Some teachers just have a knack for working with autistic children. Other teachers do not have it.

There needs to be a lot more emphasis on what a child CAN do, instead of what he cannot do.

What would happen if the autism gene was eliminated from the gene pool? You would have a bunch of people standing around in a cave, chatting and socializing and not getting anything done.

I am different, not less

The world needs different kinds of minds to work together.

The thing about being autistic is that you gradually get less and less autistic, because you keep learning, you keep learning how to behave. It's like being in a play; I'm always in a play.

If you have a 2 or 3 year old who is not talking, you must start an early intervention program. The worst thing you can do with an autistic 3 year old is to do nothing.

Nature is cruel but we don't have to be

I can remember the frustration of not being able to talk. I knew what I wanted to say, but I could not get the words out, so I would just scream.

I had people in my life who didn't give up on me: my mother, my aunt, my science teacher. I had one-on-one speech therapy. I had a nanny who spent all day playing turn-taking games with me.

People talk about curing autism. But if you got rid of all those traits, who's going to make the next computer?

The idea of finding value in what people are willing to pay to get rid of it one of the fundamental backbones of ecocapitalism, as I think of it now.

Be available for life to happen.

For many years now, I feel like my own body struggle has been linked and connected with women I meet in the world. I think we're in this together.

Pictures can be pretty deceptive.

In the end they'll judge me anyway, so whatever.

My life was over, finished, and I’d never seen Pearl Jam play live

Modesty in human beings is praised because it is not a matter of nature, but of will.

I can't just listen to music walking down the street unless I have a reason to. I can't just listen to music as a piece of junk in the background. It drives me insane.

The death of an illusion tends to disconcert.