Autism is a Spectrum- and Acceptance Matters

April is known as Autism Awareness Month, including April 2 as World Autism Awareness Day (link).   In listening to many within the Autism community - there is a call for media to move from outdated and using awareness to acceptance to foster change and inclusivity for those affected by autism - experience more about Autism Society's Autism IS series here.  Information on What is Autism is linked here, and a deeper dive sharing the voices of many people on the Autism Spectrum is posted here.
Last year Maryland Governor Wes Moore proclaimed April as Autism Awareness Month  and Lieutenant Governor Aruna K. Miller presented the Governor’s proclamation to recognize people who are living with autism and those who advocate on their behalf, and honor the contributions of the autism community. She was joined by Maryland Department of Disabilities Secretary Carol Beatty and Maryland Statewide Autism Coordinator Victoria Rodriguez-Roldán in unveiling Maryland’s five-year Autism State Plan.  This year ADS is screening Being Michelle on Wednesday April 8th at 4:00p in ENG 027 - please join us!

Being on the Autism Spectrum is a nuanced diagnosis with a wide range of traits, and is explained well here.  For a more visual presentation, Rebecca Burgess also explains the spectrum within her comic on The Mighty. Day-to-day living and learning independence was recently examined in depth on PBS's In a Different Key which covers the history of autism and highlights the experience of a range of people with autism, their families and their community.
Recently, autism has been in the news, resulting in leading autism organizations to release this joint statement on upholding scientific integrity and supporting the autism community. 

Finally, with Autism Awareness Month, it's important to move beyond basic awareness and focus on real understanding. There are still many myths about autism that create barriers for autistic individuals. With understanding, acceptance, and respect for different communication styles, we can help create a more inclusive world. These facts are based on resources from the Kennedy Krieger Institute and Different Minds Scotland, two organizations doing critical work to promote accurate information about autism. Let's keep learning, listening, and working toward true inclusion, not just in April, but all year long.








People of all identities around the world live, go to school and go to work with the neurodiversity that Autism brings to a world, often with struggle and difficulty. UMBC's students, faculty, staff, and visitors have this neurodiversity as well.  While many learn and work well with best practices and accessible design,  students (both undergraduate and graduate), as well as faculty and staff who experience disability with a diagnosed health condition (which includes autism) may seek accommodations through Student Disability Services (link) for academic programs, as well as work-related accommodations via Accessibility & Disability Services. 

Thumbnail Photo credit: unsplash.com
*See UMBC's Style Guide about variations within inclusive language - it's better to ask about preferences than assume

Autism is a Spectrum- and Acceptance Matters

Recently, autism has been in the news, resulting in leading autism organizations to release this joint statement on upholding scientific integrity and supporting the autism community. 

Finally, as we close out Autism Awareness Month, it's important to move beyond basic awareness and focus on real understanding. There are still many myths about autism that create barriers for autistic individuals. With understanding, acceptance, and respect for different communication styles, we can help create a more inclusive world. These facts are based on resources from the Kennedy Krieger Institute and Different Minds Scotland, two organizations doing critical work to promote accurate information about autism. Let's keep learning, listening, and working toward true inclusion, not just in April, but all year long.

Accessibility and Disability Services and Student Disability Services joins The Mosaic Centerand all UMBC partners with honoring Black History Month.

Rediscover how some members of the Black Civil Rights Movement also played essential roles as activists in the US Disability Rights Movement, and paved the way for disability rights activists to influence social change and legislation. Many people with disabilities were part of both movements and continue to be today.

Dr. Sami Schalk presented at UMBC in March of 2023 on 504 and Beyond: Disability Politics and the Black Panther Partyvia the Dresher Center - in co-sponsorship with ADS and I3B.

Why Black Disabled History Matters by Dikko Yusef of WID provides a great summary.

Some of the intersectionality within the documentary  Crip Camp shows how intersectional being black and disabled can be - beyond the Black Panthers. Further back in history, learn new things about the famous Black figures who also had disabilities. For instance, Harriet Tubman lived with epilepsy and narcolepsy, a reminder that disability is both directly and indirectly linked to many forms of violence.

In the links described below, you may rediscover or learn for the first time about Black history  being made in this moment, and there is so much to learn from the past.  Research forays have been known to start at Brad Lomax, and end up at the Wild Zappers, a DC-based all black all deaf dance company - what new-to-you ancestral influencers and history-makers will become front-of-mind to you? The research of Dr. Stephanie Keeney Parks takes a racially nuanced approach to Autism via In A Different Key. In 2022 Megan Thee Stallion launched a website to support mental health.  Haben Girma remains an important advocate for disability inclusion.

Important figures in Black History:

• National Disability Rights Network (NDRN) has a Black History Bio for each day of February: (link)https://www.ndrn.org/resource/disability-rights-in-black/
• On the website for Respect Ability, an advocacy organization, you can find an article featuring the experiences and voices of current African-American celebrities who have disabilities. (link)https://www.respectability.org/2018/02/highlighting-african-americans-disabilities-honor-black-history-month/
• Learn about Black History heroes who are or were deaf or blind: (link)https://dcmp.org/learn/203-black-history-month

·       Enter “Black History” plus any disability (i.e. "autism," "dyslexia," etc.) into a search engine and explore more about the intersectionality of disability.

Explore Black History and Disability Rights:

The National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD) has a great article about the integral role Black disability rights activists played in securing rights for all US citizens with disabilities.  (link)https://www.ncld.org/news/honoring-black-history-month-unsung-heroes-of-the-disability-rights-movement/ For more on Brad Lomax, a leader in the 1977 protests that led to the implementation of section 504 of the rehabilitation act, see this NYT obituary (link) https:/www.nytimes.com/2020/07/08/obituaries/brad-lomax-overlooked.html

Black Disabled and Proud: College Students with Disabilities is a website by the HBCU Disability Consortium. Their page titled “Black Lives Matter and Disability” speaks to the recent and daily making of Black history as it intersects with disability. (link)https://www.blackdisabledandproud.org/black-lives-matter.html The page includes links to thoughtful articles as well as self-care info.

The Disability Visibility Project’s Black Lives Matter page has podcasts (with transcripts) that explore the individual experiences of people who are actively contributing individually and/or organizing to raise awareness about being Black and having a  disability.  (link)https://disabilityvisibilityproject.com/tag/black-lives-matter/  Click through on the posts and find things like Jen White Johnson’s Black Disability Lives Matter mural (link)https://jenwhitejohnson.com/Black-Disabled-Lives-Matter-Mural-Project 

The Zinn Education Project offers Teach The Black Freedom Struggle classes with ASL and transcripts via this link - with the reminder that violence in any format may create disability. If you are looking for UMBC-based disability resources - use these links:

• Student Disability Services: For ALL students - graduate and undergraduate, as well as Information for Faculty working with student accommodations
• Accessibility and Disability Services: Work Accommodation for Faculty, Staff and Student Employees as well as technical accessibility support
• Report Accessibility Concerns online 24/7 here

Photo credit: Unseen Histories downloaded from Unsplash.com 

Autism is a Spectrum- from Awareness to Acceptance

Sexual Assault Awareness Month

Accessibility and Disability Services and Student Disability Services joins The Mosaic Center and all UMBC partners with honoring Black History Month.

Rediscover how some members of the Black Civil Rights Movement also played essential roles as activists in the US Disability Rights Movement, and paved the way for disability rights activists to influence social change and legislation. Many people with disabilities were part of both movements and continue to be today.

Dr. Sami Schalk presented at UMBC less than a year ago on 504 and Beyond: Disability Politics and the Black Panther Partyvia the Dresher Center - the and co-sponsorship with ADS and I3B.

Why Black Disabled History Matters by Dikko Yusef of WID provides a great summary

Some of the intersectionality within the documentary  Crip Camp shows how intersectional being black and disabled can be - beyond the Black Panthers. Further back in history, learn new things about the famous Black figures who also had disabilities. For instance, Harriet Tubman lived with epilepsy and narcolepsy, a reminder that disability is both directly and indirectly linked to many forms of violence.

In the links described below, you may rediscover or learn for the first time about Black history  being made in this moment, and there is so much to learn from the past.  Research forays have been known to start at Brad Lomax, and end up at the Wild Zappers, a DC-based all black all deaf dance company - what new-to-you ancestral influencers and history-makers will become front-of-mind to you? The research of Dr. Stephanie Keeney Parks takes a racially nuanced approach to Autism via In A Different Key. In 2022 Megan Thee Stallion launched a website to support mental health.  Haben Girma remains an important advocate for disability inclusion.

Test your knowledge by taking this quiz with the National Black Disability Coalition (NBDC): (link)http://www.blackdisability.org/content/black-disabled-trivia

Important figures in Black History:

• National Disability Rights Network (NDRN) has a Black History Bio for each day of February: (link)https://www.ndrn.org/resource/disability-rights-in-black/
• On the website for Respect Ability, an advocacy organization, you can find an article featuring the experiences and voices of current African-American celebrities who have disabilities. (link)https://www.respectability.org/2018/02/highlighting-african-americans-disabilities-honor-black-history-month/
• Learn about Black History heroes who are or were deaf or blind: (link)https://dcmp.org/learn/203-black-history-month

·       Enter “Black History” plus any disability (i.e. "autism," "dyslexia," etc.) into a search engine and explore more about the intersectionality of disability.

Explore Black History and Disability Rights:

The National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD) has a great article about the integral role Black disability rights activists played in securing rights for all US citizens with disabilities.  (link)https://www.ncld.org/news/honoring-black-history-month-unsung-heroes-of-the-disability-rights-movement/ For more on Brad Lomax, a leader in the 1977 protests that led to the implementation of section 504 of the rehabilitation act, see this NYT obituary (link) https:/www.nytimes.com/2020/07/08/obituaries/brad-lomax-overlooked.html

Black Disabled and Proud: College Students with Disabilities is a website by the HBCU Disability Consortium. Their page titled “Black Lives Matter and Disability” speaks to the recent and daily making of Black history as it intersects with disability. (link)https://www.blackdisabledandproud.org/black-lives-matter.html The page includes links to thoughtful articles as well as self-care info.

The Disability Visibility Project’s Black Lives Matter page has podcasts (with transcripts) that explore the individual experiences of people who are actively contributing individually and/or organizing to raise awareness about being Black and having a  disability.  (link)https://disabilityvisibilityproject.com/tag/black-lives-matter/  Click through on the posts and find things like Jen White Johnson’s Black Disability Lives Matter mural (link)https://jenwhitejohnson.com/Black-Disabled-Lives-Matter-Mural-Project 

The Zinn Education Project offers Teach The Black Freedom Struggle classes with ASL and transcripts via this link - with the reminder that violence in any format may create disability. If you are looking for UMBC-based disability resources - use these links:

• Student Disability Services: For ALL students - graduate and undergraduate, as well as Information for Faculty working with student accommodations
• Accessibility and Disability Services: Work Accommodation for Faculty, Staff and Student Employees as well as technical accessibility support
• Report Accessibility Concerns online 24/7 here

Thumbnail image of two black young women with their hair in white headbands at a 1960's era protest  with one larger sign behind them reading "Martyr Medgar Evers" and a poem that begins "The Black Man Fell and helpless lay/ A Gaping Wound upon his back/ A Witness to the Savage Way/ A Beast Had Made His Foul Attack...." accompanies this post. Photo credit: Unseen Histories downloaded from Unsplash.com 

Autism is a Spectrum- from Awareness to Acceptance

Sexual Assault Awareness Month

Join Accessibility and Disability Service and Student Disability Services in honoring Black History Month.

Rediscover how some members of the Black Civil Rights Movement also played essential roles as activists in the US Disability Rights Movement, and paved the way for disability rights activists to influence social change and legislation. Many people with disabilities were part of both movements and continue to be today.

Dr. Sami Schalk is presenting on 504 and Beyond: Disability Politics and the Black Panther Party on February 23 at 4p (details and registration are linked) via the Dresher Center and co-sponsorship with ADS and I3B.

Some of the intersection of  Crip Camp shows how intersectional being black and disabled can be - beyond the Black Panthers. Further back in history, learn new things about the famous Black figures who also had disabilities. For instance, Harriet Tubman lived with epilepsy and narcolepsy, a reminder that disability is both directly and indirectly linked to many forms of violence.

In the links described below, you may rediscover or learn for the first time about Black history  being made in this moment, and there is so much to learn from the past.  Research forays have been known to start at Brad Lomax, and end up at the Wild Zappers, a DC-based all black all deaf dance company - what new-to-you ancestral influencers and history-makers will become front-of-mind to you? Within the past month we learned of the research of Dr. Stephanie Keeney Parks via In A Different Key. In 2022 Megan Thee Stallion launched a website to support mental health.

Test your knowledge by taking this quiz with the National Black Disability Coalition (NBDC): (link)http://www.blackdisability.org/content/black-disabled-trivia

Important figures in Black History:

• National Disability Rights Network (NDRN) has a Black History Bio for each day of February: (link)https://www.ndrn.org/resource/disability-rights-in-black/
• On the website for Respect Ability, an advocacy organization, you can find an article featuring the experiences and voices of current African-American celebrities who have disabilities. (link)https://www.respectability.org/2018/02/highlighting-african-americans-disabilities-honor-black-history-month/
• Learn about Black History heroes who are or were deaf or blind: (link)https://dcmp.org/learn/203-black-history-month

·       Enter “Black History” plus any disability (i.e. "autism," "dyslexia," etc.) into a search engine and explore more about the intersectionality of disability.

Explore Black History and Disability Rights:

The National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD) has a great article about the integral role Black disability rights activists played in securing rights for all US citizens with disabilities.  (link)https://www.ncld.org/news/honoring-black-history-month-unsung-heroes-of-the-disability-rights-movement/ For more on Brad Lomax, a leader in the 1977 protests that led to the implementation of section 504 of the rehabilitation act, see this NYT obituary (link) https:/www.nytimes.com/2020/07/08/obituaries/brad-lomax-overlooked.html

Black Disabled and Proud: College Students with Disabilities is a website by the HBCU Disability Consortium. Their page titled “Black Lives Matter and Disability” speaks to the recent and daily making of Black history as it intersects with disability. (link)https://www.blackdisabledandproud.org/black-lives-matter.html The page includes links to thoughtful articles as well as self-care info.

The Disability Visibility Project’s Black Lives Matter page has podcasts (with transcripts) that explore the individual experiences of people who are actively contributing individually and/or organizing to raise awareness about being Black and having a  disability.  (link)https://disabilityvisibilityproject.com/tag/black-lives-matter/  Click through on the posts and find things like Jen White Johnson’s Black Disability Lives Matter mural (link)https://jenwhitejohnson.com/Black-Disabled-Lives-Matter-Mural-Project 

If you are looking for UMBC-based disability resources - use these links:

• Student Disability Services: For ALL students - graduate and undergraduate, as well as Information for Faculty working with student accommodations
• Accessibility and Disability Services: Work Accommodation for Faculty, Staff and Student Employees as well as technical accessibility support
• Report Accessibility Concerns online 24/7 here

A photo of two black young women with their hair in white headbands at a 1960's era protest  with one larger sign behind them reading "Martyr Medgar Evers" and a poem that begins "The Black Man Fell and helpless lay,/ A Gaping Wound upon his back,/ A Witness to the Savage Way,/ A Beast Had Made His Foul Attack...." accompanies this post. Photo credit: Unseen Histories downloaded from Unsplash.com 

Autism - from Awareness to Acceptance

National Deaf History Month

Sexual Assault Awareness Month