In the Year of Sarah Palin, a Tribute to Hockey

By Dena Gassner
Autistic youth surprisingly loves hockey, becomes an assistant to the high school team. Mom is freaked, but learns...great piece.

The Autism Speaks Conundrum  

By Michael John Carley with the GRASP Board of Directors
From the fall of 2009. GRASP's response to Autism Speaks and their video, "I Am Autism;" the most hurtful media tool our members had yet seen.

The Primacy of Trust-Parts I and II  

By Barry Prizant, Ph.D., CCC-SLP (with Michael John Carley in Part II)
A two-part article that began in Autism Spectrum Quarterly's Fall, 2009 issue.

Soon, We'll be on an Ugly Quest for the Perfect Embryos

By India Knight
The London Times looks at the early ethical developments as pre-natal testing for the autism spectrum becomes more than just a possibility for the future.

Spotlight on GRASP
By Cara Matern
University of Chicago Law Journal piece.

Death Threats, Hate Mail: Autism Debate Turns Ugly
By Dan Childs
ABC News piece on the escalating dysfunctionalism of the vaccine debate.

MMR doctor Andrew Wakefield fixed data on autism
By Brian Deer
The London Times exposes vaccine-guru Wakefield for faulty research practices.

Vaccines, and the Promise of Alarmist Rhetoric
By Michael John Carley
Detailed outline of the history of the vaccine debate

Humans, Aliens, and Autism
By Ian Hacking
A long essay that appeared in Daedalus exploring the philosophical notions of identity that can be associated with the spectrum.

The Romantic Lives of Young Adults with Asperger's Syndrome
By Tony Attwood, Ph.D.
The AS muse explores our difference in approaching relationships.

A College Structure for Students with Asperger's Syndrome

By Michael John Carley
Education.com piece. One of many articles the site published in a series on AS.

What They Can Do; Not What They Can't

By Michael John Carley
Cover article on adult needs.in Autism Spectrum News.

The Truth About Autism: Scientists Reconsider What They Think They Know By David Wolman
Recent WIRED magazine piece featuring Amanda Baggs and others.

Understanding Asperger's Syndrome
by Johanna Sorrentino
Education.com article that features GRASP and Executive Director, Michael John Carley.

Who Says Autism's a Disease?

by Limor Gal
A piece on the differing ways of viewing autism that appeared recently in Israel.

Free to Be Themselves
by Meg McSherry Breslin
Great Chicago Tribune article on GRASP's Naperville, IL Teen Group.

A Very Human Disconnection
by Elizabeth Simpson
A lovely piece written about GRASP's Virginia Beach, VA Network that appeared in the Virginia Pilot in May, 2007.

The Asperger’s Syndrome Population on Trial: A One Woman Play
by Dr. Irma Jacqueline Ozer
This one-woman play was presented at the GRASP Support Group in June 2009. Several attendees requested that it be put online. The play is intended to show the degree of bias against persons with Asperger's and also to show that we can defend ourselves.

Better Late Than Never from the Autism Asperger's Digest
An article by Douglas Hogetvedt from the September/October 2008 issues of Autism Asperger's Digest Magazine about receiving a diagnosis late in life and how it was helpful for him

Living With Asperger's Syndrome
by Hannah Fjeldsted
A teenager (currently interning at Autism Speaks) recounts her memories of growing up with Asperger's. 

Autism and Race
by Kathleen Megan
A Hartford Courant article from May 14, 2007 that finally examines racial disproportion regarding autism diagnoses.

Articles of Understanding
In 2006, Autism Speaks and GRASP penned articles for each other's audiences in an effort to put a human face on the rhetoric surrounding the debate over the word “cure.”. The aim was to create a substantive and mutually respectful dialogue about why they differed on using the word “cure” in relation to autism. The articles were written by Autism Speaks Senior Vice President Alison Tepper Singer, and GRASP Executive Director Michael John Carley. In addition, Dr. Ami Klin, director of the Autism Program at the Yale Child Study Center in New Haven, provided introductory remarks regarding the controversy.

Autism Speaks, a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing awareness of autism and raising money to fund autism research, uses the term "cure" in its discussions about autism spectrum disorders while GRASP, the largest organization of adults diagnosed along the autism spectrum, does not. Click each link to download:

Introductory article by Dr. Ami Klin

Article for GRASP’s audience by Alison Tepper-Singer

Article for Autism Speaks’ audience by Michael John Carley

A Can-Do Approach to Autistic Children and Athletics
by Anahad O’Connor
Published: August 3, 2006 in the New York Times.

Learning the Power of "So What"
by Michael John Carley
Published in the Summer 2006 issue of Autism/Asperger Digest. Carley talks about how those on the spectrum need to be taught the idea that no one is liked by everybody.

The Pressure to Cover
by Kenji Yoshino
Published in the NYTimes Sunday Magazine; Jan 15, 2006. Written by a Yale Law School Professor, this is one of the more important, conversation-starting articles to come out in a long time. It is not without its flaws, and some of these flaws are vast. But like Harriet McBride Johnson's (preferable and unflawed) "Unspeakable Conversations" from 2001, it has global, far-reaching things for the autism world to think about despite the fact that it does not specifically address the autism world. It contains marvelous, imperative things for us to think about.

101 Uses for Body Lotion
by Kate Goldfield
Speech the young author made on a GRASP panel at the University of Pennsylvania's inaugural autism conference.

How Autism Feels
by Kate Goldfield
A lovely piece by a newly-diagnosed young woman who is a college student in Baltimore. Originally published in the Baltimore Sun.

The Origins of GRASP
by Michael John Carley
Published in the Spring 2006 issue of The Autism Perspective (TAP) Magazine. A short history of GRASP’s founding.

Dodged Bullets
by Michael John Carley
Published in the February, 2006 issue of The OARacle, the magazine of the Organization for Autism Research. Includes a profile of GRASP from the same issue. Carley talks candidly about why people missed his AS until he was diagnosed at 36 years old.

Calling a Truce in the Spectrum Wars
by Michael John Carley
Published in the Spring, 2006 issue of Autism Spectrum Quarterly. Carley explores the "competition of suffering."

My Sexual Evolution
by Trista Rupp Plott
A frank and brave narrative by GRASP Advisory Board member (and past-ERIE GRASP Network Facilitator), Trista Rupp Plott.

Unspeakable Conversations
by Harriet McBride Johnson
Michael John Carley calls this article his inspiration for saying yes to starting GRASP.

GRASP Press
A large (7 mb, 30-something page) pdf file containing select print media pieces featuring GRASP

On Autism's Cause, It's Parents vs. Research
by Gardiner Harris and Anahad O'Connor
NYTimes article from June 25, 2005 on the vaccine/epidemic issue.

Three Reasons Not to Believe in an Autism Epidemic
by Morton Ann Gernsbacher, Michelle Dawson, and H. Hill Goldsmith
American Psychological Society Journal piece closing the door on the alarmist "epidemic" theories.

Answer, but No Cure, for a Social Disorder That Isolates Many
by Amy Harmon
The next massive round of diagnoses were caused by this wonderful cover piece in the NYTimes.

Estate Planning for Parents
a 40-page word document from News Digest that tells parents of challenged folk their options in great detail.

Asperger's Confounds Colleges
by Elizabeth F. Farrell
A surge of students diagnosed with an autism-related
disorder poses new challenges-Great piece on colleges and their relations to the AS/HFA community; from the Chronicle of Higher Education.

The Little Professor Syndrome
by Lawrence Osborne
The article that told probably about 100,000 people in the summer of 2000, that they had AS.

Through the Looking Glass: My Involvement with Autism Quackery
by James R. Laidler, MD
One parent’s harrowing journey through the “fix it” world that consumes so many vulnerable and ill-informed parents.

Don't Mourn for Us
by Jim Sinclair
Jim and I have a friendly disagreement about which comes first; the self or the autism, but Jim is a historic player in this autism arena. GRASP exists because of the prior work people like Jim accomplished.

Autistics Need Acceptance, Not Cure
by Morton Ann Gernsbacher
Wonderful letter to an editor written by a parent on why she hates Autism Awareness month.

Wearing Two Hats
by Phil Schwarz
A parent with AS describes what its like to also have a son on the spectrum-first published in the MAAP newsletter.

Who cares? Or: The Truth about Empathy in Individuals of the Autism Spectrum
by Isabel Dziobek and Kim Rogers
A preface to a larger version by Dziobek (probably the most progressive-thinking research professional out there) and her associate, Ms. Rogers.

In Good Company
by Anonymous, Woodstock Times
Article about the historic Aspie School in Boiceville, NY written the year it opened.