David Eastham
David William Eastham (1963–1988)[1] was a Canadian autistic author and poet. Despite being nonverbal for his entire life,[2][3] he began learning to type in 1979 using a communication aid and facilitation, reportedly making him the first person with autism to do so.[4] His mother, Margaret Eastham, also played a major role in teaching him to communicate, including through the use of Montessori methods and other techniques, some of which were similar to facilitated communication.[4][5][2] His 1985 book, Understand: Fifty Memowriter Poems, has been identified as the first autobiography written by someone who identified as autistic.[6][7] He died in 1988 of drowning, at the age of 24.[4] In 1990, his mother published Silent Words, in which she described the techniques she used to teach her son to type, speak, and use sign language.[2]
References[edit]
- ^ Eastham, Margaret (1992). Silent words: the story of David Eastham. Oliver-Pate, 1992. ©1990. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
- ^ a b c Baggs, A. M. "Rewriting History for Their Own Ends: Cure Autism Now and The Mind Tree". Autistics.org. Archived from the original on 2012-02-15. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
- ^ Hart, Charles (June 1993). A Parent'S Guide To Autism: A Parents Guide To Autism. Simon and Schuster. p. 167. ISBN 9780671750992.
- ^ a b c Crossley, Rosemary (1997). Breaking the silence: institutional responses to people who use atypical communication strategies (PDF) (PhD thesis). pp. 142–3. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-03-13. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
- ^ Grandin, Temple (1992). "An Inside View of Autism". In Schopler, Eric; Mesibov, Gary B. (eds.). High-Functioning Individuals with Autism. Boston, MA: Springer US. p. 121. doi:10.1007/978-1-4899-2456-8_6. ISBN 9781489924582.
- ^ Baggs, Amanda M. (2013-10-15). "A Bibliography of autistic authors". Autonomy, the Critical Journal of Interdisciplinary Autism Studies. 1 (2). ISSN 2051-5189.
- ^ Young, Lauren L. (March 2012). "Validating difference and counting the cost of exclusion in the lives of people who identify as on the autistic spectrum". Disability & Society. 27 (2): 291–294. doi:10.1080/09687599.2011.644937. ISSN 0968-7599. S2CID 144937964.
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