Wrong Planet (sometimes referred to by its URL, wrongplanet.net) is an online community for "individuals (and parents / professionals of those) with Autism,

Asperger’s Syndrome Asperger syndrome (AS), also known as Asperger's, is a former neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction and nonverbal communication, along with restricted and repetitive patterns of behavio ...

, ADHD, PDDs, and other neurological differences". The site was started in 2004 by Dan Grover and Alex Plank and includes a chatroom, a forum, and articles describing how to deal with daily issues. Wrong Planet has been referenced by the mainstream U.S. media. Wrong Planet comes up in the special education curriculum of many universities in the United States. A page is dedicated to Wrong Planet and its founder in ''Exceptional Learners: Introduction to Special Education''.

History

In 2006, Alex Plank was sued by the victims of a 19-year-old member of the site, William Freund, who shot two people (and himself) in

Aliso Viejo, California Aliso Viejo (Spanish for "Old Sycamore") is a city in the San Joaquin Hills of southern Orange County, California. It had a population of 47,823 as of the 2010 census, up from 40,166 as of the 2000 census. It became Orange County's 34th city on ...

, after openly telling others on the site that he planned to do so. In 2007, a man who was accused of murdering his dermatologist posted on the site while eluding the police. Wrong Planet was covered in a ''

Dateline NBC ''Dateline NBC'' is a weekly American television news magazine/reality legal show that is broadcast on NBC. It was previously the network's flagship general interest news magazine, but now focuses mainly on true crime stories with only occasio ...

'' report on the incident. In 2008, Wrong Planet began getting involved in autism self-advocacy, with the goal intended to further the rights of autistic individuals living in the United States. Alex Plank, representing the site, testified at the

Health and Human Services The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is a cabinet-level executive branch department of the U.S. federal government created to protect the health of all Americans and providing essential human services. Its motto is ...

's Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee. In 2010, Wrong Planet created a television show about autism called ''Autism Talk TV''. Sponsors of this

web series A web series (also known as a web show) is a series of scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet, which first emerged in the late 1990s and became more prominent in the early 2000s. A single in ...

include

Autism Speaks Autism Speaks Inc. is a controversial autism advocacy organization and the largest autism research organization in the United States. It sponsors autism research and conducts awareness and outreach activities aimed at families, governments, an ...

. The show is hosted by Alex Plank and Jack Robison, the son of author John Elder Robison.

Neurodiversity Neurodiversity refers to diversity in the human brain and cognition, for instance in sociability, learning, attention, mood and other mental functions. It was coined in 1998 by sociologist Judy Singer, who helped popularize the concept ...

advocates have accused Plank of betraying Wrong Planet's goal for autism acceptance by accepting money from Autism Speaks for this web series.

References

External links

* * Online support groups Mental health support groups Autism-related organizations in the United States Internet forums American health websites Internet properties established in 2004 Companies based in Fairfax, Virginia Disability mass media Blog hosting services 2004 establishments in Virginia Mental health organizations in Virginia {{autism-stub