text:
La Zachlumie, Zahumlje ou Zachoulmie, connue également comme la Terre de Hum, Chelm et de Chelmia, fut une principauté serbe du sud médiévale située en Herzégovine (faisant partie de l'actuelle Bosnie-Herzégovine) plus précisément de l'Herzégovine, en Dalmatie du sud (faisant partie de l'actuelle république de Croatie). Une partie des historiens croates, considère les Zachlumiens croates dès cette époque d'après des observations culturelles. Mais pour le monde universitaire, la source principale reste De aministrando Imperio (vers 950).

Histoire
Le livre De administrando Imperio du  principale référence du monde slave, écrit par l'Empereur byzantin Constantin VII Porphyrogénète, mentionne la terre des Zachlumoi ou Zahumlje comme une des terres données aux Serbes.

De Administrando Imperio énonce :

Souverains de Zachlumie

La Zachlumie entre en confédération avec les princes serbes de Rascie très tôt. Le prince serbe Časlav Klonimirović de la Maison des Vlastimirović incorpore totalement cette aire dans son domaine entre 927 et 940.

Au XIIe et au , la Zachlumie est gouvernée par une dynastie de souverains locaux :
 Desa, le župan de Duklja, Travonie et Zachlumie avant 1151 et le župan de Serbie de 1155-1162
 Zavida, le Prince de Zachlumie
 Miroslav, le Grand Prince de Zachlumie de 1162-1190. Il était le frère de Stefan Nemanja, de Tihomir et Stracimir. Il épousa une sœur du Ban Kulin de Bosnie. En 1166, il régna sous le nom de Tihomir et après 1166 avec le titre de duc de toute la Serbie, et sous le nom de Stefan Nemanja, grand prince de Rascie.
 Rastko des Nemanja de 1190 - 1192, régnant sous le nom de Stefan Nemanja
 Toljen, fils de Miroslav de 1192 à 1198
 Petar, fils de Miroslav, Duc de la Zachlumie 1198-1227 et comte de la cité de Split 1222-1225. Il épousa une fille du Duc Berthold von Meran, Margrave d'Istrie
 Toljen II, fils de Toljen, Duc de la Haute Zachlumie jusqu'en 1239
 Nikola, Prince de Zachlumie. Il épousa Katarina Kotromanjić en 1238
 André, fils de Miroslav, Prince de la Côte et Duc de la Basse-Zachlumie jusqu'en 1250.
 Bogdan, fils d'André, Prince de Zachlumie jusqu'en 1249, qui mourut en 1252
 Radoslav, fils d'André, Prince de Zachlumie de 1249 à 1255
 Bogdan II de 1285 à 1312

Les souverains attestés de Zachlumie au  incluent:
 Stephen Konstantin, prince de Zachlumie, prétendant au trône serbe en 1323.
 Jovan Uglješa, un descendant de la maison serbe des Mrnjavčević, gouverna la Zachlumie d'environ 1370 jusqu'à sa mort en 1404.
 Sandalj Hranić Kosača, knez de Zachlumie et l'un des ducs de Saint Sava, devint grand voïvode de Bosnie jusqu'à sa mort en 1435
 Stjepan Vukčić Kosača, grand voïvode de Bosnie, knez (prince) de Zachlumie et Primorje jusqu'à sa mort en 1466

Annexes

Articles connexes
 Histoire de la Serbie
 Travonie
 Histoire de la Croatie
 histoire de la Bosnie-Herzégovine

Liens externes
 Constantine VII Porphyrogenitos, ca. 950, , De Administrando Imperio, The early history of the Slavonic settlements in Dalmatia, Croatia, & Serbia (1920),
 Constantine VII Porphyrogenitos, ca. 950, , De Administrando Imperio, http://openlibrary.org/b/OL13507258M/early_history_of_the_Slavonic_settlements_in_Dalmatia_Croatia_Serbia
  http://genealogy.euweb.cz/balkan/balkan5.html
  http://worldroots.com/brigitte/theroff/balkan.htm

Notes et références

Ancien pays des Balkans
Pays ou peuple au Moyen Âge
Territoire du haut Moyen Âge
Histoire des Balkans
Histoire de la Bosnie-Herzégovine
Histoire de la Croatie
Histoire de la Serbie


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DDA to soon implement new Lift Installation Policy in Delhi
Much in tune with the new Masterplan 2021 guidelines, the DDA is planning to implement the revised policy for issuing no-objection certificates required for the installation of lifts in the national capital. The new lift policy though not made public yet is going to be finalized soon, and has been brought by the new vice-chairperson Balvinder Kumar.
DDA had started working on the new lift policy almost three years ago but it could not be revised due to several objections by residents. While the new lift policy has not been finalized, several thousand applications for installation of lifts has been kept in abeyance. Ramesh Menon, Director, Certes Realty Ltd welcomed the decision of DDA to expedite the policy, and decision making on lifts as it could accelerate the pace of construction, and completion in newly developed colonies, apartment complexes, and even houses which want to instal these systems. With new farmhouses in Delhi also being allowed increased height, Menon said it was important that such a policy be implemented at the earliest.
As per the revised policy, the consent of the ground floor residents would be required for setting up, and operating the lift, and consent of all occupants and owners is needed to be submitted. The applicants will also have to get recommendations from the lift manufacturers, civil and structural agencies, four sets of building plans, and NOCs from fire department, and GNTCD, lift inspector, and the DISCOM of the area. A NoC from the RWA of the colony is also required. If the area comes under any of the municipal bodies, than the owners will have to approach the municipal officials for NoCs.
Nancy Singh
Category : MPD-2021 News
« Land pooling policy in Delhi a win-win for both farmers and developers	Land Pooling in Delhi to offer great options to both land owners, home buyers »
May 29, 2014	at 11:15 am
Thank God that the consent of the ground floor is required for the NOC otherwise earlier policy of Gorund floor peoples consent not required was not only bad in policy but also bad in law. How could people who are most affected not be taken into consideration???
The lift brouhaha in our apartments has created a rift so wide among the residents that it is impossible to bridge the gap between the ground and the people living on the upper floors.All tactics of intimdation, ridicule and physical abuse and might is right have been used by the interested parties in the lift to try and force the ground floor people to give in and agree to flouting of rules. Thank God for the court, we are relieved. No one was and is against the lift per se but no one (ground or top floors) have the right to facilitate themselves by climbing and breaking other people's back.Most of the top floor people have made construction on their terraces and now want to take away the free space left for movement of goods and people. fire safety…no one cares till something damaging and devastating happens in this country.
March 24, 2014	at 10:32 am
Thanks author for the update. However, i am one of the aggrieved parties whose application has been pending for more than a year in DDA office. Request if you could help us know the contact person in DDA and whether there is an interim solution for already pending cases.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Ally's Guide for Autism Acceptance Month
Next month is what most people term "Autism Awareness Month" but what autistic activists alternatively call "Autism Acceptance Month" or "hell month." It's a month where people light it up blue globally for Autism $peaks (in 2017 basically every landmark in over 150 countries lit it up blue according to their website which I'm not giving traffic), the hate group I have written about 5 times and made this toolkit with a lot of different resources and talking points to help people fight their supporters including those articles.
Last year on my page An Articulate Autistic I made a guide with stuff to help allies help us and after a lot of edits as those months went on it became really clunky so I'm remaking it here.
For myself and a lot of autistics next month is hell. It's when the whole world joins together to support an organization that is incredibly harmful to us and has fueled and fed off of stigma against us for the past 13 years. It makes me want to hide in a hole and not come out until May 1st, last year I spent the whole month gaming to get my mind off of the hatred represented in the blue lights and puzzle pieces (a symbol for autism that has a long history of being horrible before AS). A lot of businesses will be making partnerships for the month for portions of any profit or of a certain product going to them (in addition to these 12 different sponsors that gave a total of $5,100,000 last year) along with the infinite well-intentioned people who are going to be lighting it up blue intending to be supportive of us unknowingly reinforcing our oppression.
While my articles on allies are…often my most incendiary, we need you next month because the more activist-oriented an autistic is, the more the utter futility of standing against this behemoth is rubbed in. It's always there though I can usually ignore it but April focuses it like a laser into my brain so it's impossible to not feel the lurking despair.
If you want to help us, you can start now. The Autistic Self Advocacy Network, our main autistic-run policy organization, made this flyer (edit: I converted it to a picture on Facebook here to distribute it that way) last year with their budgeting (they spend 1.6% on family services and a total of 58% on lobbying, advertising, and fundraising, 36 times as much), key facts, and alternative organizations to donate to (although if you want to donate directly to an autistic activist who has been struggling with getting employment that isn't incredibly overloading here's my PayPal…while activism is important, it doesn't pay and this alone has taken a few hours). I would recommend printing them and giving them to places that supported AS last year, they're in color but shouldn't be affected if printed grayscale. Also please boycott places that are supporting them for the month, it's not that long and they don't need the help.
My usual tactic when talking to people (I talk about this…a lot in person) is drawing attention to their vile ad campaigns. First and most horrid is "Autism Every Day" (transcript here), which was so terrible it had me breaking down crying wondering why they hated us so much. In particular, I mention the mom talking about wanting to drive her autistic daughter off of a bridge, with said daughter in her lap, and the only thing stopping her was having an allistic (non-autistic) daughter. Second is "I Am Autism" (transcript here) which had a creepy stalker voice saying that autism ruins marriages, is faster than pediatric AIDS diabetes and cancer combined, and makes it so you can't go into public without struggle, embarrassment, or pain…I'm linking the transcripts instead of the videos because I'm only willing to put myself through so much suffering to write this and can't handle actually seeing and hearing them.
Most (regrettably not all) people have issues with Nazis which is why I mention to people that they almost had the Soldiers of Odin, a very obviously named Neonazi group, at one of their fundraisers until people pointed out who they were, more info in the aptly named Autism Speaks: How Long Does It Take to Look into It?
The last point I make (after the others because it…might be taken skeptically on its own) is that no autistic activist was surprised by them having Nazis at their fundraiser because they're eugenicist as well. A bold claim but…still accurate. They spend the second-most money on research to find the cause and a cure (with the death of their founder they found a thesaurus and use "solution" now) for autism. Another organization that is trying to find the cause and cure of something they think is horrible, the American Cancer Society, is looking for the cause so they can prevent it from existing in the first place. When trying to do that for a neurology instead of a disease that is eugenics.
So, there's a lot of stuff for what not to do, there are however multiple ways to do things that do actually support us. Instead of lighting it up blue for them, try lighting it up gold or do #RedInstead (I wrote both a nice and a pissed-off article for that). Instead of a puzzle piece, try the rainbow infinity symbol of the neurodiversity movement. If you want to suggest organizations to donate to my top two picks are the aforementioned Autistic Self-Advocacy Network and Autistic Women and Nonbinary Network (both links go to donation pages). If you want to get our voices heard instead of theirs here's a list of a lot of great pages and blogs from my friends. Instead of calling for awareness call for acceptance instead (you're already aware of our existence, now we need a world that accepts us as equal humans. Also, awareness months are for horrible things, as this list shows April is also STD and IBS awareness month). Last but not least, check in on your autistic friends next month, it's really hard and your support will matter quite a bit.
in Laoch Onórach |	1,031 Words | 1 Comment
On Wings of Fire and Broken Glass We MUST Rise: #DisruptJ20 2 years later
Burning limo from the #DisruptJ20 protests, has "WE THE PEOPLE" and the Anarchy symbol spray painted on it
"So here and now, in our rotting nation
the blood, it pours, it's all on our hands now
we live, in fear, of our own potential
to win, to lose, it's all on our hands now
And I have an American Dream,
but it involves black masks and gasoline"
Black Masks and Gasoline, Rise Against
Two years ago on this day I wrote On wings of fire and broken glass we shall rise: #DisruptJ20.
It was a war call, a challenge to this regime, in which I said:
On wings of fire and broken glass we shall rise from the ashes of our despair. You can arrest us, beat us, even kill us, but you won't make us admit defeat and surrender. You may have expected us to just take whatever you throw at us, but if that's the case you thought wrong. If the hateful will tell us that we shouldn't exist we shall take pride in what they despise, become living symbols of defiance. We will make our voices heard, make it so people know what you're doing to us, we will agitate to make it so people never accept your reign and hate.
Here we are, halfway through this hellish regime, and I'm looking at the world and this nation and am thinking that I might have been far too hopeful.
I thought things were dark then and believed that people wouldn't take it, that as a nation we might feel that was too much. Now, I'm wishing that I was still as innocent thinking that that was bad and that people wouldn't take it. We live in an era of the deepest inhumanity, with children in concentration camps and an unknown number of them simply lost, a 12 year climate doomsday clock (and no amount of changing how many showers you take or ableist straw bans will do anything when 71% of the pollution comes from 100 companies with no financial interest in changing and the EPA working with climate change deniers), and are in the midst of the longest government shutdown which is leading to vandalism of national parks (some of which won't recover for decades), harming indigenous people, and having effects on food stamps and WIC because of our President's obsession with xenophobia and his border wall which won't even work, meaning that if this does go on for "months or even years" the most vulnerable of us, including babies, will literally starve because they don't have money to get food.
And my question to this whole nation is:
What the fuck more does it take?
These are the worst of times and they aren't getting better. I do not know how people can actually just keep going on without feeling like this system is a problem that we need to rise against.
This isn't something that any type of reform or working within the system will address. We can't elect away the capitalist system that is built to support and grow the corporations that are destroying this planet and all the people in power on the backs of the oppressed, not with centuries molding it into what it is today. It's not broken in need of fixing.
It's working exactly as it's supposed to and truly breaking it is really the only option we have at this point.
As I've already stated in Redefining Revolution: Fighting as a Marginalized Person in a Trump Presidency, I don't consider the revolution to be some future bloody battle but something happening now (specifically said "It's not something to be solely fought with guns but also speeches and blogs and thrown bricks and counterprotests and food drives and any action done in the spirit of seeking to bring change to the many intersecting injustices that have harmed people for so long"), but it takes people deciding to actually try to take part. Apathy is not a moral option at this point if it ever has been. Do something even if it's just using your words to say you won't take this, get involved with movements around you, get angry because anything else is honestly screwed up.
I used to say that I believe that this time will be in history books and what we do now will be read about for future generations so we need to think about how we want this chapter to read, either of a people who responded to a tyrant with inaction or defiance. Now I'm just wondering how many future generations there will actually be if we don't address what's going on now.
Our actions, specifically our inaction, are the cause of all of this being allowed, but we might still have a chance if we decide to actually take it. But we can not keep going the same way we have been if we want hope of actually surviving in our rotting nation, it's truly in our hands now and we need to decide what we're going to do about it.
Wake up and fight while there's still something to actually fight for.
External Ableism Fueling Internalized Ableism
I am a multiply neurodivergent individual. I am Autistic, I have ADHD, I had numerous epileptic and photogenic seizures as a teenager, and I experience structuralized dissociation via Dissociative Identity Disorder. The largest source of stress out of all of these, is the executive dysfunction that permeates ADHD. Executive Functioning, I like to say, is the CEO of your brain. It prioritizes information, regulates emotions and inhibition, prompts you to begin and complete tasks, and involves your working memory.
If you've ever played the game "The Sims", you'll know that you queue tasks for your simulated person to complete. Your working memory is that queue, and if it doesn't work properly, the queue keeps deleting before you can complete the tasks. This is a very basic definition of executive functioning. (In later versions of the game, you could give your simulated person a trait which made them forgetful, and the queue would actually delete, I found comfort in this feature. Seeing my disability represented made me feel more whole).
That said, I thought about how I felt like I was walking on eggshells around an ex friend of mine. Then I had a mini flashback to a memory where they reacted in a surprising manner to my idea of placing cards in each room of my house, detailing precisely how to maintain the respective rooms. They said folks would see these cards when they visited, and would think bad things about me. I left the conversation with the impression that they agreed it was pathetic for me to need this tool. This memory came to me nearly a year later, while I considered setting phone alarms, very thorough alarms, to guide me into establishing a routine. I thought about the implications of needing such extensive reminders to prompt me to complete "basic tasks".
I did end up making cards for each room. But I couldn't bring myself to use them. Each time I looked at them, I felt the crushing weight of years of ableism that told me I was less than a person because my working memory doesn't hold information. I can't prioritize the steps involved in tasks. I enter a room and stare, unsure of where to begin, panic rising to the surface. "Other people don't need to google how to clean a toilet, every time they clean a toilet", I say to myself as I google how to clean a toilet for the millionth time. I eventually took the cards down, too ashamed to even use the tool I'd spent hours creating for each room of my house.
I grew up surrounded by messages, both overt and implicit, that there's something wrong with me for struggling with "basic tasks". Folks were incredulous that I was smart in some respects, yet so painfully lacking in others. I was told I am ret*rded, that I'd never graduate high school, would never keep a job, would never attend college, and would end up on the streets if I didn't end up burdening someone else. They couldn't understand why I was capable of teaching myself foreign languages yet couldn't bathe unless reminded. I could absorb stories about Greek Mythology but sarcasm and jokes went over my head. Alas, an imbalance of "intelligence" is a hallmark of autism.
Sometimes I stop to consider that in some ways, I'm incompetent. I desperately fight to retrain my brain to see worth as separate from ability, nevertheless, I cannot un-know that our society largely views and treats this incompetence with disdain. I cannot escape someone else's perception of my humanity. I can however, keep trying.
When my spouse first suggested that I try to do certain tasks every single day so it becomes routine, I had little confidence in this endeavor. I was held back by my own internalized ableism.
And yet I think about how I'm trying to instill a sense of risk taking in my perfectionist child, who sometimes will not begin a task out of fear of failure, a word which here means: less than perfect. Am I not a hypocrite if I don't even try? At the very least I might ingrain a routine that comprises of a small number of the tasks I have set out to do. Doing something is an improvement from nothing, it might very well be a non linear path to the end goal of a establishing a complete routine. Complete meaning: every task I've set out to do is done.
Again, I did ultimately establish a schedule via alarms. It includes reminders for things outside of chores, like contacting loved ones in a more consistent manner. I feel a particular type of shame about needing this. I consciously understand I cannot control that my brain "deletes" things, and that to judge myself for something I cannot change does nothing to improve the situation. I feel that because I care enough to set alarms to ensure I'm keeping in touch with them, it is evident that I'm willing to go to any measure to demonstrate my care for them. I eventually told these friends that I have to set alarms to remind me to contact them, and sure enough, not one of them felt it was a bad thing. Because they are good, kind people.
To return to the memory of my ex friend, I felt I was being judged for my disability. Their comments about folks seeing my visual aids and deciding I'm incompetent carries the implication that there will be further consequences beyond the opinion that I can't care for myself or my space. Folks might also believe I'm not capable of caring for my children. These external sources of ableism inevitably become internalized, the idea that needing accommodations makes one less than, quickly becomes a message that others no longer need to push, because I tell it to myself.
It doesn't have to be this way though. Maybe it's naive, but I believe through our collective activism, disabled people can illustrate that needing accommodations doesn't decrease our humanity. I want to believe that folks will be reasonable enough to recognize that I am worthy of personhood, worthy of being a parent, simply because I take necessary measures to make sure I can function.
I'm a Taurus, I am stubborn. I may encounter pitfalls where I momentarily believe that I'm better off dead because I can't operate the same way neurotypicals can. Ultimately I return to the surface and dig my heels in, adamant that my personhood, my worth, is intrinsic. My worth is independent of externals, it doesn't hinge on what I can, or cannot, do. We are more than a collection of deficits.
Executive Dysfunction:
7 Executive Function Deficits Tied to ADHD
Internalized Ableism:
https://www.didistutter.org/blog/internalized-ableism-or-why-do-i-still-hate-myself
-Tornado of Souls
in Tornado of Souls |	1,163 Words | Comment
I'm Not Your Good Minority: On Unconditional Acceptance
"Hear me out now
You're gonna listen to me like it or not, right now"
Faint, Linkin Park
There are two types of lack of acceptance.
The first is the obvious one, bigotry that leads to blatant harm, the type that society claims to condemn (but systemically enforces).
The second form that is societally accepted and much more insidious, the acceptance based on qualifiers, based on our making ourselves comfortable and easy to accept.
The autistic who always makes eye contact. The trans person that perfectly passes as their gender. The gay person who doesn't make such a big deal about it.
Accepting us as long as we make every effort to hide the way that we are actually different, accepting us as long as we hide anything that might make it hard to accept us.
I refuse.
I refuse to pretend that I'm one of you, to hide myself, just so you can pretend that you actually care about who I am without needing to make any effort.
I read an journal article with a quote from everyone's (least) favorite trans icon Caitlyn Jenner that ended with:
If you're out there and, to be honest with you, if you look like a man in a dress, it makes people uncomfortable.
Along with an article where Bernie Sanders is quoted saying "I am not a great fan of being rude or disrupting activities."
Acceptance should not be conditional on not being "rude or disrupting" or making people "uncomfortable".
Acceptance is not conditional whatsoever, if there is anything that an oppressed person needs to change before you accept them you are not accepting them whatsoever.
Acceptance means accepting the totality of someone's humanity not just the parts that are like you. Support of someone as long as they package and hide the parts that make them different from you isn't support at all as it requires a drain of resources to force ourselves to pretend we are the same.
We are not you. By our very nature we are different. Requiring any effort from us to make that difference less obvious in order to pretend to give a damn about who we are as people is almost worse than not pretending at all because forcing us to make that effort is more of a drain than you just admitting to yourself and us that what is actually important is your comfort not our lives.
We can not, will not, and should not have to pretend to be the same as you no matter the damage to ourselves to get anywhere in your society, just because if we do you'll give us your support for our performance.
I'm pissed off and you should be too. I refute your calls for respectability or civility as a minority activist, refuse to take effort from fighting these inhumanities to simultaneously hide parts of myself to please you and make you feel like I'm enough like you to deserve your acceptance. If you think that you're worth it, as I made clear in my favorite article you're really not as important as you think.
I'm not your good minority, I will not fall in line with your demands for you to recognize my humanity, will not change myself (which causes me great harm as my post on passing makes clear) to be just like you because you can't actually accept anyone who is totally different than you.
You should accept all marginalized people for exactly what we are. I'll accept nothing less.
Against Romanticizing Autism and Privilege
To the average person who has never met an autistic individual in their lives, there are two prevailing stereotypes about autism. The first is that of an unhinged, howling animal, stimming, headbanging, unable to communicate with others or even to take care of themselves. This vision of autism is one frequently pushed by curists and eugenicist (referring to ideologies which seek to eliminate "unfavorable" traits via genetics or population control) groups such as Autism Speaks, and is obviously nefarious and false in all but the most extreme circumstances (and even then, the stereotype is a gross demonization).
However, the second stereotype is far more prevalent in media, and, therefore, in the subconscious of the uninitiated: the insufferable genius, the talented asshole, the savant extraordinaire who is either uninterested in ever having a relationship, romantic or otherwise, or simply incapable of forming it. The social aspects of autism are a curse, chains meant to restrain what otherwise would be unquestionably an intellectual ubermensch (superior version of a human). This second autistic is not even an earnest attempt at realistic or sympathetic portrayal of autistic individuals (some who may fit that stereotype) but, rather, the remodeling of the old romantic ideal of the educated noble or the superfluous man a la Eugene Oneguin (main character in a play of the same name that inspired the concept of the "superfluous man", a talented character who doesn't fit social norms often born into privilege), whose social mishaps are a part and parcel of their expanded genius and deeper understanding of the world around them. But this stereotype, too, is harmful for a different reason: it both romanticizes autism and excuses genuinely anti-social behavior borne of profound privilege. The latter reason would be the subject of another essay, but the first is worth exploring. Inspiration porn (media that fetishizes disability for the benefit of an abled audience who is inspired by their triumph specifically because of the characters' disability) is something that has plagued the disabled community at large, but romanticization and fetishization is a different beast entirely to tackle, and, in some ways, it is more nefarious. Rather than simply presenting the disability as a roadblock for an otherwise exceptional person to overcome in their hero's journey, the disability is seen as a talent, something to be desired. On some level, we all wish to be Sherlock Holmes or Rick Sanchez. But rather than wishing to be them, we should be condemning them.
But it has never been explicitly stated that Sherlock Holmes is autistic, one might point out. His creators have even outright stated that Sherlock isn't autistic. In fact, he himself identifies himself in the BBC series as "a high functioning sociopath." Putting aside the patent and unusually out of character inaccuracy of Sherlock's self diagnosis (which could itself be the subject of an essay), even if this were the case, this does not preclude him from having the observable symptoms of autism. He is portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch as someone who very well could have what was once known as Asperger's Syndrome whether or not the creators intended this (as is likely by having so many uniquely identifiable symptoms of autism, although the topic of "unwitting coding" by creators is also worth exploring). Identified by Doctor Hans Asperger in 1944 at a specialized school in Vienna and, according to some theorists, possessed by the doctor himself, the hallmarks of Asperger's Syndrome (which is majorly over-represented in media portrayals of autism, especially those that romanticize autism) are avoidance of eye contact, formalistic speech, rigid thinking, highly focused interests coupled with a general disinterest for anything that doesn't directly relate to them, inability or difficulty reading social cues, and a higher than average IQ. Hans Asperger famously referred to such children as "little professors."
Even a cursory glance at Cumberbatch's performance as Sherlock Holmes would be an exercise in Asperger's bingo, and every part of what would, in real life, be looked at as a disability is celebrated. Sherlock is callously uncaring or unaware of social norms (best exemplified by his insensitive deduction of Molly's feelings for him after tearing apart her appearance in a Christmas episode and his insistence on keeping frozen heads in the fridge shared with Watson), and we enjoy watching him being rude to people we think deserve it, such as Donovan. Never mind the fact that most autistic individuals have no idea that what they are saying or doing is rude and, when we learn of this fact, we are often mortified. Never mind the unbearable anxiety that so many of us experience walking on eggshells. Sherlock is an ubermensch, a super-man. Sherlock doesn't care. Allistic (non-autistic) audiences enjoy and celebrate what even we admit is a handicap because, deep down, they too want to tell the simpletons in their lives that they "lower the collective IQ of the entire room when [they] open [their] mouths" (an ableist sentiment few autistic individuals would ever echo).
Sherlock also has very limited interests and little knowledge of things outside those interests. Rather than being a confusing and frustrating experience for him, as it is for many autistics, it is the source of his power; without his crippling overspecialization, he wouldn't be the greatest detective in the world after all. We envy his expertise and knowledge, as well as his dedication. Never mind the fact that Sherlock's ability to be single minded in his pursuit of his career and interests is only something that he benefits from due to his privileged status (indeed, were Sherlock poor or not white, he may never have been a detective or had the opportunities to use his talents in London, and he would only have the adverse aspects of Asperger's to deal with day to day). One envies Sherlock's drive and focus. In fact, were he not to have those traits, how could he solve crimes and keep England safe from Professor Moriarty?
Sherlock has formalistic speech patterns; rather than a source of alienation from his peers, it is instead a source of power; it serves to say "Sherlock is smarter than you and he knows it and wants you to know it." It is the cornerstone of his ethos. And, of course, Sherlock has an undeniably superior IQ that few autistic individuals, even few individuals with "Asperger's Syndrome" possess. He is truly a savant extraordinaire, a trait so few autistic individuals, regardless of any other positive traits, such as deep caring and altruism, possess. But those other traits are irrelevant and, indeed, if he had them, we wouldn't care to watch him. No, Sherlock is a genius first and a "good guy" second, and it is his genius and its usefulness to society that matters, not the content of his character. I'm certain that the ableist implications of this are lost on nobody.
Consider, then, the similarities of his character to that of the two most famous "aspies", Rick and Morty's Rick Sanchez and The Big Bang Theory's Sheldon Cooper. Only Rick has been canonically confirmed, but, as with Sherlock, one can reasonably assume Sheldon is an "aspie" too due to Jim Parsons' autistic-coded performance. Once again, both are highly intelligent, but, also, white, male, and shameless misogynists for whom the autism seems to be at worst a minor inconvenience and, in the case of Sheldon Cooper, his means to power. This is a rather convenient way to ignore the fact that Sheldon's privilege as a petit-bourgeois (upper-middle class) intellectual is enviable even by other white males in the United States and is likely the source of his success. Once again, their autism is, at best, a minor annoyance, and the primary feature is not their inabilty to relate to allistic individuals or their shunning by society, but, rather, their overwhelming conventional intelligence, which is realistically more the result of their socioeconomic status and the lack of educational barriers afforded due to their whiteness than it is of their condition (while Rick's last name is Sanchez, he is at the very least white passing and doesn't seem to suffer from any sort of racial discrimination). If anything, their "autism" is a good thing: because they do not concern themselves with social rituals and the feelings of others, they can focus on their relentless pursuit of science and have the lack of moral scruples needed to operate as they do. However, this opens up a new, unfortunate implication: that people with autism are inherently immoral and anti-social, and, therefore, are potentially a menace to society. One is lucky that Sherlock and Rick and Sheldon are "good guys" and, as one officer points out to Watson, "What happens when he gets bored of solving crimes and starts committing them?"
It is in that final phrase that we arrive at the crucial evil of this particular portrayal: it is that the positive aspects being glorified actually have little, if anything, to do with autism, but that the negative aspects are unmistakably autistic. The depiction of autism as the genius asshole is more nefarious than the animal autistic specifically because it is, also, a negative and savage portrayal, disguised as glorification. What is being celebrated in these men (and note that every single one of these characters is a man; where is the insufferable genius among women in media?) is not their autism at all, for better or for worse, but the traits of the old Romantic portrayal of nobility. Their privilege gives them time to be studious and cultured, fussy and exact, and shields them from the negative consequences of their patently anti-social behavior.
Consider, also, the overwhelming whiteness and masculinity of this archetype: were a black or Middle Eastern man to start blithely insulting people around them and ignoring instructions given by authorities deemed irrelevant, they would be considered hostile and a threat. Were a woman to behave in a similar way, they would be considered "bitchy" or they may be ignored and not have their "genius" recognized in the first place. Rather than examining these issues, we celebrate them. We applaud Eugene Onegin as a Romantic Russian hero, complex and sexy in his troubled, manipulative ways borne of boredom, when, in reality, most would simply view someone like Onegin as a rather awful person. So too is the case with the three examples. They exemplify this Romantic ideal, Sherlock more so than the others, with his flowing coat, dark looks, and neat but expensive taste in clothing coupled with his elitist behavior. Many celebrate their condescending, distinctly man-splainey attitude towards life and, in the case of many allistic fans of Sherlock and Rick Sanchez, try to emulate it.
Putting aside the immediate issues with the appropriation of autistic behavior and mannerisms by those that aren't autistic in order to excuse their own poor behavior or justify their chauvinism, imagine, then, that this is the general public's experience with "Aspies," what would one logically conclude? That those with "Asperger's" are either geniuses or assholes, and if they are not geniuses, then they are dangerous assholes. One would conclude that they are to be watched, perhaps even eradicated, before they take a page from Elliot Rodger's (the only autistic school shooter and intellectual Godfather of the incel movement) book. How long, they wonder, before autistics decide that the supposedly intellectually inferior allistics aren't worth having around anymore? Even a seemingly positive portrayal of autism becomes one of autism as a threat. Any sympathy that could perhaps be afforded to them for their social mishaps is vanished behind the laugh track and the shock humor of their lack of consideration for society, something which does not exist in real life.
Not all autistic individuals are male, white, privileged, and as chauvinistic yet brilliant as these three men. But, with these three men, among others, representing what large swaths of the populace think about when they think about autism, specifically what is problematically called "high functioning autism," this is irrelevant. No other portrayal could have been reached under the current entertainment status quo: save for Dan Harmon, Rick Sanchez' writer, not a single one of the creators of these shows or any show depicting autistic individuals is themselves autistic or has taken the time to research autistics and portray them realistically and empathetically, and it shows. With no truly accurate or positive examples of explicit autism in media and with unrealistic expectations of privilege being thrust upon them, all autistics who do not conform, who aren't irascible geniuses, can do is sit and count before someone makes the inevitable comparison, or says those dreaded words "You're not that autistic" or "But you're nothing like that!" And, when, inevitably, our protests fall on deaf ears, we brace ourselves for the suspicion, for the feelings of betrayal and, eventually, fear. We must brace ourselves to be approached with fear, to be #walkedup to in case we are not "one of the good guys."
But this cannot stand. In the name of the autistic community everywhere, autistic writers, directors, producers, and media makers as a whole, must unite to condemn and boycott and sabotage in any way possible this veiled anti-autistic, pro-bourgeois propaganda, to unite with a common goal of creating the new representation of autism, something not animalistic nor romanticized, something human.
For that is all that we are, and all that we seek to be seen as.
No autistic characters without autistic writers! Full representation in media now!
-Peter Rekavin
in Peter Rekavin |	2,282 Words | 1 Comment
Dissociative Disorders – What Are They?
Link to my tumblr post on dissociation: https://gay-osdd-kid.tumblr.com/post/169372760108/what-is-dissociation-and-what-are-dissociative
In this, I'll be writing about the four main types of dissociative disorders and the required criteria to have a diagnosis. If you feel you have one of these, please talk to someone. Holding this in could be harmful to yourself, and getting needed help, if available, is always a good choice.
Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID): DID is a psychobiological response to traumas suffered in the time window of about 5 to 11 years of age; it's a complex post-traumatic stress disorder, and a dissociative disorder, but not a personality disorder. DID was previously classified as Multiple Personality Disorder until 1994 when the DSM-4 was released. It isn't as rare as it once was believed to be, as it affects 1-3% of the population. Most with DID, have a mixture of dissociative, post-traumatic stress, and non-trauma related symptoms. DID amnesia can occur at any time whether it be for an everyday event like taking medicine, or something big like trauma.
The criteria for a valid DID diagnosis is: a disruption of identity, classified by specifically two or more distinct personalities; a break in responsiveness to outside stimuli, behavior, memory, perception, and cognition; recurring gaps in memory (regardless of the importance of the events); and the previous symptoms causing major distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of daily function. The diagnosis can only be sound if the symptoms aren't caused by substance abuse, another medical condition, or cultural practice.
Dissociative Amnesia: This is the most common of dissociative disorders. It is classified by amnesia not caused by physical brain trauma, but rather psychological trauma, and is usually comorbid with other mental disorders.
There are three types of dissociative amnesia. Localized is a failure to recall events during a specific period of time. Selective is remembering some, but not all events during a space of time. (i.e. only parts of a traumatic may be recalled.) Generalized is complete amnesia of one's life and history.
The criteria for dissociative amnesia is: an inability to recall important personal information, usually of a traumatic/stressful nature inconsistent with normal forgetting; These symptoms have to cause significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, and other important areas of function; not be attributable to drug abuse or another medical condition or neurological syndrome. It must also not be better explained by DID, PTSD, acute stress disorder, or major or mild neurocognitive disorder.
Depersonalization/Derealization: these two are caused usually by emotional abuse/neglect, but also could be attributed to witnessing domestic violence, being raised by a mentally unstable parent, or the sudden loss of a relative/loved one. They can also be temporarily caused by recreational drug use, but the diagnosis is only viable if it persists after the drug has worn off.
The criteria for a depersonalization diagnosis is: unreality, detachment, and feeling like an "outsider" to one's own thoughts, feelings, sensations, body, and/or actions. Derealization is the same, but with regards to surroundings and outside stimuli. During an occurence of depersonalization/derealization, reality testing remains unimpaired. These symptoms have to cause significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, and other important areas of function. They also must not be caused by physiological effects of a drug or another medical condition or mental illness.
Other Specified Dissociative Disorder (OSDD): condition in which there are dissociative symptoms, not meeting any other dissociative disorder's criteria. This disorder's symptoms apply ONLY to symptom characteristics that do not meet the full criteria. It replaced DDNOS in 2013, and is caused typically by psychological trauma.
The symptoms include: chronic and recurrent syndromes of mixed symptoms- including identity disturbance with lesser noticeable gaps in sense of self, alterations of identity, or episodes of "possession" with no amnesia; acute dissociative reactions to stress, and going into a dissociative trance. A dissociative trance is an acute narrowing or complete loss of awareness of immediate surroundings that manifests as intensive unresponsiveness or insensitivity to stimuli.
OSDD can be caused by environmental factors such as brainwashing, thought reform, indoctrination while in captivity, torture, recruitments by sects and/or cults, etc.
Dissociative Identity Disorder. Retrieved Jan 4, 2018 from http://traumadissociation.com/dissociativeidentitydisorder.html
Dissociative Amnesia & Fugue. Retrieved Jan 4, 2018 from http://traumadissociation.com/dissociativeamnesia.html
Depersonalization/Derealization Disorder. Retrieved Jan 4, 2018 from http://traumadissociation.com/depersonalization.html
Other Specified Dissociative Disorder. Retrieved Jan 4, 2018 from http://traumadissociation.com/osdd.html
http://freeminds.org/psych/thought_reform.htm
(Google dictionary/thesaurus was also used)
In Pursuit of Genocide
A war is being waged on the autistic community. This war is, like any war, not existing outside of the realm of politics and not existing within a vacuum, but rather is one informed by politics and affecting politics. The war on the autistic community is but one front of the larger scale cultural conflict between the white supremacist, cis-hetero, capitalist paradigm against all that do not conform or, otherwise, let their non-conformity be commodified and exploited. The primary difference between the war on the developmentally disabled, however, and the war on other such groups is in the tone of the propaganda insofar as the vitriol towards the developmentally disabled is wrapped in a false pity and a performative pretense of caring for their well being. The goal of the belligerents is not to kill or displace those with autism, but, rather to "cure" them (such euphemistic language is popular among eugenicists and authoritarians of all stripes). But what, one might ask, is so wrong with searching for a cure? A great many things, the bulk of which will comprise the body of this essay.
First, to understand the wolf in sheep's clothing that is the cure advocacy community, one must examine the context of cures. Cures, generally speaking, are an anathema to disease. One seeks cures for cancer, influenza, polio, chicken pox. Disease is broadly defined as a condition of the body that is not externally caused which impairs normal functioning. Initially, one could be forgiven for assuming based on this definition that autism is a disease: after all, what of those autists who can't use the restroom without assistance and who have meltdowns at any sound of a firetruck? Surely that can't be normal functioning.
However, this logic falls apart when one examines whether these variables are part of normal existence. Lions do not drive fire trucks, nor does one normally observe the latrine in nature. These are all social additions by civilization. Were the "severely autistic" individual to have been born in nature, free of any civilized influence, one could scarcely even notice that they are autistic. No normal functioning of the body is impaired in the case of "severe autism" (the phrase is in quotation marks, as autism is not a binary spectrum and viewing those with more autistic traits as having "severe autism" is problematic for a number of reasons that would make up their own essay; however, I use it as this is the language of the uninitiated and of the enemy) as is the case with polio or chicken pox. If one contracts chicken pox and it is not cured, one will almost certainly not survive in nature. However, one cannot transmit autism nor die of it. Furthermore, those that qualify as "severely autistic" are a statistically small percentage of the autistic community. The rest may not even have those impairments listed as examples, or, if so, may be capable of coping with them in ways considered to be normal. The average autistic person may simply be bad at social communication (something humans are uniquely advanced in) but otherwise perfectly well functioning bodily, or may stim to relieve stress and avoid eye contact but otherwise perfectly healthy. Is this, then, a disease? Is the inability to make eye contact or the necessity of stimming for some individuals a transmittable symptom worthy of eradication? Certainly the verbose but sometimes poorly worded and somewhat insensitive rant is a menace to society, one that requires immediate attention. Against even the slightest intellectual scrutiny, the notion that autism is a disease and, therefore, necessitates a cure falls apart.
So what, then, is autism classifiable as? This much is a hazy subject. Compelling arguments can be made for autism as a social disorder and for autism as a variation of naturally occuring neurotypes, but this is the subject of another essay. I am personally of the opinion that autism is a naturally occuring divergence in typical neurocognitive development and behavior with recurring interests and shared experiences and, that, consequently, it is more useful to view autism as a sort of neurological cultural group than as a social disorder or a disability. Nonetheless, the generally accepted opinion regarding autism is that it is a developmental disability that is genetically transmitted. Even if one makes the argument that, in the natural world, an autistic individual would have similar survivability to a non-autistic individual, the existence of a society that autistic individuals react to negatively and vice versa grants them a disability on a material level (this too deserves its own essay). However, even when viewed as a disability, one sees in autism recurring patterns of interest, of ways of speaking or otherwise communicating, of thinking. Ask a room full of autistic individuals who among them has at one point had an obsession with one of the following: dinosaurs, trains, fantasy or science fiction, politics, history, bridges, or botany. See how many hands shoot up into the air. Consider the language with which autistic individuals use to describe themselves and their autism, with such jargon as "stimming," "neurotypical," "special interest," and the adoption of spoon theory from the larger disabled culture. Consider ways of thinking, even, common tendencies within those with autism to feel uncomfortable lying or tendency towards prescriptivism and our proclivity for categorizing and compiling information compulsively. In other words, one sees in autism a culture. Regardless, one should note, then, that, generally speaking, one doesn't seeks cures for disabilities and for those with genetic disorders and for cultures not native to one's land, but, rather, accommodations. So who searches for a cure for those disabled by genetics? Who advocates for the purging of culture?
And here, we encounter the question of eugenics, or the engineering of human genetics by eliminating "undesirable" traits from the genetic structures of people or simply by preventing individuals with certain traits from being born. Why do we speak of eugenics in an essay about curing autism, one might ask. The immediate answer is simple: as the only way to "cure" autism presently available is to prevent autistic individuals from being born, any talk of curing autism will inevitably turn towards eugenics. The very act of preventing the birth of an autistic child on account of their autism and their autism alone is a form of manipulation of the human gene pool at large, and, therefore, eugenics. Much cure research is focused on isolating "the autistic gene" and eliminating it, a more blatant form of eugenics. What's wrong with eugenics, one asks? Simply that the very act of picking and choosing which of the human genome to include and modify in an unborn baby, in addition to being unnatural, also will inevitably lead to selection of certain arbitrary traits and the elimination of traits deemed societally unfavorable. If we view autism as a culture, as I pointed out may be apt, and accept the premise that autism is not viewed favorably by society (and no other premise can be accepted by those who examine such pesky things as facts), then this entails, in essence, the elimination of a whole subset of the population. If the elimination of entire populations of people known as undesirable doesn't immediately set off claxons in one's head, I advise them to reread any history book on the events of the early 20th century and the actors in such events, namely fascists.
But certainly fascistic eugenics is not the position of cure advocacy groups like Autism Speaks, one might retort. How could groups purportedly representing the best interests of the autistic community be fascists? To this, I'd point out that they don't need to be fascists to be dangerous nor to advance the rhetoric or ideas of fascists. Even the introduction of the ideas of eugenics into the conversation surrounding autism is a victory for the far-right, and this conversation, if allowed to be influenced further, will affect individuals that aren't autistic as well. But beyond the realm of conversation, more concerning and telling of Autism Speaks' and other cure advocacy groups' true allegiances is the former's willingness to allow a chapter of the Soldiers of Odin, a known white supremacist and anti-immigrant biker gang, to march with them. When called on it, Autism Speaks dragged their feet on "researching" the Soldiers of Odin and eventually uninviting them. Consider also that the President, who as we know is at the very least friendly towards the fascist right, has publically suggested the latest in dangerous autism cures in a speech: drinking turpentine. Consider that, according to donation statements released to the public, donations to Autism Speaks from Trump's party (which after 2016 has become openly far-right in policy) spiked dramatically, even setting new records (https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/totals.php?id=D000047522&cycle=A). To call these combined facts a coincidence would be to insist that one is crying wolf when the wolf is already gnawing at one's leg. These are merely examples available on public record; digging into the bowels of reddit forums for "autism parents", fascists, or cure advocacy will find a disturbing amount of overlap and even a burgeoning shared community that shares misinformation and hate speech towards autistic individuals. The fault lies not just in large organizations, however, but even in individuals. The neurotypical author of To Siri With Love, Judith Newman, publicly admitted in an interview that, as soon as her son turns 18, she plans on securing legal rights to give him a vasectomy without his consent. Putting aside the blatant abuse of both the child and his civil rights, this is a clearly eugenically motivated statement. In other words, cure advocacy, even if one gives their intentions the greatest possible benefit of a doubt, necessarily make common cause with eugenicists, and, consequently, fascists.
The unfortunate existing connection between cure advocacy and eugenicists aside, surely one can't enjoy being autistic, one might say. Surely it is difficult being autistic. If one could take a pill to stop being autistic, wouldn't they? Putting aside that a pill to cure autism doesn't exist and likely never will, consider the following: do those "afflicted" with autism want a cure for themselves if they are in such great suffering? According to one study and countless blog posts from the autistic community on Tumblr, overwhelmingly not. But the opponents of a cure are "high functioning," one might retort, they don't represent the interests of those truly suffering. Once again, one is wrong; in one post, a "low functioning" individual, speaking on behalf of her fellow low functioning comrades, stated:
"When you claim I need to be "cured", I do not call you out and say mean things about you because being confrontational hurts me, not because you are right. You are not speaking for me in my silence, you are speaking over me…..The "high functioning" autistics that argue for rights for me DO speak for me…..You, who are not autistic, do not stand for me."
And why should the autistic community wish for a "cure?" Autism is all we have ever known. It is an integral part of our identity, if not the majority of what one might call an identity. Putting aside my previous arguments for autism as a culture, autism has shaped every aspect of the autistic community's experience. Autism colors our thoughts with particular ways of thinking, interests, cognitive inflexibility. Autism may color our actions as well and our reactions to the environment certainly. To wish for a cure is to wish for an annihilation of everything we have ever known. For many individuals with autism, their autism is not a matter of suffering either, nor even a barrier to success, as evidenced by Dan Harmon, Daryl Hannah, Albert Einstein, and the other long list of massively successful and influential individuals who either are confirmed as having autism or suspected of it.
What about the parents, who know their child best and who struggle with their upbringing? I won't even merit this narcissism on the part of privileged able-bodied autism parents with an extended response (note: I use the term autism parent not to describe all parents of autistic children as a whole, but specifically those who pontificate over their suffering and center their struggle with their child as a central part of their public identity). Other parents manage to struggle with their autistic children without wishing to "cure" them or to prevent them from reproducing as is the case with Judith Newman. There isn't even a consensus among parents on the issue of a cure, and, even if there were, the very fact that their children have made it overwhelmingly clear that they neither want nor in some cases need a cure would mean that choosing a parent's right to "cure" their child means superseding the child's right to self determination and autonomy. In polite society, these are called oppression and violations of civil rights. If there is a legitimate material inability to provide for the child, this is an issue of the parent and, depending on context, the lack of comprehensiveness and liberality of disability legislation and benefits, not the child. Any parent not prepared to do anything for an able bodied child (or even a child with a different disability) and love them unconditionally is called a bad parent, and one that wishes the elimination of certain aspects of a child's identity that the child has no control over is called, depending on the nature of their behaviors, either hateful or even downright abusive. Why then do we not apply the same logic to autism parents? Why aren't the rhetoric of eugenics and the breathless confessions of parents on message boards to wishing they could kill their autistic child treated as hate speech? Simply because, in the view of able bodied and minded society, the autistic community is not worthy of the same respect as neurotypical individuals.
So, suppose one were to violate the civil liberties of 1 in 59 members of the United States and mandate a cure in the interest of public safety, or, more likely, suppose that such a cure would become commercially available and prescribed by doctors or sold over the counter. What would a cure mean then? Assuming that a pill were invented to cure autism in those already living, it would, at the very least, mean the death of the individual as their acquaintances have come to know them. The individual would still be alive functionally, but the rest of what one might call their essence or personality would be either gone or irreparably changed. Charitably speaking, a pill would lead to confusion as a neurodivergent individual tries to adjust to being neurotypical for the first time in their lives and tries to reconcile memories of another way of life and thinking and interests with the current living. More likely, however, all unique aspects of the autistic person's social personality (in other words, all areas autism actually affects and is observable through behaviors) would be gone, leaving, in essence, a social automaton, remembering only the niceties. But such conjecture is useless because such a pill does not and will not exist. Autism is discovered to be a genetic disorder, so to cure autism is to prevent an autistic child from being born in the first place. In other words, a cure for autism, realistically, is not only socially, but also functionally inseparable from eugenics, and, thus, genocide.
But surely an exception can be made in this case, or, at the very least, given the facts, the option for a cure should at least be made available, one might say if somehow the violation of civil liberties and the inherent moral repugnance of genocide was not enough to convince the uninitiated. To this I ask, what facts? What crisis is being prevented by the effective genocide of autistic individuals? Is it school shootings? Only one of the shooters was diagnosed or could be diagnosed with autism, Elliot Rodger, and, on average, people with disabilities including autism are three times more likely to be the victims of crime than those without disabilities. Is it crime? No statistical correlation between autism and crime has been established by any reputable studies and the studies that exist on correlation between autism and crime only show variations on the nature of crime, not the rate of crime (although autistic individuals are more likely to be arrested and charged with a crime regardless of actual innocence than neurotypical individuals). Autism is, as mentioned, not transmittable either, so autism is no pandemic, and nobody with any level of intellectual honesty would give any merit to the argument that autism is caused by vaccines (even studies funded by and conducted by those trying to make a connection between autistic individuals and vaccines showed no correlation, making this a uniquely unanimous conclusion to those who put any weight in such things as facts; this is without getting into the chemistry of thimerosal [a variant of harmless ethylmercury that used to be in vaccines but was removed from all but a variety of the flu vaccine that people said causes autism] or the utter nonsense that is the justification for the conspiracy of vaccines). It follows, then, that the crisis of autism is an entirely fabricated one, and its need to get eradicated stems not from any genuine concern for society, but from hatred and distrust on the part of the neurotypicals.
In summary, a cure for autism is not a cure for anything other than autistic individuals, and, thus, advocating for their extermination from society. The opposing side has made their commitment to this clear, with the overwhelming majority of both government and NGO funding towards autism related research being directed towards a cure and with even groups purporting to be advocates like Autism Speaks including the search for that cure in their mission statements and their budget statements (only 3% of money raised by Autism Speaks went to autistic families; 63% went towards advertising, fundraising, and lobbying and 32% towards cure related research).
This is not a matter of benevolence: the cure advocacy groups have made their focus on curism, and, thus, their commitment to the impossibility of societal acceptance and lack of regard for autistic individuals and their safety known. This is not a matter of medicine: there is no cure but prevention. This is not a matter of necessity: no need exists for a cure for autism. This is not a matter of choice: most autistic individuals overwhelmingly don't want a cure and those that would "cure" them would do so without their legal consent anyhow as demonstrated with the author of To Siri With Love. This is not an apolitical issue: curists often are sympathetic towards other arguments for eugenics and, thus, have some fascistic leanings, and, as mentioned earlier, Autism Speaks has made common cause with Neo-Nazis before. The question of curing autism is not really a question of curing autism, but a question of whether or not one believes autistic individuals have a right to exist or not. Either you support that right, or you don't. Either you are in favor of eugenics, or you are in favor of the civil and human rights of autistic individuals. There is no in between. The path forward is not that of a cure, but that of acceptance by society and, consequently, that of the vanquishing of those opposed to that acceptance. This path mustn't be taken because there are many great individuals who had autism who may not have existed had a cure been known: the rights of autistic folks to their existence should not be dependant on their ability to prove themselves exploitable. What justification must there be to oppose genocide and eugenics, to oppose fascists and to defend the victims of fascism? This path towards acceptance, and, necessarily, the path to war against those who oppose it, must be undertaken simply because it is the right thing to do.
Death to all eugenicists! Down with Autism Speaks and other curists! Victory to autistic folks!
in Peter Rekavin |	3,384 Words | Comment


ASAP Yams was an American rapper with a net worth of 3 million. He is one of the three founding members of the rap collective A$AP Mob. Yams died on January 18, 2015 due to mixed drug intoxication overdose.
ASAP Yams had a net worth of $3 Million.


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Magento is a big advantage when it comes to e-commerce if your website's retail business is struggling to control costs because Magento is an open-source solution used for e-commerce applications. Yes, the big retail sites do use this system which was formerly owned by the Varien company but if you are a small player trying to compete against the big boys then every cent you save matters in the long run. Due to this also major public auction website eBay recognizes the usefulness of being connected with Magento (eBay has already bought out 100% ownership of Magento). So maybe you should too as well.


text:
Mountain Town News: CEO admits that Vail Resorts fell short on wages, housing
Regional Regional |
Allen Best
PARK CITY, Utah — In an odd way, supporters of Donald Trump and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez share common turf in their assessment that capitalism has fallen short for American workers.
Trump blamed globalization and unfair trade deals (plus immigrants from Latin America) for the problems of middle America on the campaign trail. AOC, as she seems to be universally identified, has a broader indictment.
The chief executive of Vail Resorts, the most capitalistic of enterprises, seems to agree. Rob Katz told a packed auditorium in Park City recently that the company fell behind on workforce housing and wages during its boom years.
It wasn't just the ski company, but also the communities it operates in. "Now we're playing catch-up," he said, according to an account by The Park Record.
Katz said Vail Resorts hopes to make gains in housing when an economic downturn occurs.
On wages, the same thing. The company now pays a minimum of $12.25 per hour. That may be above the legal mandate, but it's not necessarily all that swell.
In earnings, though, the company has done swell indeed. Stock price as of Friday was $211 per share. Keep in mind that at the initial public offering in 1997, the price per share was $16. That's a 13-fold increase in stock price — a tribute to the branding strategy and the genius of the Epic Pass, most of this engineered by Katz.
As for the sharing of that wealth? Minimum wage certainly hasn't increased 13-fold in the last two decades.
As for Trump, he delivered a big tax cut. It benefited most people like himself, the sorts that have their own jet planes, but also the high-end customers of destination ski areas.
Crested Butte likely to get an OK for terrain addition
CRESTED BUTTE — Vail Resorts continues on its mission to reshape Crested Butte Mountain Resort into a more valuable member of its money-making fleet of ski areas.
Even under the prior owners, the Mueller family, and the owners before, Crested Butte felt the need to grow, to better compete with the larger ski areas of the West. But they had a hard time pushing forward the expansion, in part because of ill-advised designs (think Snodgrass Mountain) but also because ski area expansions take a lot of front-end money for planning.
The Crested Butte News reports that the U.S. Forest Service has given the ski area preliminary approval for a 50-acre terrain expansion. Included in Vail's plans are two new chairlifts and reconfiguration of an existing lift.
One of the local environmental groups, High Country Conservation Advocates, raised no flags.
A story to beat all stories from a snowslide survivor
CRESTED BUTTE — Alex Theaker will likely have the most interesting personal story in anybody's room for the rest of his life. The 28-year-old Crested Butte resident almost lost his life in early March when he went to shovel at a house in Mt. Crested Butte, the slopeside town.
He sat down with Mark Reaman of the Crested Butte News to share his full story. He thought the roof might be ready to avalanche, but was very close to getting his work done. He wasn't quick enough.
Buried, he immediately started wiggling.
"The snow was really heavy. If it had happened in December, I might have been able to pop right out of there. But that snow was so wet and heavy, it formed like cement around me. I was kind of on my side and barely had any room to move my legs or anything. I had my phone in my pocket but couldn't get my hand down to my phone because the snow just had me. Luckily, I had both hands up by my head."
That may have made all the difference. He was able to move his hands just enough to carve out a portal of air. He thinks he was also able to create just enough of a passageway to allow oxygen to reach him.
Then he stayed calm. "I only remember about 10 minutes of it, and then I remember waking up in the hospital." He had been buried in the snow for up to 2 ½ hours. His core body temperature was 86 degrees.
In that time of darkness, he remembers trying to channel to his wife. "I couldn't get to my phone so I was trying to communicate with her mentally or through my energy, saying 'I need help. I need help.'"
He also had Tupac's Greatest Hits playing in his ear and sort of trying to getting to a world of dance beyond this one. "But they were telling me, 'Nope, you're not ready. You forgot the ticket to the party so you gotta go back and remember the ticket next time, you idiot. You can see what it's all about, but you can't get in. You have to dance from the outside.'"
A novel approach to the affordable housing issue
ASPEN — Why live in a down-valley trailer when houses in Aspen are sitting empty?
That was the thought process for two men who have been charged with squatting in an unoccupied house. To make matters worse for the two men, police found heroin on the premises as well as a stolen trailer and a stolen motorcycle.
The Aspen Daily News reported that the house is registered to a couple that lives in California. One told a Pitkin County sheriff's deputy that they had been trying to sell the house and did not have caretakers for the property.
The couple's daughter told the deputy she had noticed the utility bill was higher than usual for the last month for a property that was supposed to be vacant.
Colorado towns take aim at nicotine use by youth
ASPEN — Two Colorado ski towns have been moving forward with efforts to discourage youthful use of nicotine.
In Aspen, the city government will soon consider a law that would ban all flavored tobacco sales, including menthol cigarettes and many types of chew and vaping products.
The intent is to discourage young people from experimenting with nicotine. Dr. Kim Levin, medical officer for the Pitkin County Board of Health, said flavored tobacco products clearly intend to manipulate young customers into becoming lifetime customers.
The law would be modeled on one adopted by San Francisco. That law includes all types of flavored tobacco products, including cigarettes, e-cigarettes, chewing tobacco and cigars. All flavors, including menthol and spice flavors such as clove, would be banned.
Jim True, the city attorney for Aspen warned the council that adopting the law could trigger a lawsuit. However, Aspen has restricted free market sales in the past with both plastic bags and, decades ago, a ban on the sale of furs.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration reported a 78 percent increase in adolescent use of e-cigarettes nationally within the last year. The Pitkin County Health Department found that the numbers for the Roaring Fork Valley were nearly three times higher than the national average.
If Aspen adopts this restriction on flavored tobacco products, it will be the first in Colorado. It was also be the first in Colorado to raise the age for purchase of tobacco products from 18 to 21.
In Crested Butte, town officials are considering a law that would prohibit the possession of tobacco and nicotine by those under the age of 18. Nobody disagrees with the intent of the proposed law, which is to create conversations between youth and adults about the dangers of tobacco use.
But there's considerable discussion about whether violations would force youngsters into the judicial system, possibly leaving a lasting record of guilt.
"Think of a 14-year-old who gets caught at school with a vaping device and now has to be part of the court system," one community resident told the Crested Butte News. "He or she has to go in front of a judge, and the record stays with them."
The executive director of the Gunnison County Substance Abuse Prevention Project sees this not as a criminalization, but rather as a useful tool in the pathway of education.
What's with all the moose loitering in the town of Jackson?
JACKSON, Wyo. — What's up with moose? They've been loitering around businesses and homes in Jackson in ways rarely seen.
The long-legged, dopey-looking ungulates, as Mike Koshmrl of the Jackson Hole News&Guide describes them, have lingered near bus stops, lunched (on aspen leaves) at McDonald's, and hung around the local Wells Fargo Bank. Some people have had trouble getting into their garages because of the moose.
Their uncommon presence is really not a mystery. As of March 19, the snow stood 28 inches deep in Jackson, tied with 1952 as the deepest snowpack ever for that date in the town.
Even with their long legs, the moose are having trouble getting around. Plus, there's not much to eat after a long winter. As for why they hang out on roads? Because it's hard to get off of, owing to the berms that have accumulated after a long, hard and wonderful winter.
More on the receding glaciers of Montana
WHITEFISH, Mont. — How long before the glaciers in Glacier National Park will be gone? Not any time soon, reports Erich Peitzsch, a physical scientist from the U.S. Geological Survey.
"Glaciers are going be around for awhile," he told the Whitefish Pilot. "They're not going to look like they did in the 20th century, and in the future they won't look like they do today. But they will be around."
In 2017, the U.S. Geological Survey reported that the glaciers had reduced in size by 37 percent. The decline has been driven by temperature increases, which in northwestern Montana have been 1.8 times greater than the global average. Upper elevations have been warming faster than lower elevations.
Words sharpening as youth take to streets about climate
WHISTLER, B.C. — Students from many and perhaps all of the ski towns of the North American West joined hundreds of thousands from elsewhere in the world on March 15 in leaving their classrooms to vent about the absence of adequate response to the risks of climate change.
In Wyoming, 30 students marched under the famed arches of elk antlers in the Jackson town square carrying signs such as "Denying Climate = Denying Us," and "The climate is changing so why don't we?"
In Utah, students from the high school in Park City joined their compatriots in Salt Lake City to urge more action.
In British Columbia, the youth climate change march was a family matter in the household of Clare Ogilvie, editor of Whistler's Pique Newsmagazine. Her son, Matthew, had spearheaded the march. It was entirely his own endeavor, she disclosed in her weekly column, although she fully supported it.
Like many ski towns, Whistler has failed to meet its climate goals. Community greenhouse gas emissions have grown 16 percent since 2015.
All around her, said Ogilvie, is evidence that Whistler can't deal with the little things.
"Youth are frustrated and dumbfounded that adults can't create change to address obvious problems such as propane fireplaces burning all day outside at local businesses with no one sitting around them or shops opening their doors during a polar vortex, or why we still have single-use plastic bags or … well, the list was lengthy."
Unlike on social media and, to a great extent the national press, words of criticism in most ski town newspapers tend toward restraint.
The Whistler editor, though, accused an elected councilor in the municipality of "head-in-the-sand thinking" for opposing creation of a coordinator to push along the Community Energy and Climate Action Plan.
"That is exactly the type of denial that has landed the world where it is today, facing an environmental crisis," she wrote.
Assessing how snowmaking helps cause climate change
ASPEN — Last week a federal judge ruled that the federal government must at least acknowledge the climate change impacts created by fossil fuels when deciding whether to issue oil and gas leases in Wyoming.
In Colorado, an environmental group is asking a parallel question about ski areas and snowmaking. Wilderness Workshop argues that the U.S. Forest Service — the landlord for most of the ski areas in the West — needs to do a comprehensive analysis of the impacts of increased water diversion from rivers to endangered fish in the Colorado River, changes in runoff patterns and increased energy use associated with the expansion of snowmaking.
"Climate impacts are often meaningless on a project level, but can be significant on a program level," says Peter Hart, staff attorney for the group.
The Forest Service has approved expanded snowmaking at Vail, Copper Mountain, Steamboat and other ski areas in Colorado in recent years, and now it is looking at allowing expanded snowmaking and terrain on Aspen.
Ski areas have been adding snowmaking almost annually for decades to remove the uncertainties of weather. The warming climate will have a general effect of shortening the ski season and more often replacing snow with rain.
In response to the lessened reliability of natural snow, the ski companies "need to use more diesel fuel and coal to generate the electricity to pump water to the snow guns and fan it out over the slopes," says the Wilderness Workshop. "They rely on diesel-powered Snowcats to spread the snow into a skiable surface."
Rocky Mountain National Park has long road to recovery
Heidi McCollum sworn in as 5th Judicial District's 1st female DA
Frisco's HighSide Brewery gets a new head brewer
X Games Aspen announces event schedule
Newly released data sheds light on rate of traumatic injuries at Colorado ski resorts


1. How many apprentices do I need to register?
You can register as many apprentices as you need. Some companies may choose to hire just one apprentice per year, but other companies may choose to hire a cohort of apprentices per year. The number of apprentices is flexible to your needs.
2. What industries register apprenticeship?
3. What role does the U.S. government play in apprenticeship?
The U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training works with the state agencies to issue Certificates of Completion, encourage new programs through marketing, and assist employers with developing a skilled and talented workforce.
4. Where can I register?
5. Can I hire workers younger than 18?
If you register your apprenticeship with Apprenticeship NC, you are allowed to hire apprentices under 18. They will be protected. In North Carolina, the minimum wage if set at $7.25 an hour and overtime is based on hours actually worked in a workweek in excess of 40 hours.


text:
BART Resumes Service After Transbay Tube Walker Detained
by Bay City News | October 14, 2012 7:27 pm	| in News | 0
8:32 PM: BART service through the Transbay Tube was restored around 8:15 p.m. after a man who walked into the tunnel was detained, BART officials said this evening.
The man was spotted walking into the tube around 6:46 p.m. by a surveillance camera, BART spokesman Jim Allison said.
BART service in the tube was shut down, causing major delays, while BART police entered the tube to conduct a search.
The man was detained at 7:44 p.m. and is in custody, Allison said.
7:27 PM: BART is reporting major delays on all transbay routes because a person has been reported walking through the Transbay Tube area, according to a dispatcher.
Trains are unable to move through the tunnel until the report is investigated, the dispatcher said.


text:
Q: Table of Contents - Font Parameters The font, font size, and color for my section titles are different than the rest of my document. The goal for my table of contents is to use the same color (black) and font type (Fourier) as the rest of the document. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
\documentclass[12pt]{article}
\usepackage[american]{babel}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{adforn}
\usepackage{xcolor}
\usepackage{microtype}
\usepackage{fourier}
\usepackage{Chivo}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\definecolor{MSLightBlue}{rgb}{0.31,0.506,0.741}

\usepackage{titlesec}
\newcommand{\coolsec}[1] % custom section title
    {
        \titleformat{\section}{\Large\flushright}{\textcolor{MSLightBlue}{\textsf{\thesection\enskip|}}}{1em}{}
        \section{\textcolor{MSLightBlue}{\textsf{#1}}}
    }

\usepackage{tocloft}
\renewcommand{\cfttoctitlefont}{\hfill\LARGE}
\renewcommand{\cftaftertoctitle}{\hspace*{\fill}}

\addto\captionsamerican{% Replace "american" with the language you use
    \renewcommand{\contentsname}
    {\adforn{61}\quad Contents\quad\adforn{33}}}

\usepackage{titletoc}
\titlecontents{section}[0mm]{\large}{}{}{\dotfill\makebox[1em][l]{\thecontentspage}}

\begin{document}
\tableofcontents
\coolsec{FIRST}
\lipsum[1]
\newpage
\coolsec{SECOND}
\lipsum[2]
\newpage
\coolsec{THIRD}
\lipsum[3]
\end{document}

A: For the formatting of the table of contents, you can use the numberless key, and the explicit option from titlesec (note all unnumbered sections – bibliography, &c., will be formatted similarly),  and  use \titlecontents{\section} in a consistent way. No tocloft required, only titletoc.
This yields a simpler code than what you had:
\documentclass[12pt, american]{article}
\usepackage{babel}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{adforn}
\usepackage{Chivo}
\usepackage{fourier}
\usepackage{microtype}
\usepackage{xcolor}
\definecolor{MSLightBlue}{rgb}{0.31,0.506,0.741}
\usepackage{lipsum}

\usepackage[explicit]{titlesec}
        \titleformat{\section}{\filleft\Large\color{MSLightBlue}\sffamily}{\thesection\enskip|}{1em}{#1}
        \titleformat{name=\section, numberless}[block]{\LARGE\filcenter}{}{0em}{\adforn{61}\quad#1\quad\adforn{33}}
\usepackage{titletoc}
\titlecontents{section}[0mm]{\large}{}{}{\enskip\titlerule*[1pc]{.}\contentspage}

\begin{document}

\tableofcontents

\section{FIRST}
\lipsum[1]
\newpage
\section{SECOND}
\lipsum[2]
\newpage
\section{THIRD}
\lipsum[3]

\end{document}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Recoleta Cemetery which is famous for being the burial place of Evita Peron.
Took this shot to illustrate how big a deal Evita's grave is. Pity because the rest of the cemetery is quite nice looking. This was our first full day in BA and I don't think we appreciated this much because we were still getting over Antarctica.
Avenida Florida which is one of the biggest street malls in the city. Unfortunately some elements of American culture have already impacted on the place.
Just for a laugh we participated in one of those touristy walking tours. The best part was the accent of the tour guide - she ennunciated ehhveeerrryy woooorddd and seeeellllaaaaablllllee. Entertaining anyway.
Me standing in some typical Colonia street.
Another Colonia street. For Kerryn and I we will also remember Colonia as the home of the world's worst ravioli. And to add insult to our hungry stomachs, I ordered a potato salad which had a "mayonnaise dressing". When the salad appeared it was a bowl of freshly boiled potatos. When I asked for the dressing, the waitress gave me a sachet of packaged mayonaise! People were nice enough - they just had no idea how to eat. Beers were good though.
Very cute use of an old car.


Creating the perfect place to display your mementos, vases, artwork, photographs and small objects is easy with modern and contemporary shelves and ledges from Room & Board.
Take advantage of the vertical space in your home while surrounding yourself with the things you want to see every day with beautiful, versatile shelves and ledges. Choose from floating shelves, bracketed shelves, double-tiered shelves, thin picture ledges and shelves with sides that double as bookends for extra functionality.
We've found American artisans who make unique, modern shelves and picture ledges using timeless techniques and sustainable materials. Choose from materials that match and complement the style of your home, including domestically sourced wood, welded steel, stainless steel, glass and powder-coated steel in timeless colors.
Room & Board shelves and ledges are designed with the modern home in mind, and made to coordinate seamlessly with our furniture and decor collections. Whether your taste runs toward minimalism, Arts & Crafts, Mid-Century Modern or industrial, we offer shelves and ledges that make a subtle—or bold—statement in your style.
Shelves and ledges are versatile and easy to use as a dramatic focal point, as part of a grouping of shelves or in a gallery wall that incorporates art, decorative objects, framed photographs and more. Whether you have a favorite clock, vase, collection or even a special piece of kid-made art, we have a shelf that will show it off perfectly.
Modern shelves and ledges can find a home in just about any room in the house, and our floating shelves can double as nightstands. Make a gallery in the living room, display dinnerware in the dining room, make an art wall in a child's room or liven up a wall in a hallway with memories.
To make the most of shelves and ledges in groupings, how to hang wall arrangements and find ideas for designing a personal gallery with the Room & Board frame wall guide. Then check out options for shelves, ledges, frames, mirrors and art for your home online or in our stores.


text:
Miner: 'I think I've got black lung'
by LucySmithdm
Lucy Smith
2nd Jul 2016 6:52 AM
LES Richter has been diagnosed with emphysema, but in light of the re-emergence of black lung disease in Queensland, he's wondering if his diagnosis is quite right.
The 69-year-old Ooralea man started working in Ipswich mines about 47 years ago.
Since then, he's worked as a plant operator and dragline operator in mostly open-cut coal mines at Blackwater, Biloela and Dysart.
In the 1990s Mr Richter's lung health declined. His doctor told him he'd never work again and Mr Richter received a worker's compensation payout from his employer.
About 10 years later he had to undergo a lung reduction; 70% of his right lung and 30% of his left lung was removed.
The doctor's prediction wasn't completely true - Mr Richter has been able to do some mining contracting work since and hopes to obtain mining work in the future.
But lung disease has made life a lot more difficult.
"I still can drive machinery, but I've got to take my time. I can't move around as fast as I'd like to," he said.
"I can't do things I want to do because of my lung capacity. My lungs are deteriorating. I'm not getting any better, simple as that."
Mr Richter, who has "never been a big smoker" and hasn't touched a cigarette in more than 40 years, believes he has black lung.
Nine Queensland coal miners have been confirmed with the illness since the first case emerged publicly in December last year.
So far all of those diagnosed have worked mostly underground.
But speaking to APN in January, Professor Malcolm Sim, who's heading the State Government-commissioned review into black lung screening, said open-cut miners were also at risk of contracting the disease.
"It really depends on the level of dust exposure and there are some high risk jobs in that part of the industry as well," he said.
And Mr Richter doesn't doubt that his exposure to dust has contributed to, if not been responsible for his ill health.
"You can see at night time, in the open-cuts, you can see the dust coming up from the light… even in the draglines, (you can see) the dust in the draglines," he said.
Mr Richter said he suspects former colleagues may have had, but never been diagnosed with, black lung. "I know a lot of blokes from (the mines) who have died in the past 12, 18 months," he said.
"They've had cancer. Now, what's it all caused from? That's what's starting to worry everyone.
"They only buried a bloke the other day who had cancer and he was in the mines most of his life."
Mr Richter is now looking to get his x-rays checked to confirm whether he has the disease.
As for lung problems, he's worried that "a lot of people are going to be in the same boat shortly".
Union certain more black lung cases soon to follow
mb-blacklung
queensland health
black lung mb-blacklung miner mining queensland health


Between 1990 and 2000, the average debt for a university graduate more than doubled. By 2009, the average debt for university graduates was $26,680, while the average for college graduates was $13,600.This rise in debt-loads coincides with recent news that the CSLP had for the first time reached its maximum level of $15 billion, requiring further allocation of funds.
"This report points to some of the long-term consequences of incurring large debts, sometimes involving postponement of milestones of life, like having children or owning a house. They can also impact choice of career, possibly to public detriment," says Dr. Paul Cappon, President and CEO of CCL.
Graduates of PSE who have accumulated large debt-loads (more than $20,000) were less likely to own their homes or to have saved for retirement than graduates who were debt-free. Tallying the Costs of Post-secondary Education: The Challenge of Managing Student Debt and Loan Repayment in Canada, is the third installment in CCL's monograph series Challenges in Canadian Post-secondary Education, which focuses on critical issues in Canada's PSE sector.
In addition to exploring current levels of record student debt, it also examines competing models of debt repayment and deals with key questions potential PSE students and parents ask, such as: Are the benefits of PSE worth the financial risk? Is a potential high debt-load forcing some to forego PSE? Are more students borrowing? Have tuition increases resulted in financial hardship for students? How much student debt is too much? Is Canada's financial aid system too muddled?
"The student loan system should be made more intelligible through a streamlined federal-provincial approach, resulting in a less complicated 'one student, one loan' reality throughout the country," says Cappon. "With so little information about private PSE institutions, no Canadian system of PSE accreditation, and no national quality review agency, students are denied sufficient and objective information in ascertaining value for money invested in PSE. These are some of the reasons Canada desperately needs a national PSE strategy."This paper, along with the previous in the series, is available on CCL's website at: www.ccl-cca.ca/pse.
The Canadian Council on Learning is an independent, not-for-profit corporation. Its mandate is to provide evidence-based information to Canadians so they can make the best decisions about learning throughout all stages of life, from early childhood through to the senior years.