. What if she is in the same situation, and with no way to let anyone know?
It's a scary prospect. While we of course want her to be intelligent, we also don't want her to suffer in silence, unable to express that intelligence.
Autism is a World preview on youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1wsiVYCqn0
The story is told from the viewpoint of a non-verbal autistic who could not communicate with the world at large until she was 13 years old. Deemed retarded and written off by most, her world opened up when introduced to facilitated communication. It turns out that this girl had an IQ of 134... by measurable standards. As those of us with autistics know, it can be very hard to get an accurate accounting of their intelligence.
It was meant to be encouraging, but we were horrified. This was our nightmares come to life. Highly intelligent and trapped by autism, unable to break free. Our youngest is now almost 16, and still unable to communicate. What if she is in the same situation, and with no way to let anyone know?
It's a scary prospect. While we of course want her to be intelligent, we also don't want her to suffer in silence, unable to express that intelligence.
Autism is a World preview on youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1wsiVYCqn0