Friday, December 05, 2008

Some Real Autism Hubs

One of the great misnomers of the autism blogosphere is the site called "Autism Hub". The AH is anything but a hub for autism blogging. Fortunately the past year has seen the development of some true autism hubs in the blogosphere.

While pretending to be a center for "the very best in Autism Blogging" the Autism Hub is really a gathering place and blog feed service for a narrower slice of autism reality, the anti-autism cure adherents of "Neurodiversity" which claims that autism disorders are not disorders at all, just natural variations of human existence. There are two primary categories of autism bloggers at the AH - High functioning autistics and persons with Aspergers and a few parents who subscribe to Neurodiversity ideology.

Lower functioning autistic persons with cognitive disabilities are rarely mentioned at the "Autism" Hub. They are outcasts at the AH where any mention of the harsher realities facing the more severely autistic is strictly verboten. Mention of possible environmental causes of autism is also frowned upon by the Neurodiversity leaders of the AH who have gone so far as to insinuate that free discussion of environmental causes of autism and of the harsher realities facing lower functioning autistic persons have contributed to horrific tragedies of parents who have murdered their autistic children.

The past year though has seen the development of some true autism hubs in the blogsophere, sites that aggregate or post blogs reflecting the entire spectrum of autism perspectives. On these sites even autism reality oriented blogs surface. One site in particular which fills the need for a real autism hub in the blogosphere is The Autism Retort which states that it includes Autism blogs of all flavors. Those you agree with, those you don't.

The Autism Retort lives up to the claim by including reality oriented blogs like Facing Autism in New Brunswick alongside ideological blogs like Autism Vox and the Autism Hub itself. Even John Best's Hating Autism (condemned by Autism Hub Bloggers) is listed (although misnamed as Halting Autism). BlogNetNews.com/Autism also presents a wide range of autism blogs. A recent start up is Top Autism Sites which includes both reality based Autism blogs and ideologically oriented neurodiversity blogs .

In all fairness to the Autism Hub although it does not represent the spectrum of autism perspectives in the blogosphere it is a convenient place to check out Neurodiversity Blogs. I drop into the AH periodically and I sincerely thank the organizers for providing this service.





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