Monthly Archives: December 2011
The Law of Excuses
I’ve been thinking a lot recently about a particular legal double-bind faced by people with disabilities that affect behavior and, to a certain extent, people in commonly misunderstood situations that affect people’s emotional state (e.g., poverty, abuse, and certain crises … Continue reading
Dehumanization and the Brain
Here’s a great article, via the Situationist: A Brain’s Failure to Appreciate Others May Perpetuate Atrocities. No, it’s not about how Autistic people are responsible for genocide. Although the actual published journal article is behind a paywall, from what I … Continue reading
Filed under Being Weird, Disabilities, Experimental Psychology, Health Care
Self-Disclosure Angst
I just spent a long weekend up in Cambridge, MA, where I participated on ASAN’s symposium on the Legal, Social, and Ethical Implications of Autism Research. It was a great experience and I enjoyed the opportunity to meet some old … Continue reading
Filed under Being Weird, Practicing Law While Weird
More on language
Putting aside for a moment the controversy over “person-first” language, I wonder if we can at all agree that the following expressions should be banished: “The disabled” “The mentally ill” “The homeless” “The poor” All other uses of mass nouns … Continue reading
Filed under Being Weird
Arkansas’ Rape Shield Undermined
Here’s another example of what can go wrong when judges are asked to draw legal conclusions about situations and experiences they don’t understand: <a href=”http://www.feministlawprofessors.com/2011/12/only-exception-arkansas-case-reveals-danger-states-undifferentiated-rape-shield-exception/”>a defendant in a sexual assault trial was able to raise the fact that a teenaged … Continue reading
