Ballastexistenz On UK Channel 4

Ballastexistenz, arguably the Internet's most famous Autism Rights Activist, was recently featured on a segment on the UK's Channel 4 that Ballastexistenz herself thinks is "incredibly simplistic".

Having been pounced upon by a reporter myself once at a Cincinnati City Council, I can assure you that she is not the only person who has ever been misquoted or mischaracterized by the mainstream media.

Yes, the content of this piece is so short to be of almost no substantive value, however, what IS striking about this piece is the Second Life avatar of Ballasexistenz.

Now, it seems, in general, people build avatars on Second Life that don't necessarily reflect their "real life" appearance. Many, in fact, use avatars that look like animals, or, for some of us, some sort of bizarre reflection of certain aspects of our own personalities.

Building Second Life avatars is not easy. Even getting a simple kippah to sit properly on one's head in Second Life and take the better part of a week of work.

For Ballastexistenz to have so closely constructed so many of her own "quirks" is utterly remarkable.

Just think about the incredible amount of talent that must go unrecognized every day by the neurotypicals in people even far less profoundly disabled than Ballastexistenz simply because they don't know how to "schmooze".

Oh, and it looks like the Voice Chat function is working in Second Life now, so I'll be in or near the shul for a little while if any of you would like to come by and say hi ... :)