Where should we talk about race?

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First of all, forgive me if I've missed a section. I'm new to the forum. If that's the case, feel free to point me in the right direction.

There are whole subforums dedicated to the ways in which ASD intersects with other areas of life; how it intersects with being a woman, how it intersects with being queer, how it intersects with being young, even how it intersects with dating, health, and school. All of those subforums are intended to be safe places where folks facing common societal barriers can find peace and solidarity with one another in ways that they may not be able to with other peers or among other communities.

It seems to me that there's a gap in, well ... the usual place for a gap to be, as other folks of color will surely have noticed before me.

I can't imagine it's because folks think race has nothing to do with ASD, because I would hope that anyone well-informed about the cultural history of ASD would understand the historical differences in diagnosis trends among non-white communities. The differences that result in many people from communities of color having comparatively little or no access to official diagnosis, let alone information and resources. Many folks in communities of color go their whole lives without any resources for even self-diagnosis. There are different cultural relationships to medical diagnosis that create very different climates for folks with ASD, young and old, diagnosed or otherwise, and they vary wildly between cultures and communities.

Where do we talk about this? Which subforum can we use to feel safe and comfortable talking about these intersections, about finding our identities, about overcoming culture-specific stigmas? Am I missing something?

I don't know, and can't know, the cultural makeup of the site's userbase and/or administration, but I wonder how such a large topic of both mutual struggle and mutual solidarity for folks of color with ASD could be forgotten?

All respect to forum staff and administration, of course. Just contributing my voice to the conversation.

Last edited by CMayweather on 14 Nov 2014, 1:12 am, edited 1 time in total.

hi, welcome to WP.

i agree there should be a subforum for POC. the best wrongplanet has for now i would think would be either 'In-Depth Adult Life Discussion' or...that's all I could think of really. that's no good. i know Alex is busy working on an upgrade for wrongplanet, maybe he could work something out if you PM him about it? i think it's a very good idea and i would be surprised if no-one has brought this up before.

i'm guessing it's because alex himself is white, and from what i have seen on 'post pictures of yourself' threads, most of us here are white as well. seems to be anyway. not an excuse or even a defense, just an observation from me. i think this will unfortunately not be very surprising to you. i have seen complaints from other people on the web say that a main issue they have with wrongplanet is lack of either insight or discussion about intersectionality in general. while i have seen some good posts here and there, on the whole i would have to agree. hopefully alex will listen and help you out!

Thanks. :) I'll wait to hear insight from others if applicable.

I think demand has been an issue historically. I think the cultural history trends you mention are probably a big part of it - autistic POC just don't get diagnosed often enough, so don't end up on here often enough. Contrast that with LGBT+ people, who seem to be over-represented in the autistic community.

Definitely something of an oversight. Although it might be a fairly quiet forum right now, it's ultimately gonna serve a purpose.

There are no "races" in the absolute sense. Skin color and facial features do not a "race" make. It's an arbitrary construct which was set up for various reasons. It's only relevant in relation to ethnicity/culture.

are you really arguing that race is a cultural construct are you really?

But the point of the original post was that it should be possible on Wrong Planet to discuss how one's ethnicity may factor into one's experience of autism; I, for one, would agree that autism is less understood among POC minorities in Western countries, and it's certainly underdiagnosed for several reasons and causes. I say this as a POC autistic myself.

While I do not think that these issues merit their own subforum, I do think it's worthwhile to start threads on this and related subjects, which is already happening from time to time. I would say don't hesitate to start threads that touches upon the relation between ethnicity and autism, because it will usually yield responses from members who have gone through similar experiences.

Careful ... the current form of Political Correctness seems to dictate that discussing the topic of "Race" is in itself a racist act ... but only if you're white.

since the lgbt forum talks about people with experiences as a minority and autism couldn't that include people of different races giving people a forum to talk about with out having to make a new forum?

Ethnicity and culture exist. How they react to autism should be studied very closely.

A person who is "black" racially and is American born and raised could be diametrically opposed (i.e., as to their overall impression of autism) to a person who is "black" racially, and is African born and raised. It's a whole different ballgame, really.

Hence, even if "races" exist, I don't find it to be useful within this particular context.