Some videos I found

I was e-mailed a link to a news article about the movie Including Samuel. After watching that, I decided to look at what they had about autism. Here's some of what I found.

http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=4875053
An Olympic weightlifter who has an autistic son. Favorite quote:

"I remember going into my Bishop and saying 'this is not what I signed up for.' And I was in tears, I was obviously struggling, and he looked at me with a smile, and his infinite wisdom, and said: 'Melanie, this is exactly what you signed up for.' ... I stopped worrying about all the things he wasn't going to do and all the things that he wouldn't become, and I started enjoying who he was. I'm grateful that I finally figured out how to truly enjoy the journey."

http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=5055588
A bunch of siblings of autistic kids. One boy started pretending to be autistic at 4 so he could get more attention - he refused to speak to speak for 2 weeks. Favorite quotes:

"I would just wish that he was happy. I wouldn't necessarily change the disability part, I just - I just wish he would, um, he wouldn't, like, be sad."

"It's harder to understand. It's harder to put yourself in their shoes, so, it - you really don't know. (I have the feeling that you try to put yourself in his shoes.) Oh, yeah, and I do, very often."

http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=5055644
About bullying of autistics. They quote one statistic - 90% of Asperger Syndrome kids are bullied. They also have a cute picture of an autistic kid dressed up as a streetlight. Here's one quote:

"There were a few kids that didn't like me. (And they were calling you names?) Yeah. (Were they t - were they hurting you, physically?) No, they just did the regular stuff. (Like?) Gestures, or calling me names. (What did you do - did you say anything?) No. I didn't. (Just took it quietly?) Yep. (Just hurt inside?) Yep. I mean, after that, my life would never be the same."

http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=4491231
About the movie Autism: The Musical. Favorite quote:

"(What do you think the kids get out of being involved in this kind of production? What do you think they learned?) I think that they learned self-confidence. I mean, how many places do these kids go, where somebody's not trying to make them be different than who they are? Um, this is was place where they were accepted for exactly who they were, and I think it really boosted their self-confidence."

http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=5036816
About the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network and the neurodiversity movement. Favorite quote (in response to an 'expert' saying we need a cure so LFAs can function as well as HFAs):

"(And so we asked Kristina Chew, the mother of Charlie, whose autism is severe.) (If you could take the autism away from Charlie, would you?) I wouldn't choose that, no. We really try to understand him on his own terms. Acceptance, to me, is the beginning of hope."

PS: Kristina Chew has a blog, Autism Vox.