Autistic

Almost two decades ago, I went to a medical conference to learn about treatment options for my son’s ulcerative colitis. His doctor described an incident involving a non-speaking autistic teenage patient, who everyone assumed couldn’t understand anything. His parents were mystified and frustrated because his repetitive behaviours, including screaming and hitting his head against the wall, were out of control. As they were telling the doctor that his teachers were sure this was a purely behavioural issue, the boy grabbed…

Credit: CC0 Public Domain About 1 out of every 100 students in American public schools has autism. A subset of these students also have academic gifts and talents in a broad range of areas, including math, science, technology, the humanities, and the arts. These students are often referred to as "twice exceptional." To learn more about this…

In 2012, French film-maker Claire Doyon made Pénélope, a 50-minute documentary, about taking her autistic daughter Pénélope to deepest Mongolia to meet a shaman. As a parent of children with autism, I made it a mission to watch as many films as I could about the condition, and this unfortunately appears to have slipped through the net and is not available anywhere, at least in the UK or US.That elusiveness alone might suggest that Doyon’s own feelings about the film, her daughter and her quest to find ways to cope with…

An associate of Jeffrey Epstein‘s has been sued in United States District Court in the Southern District of New York for allegedly raping a 16-year-old autistic girl. Leon Black, the billionaire founder of the hedge fund Apollo Global Management, is accused of raping the then-16-year-old girl in 2002 at Epstein’s townhouse on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, according to the complaint. The victim, identified as Jane Doe, is autistic and was born with Mosaic Down Syndrome, a form of Down Syndrome that results in a…

A groundbreaking study found that the age of autism diagnosis doesn’t significantly affect the quality of life of individuals with autism. The study underlines that an autism diagnosis’s impact varies from person to person, suggesting that individual factors should be prioritized.According to research from the University of Bath and King’s College London, the age of autism diagnosis does not significantly affect an individual’s quality of life. Other factors, such as gender and additional mental health conditions, have a…

The chatbot’s flexibility also comes with some unaddressed problems. It can produce biased, unpredictable, and often fabricated answers, and is built in part on personal information scraped without permission, raising privacy concerns.Goldkind advises that people turning to ChatGPT should be familiar with its terms of service, understand the basics of how it works (and how information shared in a chat may not stay private), and bear in mind its limitations, such as its tendency to fabricate information. Young said they…

11-year-old Autistic boy Jude Kofie, who is a prodigious musical talent, was recently surprised with a $15,000 grand piano that was gifted to him by a stranger who heard him play.Per CBS News, Aurora, Colorado piano tuner Bill Magnusson was made aware of Jude’s talents after a local news story that went viral last year. He was so impressed by the boy’s talents that he felt compelled to gift Jude a piano so as to not waste his gift.Despite his impressive talents, Jude hasn’t had a single piano lesson. “I was here watching…

‘I’ve always dreamed of being in a boyband,” says director Eddie Sternberg, laughing – then quickly adding for clarity: “I’m kidding!” He’s talking about his debut feature, I Used to Be Famous. It’s the story of a washed-up former pop star played by Deadpool actor Ed Skrein, who gets his musical mojo back by jamming with a talented autistic drummer (played by newcomer Leo Long).Actually, says Sternberg, he got the idea for the film 10 years ago when pop stars started doing comeback tours. “Blue, 5ive, Eternal – all these…

Many autistic people experience difficulties in expressing their emotions. This can result in increased anxiety, depression, anger and physical health problems. Research shows autistic adults are significantly more likely to experience depression and anxiety than their peers.Imagine a future, where technology could help people regulate their emotions and alert them to sensory overload before they became overwhelmed.An increasing number of technological solutions, that aim to help people regulate their emotions are being…

"Your daughter is literally autistic and you're on Stan Twitter instead of making sure she's not sticking her finger in outlets," read the now-deleted tweet Cardi B. Pic/AFP Cardi B had a befitting response to a Twitterrati who trolled her daughter Kulture, calling her autistic. According to Page Six, a Twitter user commented that although the 'Never Give Up' rapper was on Stan Twitter, a platform where fans interact with…