Mel Baggs (born Amanda Melissa Baggs; August 15, 1980 – April 11, 2020), 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.[2][3][4][5][6]
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.[8] They also spoke at conferences about disabilities, and worked with Massachusetts Institute of Technology scientists who were researching autism.[7]
In January 2007, Baggs posted a video on YouTube entitled "In My Language"[11] on the topic of autism which became the subject of several articles on CNN.[12][13][14] Baggs also guest-blogged about the video on Anderson Cooper's blog[15] and answered questions from the audience via email.[16]
About Baggs, Sanjay Gupta said:[13]
[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 stated he was, in a sense, envious of Baggs' stated empathic relationship to inanimate objects.[17] The singing at the beginning of Leckey's video "Prop4aShw" is from Baggs' "In My Language".[18]
Baggs 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'".[8]
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, "Ballastexistenzen [de]", used to describe disabled people as incapable.[19][7]
Personal life
Baggs described themself as genderless and nonbinary[19] in their writings. They also identified as a lesbian and used any pronouns except it, though they preferred the neopronouns sie/hir and ze/zer.[20]
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."[2] According to these classmates, Baggs functioned as a typically developing adolescent, and began to suffer psychological problems after long-term use of heavy doses of psychedelic drugs, resulting in a mental breakdown, after which Baggs withdrew from Simon's Rock and spent time in a psychiatric hospital. After leaving Simon's Rock, Baggs wrote extensively on Deja News (now Google Groups) in the late 1990s, discussing their drug use and mental breakdown, stating that they had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, and theorizing that they may also have had dissociative identity disorder. Baggs later stated that they did not have DID and apologized in 1997 for having "deceived" themselves and others when their true diagnosis was for schizophrenia.[21] In 2002, Baggs posted that they had been labeled with having Munchausen syndrome, rather than autism, by clinicians at Stanford University Medical Center, which Baggs contested the accuracy of.[22][failed verification] Baggs did not dispute those details online when questioned after their 2007 CNN appearance, but claimed a loss of all functional speech in their 20s. Additionally, other autism advocates have also questioned the validity of their diagnosis, citing that Baggs did not meet many of the requirements of low functioning autism,[23][24][8][2] after which they contradicted their earlier assertions by claiming to have lost speech in their infancy.[25] An article in Slate stated that some of their past acquaintances had been threatened with legal action by attorneys employed by Baggs for challenging their story.[2]
Baggs claimed that augmentative communication is somewhat common among autistic individuals, though they also supported the use of the controversial facilitated communication and other widely scientifically discredited alternative therapies.[26] Baggs claimed to use FC, and that Fey, their cat, was their best facilitator as Fey moved their limbs around.[27]
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.[8] They were survived by their mother, two brothers, and their grandmother.[7]
Selected publications
Baggs, Mel (2020). "Losing". Autistic Community and the Neurodiversity Movement: Stories from the Frontline. Springer. pp. 77–86. ISBN978-981-13-8437-0.[29]
Picard, Rosalind W.; Smith, Joel; Baggs, Amanda. "Toward a voice for everyone". MIT Media Lab.[30]
Baggs, Amanda (February 21, 2007). "Why we should listen to 'unusual' voices". CNN.
Baggs, Amanda. "In My Language" (YouTube, 2007)[31]
