The language of autism

It has taken society a long time to give a name to autism and we are still in the process of understanding it. Wired reports on a woman named Amanda Baggs who has Autism and has used a synthetic voice on YouTube to explain why she does the things she does.

An excerpt:

In a synthesized voice generated by a software application, she explains that touching, tasting, and smelling allow her to have a "constant conversation" with her surroundings. These forms of nonverbal stimuli constitute her "native language," Baggs explains, and are no better or worse than spoken language. Yet her failure to speak is seen as a deficit, she says, while other people's failure to learn her language is seen as natural and acceptable.

And you find yourself thinking: She might have a point.

Check out the article and the video to learn more about the language of autism and the ways people on the autism spectrum are expressing themselves online.