trum in America as there are
Jews.” For posterity, I note that
Silberman’s book came out as
I was finishing this book. The
importance of Neuro Tribes
resonated in our neurodiverstiy community immediately,
so I put my editors on hold,
read his book and then completed this chapter.
the apparatus to send it by radio.”
Patrick Witty then asked: “When you say pigeon, what do you
mean exactly?”
Browne said, “A pigeon is a passenger on a regular commercial
flight whom you have persuaded to carry a little package.”
This famous picture appeared on President Kennedy’s desk that
day. As a result of many just doing their part, Thich Quang Duc’s
self-immolation changed the world.
We do not all need to burn up, but we must share our fire if we
want change.
Warren Buffett says, “Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.” I used to just sit in
the shade; now I am trying to sew just seeds so that you may too.
Growing change is often hard. The United States recently swore in
a black attorney general named Lynch. And I am a gainfully employed “severely autistic” mute. It was not easy for Loretta Lynch
or Barb Rentenbach, but here we are being heard.
Barb and Lois Prislovsky working on their Loud Mute Radio podcast.
a conversation with Dr. Martin Luther King,
explained that this was not an act of suicide.
He immolated himself out of love and wanting
equality justice, not out of despair or self-pity.
It was hard
to be heard
in Vietnam at that
time, but
Quang Duc
was heard
around the
changing
world.
“
the event and won a Pulitzer prize for his international reporting as well as the world press
photo of the year award. Browne recalled, “The
main thing on my mind was getting the pictures
out. I realized
that this was
something of unusual importance
and that I’d have
to get them to the
AP in one of its
far-flung octopus
tentacles as soon
as possible. And
I also knew that
this was a very
difficult thing to do in Saigon on short notice.
The whole trick was to get it to some transmission point. We had to get the raw film shipped
by airfreight, or some way. It was not subject to
censorship at that point. We used a pigeon to
get it as far as Manila. And in Manila they had
Each day I step out of my
autistic darkroom to capture
images. Before I am overexposed,
I return to my safelight autistic
sanctuary to process.
The change
chain grew stronger as photographers, pigeons,
and presidents bound and reacted.
Patrick Witty’s Time Magazine article on the
50th anniversary of Quang Duc’s burn interviewed Malcolm Browne, who photographed
48
ZOOM Autism through Many Lenses
"
Since my last book, I assiduously clicked out my ability to type
independently and took the opportunity to make changes in my
24/7 care and immerse myself in my chosen career. I am a freelance neurodiversity promoter. It is a growing field providing
relevant shade for perhaps the largest minority in the world. Steve
Silberman wrote in Neuro Tribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future
of Neurodiversity, “There are roughly as many people on the specBarb and Team in NYC recording the new audiobook with Chad Dougatz, Lois
Prislovsky, Carol Holloway, and Jeri Yarber.
Like Malcolm Browne, for
many of us, the main thing on
our minds is getting the pictures out because we realize
“this is something of unusual
importance.” Each day, I step
out of my autistic darkroom
to capture images. Before I am
overexposed, I return to my
safelight autistic sanctuary to
process. I wordlessly calculate
what to develop and dilute.
What appears in my developer
tray is my neurochemical art. I
then treat myself to a stop bath
before the arduous task of getting my product to the neurotypical market. Next, I persuade my index finger pigeon
to peck out my little package.
In wide-awake Mark Nepo’s
book Hold Nothing Back: Essentials for an Authentic Life, he
teaches the interplay between
effort and grace. Since one
never knows when