I LOVE learning from the minds that have been released from their captivity. I was in awe of what I learned from those that could always speak/communicate, but when I started learning from people like Kedar, Carly Fleischmann, and others that spent so many years trapped inside their minds displaying a body/communication level that was greatly misrepresenting what was being hidden inside their heads/hearts.. my mind and heart exploded with joy. These people have helped me be a better mom for my son and have helped my son have the hope he needs to keep working to get to where these guys have gotten.
Excerpt from the article:
~ Kedar is a person — a mind, a soul — fighting to be heard. And, once he finds his voice, he doesn't mince words."The "experts" mostly never get it right. They assume we are some autistic, retarded stim-machine, not a trapped, thinking person who has a neurological illness. … Do I sound angry? Well, I am. It's time autistic people told the experts that they have made mistakes."
Kedar breaks down many of autism's odd behaviors. Why are autistic kids so attracted to water? "Because in the water I can feel my whole body," Kedar explains. He also explains the motivation behind the repetitive pleasure/ torture of self stimulatory behaviors."In my health class we are learning about drug abuse and alcoholism. I can't help but see a similarity in autistic stims… Stims are the drug of the trapped."
Kedar is both baffled and troubled by the "flight impulse" that sometimes overcomes him. It's a common autistic trait — in my son's school they call it "elopement." Sadly, it's the same impulse that recently got autistic student Avonte Oquendo killed."Traffic is visually stimulating. It may invite some kids to move toward it. I can't explain that one, but I have felt the impulse to bolt suddenly… It's not due to ignorance or idiocy. It is the impulses and too weak a body control to fight them off. It doesn't matter why. We still need supervision to be safe."
