I was honored to be asked to participate in this week’s edition of the Huffington Post TED Weekend. I am a huge fan of the TED platform and was very excited to be a part of the conversation.
It was also sort of fun to find out whether or not I could write a post in 550-800 words. Given that it normally takes me at least 400 just to say, “Hi, my name is Jess,” it was definitely a challenge. In the end I had to give up the link to Diary cause it went over the word count, but I made it.
Anyway, the jumping off point for the post is a talk billed as a Jaw Dropping Performance from a Blind Musical Genius with Autism.
I really, really hope you’ll read what I wrote in response.
It might not be what you expect.
Please Click –> HERE <– to read the post.
I’ll see you there!
I read this last night . It was amazing, as was the video.
I cannot locate your response and can no longer find a way to leave comments on your posts there.
Love you,
Mom
left a comment there…the post was terrific. i’m personally wary of the savant/genius narratives. those are important stories too…the more spectrum stories, the better…but when i first got diagnosed with Aspergers, i read everything i could find online…and the narrative then was, “Aspergers = savantism!” which was definitely not my story, not by a long shot. i just struggled with social pragmatics, depression, the end, no magical super gifts. it hurt seeing those stories and feeling so far behind everyone else, even after a diagnosis. anyway, your post meant a lot to me…it’s something i think about a lot, and the description of your sweet one seeing music was terrific.
“Autistics don’t have to be prodigies to find value in their every-day skills and to use those skills to compensate for their challenges.
They don’t have to be savants to live lives that matter and that make the world a better place for all of us.
They just need to have the chance to try.”
This post is so spot on – put this quote with a link to the article on my blog. Your writing is so wonderful, Jess, seriously!