[ExI] are we not just one race, the human race?

[Natasha Vita-More]

At 08:51 PM 3/21/2008, Stathis Papaioannou  wrote:

>I think Anne is talking about society's attitude towards people with
>autism. For example, see this article:
>
>http://www.wired.com/medtech/health/magazine/16-03/ff_autism

This a great article.   Reactions to people with so-called 
disabilities have a stronghold on society.  But we know that, for the 
most part, strong reactions stem from fear and one way to separate 
one seemingly healthy group from the seeming unhealthy group. A 
reaction to ostracize (however strongly or inadvertently) for being 
dissimilar, including mental, emotional, and physical abilities, may 
be an innate or a learned/acquired behavior.  We may need to be 
understanding of this behavior as well because we experience even 
more of such reactions in the coming years as humans morph in a 
variety of ways.

I remember working with the Home for Incurables when I was 18.  I 
spent a few years volunteering from time to time to bring part of the 
outside world to people who were sequestered into an institution 
which gave them no interaction with the outside.  It disturbed me 
then and still does.  Ms. Baggs is yet another role model for using 
technology to as a mode of expression.

Natasha