Mel Baggs

Baggs created a website titled “Getting the Truth Out,” a response to a campaign by the Autism Society of America. They claimed that the ASA's campaign made autistic people objects of pity.[5] They also spoke at conferences about disabilities, and worked with Massachusetts Institute of Technology scientists that were researching autism.[6]

In January 2007, Baggs posted a video on YouTube entitled In My Language[7] describing the experience of living as a person with autism, which became the subject of several articles on CNN.[8][9][10] Baggs also guest-blogged about the video on Anderson Cooper's blog[11] and answered questions from the audience via email.[12] About Baggs, Sanjay Gupta said:[9]

[They] told me that because [they don't] communicate with conventional spoken word, [they are] written off, discarded and thought of as mentally retarded. Nothing could be further from the truth. As I sat with [them] in [their] apartment, I couldn't help but wonder how many more people like Amanda are out there, hidden, but reachable, if we just tried harder.

Video artist Mark Leckey admitted that he is, in a sense, envious of Baggs' empathic relationship to inanimate objects.[13] The singing at the beginning of Leckey's video Prop4aShw is from Baggs' In My Language.[14]

Baggs described themself as genderless and nonbinary[15] in their writings. They also advocated for a consistent definition of autism awareness, claiming that awareness was misrepresented by both parents and some advocates. They wrote articles in two online blogs: ballastexistenz and Cussin’ and Discussin’.[5]

Baggs said they named their first blog ballastexistenz to show that people like them were capable of living a worthy life, since it was a historical term used to describe disabled people as incapable.[15][6]

Baggs was born in Mountain View, California on August 15, 1980 and attended De Anza College and Bard College at Simon’s Rock.[5] Baggs moved from California to Vermont in order to be closer to a friend in 2005.[16][17][5]

Several classmates of Baggs have found the presence of their alleged impairments to be unusual, subsequently claiming that Baggs "spoke, attended classes, dated, and otherwise acted in a completely typical fashion." Baggs did not dispute those details online, but claimed a loss of all functional speech in their 20s. Additionally, other autism advocates have also questioned the validity of their diagnosis.[18][19][5]

Baggs claimed that augmentative communication is somewhat common among autistic individuals, though they also supported the use of facilitated communication and other scientifically discredited alternative therapies.[20] Baggs claimed to use FC, and that Fey, their cat, was their best facilitator as Fey moved their limbs around.[21]

In addition to autism, Baggs had also claimed to have been diagnosed with and wrote about numerous other syndromes and disabilities, including bipolar disorder, dissociative disorder, psychotic disorder, and gastroparesis.[22]

Baggs died on April 11, 2020 at the age of 39 in Burlington, Vermont; their mother said that the cause of their death was believed to be respiratory failure.[5]

• Baggs, Mel (2020). "Losing". Autistic Community and the Neurodiversity Movement: Stories from the Frontline. Springer. pp. 77–86. ISBN 978-981-13-8437-0.[23]
• Picard, Rosalind W.; Smith, Joel; Baggs, Amanda. "Toward a voice for everyone". MIT Media Lab.[24]
• Baggs, Amanda (February 21, 2007). "Why we should listen to 'unusual' voices". CNN.
• Baggs, Amanda. "In My Language" (YouTube, 2007)[25]

• Ballastexistenz
• Cussin' and Discussin'