To: Philip - just came across this website and my name mentioned by you as the first licensed woman land surveyor in Canada - it was quite a surprise as when I articled I knew there weren't any in Ontario but did not realize that there had never been any in Canada.
Surveying was very kind to me - private practice, and eventually being the Executive Director of the Association of Ontario Land Surveyors
Nice to read that people notice our achievements

I wasn't quite sure whether I should leave up some of Ms Robillard's messages. I deleted one, because of the extent to which it consisted of personal attacks. Some of her other statements that I've left up (for now) are also in that direction.

We're not too happy about personal attacks here. It's always possible to provide information and propose or defend views or ideas without resorting to personal attacks--which aren't informative about anything but the character of the person making them.

I also suggest that (if she hasn't already) Ms Robillard start a blog, or a comment board, or something similar, dedicated to her views of ABA as an autism intervention. Then she would be free to post what she wants, according to her own values and standards.

For Lorraine Petzold, it's great to see your message here (I've been neglecting this board, due to computer problems and other difficulties).

For those who haven't kept track, see Philip's message here /m535 . There's also a few messages in the vicinity about my short career in land surveying ( /m536 and /m538 ).

Michelle,

I have only recently become aware of you and your voice on behalf of autistics. Bravo!! As an aspie female of the same generation (born 1960) I am heartened by your eloquence, intelligence and tenacity.

Curiously, I was a psych major 20+ years ago and while I recognized that I shared many of the traits required for a diagnosis of "autism" in the DSM-III, my language skills ruled it out. Had the DSM-IV been published by then, I would have immediately made the connection with Aspberger's Syndrome.

I do not, however, view myself as "disordered" or "disabled" in any way other than within the context of survival in our neurotypically governed society. That this presently entails the non-disclosure of my true nature to all but a trusted few casts an enormous pall on the quality of my day to day life as I'm quite certain is true for many of us.

Please let me know how I might involve myself, and with whom, in an effort to eradicate this egregious reality.

with thanks & sincerity,

Helen Murray

With apologies to Helen Murray--I was sick for a while and am just catching up with things (and I tend to forget to check this board, in favour of the much more active TMoB board--sorry again!)

Anyway, this is my much-too late response.

I'm not "disordered," but I am disabled. Autistic traits and abilities are considered at least as being inferior and unwanted, and more commonly as less-than-human and a blight on society (as was stated by the Liberal Party of Canada, e.g.). This is disabling, as it would be to anyone whose traits and abilities were similarly denigrated.

Also, as I've written many times elsewhere, we've mostly gotten over assuming that the ideal life is white, straight, and male. But a lot of people still assume that the ideal life is nondisabled, and that all of us should strive towards this ideal, whichever way it gets defined at any given time or place. I think this assumption, like the assumption that whiteness, straightness, and maleness are the apogee of humanity, should be questioned.

If you're looking for organizations whose goals include making it safe for you to come out of the closet with your atypical neurology, I suggest The Autism Acceptance Project http://www.taaproject.com/ and the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network http://www.autisticadvocacy.org/ .

By the way, many autistics who met DSM-III autism criteria as children went on to considerable achievement as adults, including collecting a lot of university degrees (see Szatmari et al., 1989, e.g.).