ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses toward narratives written by mostly non-autistic parents who are also transforming the narrative from triumph to acceptance and advocacy. The alienation that is felt between autistic children and their non-autistic parents might be the heaviest burden. The thinkers and writers of the autistic community are widely diverse, many of whom do not speak, but communicate by keyboard or some form of facilitated communication. The more public narrative is focused on loss and tragedy; it is written by the medical community, filtered into the news and entertainment media, and robustly represented by parents of Autism Speaks. Parents of autistic children who perceive autism as a 'crippling condition' needing humane but decisive treatment are speaking out in their own forums about their counter positions. Ari Ne'eman, one of the contributors to this special issue, effectively drove the video off the site within a few days with the help of his organization, the Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN).
