Highly recommend Dr. Amy Lutz's book Chasing the Intact Mind to anyone interested in these issues. Lutz is an academic who studies disability and also the parent of a severely autistic and nonverbal child. The book discusses FC and also a host of other related issues. The "intact mind" is her name for the insistence among parents and som…
Highly recommend Dr. Amy Lutz's book Chasing the Intact Mind to anyone interested in these issues. Lutz is an academic who studies disability and also the parent of a severely autistic and nonverbal child. The book discusses FC and also a host of other related issues. The "intact mind" is her name for the insistence among parents and some in the therapeutic world that every severely cognitively disabled person harbors a "normal" intellect that's fighting to get out. But of course, severe cognitive disabilities exist. And as suggested at the end of this piece, at some point the dogged attachment to the idea that these kids are communicating with discredited methods amounts to saying that they only have value, rights, and dignity if they can talk like the rest of us. And that's not progressive or compassionate.
These neurodiverse people definitely arent as articulate as the rest of us, and they do need people to invest extra time with them to enable their communication. Good to see that these avenues of communication are available, like a window into their world.
Highly recommend Dr. Amy Lutz's book Chasing the Intact Mind to anyone interested in these issues. Lutz is an academic who studies disability and also the parent of a severely autistic and nonverbal child. The book discusses FC and also a host of other related issues. The "intact mind" is her name for the insistence among parents and some in the therapeutic world that every severely cognitively disabled person harbors a "normal" intellect that's fighting to get out. But of course, severe cognitive disabilities exist. And as suggested at the end of this piece, at some point the dogged attachment to the idea that these kids are communicating with discredited methods amounts to saying that they only have value, rights, and dignity if they can talk like the rest of us. And that's not progressive or compassionate.
These neurodiverse people definitely arent as articulate as the rest of us, and they do need people to invest extra time with them to enable their communication. Good to see that these avenues of communication are available, like a window into their world.