Identity Politics Run Amok: Autism is a culture?
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jono
Members Posts: 30,280 ✭✭✭✭✭
Yep, ladies and gents there are people who suggest that having autism is a culture like being Chinese.
I'll let this idiot speak for herself
This is poisonous thinking.
http://web.archive.org/web/20131012113050/http://www.shoeboxtasks.com/autism-articles/what-i-think
I'll let this idiot speak for herself
There's a reason I call myself an autistic, rather than utilizing person first language, and said reason has nothing to do with laziness. It has everything to do with the fact that autism is an integral part of who I am. Autism is not a disease, a disorder, or something holding me prisoner in a shell. Autism is a culture, a lifestyle, and a way of being. We don't try to cure people of being Chinese, because that is unethical and impossible. Nor do we refer to said people as "having Chinese tendencies," because that sounds stupid and we recognize that someone's nationality is part of WHO THEY ARE.
Autism doesn't yet get the respect as a culture that it deserves. People don't realize that autism shades into personality and is crucial to us remaining who we truly are. Because autism was woefully under-identified in the past, we are a relatively new disability culture. We are learning from the Deaf culture, and in many ways our struggles can be seen as similar. Like the Deaf, we autistics have a communication barrier with the majority of society, and people are always trying to cure both conditions. The former does not make the latter any more heinous. Autism, like Deafness, is a valid counterculture. To cure us would be to stamp out our whole way of life, and this is NOT good medical practice or the like-it is genocide born of xenophobia-a fear of outsiders. In many ways we spectrumites are the ultimate outsiders, but that DOES NOT make our way of being less worthwhile. This is why I and most other adults on the spectrum are anti-cure.
Allow me to make something perfectly clear: anti-cure DOES NOT MEAN anti-progress. Quite the contrary, I am strongly in favor of teaching spectrum kids the skills they'll need to live independently. This does not mean making them more typical, however; this means teaching practical ways around the challenges and also teaching the children to advocate for themselves so they can get their own needs met. The focus should not be on achieving normalcy, but instead on learning to live happily and productively AS AUTISTICS. The practical upshot of the above is this: kids shouldn't be running from therapy to therapy to doctor to therapy in an effort to train and medicate autism out of them to render them Indistinguishable From Peers.
Autistic children ARE STILL CHILDREN, and the over-intensive programming just isn't age appropriate. All kids deserve time to just be kids, and so many spectrum children don't get that. I also think that the only time medication is appropriate is when it makes the person who takes it more comfortable-it should NOT be to make the parent's life easier. In fact, that is my criteria for most all interventions-if a special diet makes some children more comfortable, then it is right for that child. If occupational therapy lessens painful sensory issues, that's GREAT, sign me up too. If chelation makes a kid miserable but at least they are too tired to get into anything because of the stress on their body, that is NOT cool. Kids have lost kidneys to chelation, and I am against anything that dangerous. Kids are kids, autism or not, and I don't know any parents who would willingly put their typical children at that kind of risk. Autism is a culture. It's as much a part of me as my freckles, my Slavic ancestry, my tumbling obsession, and my whacky sense of humor. It makes me different, but it has shaped who I am, and who many of my friends are, and I wouldn't
This is poisonous thinking.
http://web.archive.org/web/20131012113050/http://www.shoeboxtasks.com/autism-articles/what-i-think
Comments
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what is the big deal? not trolling
there is no cure for autism
and it's a big part of one's identity
can see this as being empowering -
U cant tell me had they found a cure this girl would not be first in line to get it n get rid of her autism completely.
This ? reads as someone who is trying to accept what their life is. Instead of it weighing them down turn it into empowerment.
But its a dangerous, slippery slope.
Soon enough pedos and sex offenders are gonna be typing up ? like this. -
U cant tell me had they found a cure this girl would not be first in line to get it n get rid of her autism completely.
This ? reads as someone who is trying to accept what their life is. Instead of it weighing them down turn it into empowerment.
But its a dangerous, slippery slope.
Soon enough pedos and sex offenders are gonna be typing up ? like this.
It's becoming a snowflake society. Everybody whose abnormal wants their abnormality to be accepted even at the detriment to society and even themselves.
I heard Ben Shapiro or somebody say something interesting. He said what if we just affirmed what schizophrenics thought? That instead of telling people that they are hearing voices, we just tell them the voices they hear are real.
What would happen? What kind of quality of life is that to give someone?
That's the kind of thing we have here with these illnesses now. People are wrapping themselves in the autism flag and denouncing possible cures long before one is even developed because they want their illness to be politically viable. -
Madame_CJSkywalker wrote: »what is the big deal? not trolling
there is no cure for autism
and it's a big part of one's identity
can see this as being empowering
it's only a part of your identity if you're forced to make it such. One of my cousins has a son with Asperger's. He has no idea that he has it because he's never been told. He's had IEP's all of his life but his mother never let him be a part of them because she didn't want him to ever think he was different from other kids. -
Autism and gender dysphoria are just the beginning.
If we start telling people their mental and medical problems are valid and no cause for concern we create some dangerous ideas.
*We tell anorexics that its okay to be anorexic.
*We let people with body dymorphoria chop off perfect healthy limbs because they think something is wrong with
*We let people who have phantom pain believe their pain is real
*We let people with PTSD think their thoughts are normal.
*We let people with bipolar disorder act however they want because theres nothing wrong with them
There's no such thing as mental problems, we're all just "special" and "different" despite the fact that mental illness is highly correlated with violence, criminal behavior and suicide. -
Go figure, Jono n koncept are making to much gottdamn sense already....
Wish we had an open air forum live broadcasted with strictly intelligent folks dismissing ? like displayed in the opening post...24 hour stream.
Better yet, just have samual Jackson get in his pulp fiction persona and read the arguments of said intellectuals out loud lol. -
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I dont believe in "autism"
Fake news -
What can you do?
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As someone who worked with autistic children once this is ? hilarious.
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I think i have autism but i cant be sure
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blackgod813 wrote: »I think i have autism but i cant be sure
Im not sure either
But I know the person who gave you those raggedy ass tattoos definitely is. -
There is a autism culture
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As a person who is very close to a child with autism, I 100% get where this person is going and what they are trying to say. But..
..nah.
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Smh.
Down the slope we continue to go, but with so many apathetic or “I don’t care” individuals out here, I see us continuing down that slope. -
konceptjones wrote: »Madame_CJSkywalker wrote: »what is the big deal? not trolling
there is no cure for autism
and it's a big part of one's identity
can see this as being empowering
it's only a part of your identity if you're forced to make it such. One of my cousins has a son with Asperger's. He has no idea that he has it because he's never been told. He's had IEP's all of his life but his mother never let him be a part of them because she didn't want him to ever think he was different from other kids.
i have a cousin with it as well and it's noticeable. it has impacted the way he socializes...he cannot simply assimilate ...and fact is ppl with autism are different and their mind works differently than the average individual ....so for them this can be an empowering message
he is getting better after working with trained specialist ... had his mother tried to just ignore it or shelter him from his reality positive he'd be be doing much worst -
I challenge you to a fist fight for besmirching me in this manner!
Thinking about changing my posting style to a William Regal rip off.
You silly little ? . -
Turfaholic wrote: »There is a autism culture
maybe for the parents of autistic children, but not for the children/adults afflicted themselves. -
Autism and gender dysphoria are just the beginning.
If we start telling people their mental and medical problems are valid and no cause for concern we create some dangerous ideas.
*We tell anorexics that its okay to be anorexic.
*We let people with body dymorphoria chop off perfect healthy limbs because they think something is wrong with
*We let people who have phantom pain believe their pain is real
*We let people with PTSD think their thoughts are normal.
*We let people with bipolar disorder act however they want because theres nothing wrong with them
There's no such thing as mental problems, we're all just "special" and "different" despite the fact that mental illness is highly correlated with violence, criminal behavior and suicide.
what? autism is not body dymorphoria linked to any violent or criminal behavior
it refers to a range of conditions characterized by challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviors, speech and nonverbal communication
they can't just take a pill or join a support group and they are all good....for many it's a life long struggle
and this is about embracing one's self despite the challenges and stigma that we associate with ppl with autism opposed to trying to conform and deny yourself the support you may need
considering she isn't advocating for violence or demeaning any one group or thing, she should be free to express her opinion, same as you....like with any other idea a winner will emerge from the competition of ideas in public discourse
this argument her thinking is dangerous is actually the real danger -
U cant tell me had they found a cure this girl would not be first in line to get it n get rid of her autism completely.
This ? reads as someone who is trying to accept what their life is. Instead of it weighing them down turn it into empowerment.
But its a dangerous, slippery slope.
Soon enough pedos and sex offenders are gonna be typing up ? like this.
It's becoming a snowflake society. Everybody whose abnormal wants their abnormality to be accepted even at the detriment to society and even themselves.
I heard Ben Shapiro or somebody say something interesting. He said what if we just affirmed what schizophrenics thought? That instead of telling people that they are hearing voices, we just tell them the voices they hear are real.
What would happen? What kind of quality of life is that to give someone?
That's the kind of thing we have here with these illnesses now. People are wrapping themselves in the autism flag and denouncing possible cures long before one is even developed because they want their illness to be politically viable.
I hate that ? Ben shapiro but he be having some good points.... -
It's open season.
? it.
Anything goes.
But, wait.............."We don't try to cure people of being Chinese, because that is unethical and impossible. "
Oh really....
Dr Samuel Cartwright would disagree.
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h3106.html
https://blackthen.com/drapetomania-cured-by-whipping-the-devil-out-the-? -race/In 1849, Louisiana State Medical Convention chose Southern physician and pro-#slavery advocate Samuel Cartwright to chair a committee; the tasks of Dr. Cartwright would be to investigate and report on the different unique diseases of African Americans. Cartwright examined and study many blacks and reported in 1851 at an annual meeting some of his findings.
In Dr. Cartwrights report, “Diseases and Physical Peculiarities of the ? Race,” he claimed that blacks were very different physiologically from whites. Supposedly, #black people had smaller brains and sensitive skin, and overdeveloped nervous systems. For these reasons black people had a high propensity for servitude. Dr. Cartwright argued that “the ? is a slave by nature and can never be happy – in any other condition.” He invented the term #DR*pedtomania, derived from the Greek words for “runaway slave” and “crazy,” to describe a curable mental disease. When slaves were infected with ‘dR*pedtomania’ they had the urge to flee ? and seek freedom.
If a slave becomes “sulky and dissatisfied without reason,” then they may have dR*pedtomania and be about to flee. Cartwright recommended “whipping the devil out of them".
Cartwright found that the trigger of this horrible disease was from masters who treated their slaves as human beings and equals. But, all was not lost if a slave got the disease; there was a cure. The cure for ‘dR*pedtomania’ was severe whippings and amputation of the toes. -
Thats why they call me crazy smmfh
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jetlifebih wrote: »U cant tell me had they found a cure this girl would not be first in line to get it n get rid of her autism completely.
This ? reads as someone who is trying to accept what their life is. Instead of it weighing them down turn it into empowerment.
But its a dangerous, slippery slope.
Soon enough pedos and sex offenders are gonna be typing up ? like this.
It's becoming a snowflake society. Everybody whose abnormal wants their abnormality to be accepted even at the detriment to society and even themselves.
I heard Ben Shapiro or somebody say something interesting. He said what if we just affirmed what schizophrenics thought? That instead of telling people that they are hearing voices, we just tell them the voices they hear are real.
What would happen? What kind of quality of life is that to give someone?
That's the kind of thing we have here with these illnesses now. People are wrapping themselves in the autism flag and denouncing possible cures long before one is even developed because they want their illness to be politically viable.
I hate that ? Ben shapiro but he be having some good points....
Same here. He made a good point on that but he obnoxious asf -
konceptjones wrote: »Turfaholic wrote: »There is a autism culture
maybe for the parents of autistic children, but not for the children/adults afflicted themselves.
Untrue. Definitely not in the way and to the extent that this dude is trying to claim. But there is definitely a culture among individuals who are afflicted. -
Madame_CJSkywalker wrote: »Autism and gender dysphoria are just the beginning.
If we start telling people their mental and medical problems are valid and no cause for concern we create some dangerous ideas.
*We tell anorexics that its okay to be anorexic.
*We let people with body dymorphoria chop off perfect healthy limbs because they think something is wrong with
*We let people who have phantom pain believe their pain is real
*We let people with PTSD think their thoughts are normal.
*We let people with bipolar disorder act however they want because theres nothing wrong with them
There's no such thing as mental problems, we're all just "special" and "different" despite the fact that mental illness is highly correlated with violence, criminal behavior and suicide.
what? autism is not body dymorphoria linked to any violent or criminal behavior
it refers to a range of conditions characterized by challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviors, speech and nonverbal communication
they can't just take a pill or join a support group and they are all good....for many it's a life long struggle
and this is about embracing one's self despite the challenges and stigma that we associate with ppl with autism opposed to trying to conform and deny yourself the support you may need
considering she isn't advocating for violence or demeaning any one group or thing, she should be free to express her opinion, same as you....like with any other idea a winner will emerge from the competition of ideas in public discourse
this argument her thinking is dangerous is actually the real danger
None of the people I mention can just take a pill and be good. All that ? is a life long struggle. Nothing you said is relevant to the post.
I said mental illness is correlated with violence, criminal behavior, and suicide. That's a fact.
Autism is correlated with self mutilation, same as body dysmorphics (like anorexics for instance). Also several studies have shown that a lack of social understanding leads to autistics ending up in jail (Lerner, et al., 2012).
At the end of the day, autism is a disorder. A malfunction in the brain and in social behavior, it can and should be managed for the betterment of the patient and the society.
It's also not healthy to let people with disorders choose their own treatment, because many think like this chick "there's nothing wrong with me." Trusting the judgment of someone who is mentally ill and untreated is naive.
