So essentially the first two blogs were like the pilot blogs, or feeler blogs if you will (and please say you will) that were just trying to get a better idea for who might be interested in the Club Trillion blog. Needless to say, not only did a large number of you read the blog, you demanded more. I thank you for this. Now that we got that emotional garbage out of the way, let's get down to business.
There are very few things in this world that upset me. The fact that cows have four stomachs and I, as far as I know, only have one. When people hold the door open for me and I'm 20 yards away, they consequently make me feel obligated to pick up my previously comfortable pace of walking so that I can accommodate their attempt at doing their good deed for the day. The fact that basketball referees wear dress pants. However, none of these things upset me nearly as much as what went down today after practice.
Everyone on the team was told to change into their game uniforms for a photo shoot "The Columbus Dispatch" was going to conduct. After hearing this, I walked over to where our uniforms had been placed and started to put mine on. I was then quickly interrupted with a "No, no, no...we don't need you for this picture." You don't need me for this picture? Are you serious? Silly me. Here I was thinking that when they said everyone on the team, they wanted to face of the team to be included. I was wrong. At least I could take comfort in the fact that Danny was left out of the photo shoot, too. (Kyle, on the other hand, wasn't left out. Read the last blog outlining why Kyle Madsen is putting his Club Trillion membership in jeopardy.)
I know what you may be saying to yourself right now. You could be saying, "If I don't get a Toaster Strudel in my digestive system soon, I'll go bonkers." However, you are more likely saying, "Wait, Mark. I thought you liked being excluded from all the other players. Isn't that what Club Trillion is all about?" Yes and no. We do try to establish ourselves as a different breed of basketball player. One that the guy who thought he was awesome in high school cause he could grow a beard and grab the rim can relate to. But at the same time we want to make it perfectly clear that we woke up at 5:30 in the a.m. all summer long (sidenote: "All Summer Long" was by far Kid Rock's worst work ever) and gave our blood, sweat, and (insert favorite bodily fluid here) to the workouts we endured. All we ask in return is a little respect. I'm looking at you, "The Columbus Dispatch." Is it too much to ask that Danny and I, with a Final Four and Big Ten Championship to our names, get our picture in with the rest of the team? I think not.
The late and great Tupac Shakur once said into a microphone that his posse was "flossin' but have caution we collide with other crews." (He also once said, "F the world", but I'm sure he was just having a rough day that consisted of waiting in line at the BMV and going to rent "From Justin to Kelly", only to find that Blockbuster was out of stock.) Club Trillion likes to think of ourselves in a similar light. Sure we are flossing (not literally, because that pulverises the gums), but we also aren't afraid to fight back when bullies try to give us wedgies or leave our picture out of the paper. So consider this our fighting back. Some would say we come across as being stubborn or childish, but last time I checked this is America. And as Americans, Club Trillion wants to exercise their right to fight back against the gersh dern people who left their picture out of the paper. Some injustices simply cannot go unanswered.
Your Friend and My Favorite,
Mark Titus (#34)
Club Trillion Co-Founder
Rosenman and Klaver, eds.: Other Mothers
Other Mothers
Beyond the Maternal Ideal
Edited by Ellen Bayuk Rosenman and Claudia C. Klaver
Other Mothers, edited by Ellen Bayuk Rosenman and Claudia C. Klaver, offers a range of essays that open a conversation about Victorian motherhood as a wide-ranging, distinctive experience and idea. In spite of its importance, however, it is one of the least-studied aspects of the Victorian era, subsumed under discussions of femininity and domesticity.
This collection addresses that void and reveals the extraordinary diversity of Victorian motherhood. Exploring diaries, novels, and court cases, with contexts ranging from London to Egypt to Australia, these varied accounts take the collection “beyond the maternal ideal” to consider the multiple, unpredictable ways in which motherhood was experienced and imagined in this formative historical period.
Other Mothers joins revisionist approaches to femininity that now characterize Victorian studies. Its contents trace intersections among gender, race, and class; question the power of separate spheres ideology; and insist on the context-specific nature of social roles. The sixteen previously unpublished essays in this volume contribute to the fields of literary criticism, history, cultural studies, and history.
Beier: For Their Own Good
For Their Own Good
The Transformation of English Working-Class Health Culture, 1880–1970
Lucinda McCray Beier
In For Their Own Good Lucinda McCray Beier examines the interactions between working-class health culture and official provision of health services and medical care in three English communities between 1880 and 1970. Based on 239 oral history interviews of laypeople and annual public health reports, this book considers gender, class, political, economic, and cultural aspects of the mid-twentieth-century shift in responsibility for illness, birth, and death from the informal domestic and neighborhood sphere to the purview of professional, institutionally based authorities.
For Their Own Good is a case study, located in a particular place and time, of a phenomenon that has occurred in all Western nations and is now happening worldwide. As in Barrow, Lancaster, and Preston, in most circumstances, the transition from traditional to modern medicine is stimulated and enforced from the top down. Current global struggles with AIDS, overpopulation, malaria, malnutrition, and other killers offer powerful reminders that elite knowledge and strategies rarely result in success unless laypeople are engaged and invested in solutions. Furthermore, as this book demonstrates, the desired transition to Western medicine carries the twin burdens of the loss of lay ability to prevent and manage ill-health, on one hand, and the demand that political elites and medical professionals meet proliferating health care needs and demands, on the other.
CBS/UWIRE Election Poll Results
CBS News/UWIRE released the results of the their 2008 Election Youth Poll on political preferences, engagement, and mobilization among college youth yesterday (see previous posts on this project here and here). The results for the OSU campus may be read in the Lantern. Overall, OSU Columbus students favored Obama over McCain 63 to 33%. UWIRE has a write-up on the overall results. The detailed topline results by state and the full questionnaire is available from CBS News.
Moving forward, COPS members will be analyzing these results, and a planned post-election panel survey to OSU and Cornell respondents, for academic publication.
Moving forward, COPS members will be analyzing these results, and a planned post-election panel survey to OSU and Cornell respondents, for academic publication.
MacKenzie: The Theatre of the Real
The Theatre of the Real
Yeats, Beckett, and Sondheim
Gina Masucci MacKenzie
The Theatre of the Real: Yeats, Beckett, and Sondheim traces the thread of jouissance (the simultaneous experience of radical pleasure and pain) through three major theatre figures of the twentieth century. Gina Masucci MacKenzie’s work engages theatrical text and performance in dialogue with the Lacanian Real, so as to re-envision modern theatre as the cultural site where author, actor, and audience come into direct contact with personal and collective traumas. By showing how a transgressively free subject may be formed through theatrical experience, MacKenzie concludes that modern theatre can liberate the individual from the socially constructed self.
The Theatre of the Real revises views of modern theatre by demonstrating how it can lead to a collaborative effort required for innovative theatrical work. By foregrounding Yeats’s “dancer” plays, the author shows how these intimate pieces contribute to the historical development of musical as well as modern theatre. Beckett’s universal dramas then pave the way for Sondheim’s postmodern cacophonies of idea and spirit as they introduce comic abjection into modernism’s tragic mode. This exciting work from a new author will leave readers with fresh insight to theatrical performance and its necessity in our lives.
Scarlet and Gray Scrimmage
Today we had the annual Scarlet vs. Gray (or for our "gey" friends, "Grey") game and to say Club Trillion did their thing would be as big of an understatement as saying Garth Brooks is just an alright singer. Point is, of the estimated 4,000 people there, at least 4,000 of them wanted to see what Club Trillion was going to do next. Here's a recap for all of you who were too wrapped up in whatever it is that goes on during autumn Saturdays in Columbus.
Kyle Madsen (#15)--Kyle chose the un-Trillionite, but still very respectable, route of not only playing, but playing well. Dude had something like fourteen board slaps during warm-ups with at least 3 dunks, and then chose to turn it up a notch during the actual scrimmage. At one point, I literally heard an eldery woman in the stands say, "Kyle Madsen might have the wettest J on the team." This man was flexing his muscles and the fans liked what they saw. Some fans, however, felt as though Kyle sold out from his Club Trillion roots by being productive. In response to these accusations, Kyle said, "I understand the concern, but I want everyone to know that I am committed to the Club Trillion cause. Once a Trillionite, always a Trillionite, right?" Give this man a break, people. He's reaching out for your continued support and just because he was given a little more talent than the rest of the Club, doesn't mean he's all about himself.
Danny Peters (#13)--Danny proved that even though he's known for having what Coach John Wooden used to call "an ill handle", he can still make it rain. Danny ventured over to Kyle Madsen territory by participating in the scrimmage, but since he was forced into the situation, you can hardly be mad at him. He made the most of his unfortuante situation by knocking down a wide open 3 and making thousands of hearts melt in the process. Don't let the school-boy charm fool you folks--Danny Peters will rip your heart out using nothing more than a 20 foot jumpshot and the ability to dribble behind his back.
Mark Titus (#34)--At this point you are probably saying to yourself, "Mark, please tell me you upheld the Club Trillion way of life. Surely you didn't participate in the scrimmage did you? And if you did, don't tell me you did anything productive. My heart simply cannot take it." Have no fear ladies and gents, because yours truly held it down. I spent a majority of the scrimmage talking to two 8 year old kids who told me their names were "Drake and Josh." I called shenanigans on this. The kid who said his name was Josh then decided to claim that his name was "Gake" and I again called shenanigans. I was finally informed his name was "Jake" and since I rarely call shenanigans more than twice a day, I decided to let it slide. So Drake and Jake explained to me that the funniest thing ever would be to put a Sweet Tart in my water bottle. I told them the funniest thing ever could probably be found on YouTube. Jake then told me that he has a locker room pass and I told him I wasn't impressed in the slightest because I have a locker room pass too. And since I didn't see Jake in the locker room after the scrimmage, I assume that this kid is on the fast track to a life of breaking girls' hearts and eventually being arrested for fraud and embezzlement. Anyway, Drake and Jake were some pretty cool dudes who provided me with some quality entertainment, because let's be honest, seeing some of the best amateur athletes in the world can get pretty boring.
Just because I wrote the 2nd blog in this, the 2nd day of operations, I warn you to not get greedy and expect a blog a day. However, feel free to check back everyday and re-read old blogs in case you missed some nugget of hilarity. Also, feel free to comment on any blog. We are here to please you the reader, and any suggestions are not only welcome, but encouraged. With that, now would be a good time to tell your friends how BAMFtastic Club Trillion's blog is. You will probably end up being that cool guy in your group of friends who always comes across the newest and best stuff first. And who honestly doesn't want that?
Your Friend and My Favorite,
Mark Titus (#34)
Club Trillion Co-Founder
Kyle Madsen (#15)--Kyle chose the un-Trillionite, but still very respectable, route of not only playing, but playing well. Dude had something like fourteen board slaps during warm-ups with at least 3 dunks, and then chose to turn it up a notch during the actual scrimmage. At one point, I literally heard an eldery woman in the stands say, "Kyle Madsen might have the wettest J on the team." This man was flexing his muscles and the fans liked what they saw. Some fans, however, felt as though Kyle sold out from his Club Trillion roots by being productive. In response to these accusations, Kyle said, "I understand the concern, but I want everyone to know that I am committed to the Club Trillion cause. Once a Trillionite, always a Trillionite, right?" Give this man a break, people. He's reaching out for your continued support and just because he was given a little more talent than the rest of the Club, doesn't mean he's all about himself.
Danny Peters (#13)--Danny proved that even though he's known for having what Coach John Wooden used to call "an ill handle", he can still make it rain. Danny ventured over to Kyle Madsen territory by participating in the scrimmage, but since he was forced into the situation, you can hardly be mad at him. He made the most of his unfortuante situation by knocking down a wide open 3 and making thousands of hearts melt in the process. Don't let the school-boy charm fool you folks--Danny Peters will rip your heart out using nothing more than a 20 foot jumpshot and the ability to dribble behind his back.
Mark Titus (#34)--At this point you are probably saying to yourself, "Mark, please tell me you upheld the Club Trillion way of life. Surely you didn't participate in the scrimmage did you? And if you did, don't tell me you did anything productive. My heart simply cannot take it." Have no fear ladies and gents, because yours truly held it down. I spent a majority of the scrimmage talking to two 8 year old kids who told me their names were "Drake and Josh." I called shenanigans on this. The kid who said his name was Josh then decided to claim that his name was "Gake" and I again called shenanigans. I was finally informed his name was "Jake" and since I rarely call shenanigans more than twice a day, I decided to let it slide. So Drake and Jake explained to me that the funniest thing ever would be to put a Sweet Tart in my water bottle. I told them the funniest thing ever could probably be found on YouTube. Jake then told me that he has a locker room pass and I told him I wasn't impressed in the slightest because I have a locker room pass too. And since I didn't see Jake in the locker room after the scrimmage, I assume that this kid is on the fast track to a life of breaking girls' hearts and eventually being arrested for fraud and embezzlement. Anyway, Drake and Jake were some pretty cool dudes who provided me with some quality entertainment, because let's be honest, seeing some of the best amateur athletes in the world can get pretty boring.
Just because I wrote the 2nd blog in this, the 2nd day of operations, I warn you to not get greedy and expect a blog a day. However, feel free to check back everyday and re-read old blogs in case you missed some nugget of hilarity. Also, feel free to comment on any blog. We are here to please you the reader, and any suggestions are not only welcome, but encouraged. With that, now would be a good time to tell your friends how BAMFtastic Club Trillion's blog is. You will probably end up being that cool guy in your group of friends who always comes across the newest and best stuff first. And who honestly doesn't want that?
Your Friend and My Favorite,
Mark Titus (#34)
Club Trillion Co-Founder
Welcome to Club Trillion's Blog
Nobody can know for certain why you chose to come check out the Club Trillion blog, but the fact is that you came across it and you have read this first sentence of the first blog, so you might as well just keep reading.
Club Trillion is an exclusive club founded in 2007 by three very handsome and very financially well-off Ohio State basketball players--Kyle Madsen (#15), Danny Peters (#13), and myself. We named ourselves "Club Trillion" because as athletically limited white folk, we found ourselves riding the bench for the Buckeyes. When the time came for us to get in, there would usually only be 1 minute remaining in the game and after sitting down for 39 minutes, we really had no interest in trying to be all that productive. So we devised the plan of trying to get the "trillion" which occurs when we play 1 minute and do absolutely nothing that would appear in the box score, thus making our stat line say 1 minute played followed by a bunch of zeroes. I know what you are saying to yourself right now. You are saying, "That is side-splittingly hilarious. These guys are probably just a comical party waiting to happen." You are absolutely right.
The purpose of our blog is to give you, the reader, a perspective on college basketball that you would never otherwise know about. Club Trillion is all about having a good time and frequently partakes in what many would classify as shenanigans. While we do enjoy finding new ways to constantly entertain ourselves, the fact remains that we are committed to winning and will probably go down as three of the winningest Ohio State basketball players of all-time. I can't say for certain how often we will post our blogs, but I would check back at least every ten minutes cause you don't want to be that guy who is left out of the water cooler conversation. So go spread the word that Club Trillion is in town and if you don't read our blog, we will take your milk money and tell every girl in school about that one secret that you thought nobody knew about.
Your Friend and My Favorite,
Mark Titus (#34)
Club Trillion Co-Founder
Club Trillion is an exclusive club founded in 2007 by three very handsome and very financially well-off Ohio State basketball players--Kyle Madsen (#15), Danny Peters (#13), and myself. We named ourselves "Club Trillion" because as athletically limited white folk, we found ourselves riding the bench for the Buckeyes. When the time came for us to get in, there would usually only be 1 minute remaining in the game and after sitting down for 39 minutes, we really had no interest in trying to be all that productive. So we devised the plan of trying to get the "trillion" which occurs when we play 1 minute and do absolutely nothing that would appear in the box score, thus making our stat line say 1 minute played followed by a bunch of zeroes. I know what you are saying to yourself right now. You are saying, "That is side-splittingly hilarious. These guys are probably just a comical party waiting to happen." You are absolutely right.
The purpose of our blog is to give you, the reader, a perspective on college basketball that you would never otherwise know about. Club Trillion is all about having a good time and frequently partakes in what many would classify as shenanigans. While we do enjoy finding new ways to constantly entertain ourselves, the fact remains that we are committed to winning and will probably go down as three of the winningest Ohio State basketball players of all-time. I can't say for certain how often we will post our blogs, but I would check back at least every ten minutes cause you don't want to be that guy who is left out of the water cooler conversation. So go spread the word that Club Trillion is in town and if you don't read our blog, we will take your milk money and tell every girl in school about that one secret that you thought nobody knew about.
Your Friend and My Favorite,
Mark Titus (#34)
Club Trillion Co-Founder
Princeton Panel on Accuracy and Methodology of State Polling in 2008 Election
On October 7th Princeton University held a panel on the accuracy and methodology of state polls in the election, composed of several notable methodologists and statisticians. The YouTube broadcast of the symposium is online and very engrossing. Here is a brief description: Panelists- Christopher Achen, Professor of Social Sciences and Associate Chair of the Department of Politics at Princeton University; Andrew Gelman, professor in the Departments of Statistics and Political Science at Columbia University and director of the University`s Applied Statistics Center; and Larry Hugick, Chairman of Princeton Survey Research Associates International. Moderator: Alan Krueger, the Bendheim Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the Woodrow Wilson School and Director of the Survey Research Center at Princeton. (Oct 7, 2008 at Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Co-sponsored by the Survey Research Center, the Center for the Study of Democratic Politics, and the New York and New Jersey chapters of the American Association for Public Opinion Research.)
Early Voting Data at United States Election Project
A great resource for secondary data on voting and elections is Dr. Michael McDonald's United States Election Project website at George Mason University. It includes data on turnout trends, voter registration trends, early voting, etc. A recent post provides data on early voting in all 50 states for the 2008 election and in some cases provides the demographic and party breakdowns for early voters. A great resource for political junkies.
CBS News Poll Closes
Last night at midnight, the CBS News 08 Youth Election Poll closed (see previous post on this project). Over 143,000 students were contacted in 47 schools across four states. The overall response rate was 18% for a total of 25,797 completed surveys. OSU was included in the sample, with 499 completed surveys and a response rate of 16.6%. The full survey results will be released by CBS News, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and the OSU Lantern (with a focus on OSU results compared to the rest of the schools) on October 27th. After the election a COPS team will be delving into the full survey results for academic analysis and publication. We will keep you posted on the findings.
The Future of Democracy
nterested in learning about how technology is changing our democracy? How have YouTube debates, bloggers, iReporters, and political mashups impacted the presidential election? Can technology reinvigorate our democracy by connecting more people to the political process?
The Digital Union presents "The Future of Democracy," a panel discussion with Peter Shane, Professor of Law and a leading figure in the field of cyberdemocracy, and Dan Shellenbarger, director of the Ohio Channel and an Emmy award winning producer. This event will take place in the Learning Collaboration Studio (SEL 060) from 2:30-4 pm on Wednesday October 29th. RSVP to gjestvang.1@osu.edu.
Peter M. Shane, Jacob E. Davis and Jacob E. Davis II Chair in Law, Moritz College of Law: One the nation's foremost authorities on the law of the presidency, Professor Shane is also a leading figure in the newly emerging field of cyberdemocracy, which studies the use of the Internet and other information technologies to facilitate citizen participation in politics and government. His work in this field includes research funded by the NSF on the development of software to structure community-based discussions on complex policy issues. He has edited "Democracy Online: The Prospects of Political Renewal Through the Internet" and published widely on the topics of voting rights, redistricting, and reapportionment.
Dan Shellenbarger, The Ohio Channel: Dan Shellenbarger is an Emmy Award winning video director and editor who helped found and currently manages the Ohio Channel. A new concept in public affairs programming, the Ohio Channel combines Statehouse coverage with locally produced PBS programs to give a statewide perspective on issues that affect all Ohioans. In addition, the Ohio Channel encodes, hosts, and streams all coverage of state government proceedings for distribution on the Internet. Using Flash, RSS, and web tools, the Ohio Channel seeks to provide vitual access to all aspects of state government. Shellenbarger also serves as a technical editor and reviewer for the video publishing industry and is a video arts instructor for the art department at The Ohio State University.
Chaitin: The Enemy Within
The Enemy Within
Culture Wars and Political Identity in Novels of the French Third Republic
Gilbert D. Chaitin
In The Enemy Within, Gilbert D. Chaitin deepens our understanding of the nature and sources of culture wars during the French Third Republic. The psychological trauma caused by the Ferry educational reform laws of 1880–1882, which strove to create a new national identity based on secular morality rather than God-given commandments, pitted Catholics against proponents of lay education and gave rise to novels by Bourget, Barrès, A. France, and Zola.
By deploying Lacanian concepts to understand the “erotics of politics” revealed in these novels, Chaitin examines the formation of national identity, offering a new intellectual history of the period and shedding light on the intimate relations among literature, education, philosophy, morality, and political order. The mechanisms described in The Enemy Within provide fresh insight into the affective structure of culture wars not only in the French Third Republic but elsewhere in the world today.
More on Rivalries
Last fall there was a post about rivalries, which included a photo of University of Wisconsin professor Dhavan Shah wearing an OSU cap while teaching an undergraduate class at UW -- the result of a wager made when several Wisconsin faculty and students came to Columbus for the big OSU-UW game. This past weekend I went to Gainesville, FL to watch the Florida Gators battle the LSU Tigers. As most of you know, these are the two teams our Buckeyes have lost National Championship games to the last two years. My logic -- other than taking an opportunity to go to the game with my brother, who lives in Florida -- was to get to see, up close and personal, one of those two teams lose. ;-) Anyhow, I post this shot mostly for COPS' own Kristen Landreville, who earned her BA and MA from Florida. Oh, and to show OSU representing inside The Swamp. BTW, the Gators won 51-21.
Ohio Again "THE" Battleground State in 2008
A report in the Columbus Dispatch today indicates that Ohio is once again the major target for the presidential candidates in 2008. Last week, more money was spent on political ads in Ohio than in any other state in the country when the McCain and Obama expenditures are combined. That puts us in a fantastic position to not only observe the election, but to study it as well.
Read more here.
Read more here.
OSU/COPS Participates in CBS News '08 Youth Election Poll
The OSU Lantern ran a front-page story today about the CBS News/WIRE Youth '08 Poll today. The survey queries full-time undergraduate students at 45 universities and colleges, including OSU, about their electoral preferences, campaign activities, new media use, and campaign information sources. Approximately 16,000 students across four battleground states (OH, PA, CO, and NC) are expected to complete the survey. The topline results of the survey will be released October 27th.
Based on an arrangement with CBS News, members the COPS team including myself, Michael Beam, Myiah Hively, and Nick Geidner will have access to the data once the survey is completed for academic analysis and publication. We will keep you posted on the results.
Based on an arrangement with CBS News, members the COPS team including myself, Michael Beam, Myiah Hively, and Nick Geidner will have access to the data once the survey is completed for academic analysis and publication. We will keep you posted on the results.
Liveley and Salzman-Mitchell, eds.: Latin Elegy and Narratology
Latin Elegy and Narratology
Fragments of Story
Edited by Genevieve Liveley and Patricia Salzman-Mitchell
In recent decades, literary studies have shown great interest in issues concerning the elements of narrative. Narratology, with its most vocal exponents in the writings of Bal, Genette, and Ricoeur, has also emerged as an increasingly important aspect of classical scholarship. However, studies have tended to focus on genres that are deemed straightforwardly narrative in form, such as epic, history, and the novel. This volume of heretofore unpublished essays explores how theories of narrative can promote further understandings and innovative readings of a genre that is not traditionally seen as narrative: Roman elegy. While elegy does not tell a continuous story, it does contain many embedded tales—narratives in their own right—located within and interacting with the primarily nonnarrative structure of the external frame-text.
Latin Elegy and Narratology is the first volume entirely dedicated to the analysis of Latin elegy through the prism of theories of narrative. It brings together an international range of classicists whose specialties include Roman elegy, Augustan literature more generally, and critical theory. Among the questions explored in this volume are: Can the inset narratives of elegy, with their distinctive narrative strategies, provide the key to a poetics of elegiac story telling? In what ways does elegy renegotiate the linearity and teleology of narrative? Can formal theories of narratology help to make sense of the temporal contradictions and narrative incongruities that so often characterize elegiac stories? What can the reception of Roman elegy tell us about narratives of unity, identity, and authority? The essays contained in this volume provide provocative new readings and an enhanced understanding of Roman elegy using the tools of narratology.
Eveland receives UD Presidential Citation award
Congratulations to Chip Eveland for his recent receipt of the University of Delaware's Presidential Citation for Outstanding Achievement award. This award goes to graduates of the University of Delaware (where Chip completed an M.A. and where one of his former Ph.D. students, Lindsay Hoffman, is now an assistant professor) who, according to their web page, "exhibit great promise in their professional career and/or public service activities"
ASAN Coalition Submits Joint Comment
Together with other autism and disability rights organizations, ASAN submitted the following joint comment yesterday on the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee's draft strategic plan:
The Autistic Self Advocacy Network Coalition Comments on
Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee
Request for Information NOT-MH-08-021
September 30, 2008
This joint comment on the Draft Strategic Plan is submitted by The Autistic Self Advocacy Network and the undersigned organizations. Our combined organizations collectively represent thousands of citizens with disabilities, including individuals on the autism spectrum, as well as well as family members, professionals and other allies of citizens on the autism spectrum. The Autistic Self Advocacy Network aims to empower autistic people across the lifespan, by focusing on supports, service delivery, and education research. As such, we have an interest in the inclusion of autistic adults in all aspects of IACC's decision-making process, research topic selection, research design and research implementation.
The Autistic Self Advocacy Network applauds the efforts of the IACC to develop a Strategic Plan that will address the needs and concerns of individuals on the autism spectrum and our families. We are especially encouraged by the invitation extended by IACC members to listen to the viewpoint of autistic people, because our viewpoint frequently departs from the traditional concern with causes, cures, and prevention of all autism spectrum conditions.
The Autistic Self Advocacy Network and our supporting organizations suggest several areas of concern to be addressed in the draft Strategic Plan:
1. All federally-funded researchers must consider the impact that their research will have on autistic citizens' human rights, their dignity, and the quality of their lives, from prenatal life forward.
Research focused on early detection and intervention, prevention/preemption, pharmaceutical interventions, prenatal treatments, and the like needs to be conducted with the human dignity and rights of the individual as the foremost concerns.
2. Implement a research agenda that addresses services and supports for people on the autism spectrum throughout the lifespan. Change the emphasis of research away from prevention and cure and toward effective supports for community inclusion.
Currently (as of May 12, 2008), only 1% of NIMH's $127 million budget for autism research addresses the area of services and support. More resources should be allocated to this area. We share the committee's "sense of urgency" when we speak about quality-of-life issues for people on the autism spectrum, such as education, employment, and housing needs.
For example, a more aggressive agenda must be pursued for researching alternative and augmentative communication technology and other assistive communication technologies. The only augmentive/alternative communication technology mentioned in the Strategic Plan is PECS; however, PECS is not always appropriate or even useful to many people on the autism spectrum, particularly for those with visual processing difficulties, or those who need more sophisticated assistive technologies. Lower-cost communications devices need to be researched and tested to enable more people on the autism spectrum to communicate with their families and communities. New modes of alternative communication and augmentive communication that take advantage of autistic individuals' processing strengths and state-of-the-art technology should be pursued.
Interventions other than Applied Behavior Analysis must be studied. Because research on ABA has shown only limited positive outcomes, other methods must be studied, keeping in mind the heterogeneity of the autistic population. Not all people on the autism spectrum will respond positively to a single approach. As Dr. Catherine Lord of the University of Michigan Center for Human Growth and Development says, in her Omnibus Autism Proceedings testimony, "We know that behavioral treatments make some difference but it's a relatively small amount of difference."
Emphasis should also be placed on identifying the optimal and often unique ways that autistic people think, learn, communicate, and remember. Such research will help parents of autistic children and professionals who work with autistic children to better understand and meet those children's' needs. Examples from other areas illustrate this concept: Hearing parents of deaf children are often well served by learning to sign. Sighted parents of blind children are often well served by learning to read Braille. The same principle applies to parents of autistic children; parents deserve attention and intervention alongside their children. Right now, our interventions merely force autistic children to learn, think, behave, and communicate like non-autistic children. Instead, they should be taught how to learn, think, behave, and communicate like autistic children, so that they can maximize their capabilities.
Longitudinal studies that address quality-of-life and satisfaction-with-life issues need to be undertaken, including research on access and utilization of services in community settings. Research into living arrangements, employment options, relations within the community, guardianship questions, and other aspects of daily life need to be conducted. These are the issues we consider to be of greatest urgency.
3. Conduct research into unique strengths of autistic individuals and positive experiences of living with autism.
Much research and fundraising language emphasizes "costs to society" and uses the disrespectful rhetoric of "burden." The National Center on Disability and Journalism strongly recommends against describing persons with disabilities, or their disabilities, as burdens because "portraying [persons] with disabilities as a burden to family, friends, and society can dehumanize them." We strongly agree.
Similarly, many NIH-funded researchers and staff speak of autism as "a devastating disorder." However, many individuals on the autism spectrum do not feel that they are leading lives that are less worthy or more filled with suffering than those of other citizens. Moreover, a growing body of research literature demonstrates that the autistic spectrum profile can be accurately characterized by documented strengths, including the ability to focus on details and qualities such as intense interests, which can sometimes be channeled into productive employment. Research must also address education of the public, including parents, about traits that are often seen as "impairments," but which, in reality, are often innocuous or compensatory mechanisms.
4. Require that individuals on the autism spectrum be actively involved as collaborators and participants on all IACC subcommittees.
Most of the recent IACC workgroups, including the treatment and services workgroup, did not have adequate participation from members on the autism spectrum. If future workgroups are convened, every attempt must be made to include autistic individuals in more than a token way. Comparisons can be made to other fields in which persons affected by the research are involved in the research, such as deaf scientists who study deaf language and culture. As MacArthur Fellowship recipient Harlan Lane articulated with regard to deaf research: "…involve deaf people themselves at all levels of the undertaking. Federal agencies ... should require the projects they sponsor to turn preferentially to the deaf community for advisers and collaborators in research design and implementation, for assistance in data collection and analysis, for guidance in interpretation of results." We strongly recommend that the federal agencies that fund autism research endorse this socially responsible position and mandate the involvement of individuals on the autism spectrum in all aspects of the research process.
Ari Ne'eman
President
The Autistic Self Advocacy Network
1660 L Street, NW, Suite 700
Washington, DC 20036
http://www.autisticadvocacy.org/
732.763.5530
Andrew Imparato
President
American Association of People with Disabilities
1629 K Street NW, Suite 503
Washington, DC 20006
http://www.aapd-dc.org/
Barbara Trader, MS
Executive Director
TASH
http://www.tash.org/
Sharisa Joy Kochmeister
President
Autism National Committee
http://www.autcom.org/
Estee Klar-Wolfond
Founder/Executive Director
The Autism Acceptance Project
http://www.taaproject.com/
Compiled by ASAN Board Member Paula C. Durbin-Westby
The Autistic Self Advocacy Network Coalition Comments on
Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee
Request for Information NOT-MH-08-021
September 30, 2008
This joint comment on the Draft Strategic Plan is submitted by The Autistic Self Advocacy Network and the undersigned organizations. Our combined organizations collectively represent thousands of citizens with disabilities, including individuals on the autism spectrum, as well as well as family members, professionals and other allies of citizens on the autism spectrum. The Autistic Self Advocacy Network aims to empower autistic people across the lifespan, by focusing on supports, service delivery, and education research. As such, we have an interest in the inclusion of autistic adults in all aspects of IACC's decision-making process, research topic selection, research design and research implementation.
The Autistic Self Advocacy Network applauds the efforts of the IACC to develop a Strategic Plan that will address the needs and concerns of individuals on the autism spectrum and our families. We are especially encouraged by the invitation extended by IACC members to listen to the viewpoint of autistic people, because our viewpoint frequently departs from the traditional concern with causes, cures, and prevention of all autism spectrum conditions.
The Autistic Self Advocacy Network and our supporting organizations suggest several areas of concern to be addressed in the draft Strategic Plan:
1. All federally-funded researchers must consider the impact that their research will have on autistic citizens' human rights, their dignity, and the quality of their lives, from prenatal life forward.
Research focused on early detection and intervention, prevention/preemption, pharmaceutical interventions, prenatal treatments, and the like needs to be conducted with the human dignity and rights of the individual as the foremost concerns.
2. Implement a research agenda that addresses services and supports for people on the autism spectrum throughout the lifespan. Change the emphasis of research away from prevention and cure and toward effective supports for community inclusion.
Currently (as of May 12, 2008), only 1% of NIMH's $127 million budget for autism research addresses the area of services and support. More resources should be allocated to this area. We share the committee's "sense of urgency" when we speak about quality-of-life issues for people on the autism spectrum, such as education, employment, and housing needs.
For example, a more aggressive agenda must be pursued for researching alternative and augmentative communication technology and other assistive communication technologies. The only augmentive/alternative communication technology mentioned in the Strategic Plan is PECS; however, PECS is not always appropriate or even useful to many people on the autism spectrum, particularly for those with visual processing difficulties, or those who need more sophisticated assistive technologies. Lower-cost communications devices need to be researched and tested to enable more people on the autism spectrum to communicate with their families and communities. New modes of alternative communication and augmentive communication that take advantage of autistic individuals' processing strengths and state-of-the-art technology should be pursued.
Interventions other than Applied Behavior Analysis must be studied. Because research on ABA has shown only limited positive outcomes, other methods must be studied, keeping in mind the heterogeneity of the autistic population. Not all people on the autism spectrum will respond positively to a single approach. As Dr. Catherine Lord of the University of Michigan Center for Human Growth and Development says, in her Omnibus Autism Proceedings testimony, "We know that behavioral treatments make some difference but it's a relatively small amount of difference."
Emphasis should also be placed on identifying the optimal and often unique ways that autistic people think, learn, communicate, and remember. Such research will help parents of autistic children and professionals who work with autistic children to better understand and meet those children's' needs. Examples from other areas illustrate this concept: Hearing parents of deaf children are often well served by learning to sign. Sighted parents of blind children are often well served by learning to read Braille. The same principle applies to parents of autistic children; parents deserve attention and intervention alongside their children. Right now, our interventions merely force autistic children to learn, think, behave, and communicate like non-autistic children. Instead, they should be taught how to learn, think, behave, and communicate like autistic children, so that they can maximize their capabilities.
Longitudinal studies that address quality-of-life and satisfaction-with-life issues need to be undertaken, including research on access and utilization of services in community settings. Research into living arrangements, employment options, relations within the community, guardianship questions, and other aspects of daily life need to be conducted. These are the issues we consider to be of greatest urgency.
3. Conduct research into unique strengths of autistic individuals and positive experiences of living with autism.
Much research and fundraising language emphasizes "costs to society" and uses the disrespectful rhetoric of "burden." The National Center on Disability and Journalism strongly recommends against describing persons with disabilities, or their disabilities, as burdens because "portraying [persons] with disabilities as a burden to family, friends, and society can dehumanize them." We strongly agree.
Similarly, many NIH-funded researchers and staff speak of autism as "a devastating disorder." However, many individuals on the autism spectrum do not feel that they are leading lives that are less worthy or more filled with suffering than those of other citizens. Moreover, a growing body of research literature demonstrates that the autistic spectrum profile can be accurately characterized by documented strengths, including the ability to focus on details and qualities such as intense interests, which can sometimes be channeled into productive employment. Research must also address education of the public, including parents, about traits that are often seen as "impairments," but which, in reality, are often innocuous or compensatory mechanisms.
4. Require that individuals on the autism spectrum be actively involved as collaborators and participants on all IACC subcommittees.
Most of the recent IACC workgroups, including the treatment and services workgroup, did not have adequate participation from members on the autism spectrum. If future workgroups are convened, every attempt must be made to include autistic individuals in more than a token way. Comparisons can be made to other fields in which persons affected by the research are involved in the research, such as deaf scientists who study deaf language and culture. As MacArthur Fellowship recipient Harlan Lane articulated with regard to deaf research: "…involve deaf people themselves at all levels of the undertaking. Federal agencies ... should require the projects they sponsor to turn preferentially to the deaf community for advisers and collaborators in research design and implementation, for assistance in data collection and analysis, for guidance in interpretation of results." We strongly recommend that the federal agencies that fund autism research endorse this socially responsible position and mandate the involvement of individuals on the autism spectrum in all aspects of the research process.
Ari Ne'eman
President
The Autistic Self Advocacy Network
1660 L Street, NW, Suite 700
Washington, DC 20036
http://www.autisticadvocacy.org/
732.763.5530
Andrew Imparato
President
American Association of People with Disabilities
1629 K Street NW, Suite 503
Washington, DC 20006
http://www.aapd-dc.org/
Barbara Trader, MS
Executive Director
TASH
http://www.tash.org/
Sharisa Joy Kochmeister
President
Autism National Committee
http://www.autcom.org/
Estee Klar-Wolfond
Founder/Executive Director
The Autism Acceptance Project
http://www.taaproject.com/
Compiled by ASAN Board Member Paula C. Durbin-Westby
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