In her commentary related to the current discussion surrounding the process of facilitation, Donna Williams shares her observations gleaned from her world-wide contacts with people described as autistic. It also provides us with a springboard for thinking in different ways about these same people as we seek to provide supports and to be with them in life. It required some careful reading to absorb her important message and not by-pass it in their search of statements of positive support. Additionally, it was so different in format from the other articles in that series and it was the last one . . All people with autism appear to share the dubious distinction of not fitting into a stereotype.
Homogeneity is sacred in our society and dealing with people's differences is uncomfortable.
Yet the temptation remains to lump everyone who has a label of autism or PDD into their own stereotype. It makes it problematic to design a protocol for groups of people who are so singular in their systems of sensory functioning. This has been at the heart of much of what has gone awry for researchers as they have attempted to investigate the process of facilitation. A caution here might be that all people are most certainly not going to have the same perception of their experience as Donna reports it. It is a most valuable perspective but it needs to be kept open-ended as more and more people are able to inform us of their circumstances.