Dehumanization of the Party and it's Members in 1984

Trigger Warning: Talk of being "inhuman," Discussion of a rather triggering novel (1984)

This is the final paper I wrote for my literature class over the summer, looking at duhmanization in the Party in 1984. 

Dehumanization of the Party and it's Members in 1984

    George Orwell's 1984 can be seen in many ways: As a condemnation of socialism (which he claims it not to be,) as a condemnation of totalitarianism, and as an examination of the repression of humanity inherent in oppression that one can not overcome. In the first, 1984 "served as a sort of an ideological super-weapon in the Cold War" (Deutscher 35). However, the fact that socialism is not inherently totalitarian suggests that it was not socialism itself (an economic model, not a form of government- communism could be considered a form of government, but socialism is decidedly not) which he criticizes, but totalitarianism itself by examining the repression of humanity which occurs under oppression that one can not overcome.

    In the world of 1984, the Party has complete control, using the Ministries of Truth, Peace, Love, and Plenty, all of which do the exact opposite of what their names suggest. Winston works in the Ministry of Truth, known as Minitrue in NewSpeak, where he changes currently existing documentary evidence in order to support Party doctrine. This involves changing records of what production was predicted to be, what past production was, and what current production is to support the claims of Miniplenty, the Ministry of Plenty. It also involves creating fictional people who died heroically in the war in order to replace other news stories which contradict the current party history. When the enemy in the war changes in the middle of a Hate Week demonstration, all party members who work for Minitrue are called to the office to fix the documentation. On this revision, "In so far as he had time to remember it, he was not troubled by the fact that every word he murmured into the speakwrite, every stroke of his ink pencil, was a deliberate lie" (184). That is, even before he is brainwashed in the Ministry of Love, Winston is no longer troubled by lying, suggesting a loss of humanity under the basic oppression all party members face. Earlier, "He kicked the thing into the gutter" (Orwell 84), but this thing a human hand. It was severed, and the owner probably killed, by the rocket bomb that fell moments prior. Kicking it into the gutter, considering it to be just an it, is not the action of someone fully in touch with his own humanity. Yet earlier, when writing in the diary, Winston notes that at the movies, when a man is killed, he sees the ``audience shouting with laughter as he sank" (Orwell 10). When one prole woman complains about this being shown to children, he calls it a typical prole reaction, not seeing the horror of what is being shown for what it is, not seeing the inhumanity inherent in entertainment generated from this treatment of ones fellow man. The prole woman retained her humanity, but even as Winston was rebelling against the loss of humanity required to survive in the party, he had already lost more of it than he knew.

    The effects on someone who grew up in the Party, who was never aware of things like private standards of morals and the humanity that is lost in the world of 1984, is even greater. Look at Julia for proof. When Winston tries to describe a human moment involving his mother and sister, she responds with '"I expect you were a beastly little swine in those days"' (Orwell 165 ) . This is not the reaction of someone who grasps the point of his story, but of someone who does not herself possess the humanity required to comprehend the meaning of his story.

    None of this is accidental. "The outstanding feature of Orwell's superstate is a monumental inefficiency the purpose of which is to ensure the futility of all human endeavor and in effect, to rob existence of its organic semblance: growth, becoming (Lief 15), that is, to rob people of that which makes them human. Also along these lines, the slogans of the Party are:

WAR IS PEACE.

FREEDOM IS SLAVERY.

IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH

(Orwell 17). The whole Party ideology is based on contradictions that require doublethink to keep in one's head, and this doublethink is what keeps people in line. It is how people modify the past and believe that the past has never been modified. By making a perversion of how reality works, the Party creates a space where "It is 'no longer "natural" to be a man'; it is an actual perversion" (Carter 178). The purpose of NewSpeak is to make thought crimes impossible; it is to restrict language choices so that there is no way to put unorthodoxy into words, no way to communicate anything besides basic utilitarian needs and the Party doctrine. Carter also claims that ``NewSpeak is the language of the they-self" (Carter 199), a language designed to make it so that only the doings of the Party are possible. In a sense, the purpose of NewSpeak is to deprive people of the higher intellectual pursuits that set us apart from the beasts. This may be part of why Winston seems to love Oldspeak so: "NewSpeak, he senses, in effect creates a conspiracy of silence about all the horrors of the life he sees going on around him" (Watt 106). It does this by making it impossible to call these horrors what they are: If it is caused by something the Party deems good, the word for it in NewSpeak will include the fact that it is good. If it is not good, it is probably under the umbrella of thoughtcrime, the only crime there seems to be.

    Ingsoc seeks to dehumanize on all levels, not just in the area of language. "Indeed, the aim to which Ingsoc is committed is the abolition of a personal interior and the elimination of all sense of the mineness of individual existence" (Carter 181). By condemning the "ownlife," the NewSpeak word for the near-heretical individuality and eccentricity, and by enforcing their orthodoxy on all Party members, they are making sure that Party members do not even have time for the intellectual pursuits, even if they did have the language for them. Needing to volunteer for extra party activities a certain number of nights each week is simply a part of this, as is the Junior Anti-Sex League, where people deny what is a fundamental part of most people's existence.

    Another piece is the constant surveillance. Yes, this surveillance allows the Thought Police to infer what you are thinking, and yes, it allows the Thought Police to know every move you make, but that is not the only purpose. "Under surveillance a man nessesarily plays a role. He cannot be himself" (Lief 87). This, too, is a part of the telescreen's job. Winston notably writes in the diary in a position where the telescreen can not see him, a location which is not supposed to exist. He knows that it is wise to wear an expression of quiet optimism when facing a telescreen (Orwell 6-7). Essentially, he knows that he is always acting for the telescreen, that he can never truly be himself, which is an essential part of his humanity.

    Yet opposing the oppression does not return their humanity to them. When rebelling in secret with Julia, having their single outdoor meeting in the so-called Golden Country, Winston says, '"I hate purity. I hate goodness. I don't want virtue to exist anywhere. I want everyone to be corrupt to the bones"' (Orwell 127). All traits normally associated with humanity, and all traits that Winston wishes away when attempting to rebel against the Party which also makes having such traits impossible. One might argue that the rules of sexual relations and marriage the Party holds its members to are related to purity, virtue, and goodness, but this relation is in the actions only, not the intent behind them. The intent is to control Party members, to make sure that they are not getting satisfaction anywhere besides the corrupt Party itself, and so those so-called morals are in fact a symptom of the corruption of the Party. Thus, it is corruption and inhumanity that Winston turns to in order to fight the corruption and inhumanity that the Party dresses up as morals.

    To follow the goal of eventually defeating the Party, both Winston and Julia agree that they are willing 'to lie, to steal, to forge, to murder, to encourage drug-taking and prostitution, to disseminate venereal diseases, to throw vitriol in a child's face' (p. 273) when attempting to join the Brotherhood, but this is only a trick of the party. Here Winston learns that the Brotherhood is a fiction which O'Brian helped to create, that O'Brian was helped write the book which convinces him that the future belongs to the unimportant proles, and that his induction into the Brotherhood is a trick to get him to promise that he is willing to perform all of these inhuman acts.

    Of course, Winston and Julia are eventually caught and brought to the Ministry of Love to be made sane, as the Party would put it. At this point, Winston is not allowed any contact with Julia, so the reader is not aware of what is happening to her. O'Brian claims that she turned very quickly, which may be true. It may also be an attempt at disheartening Winston. There is no real way to know. Here the inhumanity of the Party is made yet more obvious. Winston is tortured in the Ministry of Love, confessing to everything the Party wants him to confess to. During the torture, while he implicates Julia in many crimes, he continues to love her. This love can be seen as his final act of rebellion against the inhumanity the Party pushes for. In all other senses, the Party wins when Winston believes them, as he will no longer actively rebel. However, the inevitability of Room 101 is clear from the moment Winston is brought to the Ministry. "Never again will you be capable of ordinary human feeling. Everything will be dead inside you. Never again will you be capable of love, or friendship, or joy of living, or laughter, or curiosity, or courage, or integrity" (259-260), O'Brian tells Winston while working to "cure" him of his "insanity" of believing the past to be immutable and the Party to be fallible. This is perhaps the most explicit mention of the inhumanity of the Party which is made in the novel, though O'Brians' description of the future: "If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face- forever" (271), perhaps comes close. The purpose of power is to keep power, and anything that is done to keep power is justified. Winston understands this, and later writes "FREEDOM IS SLAVERY. TWO AND TWO MAKE FIVE. GOD IS POWER"(Orwell 280). He now believes the Party doctrine, though he does not yet love Big Brother. He still has a shred of humanity, and O'Brian still calls him the last man.

    Winston's final break, when he does, in fact, betray Julia, comes in the feared Room 101, which contains the worst thing in the world. For him, it is rats. By pushing Winston with something that is unendurable for him, O'Brian forces Winston to realize that the only way out is to put another human in his place. Thus, in panic, he repeatedly shouts, "Do it to Julia!" (Orwell 289), finally betraying her. At this point, he loses his remaining shred of humanity, and he is safe to release.

    At some point after release, he encounters Julia. She betrayed him too. Explaining,

"'Sometimes', she said, 'they threaten you with something - something you can't stand up to, can't even think about. And then you say, "Don't do it to me, do it to somebody else, do it to so-and-so" . . ." (Orwell 295).

   That's how the Party wins, in the end. They make people see that there is something which they would have their loved one suffer before going through it themselves, and that breaks them.

    In contrast, the proles are allowed to retain their humanity because they are considered not to matter by the Inner Party. The Inner Party knows that historical revolutions have all been started by the middle class, even if the fighters were largely from the lower class. The spark comes from the middle class, and the Inner Party prevents the Outer Party from ever providing that spark using the tactics they used on Winston and Julia. Winston is aware of this when he notes that nothing likely happened to the prole woman who complained about the movie, and he notes it again with Julia. "The proles are human beings", he said aloud. "We are not human" (Orwell 166). That is key: Because the proles have no power, they can stay human. It is only those who might be able to provide a spark who are forced to become inhuman- that is, only members of the Party, be it Inner Party or Outer Party.

Works Cited

Carter, Michael. ``Nineteen Eighty-four." George Orwell and the Problem of Authentic Existence.    

    Totowa, NJ: Barnes & Noble, 1985. 176-214. Print.

Deutscher, Isaac. ""1984" -The Mysticism of Cruelty." Heretics and Renegades, and Other Essays. 

    London: H. Hamilton, 1955. 35-50. Print.

Lief, Ruth Ann. Homage to Oceania; the Prophetic Vision of George Orwell. [Columbus]: Ohio State 

    UP, 1969. Print.

Orwell, George. 1984. New York: H. Wolff, 1949. Print.

Watt, Ian. "Winston Smith: The Last Humanist." On Nineteen Eighty-four. Ed. Peter Stansky. New York: 

    W. H. Freeman and, 1983. 106-13. Print.

In Response to Connecticut

Trigger Warning: Mass Murder, Violence, Ableism, blaming the first two on autism, discussions of previous

Yesterday, there was a shooting in Connecticut. This is a tragedy, and I wish for none of this to ever happen again. It is horrible to think about, but it happened. I wish it had not. It is wrong. Lydia's Nameless Things Dismantle is a good response. It explains well how I feel when I hear what happened, when I think about the tragedy, the loss of life.
I've stayed away from the news. I don't really want to hear what all they have to say. I know they will blame it on my neurology, regardless of the killers neurology being mine or not. They will say it was.
I have, however, read some responses. This is my comment on one, a good one.

It is just as hard for me to imagine that the killer could share my neurology as the neurotypicals find it for theirs. The only difference is that they have the power to make people think he had mine and that it means mine is to blame, and I can’t.What his neurology actually was is irrelevant to this statement.

We can't actually talk about this continuous pinning of shootings on autism without talking about the stigma of disability, especially disabilities that are based in the brain. We can't  actually talk about it without talking about the power differences between Autistic people and those who keep pinning mass murder on the way our brains are wired.
People keep saying that now is not the time to talk about this, but the instant the accusation has been made, the time to talk is now. The "no politics in a tragedy" rule is broken by the attack on my neurology, and I am allowed to defend myself, no matter how political, long-winded, or anything else you could call my defense. I am not the one derailing the conversation about a tragedy. I am the one answering an attack on the very core of who I am, and I am permitted that answer everywhere and everywhen such an attack happens.
Autism does not equate to violence. Sociopathy does not equate to violence. Lack of empathy does not equate to violence. Mental illnesses do not equate to violence. In fact, it leads to disproportionately being the victim, not the perpetrator, of abuses.
Read that again. You blame brain differences that lead to being disproportionately victimized for leading people to commit crimes. That is backwards. That is the opposite of the right thing to do. That is what happens, every time. That needs to stop.
Every one of us needs to answer this, every place we see it. Some of us already have. These are some answers.
ASAN Statement on Media Reports Regarding Newtown, CT Shooting
Statement from Michael John Carley on the Newtown, CT Shootings- GRASP site.
AWN’s Appeal to Media Sources Covering Newtown, CT
Experts: No Link Between Asperger's,Violence-ABC News
Connecticut school shooting: People with Asperger’s unlikely to break the law, experts say-thestar.com. Note that untreated mental illness does NOT make you more likely to be violent any more than autism does.
Recent Tragedies Not Related to Autism-ICAA
AANE Statement on the tragedy in Newtown, CT
CNN Expert Says for Autistic People "Something's Missing in the Brain"-ThAutcast
You Can Call Me Angry, Just Don't Call Him Autistic-Kim Stagliano
Can I hide somewhere until it's over?-Autistic Hoya
Praying for Time: The Sandy Hook Shootings, Mental Illness, and Ableism-That Crazy Crippled Chick
Plea from the scariest kid on the block-Neurodivergent K
The Pain of Being Linked by Asperger Dx to a Mass Shooter-Psychology Today Blog
ARI Autistic Global Initiative Committee's Statement on the Newtown, CT Tragedy
Fox News And The New York Times Abet Media Effort To Falsely Link Autism With CT Shooting
I'm Autistic: Please Don't Fear Me...(Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting)
You Are Not Adam Lanza’s Mother-The Girl Who Was Thursday
On the Guns Thing-The Global Sociology Blog
Responding to Fear With Facts- Diary of a Mom. That's where I made my comment.
Stepping Into the Void-Diary of a Mom again.
Mother with Asperger Syndrome Grieves Sandy Hook Elementary Victims-Paula C. Durbin-Westly Autistic Advocacy Blog
Unspeakable-Reinventing Mommy
Gun Violence and the Search for a Scapegoat- Autism Edition-Liz, includes a list to other responses as well
CT Shootings-Autismum
Words-Mama's Turn Now
Autism, empathy, and violence: One of these things doesn't belong here-Emily Willingham
My Broken Back-Raving Mother From Hell
Evil. Insane. Mentally Ill. Autistic.-Living My Social Work
When Children Die, It's Time to Grieve and Reflect, Not to Scapegoat-Disability and Representation
No, You Are Not Adam Lanza’s Mother and Yes, Your Kid’s Privacy Matters-Disability and Representation
Asperger’s ( does not mean lack of empathy) Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting USA-Robyn Steward
Autism, Empathy, and Violence: Asperger’s Does Not Explain Connecticut Shooting-Emily Willingham
Thoughts on Newtown, and Love to the Autism Community.-Raising Rebel Souls
Autism, empathy, and violence: One of these things doesn't belong here
"I'm an autistic person, not a killer."-Hello TOTKO
The Connecticut Tragedy and Autism-Yeah Good Times
There really aren’t words, but I’m going to try anyway-The Caffinated Aspie
In the Wake of Tragedy-Balanced Imperfection
Defending Autism as We Mourn-Sailing Autistic Seas
I Won't Go Back: The Sandy Hook Shootings and Asperger's Syndrome-Amy Gravino
When You Tie Shootings to Mental Illness-Ashley Miller
You Are Not His Mother-Ashley Miller
You Are NOT Adam Lanza's Mother
One Truth About Autism and the Sandy Hook Elementary Tragedy
Diary of a Mom responds on Facebook
Autism Society of America responds on Facebook
Autism Cannot Explain This-The Autism Life
That's Just Not What Autism Is-The Autism Life
Darkness Stealing the Light-Red Vines and Red Wine
Red Vines and Red Wine responds on Facebook
Judy Endow responds on Facebook
Jill Herschman responds on Facebook
A Legion For Liam responds on Facebook
Common Threads Resource Center responds on Facebook.
Mommy Buddy From the Planet Autism responds on Facebook
See Connor Conquer responds on Facebook
Living on the Spectrum: The Connor Chronicles responds on Facebook
Open Letter to the World-Traveling Show
Neuroatypically Speaking
‘YOU ARE NOT ADAM LANZA’S MOM’: AN AUTISTIC PERSON’S PERSPECTIVE ON THE VIRAL ARTICLE BY LIZA LONG-likeicouldn'ttakeyou on Tumblr
asyluum on Tumblr
feministrocker on Tumblr
macabremachinations on Tumblr
thepiratehook on Tumblr- Warning, this one is angry. This person has that right.

For a small can of science, check Are Autistic People Natural Born Criminals? It's from 2010 and still relevant.

Even Autism Speaks is in on this one, with a message that I agree with. This might be the only statement of theirs I ever approve of, but this one is good.

As much as possible (Pinterest doesn't seem to like Facebook posts, and not everything has an image to pin,) I am compiling responses here as well.

Autism In China: The Paper I Actually Turned In

Trigger Warning: Suicide, probably abuse

More focus was on the experiences of families than I would have liked for much of the paper because it's hard to get information on what actual Autistic people are saying there at the moment. It probably doesn't help that China didn't officially recognize autism as a disability until 2006, so there aren't that many Autistic adults in China who know they are autistic. Anyway, here it be:

Autism In China

                Imagine that the parents of your classmates held a protest. Imagine that this protest was because they thought you did not belong in the classroom with their children. For autistic children in China, this can be reality. In Shenzhen, one boy learned this the hard way. No matter that he was sufficiently intelligent to keep up in the class, that he was not aggressive, acceptance of autistic children was not to be. Nineteen parents signed a letter to the school asking for the removal of an autistic boy in their children’s class. They said that they “wouldn’t be friendly” if the school did not keep the boy out, and so the school did. First, they wouldn’t let him in, so he slipped in and took an empty desk. Then they took his desk, so he stood in the back of the room without a desk. They taught their children that it was acceptable to hurt people who are different for even a small gain, and they taught the expelled boy that he can never be accepted. The lesson stuck, and he jumped from a balcony, killing himself soon after.

                Within the week, another story of parents attempting to remove an autistic boy from his class came to light. His doctors have said that he has only slight autistic tendencies, and would be best for him to remain in regular classes. He was friends with some of his classmates, but the parents still wanted him removed, and the stress of this may be affecting him. His attempts to jump off the building, however, have been dismissed as attention-seeking and not as worrisome. Given the recent suicide of a student who faced a similar situation and was eventually removed from his class, the lack of concern over attempts at jumping from buildings seems unwise.

Education for people with disabilities is covered in China’s compulsory education regulations in that they are to receive an education, but students with developmental disabilities such as autism are often excluded from schools and from community life. “Out of sight, out of mind” was the attitude for centuries, and many autistic people are hidden at home. Attempts to include autistic people in China are fairly recent and face many obstacles, such as the parents in these two cases. These actions come from a society that cares far more about society than individuals, where anyone who differs from the norm faces significant obstacles to acceptance. Acceptance, of course, depends to some extent on both inclusion and on understanding of what autism even is, both of which are lacking in Chinese society.

                 With understanding so lacking and autism only officially recognized since 2006, there are no official statistics on the prevalence, though outside estimates range from 0.2% to the approximately 1% that we see in the United States for autistic spectrum disorders. Further complications arise from people in China not understanding what autism is, the large (35 months on average) gap between noticing autistic tendencies and any sort of diagnosis,

                Most Chinese people have not even heard of autism, and people living in rural areas are unlikely to have the resources to get a diagnosis or potentially helpful services, further reducing the known prevalence and further increasing the difficulties that autistic people may face. Among the professionals who do know what autism is, many have not heard of Asperger’s and many will say that a child has “autism-like symptoms” rather than that the child is autistic due to not understanding that classic autism is not the only type, not realizing even classic autistics are not necessarily as severely impaired as expected, and knowing the stigma attached to an autism diagnosis in China and elsewhere.  On top of this, evauations for autistic spectrum disorders are much faster in China than in the United States and do not involve observing the child in situations such as home or school, where autistic traits are likely to show. This leaves many autistic people without a label that would allow them to receive what services exist.

                Once it has been determined that a child is, in fact, autistic, there is much left to do. Will this child be one of the ones the experts think should be in a general classroom? What therapies will be best? In China, acupuncture is a common treatment for autism, as is massage therapy for the sensory processing differences that many autistic people have and applied behavioral analysis (ABA) based therapies, the most commonly used theory for creating behavior modification and educational programs for autistic people. Some parents attempt to enroll their autistic children in public schools that are designed for disabled students in general, only to find that these special schools are meant for students with physical disabilities or cognitive impairments, which many autistic people have neither of. Others take out loans to pay for private training programs with monthly costs often greater than their monthly salaries. Some of these are in hopes of normalizing their children, an impossible goal, while others have maximum independence and life skills as the goal, which can be achieved with proper education. In either case, the therapies tend to be expensive, and the pressure on families is great. Many experts note that the best time to “train” autistic children is from ages two to six, which is in line with the emphasis on early intervention that we see in the United States and other countries. However, there is an old Chinese superstition that children who talk late will grow up to be somebody important, which leads to many autistic children being diagnosed late, often after this window people assume to be most effective has past.

                Between the difficulties finding an education that works for the autistic child between the specialized schools that cater to a different set of difficulties than those faced by many autistic people, the expense of private schools and individualized therapies, the unwillingness of many teachers in general education to include autistic students despite the fact that autistic students who do poorly in their academics do not actually decrease the teachers ratings, the general stigma of autism in society among the few who know what it is, and the worries of what may happen after the child has grown up and the parents are gone, it is little wonder that autistic people and their families are both under higher stress than families without disabled members in China. Additionally families in China are generally allowed only one child (most exceptions and failures to enforce this policy occur in the same rural areas where an autism diagnosis is unlikely.) The high academic achievement that many Chinese parents use as their source of pride in their children is both unlikely to come from their autistic child due at least partially to discrimination and unable to come from the other children they are not permitted to have,  further increasing the stress that families are under.

                A big piece of the problem is the focus on high test scores at the potential expense of all other types of education, which leads to many issues with the Chinese educational system. Among them is the unwillingness of teachers to accept students with different needs as their standings are based on the test scores of their students. Removing the test scores of included students with disabilities from consideration has made some teachers more willing to accept some students with disabilities, but there are still many teachers unwilling to accept an autistic student in their mainstream classrooms. They are not legally required to do so, and the learning in regular classrooms movement in Chinese special education does not have the same requirement that students be educated in the least restrictive environment possible that the similar regulations in America have, meaning that many students are placed in segregated environments or segregated schools. Considering that research consistently shows both students with and without disabilities to perform better when students with disabilities are included as much as possible, this is not the ideal situation- both the autistic children and the neurotypical children would likely do better long term in the case of inclusion than in the current norm of keeping disabled children out of the main classrooms and in special schools.

                What resources there are are often prohibitively expensive. The Rainbow model, originally conceived of in the USA and currently based in Beijing, is one of the leaders in autism education in China, but sending a child to their centers costs $300 US per half day/wk as the monthly tuition…two years ago. That means that sending a child there four or five days per week costs more than the average family income before any other costs are considered.

                Some progress towards providing appropriate programs and towards acceptance into mainstream classrooms is beginning, however. Some of the public school districts are beginning to offer classes specific to developmentally disabled students as opposed to physically disabled or intellectually disabled students, which is an improvement on school-age autistic children being kept at home. Shanghai and Shenzhen in particular have begun offering these classrooms, though only to students who are from the district. Additionally, despite the unhappy ending, the fact that the teachers in Shenzhen were willing to attempt inclusion of an autistic boy has to be noted. Also in Shenzhen, autistic children were offered a workshop in which they could learn to make moon cakes with their families, a step towards including autistic people in at least some cultural activities. Some American resources on inclusion are being made available in Chinese, such as Paula Kluth’s Autism Checklist and You’re Going to Love This Kid. Landon Bryce’s recent I Love Being My Own Autistic Self currently has a translation in progress. With any luck, additional autism resources that take a neutral to positive view of autism and autistic people will lead to more acceptance of autistic people in China and more inclusion for them in mainstream classrooms.

EO Editorial Board. "No Love, No Education." Eeo.cn. The Economic Observer Online, 25 Sept.

            2012. Web. 11 Dec. 2012.

Huang, Ann X., and John J. Wheeler. "Including Children with Autism in General Education in China." Childhood Education 83.6 (2007): 356-60. Taylor & Francis Online. Taylor & Francis Group, 25 July 2012. Web. 10 Dec. 2012.

Huang, Ann X., Meixing Jia, and John J. Wheeler. "Children with Autism in the People’s Republic of China: Diagnosis, Legal Issues, and Educational Services." Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders (2012): 1-11. 20 Nov. 2012. Web. 10 Dec. 2012.

Kluth, Paula. "How Do You Say Whale In Arabic." Paula Kluth Toward Inclusive Classrooms and Communities. 7 Oct. 2012. Web. 12 Dec. 2012.

Kuo-Tai, Tao. "Brief Report: Infantile Autism in China." Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 17.2 (1987): 289-96. Springer Link. Springer. Web. 10 Dec. 2012.

Liu, Meng. "Parents Protest over Autistic Boy." Global Times. 28 Sept. 2012. Web. 10 Dec. 2012.

Meng Deng, K. F. Poon-Mcbrayer, and E. B. Farnsworth. "The Development of Special Education in China: A Sociocultural Review." Remedial and Special Education 22.5 (2001): 288-98. SAGE Journals. SAGE Publications, 1 Sept. 2001. Web. 10 Dec. 2012.

The Rainbow Model. www.autismchina.com. Web. 12 Dec. 2012.

Wang, Peishi, Craig A. Michaels, and Matthew S. Day. "Stresses and Coping Strategies of Chinese Families with Children with Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities." Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 41.6 (2011): 783`-95. Springer Link. Springer, 22 Sept. 2010. Web. 10 Dec. 2012. 

About That Petition

I'm talking about THIS one about organ transplants.

At this point, I'm pretty sure it's not going to make it, which does make me feel pretty horrible. But I had an idea.

People did mention issues with the wording of the petition, and it WAS vague  It also only talked about autism specifically, as opposed to all developmental and intellectual disabilities. 

We can re-write a better petition statement, and we can try again, oh, I don't know, maybe April, since people pay more attention to autism in April anyways?

We can make it include all the other disabilities that get discriminated against, too, at which point the petition is better because it addresses the whole issue and more likely to get signatures because it affects other disability communities. 

We can cite examples in the petition letter itself that say, "Yes, this is A Thing." We can write it better, get it to help a bigger group, have long-form things about it   already ready for day 1, and try again, with Day 1 as April 1st, grabbing the whole of Autism Awareness Month/Autism Acceptance Month, a time when people are paying more attention. Who all is with me?
Oh, and there is a discussion about this going on on Tumblr on off this post.


EDIT: If you want in on the editing, planning for the redo, get me your email and I'll get you invited to the private Tumblr for it. If you do it as a Tumblr ask, I will never share it with anyone ever, and if you do it as a comment here, I'll delete the comment as soon as you have joined the blog.

Talking About Autism In China

In my Economics class (Made In China) the final project was to write a 1500-2000 word paper about something related to China and to give a 5 minute presentation on that topic during the time that was reserved for the final exam. That was yesterday morning, and it went much better than I had been expecting. See, my topic was Autism in China, and I know what a hot button issue autism is for people who care about it. I went in prepared to be interrupted over one or all of the following:

• I didn't say anything at all about causation, something lots of people think should be the only worry.
• I said that I'm Autistic. 
• I didn't call myself a person with autism, either. I called myself Autistic. I called the autistic people in China autistic people too.
• I blatantly said that there is no cure for autism and that helping people function better is a thing but they are still autistic.

No one took issue with any of these things. I now really like talking about autism to people who are well aware that they are clueless and who don't currently have any skin in the game. It is refreshing to present to people who probably don't even know that there is an argument over language, who don't have a quack cure of choice, who aren't convinced that their child's regression is somehow both autism and a vaccine injury. It meant that I had five minutes to infodump unchallenged, and that is what I did.
I talked about the abuses that autistic children face in China. I talked about the fact that mainstream schools are not required to allow autistic students in, and when they do, their test scores are not counted in teacher performance. I talked about how the special schools for students with disabilities in China were generally designed for students with physical disabilities or for students with intellectual disabilities but were considered "trainable." (The "trainable" language and referring to ages two to six as the best time for "training" autistic students bothers me, of course. We are people, not dogs.) I talked about how many families in China still believe that family members with disabilities are either punishments for not respecting their ancestors enough or for things that their ancestors did, which only increases the stigma around disability. In fact, the understanding of autism is so poor and the stigma around it so bad among those who have actually heard of it that doctors will often diagnose people as "having autism symptoms" or "being an autistic-like case" instead of as autistic. Basically, autistic people in China have some difficulties right now, and the fact that autism wasn't even recognized officially as a disability there until 2006 really doesn't help with that.