Movie Lines: John Robison Inspired This One
I had breakfast with John Elder Robison this week. He was on his way to a speaking engagement in NJ and made a pit stop in CT. We talked about writing, my book, his book Look Me In The Eye which continues to sell at a brisk clip and is approaching it's 26th printing - yes, 26. He told me more about an exciting therapy study at Beth Israel called TMS that I am going to begin supporting in a more formal manner and that it's on the radar screen of a large autism organization. And org I occasionally throw mud at for it's dearth of usable research. I'm praying they get on board with TMS.
Today on FB John asked his friends to share a favorite movie line. I thought about it for a moment then hit Google to find this scene from Parenthood, my favorite movie for a hundred reasons. Listen to it, and see if it speaks to you. It's not easy to stay on board the rollercoaster. The ride stops and you have a chance to get off. I raise my hand and tell the operator, "Hit it!
Welcome! Come to Boston to meet Kat Cavicchio in my new e-book House of Cards available through Amazon on Kindle and supported devices!
4 comments:
wow- I love it! I forgot all about this movie. I need to go watch it again....
thanks for sharing!
I cry at the ending - happy tears. It's a great movie.
I totally forgot about this part of the movie. Thanks for reminding me, it's so poignant. And I would love to know what the person who commented above me is saying!!!
Here's John Robinson's stance on a cure (left in a response on a blog.) He doesn't believe in one. Not sure how you can support this man. He'll do NOTHING for our kids over at Autism Speaks. He's nothing but another puppet, but what else is new over there.
John Elder Robison said...
Harold, I thought I answered your "cure" question pretty clearly, but since that answer was unsatisfactory I will have another go at it.
Autism is the result of a number of configuration differences in our brains. Recent research suggests those differences may come about at an early age due to differences in brain plasticity.
However they come about, those differences are instrumental in forming our personality - the core of who we are - as well as various components of disability.
Science is nowhere close to showing us how to unravel that package of differences. That's what I meant by science fiction.
When attacking the autism riddle, researchers don't say "we want to find a cure." They say something much more specific, like "we want to improve language comprehension."
"Autism" is not a research target because it is far too broad and ambiguous. Speech impairment, social skills, GI issues . . . those are examples of things we target in the quest to make people's lives better
I support research aimed at finding ways to remediate our disability. If you want to interpret that as "anti cure" or anything at all, that's your business, but it's not what I said or meant.
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