I was disappointed to learn of your nomination of Ari Ne'eman to the National
Council on Disability.  Mr Ne'eman has risen to prominence in the national
press precisely because he does not represent most people with autism: Claudia
Kalb's 25 May 2009 article in Newsweek, for instance, describes him as a
"master networker," "sociable," with a "well-timed sense of humor."  These
characteristics are exactly why Mr Ne'eman is no more qualified than you or I
to speak for people with autism.

Autism is a spectrum condition with a broad range of phenotypes.  Here's the
difference between Mr Ne'eman and people who are severely disabled by autism:
My autistic brother cannot speak, and is lucky to get out a couple of hundred
words in an hour of painstaking pointing at a keyboard.  (Many of those words
are devoted to how frustrated he feels and how he'd like to have a cure.)  My
autistic niece has speech, but can't use it for flexible social communication.
Both of them have such trouble controlling their own behaviours and bodies
that, absent a miracle, they'll never be able to live independently.

We families want that miracle, and we will not allow Mr Ne'eman to take it away
from us by blurring the important distinction between severe autism, which is a
disease to be cured, and milder forms of autism spectrum condition, which need
not be treated as disease.  Mr Ne'eman makes an important point about the need
for societal acceptance and accommodation of Asperger syndrome and autism.
Unfortunately, at the same time he seems dismissive and even hostile to the
need for a medical cure for autism's severe social and communicative deficits.

Mr Ne'eman attempts to speak for people with autism spectrum conditions in
general precisely because HE CAN SPEAK.  Many people with severe autism cannot
speak, and Mr Ne'eman is not an appropriate representative for them.