Monday night's Anderson Cooper 360° featured a segment entitled "Finding Amanda," that explored the fascinating world of Amanda Baggs, a remarkable woman with autism who has become an Internet celebrity through the videos that she single-handedly shot, edited, and posted on YouTube. Although nonverbal, she is able to communicate intelligently and eloquently with the aid of a computer and voice synthesizer. She has become something of a hero to many people, and was even invited to speak at a summit organized by the Autism National Committee entitled, "Autism, Living Life to the Fullest."
Among Amanda's biggest fans is fifteen-year-old, DJ Savarese; like Amanda, DJ has autism and is nonverbal. Another similarity that he shares with Amanda is his gift for expressing himself, which he is able to accomplish with the aid of facilitated communication. In fact, DJ is so remarkable that he authored a chapter in his father's book, Reasonable People: a Memoir of Autism and Adoption, a book that we have blogged about in the past.
You can view a video of the segment here.
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