Kassiane Asasumasu

Kassiane Asasumasu (formerly known as Kassiane Alexandra Sibley) is a Hapa and Asian American autistic rights activist and blogger from Oregon. She is also a gymnastics instructor[1][2] and a hobbyist archer.[3]

Asasumasu is known for deliberately provocative and political writing on autism on her current and former blogs, and her strong stance against the ideas that autism should be cured, that autistic people are broken, or that non-autistic parents of autistic children have more expertise on autism than autistic people themselves.[4][5] She is also known for coining the term "neurodivergent" to describe a person with atypical neurological functioning or processes, and "neurodivergence" to describe various types of atypical neurological functioning or processes, including developmental disabilities, learning disabilities, and mental illnesses.[6]

Asasumasu was diagnosed as autistic at three and a half years old.[1] She was once an editor for the Thinking Person's Guide to Autism, an information and advocacy website catering to parents of autistic children who support the neurodiversity movement's core belief that autism is not a disease that needs to be cured.[7] She is a frequent presenter at autism-related conferences, and has presented on neurodiversity-related topics for the Autism National Committee in 2008 and 2015,[8][9] the Autism Network International's Autreat,[10] the Autism Society, Georgetown University,[11][12] and the Autistics Present Symposium at Bellevue College.[13]

In 2011, Asasumasu claimed that autism charity Autism Speaks plagiarized and misattributed her work on self-advocacy by using quotes from a self-advocacy curriculum she had developed without consent, profiting from her work while opposing the goals of her activism.[3][14] Asasumasu's blog post concerning the plagiarism prompted a comment from an individual purporting to be writing on behalf of Autism Speaks.[14]

In 2014, Asasumasu delivered a lecture entitled "DisAbused: Rethinking the Presumption of Caregiver Benevolence" for the D Center (Deaf and Disability Cultural Center) at the University of Washington-Seattle, later delivering the same lecture for Georgetown University's Lecture and Performance Series on Disability Justice organized by fellow autistic activist Lydia Brown.[15][16][17] In her lecture, Asasumasu argued that parents, family members, and other caregivers of people with disabilities are presumed to have noble and benevolent intentions at all times, which leads to impunity for abuse and other acts of violence toward those for whom they are responsible, who are also presumed to be incompetent.[15][16]

In a blog post, Asasumasu described her ethnicity as biracial, Hapa, Hafu, Eurasian, Mongolian, Romanian, Japanese, and Croatian.[18]

Selected works

  • Kassiane Sibley, "Help Me Help Myself: Teaching and Learning," in Ask and Tell: Self-Advocacy and Disclosure for People on the Autism Spectrum (edited by Stephen M. Shore), pp. 33–64 (2004)[19]
  • Kassiane Alexandra Sibley, "Advocacy: Everyone Can Do It", in Loud Hands: Autistic People, Speaking (edited by Julia Bascom), pp. 309–312 (2012)[20]
  • Emily Thornton Savarese, Amanda Baggs, Jamie Burke, Sharisa Kochmeister, Sue Rubin, Phil Schwarz, Stephen Shore, Kassiane Sibley, & Tracy Thresher, "Self-Advocate Roundtable with Members of AutCom," in Disability Studies Quarterly 30(1) (2010).[21]

References

  1. 1 2 Walton, Alice G. "Living Life With Autism II: Perspectives". Forbes. Retrieved 2018-05-22.
  2. ↑ "Repost: Why "Autism Awareness" is Not Enough: Steve Silberman (and friends) explain "Autism Acceptance" | PLOS Blogs Network". PLOS Blogs Network. Retrieved 2018-05-22.
  3. 1 2 "The Wolf in Blue Clothing - The Tacoma Ledger". The Tacoma Ledger. 2016-04-04. Retrieved 2018-05-22.
  4. ↑ "A Night Out | Commonweal Magazine". www.commonwealmagazine.org. Retrieved 2018-05-22.
  5. ↑ "At the Intersection of White Privilege and Disability". The Body Is Not An Apology. 2017-11-29. Retrieved 2018-05-22.
  6. ↑ 1984-, Yergeau, Melanie,. Authoring autism : on rhetoric and neurological queerness. Durham. ISBN 9780822372189. OCLC 982501293.
  7. ↑ ""I Cannot Have This Conversation Right Now."". Family Circle. Retrieved 2018-05-22.
  8. ↑ "AUTCOM Conference 2008". www.autcom.org. Retrieved 2018-05-22.
  9. ↑ Autism National Committee (2015). "AutCom 2015 Conference Program" (PDF).
  10. ↑ Autism Network International (2013). "Autreat 2013 Presentations".
  11. ↑ Georgetown University (November 14, 2012). "Disability and Inclusion in the Humanities" (PDF).
  12. ↑ "Panelists Discuss Disability Culture". 2012-11-15. Retrieved 2018-05-22.
  13. ↑ "2017 Autistics Present Conference Schedule :: Autism Spectrum Navigators". www.bellevuecollege.edu. Retrieved 2018-05-22.
  14. 1 2 K, Neurodivergent (2011-02-04). "Radical Neurodivergence Speaking: Autism Speaks: SHUT UP AND LISTEN". Radical Neurodivergence Speaking. Retrieved 2018-05-22.
  15. 1 2 Brown, Lydia X. Z. (2017). Religion, Disability, and Interpersonal Violence. Springer, Cham. pp. 163–178. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-56901-7_10. ISBN 9783319569000.
  16. 1 2 "Kassiane Sibley - Disabused - YouTube". YouTube. Retrieved 2018-05-22.
  17. ↑ "Lecture & Performance Series on Disability Justice – Disability Justice for Georgetown". www.disabilityjusticegu.com. Retrieved 2018-05-22.
  18. ↑ Grace, Elizabeth J. (ibby) (2013-09-13). "NeuroQueer: Kassiane A. Sibley's Open Letter to Identity Police (Part 1)". NeuroQueer. Retrieved 2018-05-22.
  19. ↑ Ask and tell : self-advocacy and disclosure for people on the autism spectrum. Shore, Stephen M., 1961-. Shawnee Mission, KS. ISBN 1931282587. OCLC 56316353.
  20. ↑ Loud hands : autistic people, speaking. Loud Hands Project,, Autistic Self Advocacy Network,. Washington, DC. ISBN 9781938800023. OCLC 823510362.
  21. ↑ Savarese, Emily Thornton (2009-12-14). "What We Have to Tell You: A Roundtable with Self-Advocates from AutCom". Disability Studies Quarterly. 30 (1). ISSN 2159-8371.
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