Autism Unveiled is a forty day project which features autistic people

This is a link to all of the Autism Unveiled posts.

Autism Unveiled, Voices on the Spectrum
Feb 18 – April 2, 2015

“If you’ve met one person with autism, you’ve met one person with autism,” Dr. Stephen Mark Shore

“Performance, visual and literary creativity ARE the least-burdened, most purely emotional way to convey the experiences of people on every point of the human spectrum. Rooted in personal connection, the arts free us all to step into one another’s realities, exposing the juxtaposition of brilliance and confusion that is Asperger’s and the ‘normalcy’ that is quite foreign to so many of us,” – Jennifer O’Toole, Asperkids

“Autism is my destiny. Destiny is to seek – not to fight against. We may call the same word ‘destiny’ as ‘luck’ or ‘fate’. If autism is my path, let me walk it well, let me understand my life walking my path,” – Tito Rajarshi Mukhopayday

The Autism Unveiled Project is a six-week project where people on the autism spectrum share their uniqueness. The kick-off was Feb. 18 with blogs by Dr. Stephen Shore, Jennifer O’Toole and Tito Rajarshi Mukhopayday. Each day through April 2, 2015, the Art of Autism will post 2 blogs from people on the spectrum sharing who they are. The people who have chosen to participate share their gifts, their struggles, and their uniqueness. They’ve also been asked to identify the word or words they use to describe their autism for the title. The Art of Autism has written a blog in the past about descriptors – autistic, person with autism, autti, Aspergian, HFA, etc.

Autism is a neurological variation (a neurodiversity) that occurs in about two percent of the population and is classified as a developmental disability. Autism has no socio-economic class, gender, race, country, religion, personality or profession. The purpose of the project is to show the diversity of the population. Through the posting of the blogs an art form in itself is created.

“The concept of neurodiversity provides a paradigm shift in how we think about mental functioning. Instead of regarding large portions of the American public as suffering from deficit, disease, or dysfunction in their mental processing, neurodiversity suggests that we instead speak about differences in cognitive functioning,” Dr. Thomas Armstrong

“For the most part autistic adults are a disenfranchised group of people. We are marginalized and have very little power afforded us by the majority. Collectively, autistic pride is not because we need to celebrate being autistic. Instead, autistic pride is because we need to celebrate our right to exist as full-fledged human beings,” Judy Endow, MSW.

Dates: Feb. 18 – April 2, 2015 (World Autism Awareness Day).

Submission criteria

Press Release: Autism Unveiled Counts Down to World Autism Awareness Day

Interview with Geekclub Books

Gallery of Self-Portraits

Pre Kick-Off Students from Make Studio show their arts and insights

Closing day: Autism Unveiled: A snapshot in the Year 2015 about what it means to be Autistic!

Blogs were listed as they came up starting on Feb. 18 and ending on April 2, 2015. Comment on the blogs and join in the conversation! This is an interactive project.

Week 1

Dr. Stephen Shore kicked-off the Autism Unveiled Project on Feb. 18, 2015

Stephen: Husband, Advocate, Professor, Musician, Bicyclist, Friend and #Autistic
Jennifer: Perpetual, Brimming, Possibility and #Aspie
Tito: #Autism is my Destiny

Michael Whary made a video for parents of newly diagnosed children for his Eagle Scout badge - watch it in his blog. — Michael Whary made a video for parents of newly diagnosed children for his Eagle Scout badge – watch it in his blog.

Michael: Eagle Scout, honest, easygoing, focused and #Autistic
Alex: weird, Welsh, nerd and #Aspie
April: single parent, business owner, and wild woman with #Autism

Matt Johnson, Age 29, lives independently

Matt: moderate-severe #Autistic mostly non-verbal and awesomely independent
David: #Autism activist, coach, counselor, author, internet entrepreneur, and #Aspergers

Aaron is a doctoral student in New Mexico and moderates a popular Facebook site for autism

Aaron: Activist, Folklorist, Writer, Doctoral Student and Proud Aspergian
Amrit: I am ME Artist
Michael: Autism Santa, father, husband, advocate, poet, and #Aspie
Ashley: creative, charismatic, artist, and #Aspie

“Autism is not a part of me. It is me. My soul is autistic.” Mikey Allcock, 16-years old, United Kingdom, who was non-verbal until age 10.

Mikey: pianist, artist, altruist, and #Autistic

Week 2

Temple Grandin's ability to think like a cow has enabled her to design over half of all cattle facilities in the United States — Temple Grandin’s ability to think like a cow has enabled her to design over half of all cattle facilities in the United States

Temple: Professor who loves cows and #Autistic
Eddie: unlimited creative ideas, inspiring person with #Autism
Luis: creative, talented and #Autistic
Patrick: Romani Gypsy, author, composer, artist and #Aspie
Stefanie: tall, loves Hello Kitty and Autti

Troy graduated with a law degree yet is having difficulty finding a job as an attorney

Troy: overcoming the odds, attorney with #Autism
Austin: Married, male, cinephile writer with high-functioning #Autism
Kati: mother, student, recovering addict, bisexual and #Autistic
Julian: dancer, musician, entertainer, and #Autistic
Amanda: unique and wonderfully-made young woman with #Autism
Lucila: author, speaker, mother of an autistic child, co-founder of Autcreatifs and #Autistic
Thomas: Experimental filmmaker, film buff, good friend and #Autistic

Kateri goes by a pen-name. An optometrist from Canada, she prefers to keep her Aspergers diagnosis private, for professional reasons.

Kateri: kindhearted and resilient, wife, mother, optometrist with #Aspergers
Adam: artist, designer and person with #Autism

Week 3

“We will have true inclusion the moment we are able to accept another person for who they are even if they are completely different from us,” Gee Vero, Germany

Gee:woman, mother, partner, artist, writer, public speaker #Autistic. I am

“Really if it were not for my autism, I would not see the beautiful colors that I see everywhere, even in dust,” Jeremy Sicile-Kira, California, U.S.A.

Jeremy: #Autism is the prism which through I see the world
Benjamin: sensitive, loving art-oriented person with #Autism
Dylan: Talented, funny, artistic teenager with #Autism
Dillon: loving, silent #Autistic teenager
Andrea: previously a seeker now a happily Asper architectural photographer
Jonathan: witty, articulate, creative, cartoon-y, insightful, introspective, cinephile, pop-culture enthusiast #Autistic
Mal: parent, queer, mangaka, gamer and #Aspie
Kimberly: creative lady on the #Autism spectrum
Ben: magician, artist and #Aspie
Harrison: creative, imaginative, funny-person with #Autism
Mandy: mother, artist, writer, and #Aspie
Jane: parent, photographer, advocate, Jewish and #Autistic
Joe: smart, not deaf, love people, romantic, loyal and #Autistic