You might not have considered it, but some of the folks who read your blog are probably autistic. Blogs make information accessible to people with autism in ways the auditory information is not.

Being a teacher and a peculiar person myself, I’ve more than a passing interest in how blogging has found a place in the lives of autistic people. Estee Klar-Wolfond is a blogger and the parent of a child with autism. I’ve been following Estee’s blog for a while now. She explains the blogging connection in this quote from her latest post.

Thankfully, the blog is an equalizer of humans . . . It is a universe, a “sphere� without rules, without barriers – faceless, sometimes nameless. It transcends some physical and attitudinal barriers and in this realm, one cannot judge another based on appearance or so-called levels of “functioning.�

Great Find: The Blog and Human Equality by Estee Klar-Wolfond
Type of Article: an editorial discussing the current views on autism and the impact blogging has had on the community of persons with autism
Permalink: http://joyofautism.blogspot.com/2006/04/blog-and-human-
Target Audience: Anyone who wants to know more about how blogging can change the lives of a population
Content: This is a serious read by a sincere author who knows the subject intimately and has done the research. I include it here because I know autistic people are among our readers and because knowing how others process what we write is valuable information. To access the article, click on the quote below by an autistic blogger taken from Estee’s article.

“Zilari� of Part Processing makes a number of comments on her processing time with colleagues at work:

“This is the main reason I prefer reading to listening. I like huge blocks of text I can sift through and find the relevance in. I like how text stays firm within time and does not melt away like sound. I like how reading does not demand every 30 seconds that one speaks to the text aloud and says, “Yes, I’m getting it, carry on!…”

Thanks Estee for sharing what you know with Successful Blog readers.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

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