{"id":156218,"date":"2024-05-03T09:42:45","date_gmt":"2024-05-03T13:42:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=156218"},"modified":"2024-05-03T09:42:45","modified_gmt":"2024-05-03T13:42:45","slug":"autism-in-the-military-next","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=156218","title":{"rendered":"Autism in the Military Next?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nThe Good Idea Fairy is Alive and Well<\/em><\/p>\n

People with autism navigate roadblocks to serving in the military<\/h3>\n

Applicants and military members push for review of eligibility standards.<\/em>
\nBy John Donvan, Marjorie McAfee, Katy Sheward, Justin Green, and Aria Young<\/strong><\/p>\n

For people on the autism spectrum, finding their place in the American military can be an arduous process. The U.S. Department of Defense considers having autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to be a \u201cdisqualifying condition\u201d to join the military. Many candidates are turned away because of their diagnosis.<\/p>\n

\u201cI, more or less, had my dream taken away from me,\u201d said Tory Ridgeway, a third-year student with autism at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University studying aerospace engineering.<\/p>\n

Ridgeway, son of a Navy aviation engineer, received a Navy-ROTC scholarship at 18 years old, in exchange for his service in the Navy after graduation. A Navy-approved doctor found his autism to be \u201cmild\u201d and \u201cfully controlled.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, a month after his acceptance, Ridgeway was told that his ROTC scholarship was on hold, in part due to his autism.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt didn’t feel like I lost funding for college,\u201d Ridgeway said. \u201cIt felt like I had lost a part of myself and who I was.\u201d
\n~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
\n\u201cNational security problems are some of the hardest problems we have in this country,\u201d said Cortney Weinbaum, Sr., national security researcher at RAND Corporation. \u201cIt makes no sense to not want all brain types working on it.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

ABC News<\/a><\/p>\n

Mr. Weinbaum neglects to mention how integrating troops on the autistic spectrum into military units will enhance combat effectiveness while not impacting training, all the while maintaining good order and discipline. Then again those with Gender Dysphoria are welcome without any concerns about those minor issues. Any resemblance to Project 100,000 in not up for discussion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Good Idea Fairy is Alive and Well People with autism navigate roadblocks to serving in … Autism in the Military Next?<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":657,"featured_media":156226,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[237,652],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-156218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-big-pentagon","category-the-stupid-is-strong"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/657"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=156218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156218\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/156226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=156218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=156218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=156218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}