Rail Against Stigma: This is not a Radical Act!

Posted on February 1, 2014 by Leah Kelley, Ed.D.

Sometimes people think I am kinda’ a radical for speaking against negative stigma and organizations like Autism Speaks that perpetuate the stance that Autistic people are a burden and a tragedy.

However, I don’t believe that speaking up for human rights and social justice is a radical act… far from that… it is simply the right thing to do.

Yesterday there was news of the third murder of an Autistic person at the hands of their parent/caregiver in the past month.

We have to rail against stigma…

Taking a stand against the rhetoric that is used to justify murder is far from a radical act…

It is collective responsibility…

Screen shot 2014-02-01 at 2.50.03 PM

Let me say that again:

We have to rail against stigma…

Taking a stand against the rhetoric that is used to justify murder is far from a radical act…

It is collective responsibility…

 
Related Posts:
• http://raisingrebelsouls.blogspot.ca/2014/01/the-boycottautismspeaks-movement-is_31.html?spref=fb
• https://30daysofautism.wordpress.com/2013/11/16/fear-hate-and-exclusion-its-time-to-silence-autism-speaks/
• http://emmashopebook.com/2014/01/14/autism-and-human-rights/
• http://amazingadventuresautism.blogspot.com.au/2014/02/autistic-people-have-same-rights-as.html
• http://www.squidalicious.com/2013/09/on-autism-murder-apologists.html

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30 Days of Autism is a project designed to fight stigma, promote civil rights, and increase understanding and acceptance for those who process and experience the world differently.

© Leah Kelley, Thirty Days of Autism (2014)

About Leah Kelley, Ed.D.

Leah Kelley, M.Ed, Ed.D., Writer, Consultant, Activist, Speaker, and Educator, working with Teacher Candidates at UBC. Authors blog: 30 Days of Autism. Projects support social understanding, Neurodiversity paradigm, Disability Justice, and connecting Disability Studies in Education(DSE)to Educational Practice. Twitter: @leah_kelley Facebook: 30 Days of Autism: Leah Kelley
This entry was posted in ableism, acceptance, Autism, Boycott Autism Speaks, Collective Responsibility, Rail Against Stigma, reframe tragedy and tagged , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

8 Responses to Rail Against Stigma: This is not a Radical Act!

  1. Erin says:
    February 1, 2014 at 4:54 pm

    This is so true, Leah! Thank you for writing this.

    Like

    Reply
  2. colinb897 says:
    February 1, 2014 at 5:06 pm

    And the thing then is, that being autistically is the best positioning for seeing and railing against stigma.
    Keep on keeping on Leah,

    Like

    Reply
  5. byamtich says:
    April 2, 2015 at 7:42 am

    Thanks for sharing. I hope this year is different.

    Like

    Reply

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