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John Elder Robison's Blog, page 21
March 29, 2010
Cubby's mom, gizzard trouble, and disease gone wild . .
It's amazing how these things can turn so bad, so quick. Cubby's mom (we have been divorced many years and she lives alone) felt some abdominal pain Sunday morning when she woke up. By noon the pain was bad enough for her to call the doctor.
She drove to the Repair Center at the University of Massachusetts. The doctors there were not really sure what to do with ...
March 25, 2010
Join me in New York June 8th for an evening with GRASP
SAVE THE DATE!!!
Tuesday, June 8
The William Bennett Gallery
65 Greene Street
New York, NY
6:00 - 8:30 p.m.
GRASP's Annual Fundraising Benefit Honoring . . .
The 2010 "FAB" (Friend and Benefactor) Award
Linda Walder Fiddle, The Daniel J. Fiddle Foundation.
The 2010 "DSM" (Distinguished Spectrumite Medal)
John Elder Robison, Author.
The 2010 "DNA" (Divine Neurotypical Award)
Lois Rosenwald, The Connec...
March 17, 2010
One voice among thirty - why one person's vote matters
It's been a week since I announced that I was joining the review boards at Autism Speaks. Many of you supported me, but a few of you doubted my ability to exert much influence as the lone Aspergian on the board.
In particular, people have suggested that one person's vote can't make any difference to thirty scientists who share a review board with one misfit (me.) The implication is, the thirty scientists vote as they wish, and my lone vote is ignored. That perception is totally wrong...
March 15, 2010
Trial By Jury
This morning, I found myself back at the local Superior Court, the site of last year's battle with corrupt and venal prosecutors who sought to advance their own careers at the expense of my innocent son. Readers of my blog know that justice did prevail, but at a high cost.
Anytime you're forced to spend nearly a hundred grand to defend your kid against frivolous criminal charges, you have to ask yourself . . . how many other innocent people rot in jail because they could not afford a f...
March 9, 2010
I have decided to take a more active advocacy role . . .
Readers of my blog know that I've been concerned about the direction of autism research for a long time. I am also troubled by the way we allocate dollars in general in the autism world. I'm a fairly action oriented guy, and I don't like to sit around and worry. I want to do something; I want to take action. If this were a political issue, I'd have to run for office. Even the thought of that makes me cringe. Luckily, I now have the opportunity to make a difference without taking such an...
March 8, 2010
Animal Factory
Animal Factory exposes the shocking and ugly ways large scale animal processors are impacting our environment. Before reading this eye opening book, I had no idea of the pollution coming out of today's large scale pork farms, dairies, and cattle operations. I always thought of farming as a fairly benign activity. Cows poop in the fields, and farmers plow the manure in for fertilizer. Seems harmless and natural, right? It is, in a...
February 10, 2010
New from the TMS lab and autism research
Last night I attended Brain Health / Body Wealth at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Alvaro Pascual Leone told a rapt audience about new discoveries in brain plasticity and what it may mean to us, especially as we age. Then Dr. Dan Press talked about practical neurology, and what's on the immediate horizon for conditions like Alzheimer's.
After they spoke Paul Levy came to the podium. He's the head of the Beth Israel hospital, and he spoke of the need for more funding to support the cutting edge r...
February 2, 2010
Join me Feb 9 for an evening at Harvard Medical School
If you have followed my work with the TMS lab at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center you may find this evening fascinating . . .
Brain Health—Body Wealth
SPONSORED BY THE BOARD OF OVERSEERS
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
5:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
The Joseph B. Martin Conference Center
at Harvard Medical School
77 Avenue Louis Pasteur, Boston, MA
Complimentary Parking
Business Attire
Additional Guests Welcome
Kindly reply by February 1, 2010 to Kirsten Doyle at (617) 667-7331 or email...
February 1, 2010
Gravity Pulls You In
Last summer, my friends Kyra Anderson and Vicki Forman asked me to write a foreword for the anthology of autism stories they's been working on for the past few years. I'm proud to tell you that they completed the project, and the book goes on sale next week. You can order a copy here:
Order Gravity on Amazon
And now I'll share the foreword, to give you an idea what's coming in the book. I hope you enjoy it.
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to raise a kid with special needs? I...
January 7, 2010
The power of prayer
I didn't know what to expect. Would this be a book signing kind of event? A talk? A Q&A? When I arrived I found a sold out crowd filling the auditorium at Cathedral High School here in Springfield. And the event itself was unique – Last night, I found the most real and convincing justification for forgiveness and the foundations of Catholic faith that I've...
