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The Choice of Medications for Autism by Paul Shattock

Individuals labeled as “autistic” are very different from each other. The differences between them are much greater than they are within the so called “neuro-typical” population. One man’s meat is very definitely another man’s poison.

A particular medication can be very helpful and well tolerated by one person but unhelpful and very harmful for another. Some people with autism benefit dramatically from drugs known as SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) that are commonly used for treating depression (provided the dose is correct). Continue reading →

The Right to Live Your Life by Hilde de Clercq

“The unfairness of life overwhelmed me. It was not fair to have such a child, but it was even moreunfair to be that child“    -Charles Hart



It is about time that we all start to understand that we are all born with the right to join ‘the club’ that every human being is born to ‘belong’. It is about time that the difference between being ‘autonomous” and “dependent” gets neutralized….

Inclusion is about “interdependency, interconnection and belonging”… and moreover: it should not stop when school is finished! Being born with a disability should not mean that the rights that all other members of the community have, all of a sudden get diminished or cease to exist. Continue reading →

Diagnosing Autism by Dr. Tom Berney

Diagnosis is not uniform; it is a messy but necessary process of affirmation for in the individual and a confirmation for those around him. It is a powerful tool, which comes with side-effects and is open to misuse. However, while it must be approached with care, it should also be readily available. It also needs to move beyond simply dividing the world into those who have autism and those who do not.

We need to list the developmental disabilities, such as attention deficit, executive dysfunction or incoordination, that, together with the social impairment, may be mild in themselves but can combine to produce a hermit, trapped in his home. In the end this broad, descriptive assessment is an essential step to ‘seeing ourselves as others see us,’ the self-knowledge needed to understand relationships with others – and therefore a right, essential to development – but only if the recipient (or their representatives) can control the process.

-Dr. Tom Berney

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