-
Beyond the Card: When Visual Supports Stop Supporting
Everyone was arriving at once to begin the day. I was putting my things away when I heard someone across the classroom say, "No thank you, friend. We don't throw cards on the floor." I looked over and saw Zachary sitting at a table, dropping cards onto the floor one by one. I walked over and...
-
Designing for the Gap, Not the Child: What Changes When Assistive Technology Asks the Adult to Learn
My younger cousin was six when I understood the problem I would spend the next two years working on. He was upset about something that had happened in the next room, and the adults who loved him most — his parents and me — stood around him running a checklist. Was he hungry. Was he tired. Was...
-
What Is the Autistic Neurotype? Rethinking Autism Beyond the DSM
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) defines Autistic people through medicalized criteria that judge Autists from the outside; its diagnostic framework is constructed on allistic (nonautistic) observations, largely without Autistic input. As a result, the dominant...
