Jessica Benham | |
---|---|
Member of the PennsylvaniaHouseofRepresentatives from the 36th district | |
Assumed office January 5, 2021 | |
Preceded by | Harry Readshaw |
Personal details | |
Born | December 13,1990 |
Political party | Democratic |
Alma mater | Bethel University (BA) Minnesota State University,Mankato (MA) University of Pittsburgh (MA,Ph.D) |
Jessica L. Benham (born December 13,1990) is an American politician and disability rights activist serving as a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for the 36th District. She is the first openly LGBTQ+ woman and first openly autistic person elected to the Pennsylvania General Assembly. She cofounded the Pittsburgh Center for Autistic Advocacy in 2014.
Benham was homeschooled through highschool and competed for many years at the National Christian Forensics and Communications Association,advancing to the national level multiple years in a row. During that period,she acquired the skill of using logic and facts to articulate and defend her faith.
Benham earned a bachelor's degree in political science and communication at Bethel University. She earned a master's degree in communication at Minnesota State University,Mankato and a master's degree in bioethics at University of Pittsburgh (Pitt). While at Pitt,she was a member of the organizing committee to start a union for graduate students. [1] Benham holds a doctorate in communication from the University of Pittsburgh, [2] [3] which she completed while serving as a state representative.
In 2014,Benham cofounded the Pittsburgh Center for Autistic Advocacy,where she served as the director of development. It is an LGBTQ+ autistic-led advocacy group,and the only LGBTQ+,autistic-led advocacy program in the greater Pittsburgh region. [4] [5] [6] The group successfully advocates for state legislation,including Paul's Law which prohibits those with disabilities from being denied organ transplants. [1]
Benham advocates for autistic rights,creates sensory friendly spaces,and increases access to individual education and 504 plans for autistic children in the public schooling system. She helps educators,parents,and healthcare workers to better understand those with autism,and reduces roadblocks to employment for autistic adults. [6]
Through the PCAA and other mediums,Benham has worked to ensure the fair treatment of individuals with disabilities in the legislative system. She has consulted and provided feedback for the Pittsburgh City Council's gun legislation,state level healthcare efforts,and the endeavor to create autism designations on driver's licenses and license plates. [6]
As a graduate from the University of Pittsburgh,Benham is involved in the organization of a graduate student union. She facilitates meetings and phone banking,and serves as the editor-in-chief of the committee newsletter. [6]
Since 2016,she has been active in the Zone 3 Public Safety Council of District 36. [6]
In 2020,Benham defeated opponent AJ Doyle and was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for the 36th District,where she succeeded Harry Readshaw. She is the first LGBTQ+ woman and first autistic person elected to the Pennsylvania General Assembly. [5] [4] Her campaign focused on healthcare,workers' rights,and a clean environment. [4] Benham received endorsements from local trades labor unions,including in the natural-gas industry. [7]
She has served as the Judge of Elections since 2018. [6]
Benham is autistic and bisexual. [5]
She has a cat,Ravi. [6]
Facilitated communication (FC),or supported typing,is a scientifically discredited technique,which claims to allow non-verbal people,such as those with autism,to communicate. The technique involves a facilitator guiding the disabled person's arm or hand in an attempt to help them type on a keyboard or other such device which they are unable to properly use if unfacilitated.
Diagnoses of autism have become more frequent since the 1980s,which has led to various controversies about both the cause of autism and the nature of the diagnoses themselves. Whether autism has mainly a genetic or developmental cause,and the degree of coincidence between autism and intellectual disability,are all matters of current scientific controversy as well as inquiry. There is also more sociopolitical debate as to whether autism should be considered a disability on its own.
Neurodiversity is a framework for understanding human brain function that recognizes the diversity of human cognition as a biological fact. The neurodiversity paradigm argues that diversity in human cognition is normal and that some conditions classified as mental disorders are differences and disabilities that are not necessarily pathological.
The autism rights movement,also known as the autistic acceptance movement,is a social movement allied with disability rights that emphasizes a neurodiversity paradigm,viewing autism as a disability with variations in the human brain rather than as a disease to be cured. The movement advocates for several goals,including greater acceptance of autistic traits and behaviors;reforms of services –i.e. services that focus on improving quality of life and well-being instead of suppression and masking of autistic traits that are adaptive or not harmful or imitations of social behaviors of allistic (non-autistic) peers;the creation of social networks and events that allow autistic people to socialize on their own terms;and the recognition of the autistic community as a minority group.
Autistic Pride Day is a pride celebration for autistic people held on 18 June each year. Autistic pride recognises the importance of pride for autistic people and its role in bringing about positive changes in the broader society.
Autism Network International (ANI) is an advocacy organization run by and for autistic people. ANI's principles involve the anti-cure perspective,the perspective that there should not be a goal to "cure" people of autism.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to autism:
Self-advocacy is the act of speaking up for oneself and one's interests. It is used as a name for civil rights movements and mutual aid networks for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The term arose in the broader civil rights movements of the 1960s and 1970s,and is part of the disability rights movement. Today there are self-advocacy organizations across the world.
People-first language (PFL),also called person-first language,is a type of linguistic prescription which puts a person before a diagnosis,describing what condition a person "has" rather than asserting what a person "is". It is intended to avoid marginalization or dehumanization when discussing people with a chronic illness or disability. It can be seen as a type of disability etiquette but person-first language can also be more generally applied to any group that would otherwise be defined or mentally categorized by a condition or trait.
Mel Baggs,was an American non-binary blogger who predominantly wrote on the subject of autism and disability. At times,Baggs used a communication device to speak and referred to themself as a low-functioning autistic. Revelations about Baggs's past created some uncertainty about their diagnosis.
Societal and cultural aspects of autism or sociology of autism come into play with recognition of autism,approaches to its support services and therapies,and how autism affects the definition of personhood. The autistic community is divided primarily into two camps;the autism rights movement and the pathology paradigm. The pathology paradigm advocates for supporting research into therapies,treatments,and/or a cure to help minimize or remove autistic traits,seeing treatment as vital to help individuals with autism,while the neurodiversity movement believes autism should be seen as a different way of being and advocates against a cure and interventions that focus on normalization,seeing it as trying to exterminate autistic people and their individuality. Both are controversial in autism communities and advocacy which has led to significant infighting between these two camps. While the dominant paradigm is the pathology paradigm and is followed largely by autism research and scientific communities,the neurodiversity movement is highly popular among most autistic people,within autism advocacy,autism rights organizations,and related neurodiversity approaches have been rapidly growing and applied in the autism research field in the last few years.
The Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit advocacy organization run by and for individuals on the autism spectrum. ASAN advocates for the inclusion of autistic people in decisions that affect them,including:legislation,depiction in the media,and disability services.
Ari Daniel Ne'eman is an American disability rights activist and researcher who co-founded the Autistic Self Advocacy Network in 2006. On December 16,2009,President Barack Obama announced that Ne'eman would be appointed to the National Council on Disability. After an anonymous hold was lifted,Ne'eman was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate to serve on the Council on June 22,2010. He chaired the council's Policy &Program Evaluation Committee making him the first autistic person to serve on the council. In 2015,Ne'eman left the National Council on Disability at the end of his second term. He currently serves as a consultant to the American Civil Liberties Union. As of 2019,he also is a Ph.D. candidate in Health Policy at Harvard University.
Denise C. Garlick is an American state legislator representing the 13th Norfolk District in the Massachusetts House of Representatives.
Lydia X. Z. Brown is an American autistic disability rights activist,writer,attorney,and public speaker who was honored by the White House in 2013. They are the chairperson of the American Bar Association Civil Rights &Social Justice Disability Rights Committee. They are also Policy Counsel for Privacy &Data at the Center for Democracy &Technology,and Director of Policy,Advocacy,&External Affairs at the Autistic Women &Nonbinary Network. In 2022,they unsuccessfully ran for the Maryland House of Delegates in District 7A,losing to state delegate Kathy Szeliga and delegate-elect Ryan Nawrocki.
Julia Bascom is an American autism rights activist. She is a former executive director of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN) and replaced Ari Ne'eman as president of ASAN in early 2017 before stepping down at the end of 2023.
Shain A. Mahaffey Neumeier is an American autistic and nonbinary transgender attorney. Neumeier advocates against coercive and forced treatment,including advocacy to close the Judge Rotenberg Center,an institution for people with developmental disabilities. They are also an activist for autism rights,disability rights,and other associated causes.
Morénike Giwa Onaiwu is an American educator,author,and autism and HIV advocate. Alongside E. Ashkenazy and Lydia Brown,Onaiwu is an editor of All the Weight of Our Dreams, an anthology of art and writing entirely by autistic people of color published by the Autism Women's Network in June 2017.
Current research indicates that autistic people have higher rates of LGBT identities and feelings than the general population. A variety of explanations for this have been proposed,such as prenatal hormonal exposure,which has been linked with sexual orientation,gender dysphoria and autism. Alternatively,autistic people may be less reliant on social norms and thus are more open about their orientation or gender identity. A narrative review published in 2016 stated that while various hypotheses have been proposed for an association between autism and gender dysphoria,they lack strong evidence.