Unanswered Questions in the Wake of NYU's Town Hall

[Guest guest]

Hello all,

Thank you to everyone who joined us in asking important questions at the NYU

Child Study Center's Online Town Hall Meeting this past week. A transcript

of the session is available

here<http://www.aboutourkids.org/about_us/public_awareness>.

Unfortunately, the comments of many people with disabilities, family

members, professionals and other supporters were not heard. The NYU Child

Study Center has announced that they will respond to these statements by

e-mail over the course of the next several weeks. We look forward to

receiving those communications, as they come in. In addition, we have

encouraged the NYU Child Study Center to post all of the comments and

questions that were not published during the online town hall on their web

site, to ensure open communication of the ideas presented there. The Town

Hall was not intended solely to address individual concerns, but to provide

an opportunity for NYU to show that it is willing to be accountable to the

disability community, whose outrage forced a withdrawal of the Ransom Notes

ads this past December. Showing an openness to publish all comments and

questions is an important part of that accountability process.

One of our members is working to collect unpublished comments and questions

that were sent in during the Online Town Hall but not published. These will

be posted online at a date to be determined in the near future. If you

attempted to ask a question or make a comment during the NYU Child Study

Center's Online Town Hall and were unable to, please e-mail your thoughts to

dkmnow@.... That member's comments are available

here<http://dkmnow.wordpress.com/2008/02/26/nyu-silenced-voices/>,

where he provides further instructions on how to submit your unresponded to

questions and comments. We continue to encourage the NYU Child Study Center

to provide a full and uncensored airing of the concerns of the disability

community on its website and we will keep you informed. Our strength is in

our ability to come together as a community. That was what led to our

success in ensuring the withdrawal of the previous offensive advertisements,

and that will be what will ensure our ability to change the public image of

disability for the better. All those who believe in a basic respect for the

dignity and humanity of people everywhere have common cause on this

important issue.

As always, Nothing About Us, Without Us!

Regards,

Ari Ne'eman

President

The Autistic Self Advocacy Network

1101 15th Street, NW Suite 1212

Washington, DC 20005

http://www.autisticadvocacy.org