Ari Ne'eman is a Super Hero

"They (autistic people) are going to be a real burden on taxpayers and on society." I'm pretty sure the Nazis had the same sort of dialogue when discussing how's to solve the "Jewish problem". It isn't until years later that legislature is passed that limits their freedom or that sways social thinking to physically eradicate these people. Oh, wait, that's not entirely true. In fact, ASD people are already being denied organ transplants strictly because of their ASD status. So I guess when Dan Burton talks about the ASD "problem", he isn't speaking in hypothetical terms - he's advocating an established point of view that ASD people have less of a right to live than other people.

While I understand the philosophy pushed by Dan Burton, Charles Darwin and various hospital administrators, I'm not sure they've properly applied their survival-of-the-fittest mentality to a 21st Century world. Yes, the mechanic at the small engine repair shop down the street from my home is young, strong and healthy, but is his life more valuable than lets say. . . Stephen Hawkin? While Mr. Hawkin is confined to a wheelchair and can't speak without the aid of machines, the mechanic is articulate enough to threaten me for complaining about the machine shop polluting in the adjacent river, and burly and robust enough to carry out said ass-whoopin' without assistance. Does this physically fit specimen deserve an organ transplant over someone like my son?

Another accomplished wheelchair savant that comes to mind is Professor Charles Xavier. Along with his X-Men he represents a brave group of individuals who face oppression in the form of congressional hearings (regardless of his status as a fictional character). Even though he's confined to a wheelchair, he's still the baddest dude n the bunch. Well, he might have to share that title with the super villain Magneto. magneto is the militant arm of the mutant struggle. He doesn't petition congress for his civil rights, he takes to the street with vigilante justice. His youth spent in a Nazi concentration camp left him prepared to deal with such persecution. So while civil rights seem to bring out the best and worst in people, after seeing Ari Ne'eman defend the autistic community, at least we can say that we have a real life autistic superhero.

By Michael DeAntonio