Dec 22
In the wake of the Sandy Hook tragedy, a wave of articles has appeared that have protested the almost immediate linking of the perpetrator with autism. As I write this, it has been informally confirmed that he did have such a diagnosis, but not whether he had been taking psychotropic medication at the time of …
Dec 02
Neuroeverything After reading a couple of articles recommended by friends, I am going to have to rethink how I describe my reading habits. I have been saying I devour pop-science books on neuroscience. (Of course, I do read a lot of other things, too, on evolutionary biology, philosophy, ethics, autism, and more.) But it seems …
Nov 09
Chief Wilcox, Sherry White and Barbara Allen honor Mohican life in Stockbridge The “Chief” of this headline is not an Indian Chief, but my brother Rick, the Chief of Police in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. As explained in this nice blog post, he has carried on the tradition of staying in touch with the original inhabitants of …
Oct 30
A Special Autism-Friendly Screening London’s National Theatre in HD The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Saturday, November 3 at 2pm http://www.mahaiwe.org/events.html Recommended for ages 13 and up $10 Reserved Seating Here’s a nice article in the Berkshire Eagle about the performance, and my involvement in it. I will be leading the post-screening …
Sep 29
This post is a commentary inspired by a brilliant essay by Emily Willingham. Brilliant in the British sense. Well, in the American sense, too, actually. In fact, all her essays are brilliant it’s just that this one caught my eye a couple of weeks ago because of something that was in the news, and I’ve reread it several times …
Sep 09
The importance of voting on November 6 [A downloadable pdf version of this post is available here.] Much is at stake for the disability community by Michael Forbes Wilcox Never Underestimate the Power of Your Vote Many elections are decided by only a few votes. Recently, in one contest for the Massachusetts House, the …
Aug 19
Those of us who are neuroexceptional are known to have difficulty with many of the cognitive processes that fall under the general rubric of “executive functions.” Why is that? If I knew that answer to that, there would probably be a Nobel Prize waiting for me. Still, I have given this a lot of thought. …
Jul 05
What is the Basis of Our Emotional Style? Is it a birthright, based on our genetic inheritance, or is it something we develop as we age? The answer, perhaps not surprisingly, is “both.” In recent years, the old debate over nature versus nurture has taken a new twist. It was once thought (not that long ago) …
Jun 30
In which I continue my unscientific search for common features of the autistic personality. In Part I of this series, I noted several discordances between autistic characteristics, as I see them, and standard personality types. I believe these will prove to be the keys to understanding (hey, wait, don’t keys “unlock”? – add that to the …
Jun 29
Yesterday was fledging day at my house. For several weeks, as I awoke at first light, I was greeted by the chirping of what was clearly a large crop of nestlings, as their parents brought them their breakfast. Finally, the day had come for them to leave the nest and fend for themselves. What is …