Another e-mail from said list owner in my inbox tonight. This time saying that I am "constantly sniping" at him, "after all that [he's] done for [me]."

• I have not been constantly sniping at him.
• He hasn't done anything for me, so far as I know; I wouldn't mind clarification on that point, but I won't be responding to his e-mails.

Apparently I am being nasty and arrogant, as well. Yes, I am capable of both, but I didn't think I was behaving like that in this instance. (Well, I mean, aside from my public posts about the whole incident. Which I'm only making because I think people should know not to join said group.)

The best is when he says he deserves respect because he's laboured so long in the field, so selflessly, and follows that up by asking what happened to my Christian upbringing. And his final point is that I should check out how I treated him over the years because it was inappropriate.

• People who actually deserve respect don't need to request it.
• I do my best to offer respect to all people, until they show me that they don't deserve it. This is because I am a Christian. I don't let other people's opinions sway me one way or another.
• If I recall correctly, any time I "sniped" at this person, it was in direct response to his claims that all bad things in the world are due to feminism, and anyone who disagrees with him on anything is a feminist (in the bad sense). Since I am female, these claims were often directed towards me, especially when I was working as a behaviour therapist (the worst kind of feminist, apparently).

If he wants to actually discuss this, let it happen openly. I won't be e-mailing him; he can comment to my blog if he actually wants to "set the record straight."

It gets better!

So, yesterday I wrote about how I got kicked off an autism discussion list that I've belonged to since 1999.

When it happened, I responded with two e-mails. The first pointed out that I'd had no warnings prior to the kick. The second pointed out that he's kicked me off the list for something I said ON A DIFFERENT LIST.

Today, I got an e-mail back that said that he might reinstate me if I apologize for all the times I snipped at him, since he was so gracious as to give me a platform to promote myself.

That caused me to do a double-take, as I have never, to my recollection, "promoted myself" on the autismlist, nor any other list I belong to, except as a possible informational resource. I might offer links to my web site or blog from time to time, but I never promote my services anywhere, and I certainly have never asked people for money in return for my thoughts and input into situations they are dealing with! (And aside from that, I only snipped in response to his under-handed pot-shots, so I don't know what he's talking about.)

Needless to say, I've told him I'm not coming back, and I told him he's not a nice person and that he is unreasonable. (To which he merely responded, "Good")

Ha, I got booted off an autism discussion list.

I've belonged to the Yahoo! groups Autismlist since 1999 or something, so it's kind of strange to think that I'm no longer a member. What kills me is that all I did was agree with someone else (who, so far as I know, wasn't booted) that the list owner had said something that wasn't really "kosher" - i.e., asking an autistic man what his credentials are to be criticizing the owner's obsession with telepathy and facilitated communication (FC), bringing it up in every discussion as being "the best treatment" (which it isn't; it's a communication method, not a treatment method). I said that I've seen such tactics used in other discussions, and it seems that usually those who ask for people's credentials feel "caged" - they know they're going to lose the argument, so they try to cast aspersions on the people they're arguing with. And... I'm gone. No warnings or anything, just gone.

EDIT: I just realized that the discussion I got booted for was taking place on the AutAdvo Yahoo! group, not the Autismlist one. So the owner kicked me off HIS list for agreeing with someone ON ANOTHER LIST about the owner's "debate methods."

This is actually pretty funny to me, now; before it was just mildly amusing.

International Day of the Disabled Person

I know, I know, it's been a long time. I'll be back regularly eventually, I'm sure. Life has just been crazybusy lately, that's all.

I'm really just posting today to make sure everyone knows that today is the International Day of the Disabled Person. One of my co-workers ran our agency's booth at a trade show for it today.

What do you think people should be doing on this day, if anything? Is such a day even necessary?

Tell us your thoughts.

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