Autistic people are not disabled

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Exactly. In a world where being 'one of the group' is all-important in the NT world, what else can AS be except a disability?

Why do you link a positive outlook to "not being disabled?"

I do have abilities that many NTs do not have. I do have skills that many NTs do not have. But I am still disabled. These things do not make me "not disabled." Is it positive to gloss over a word that many find helps them understand themselves better?

An outlook that denies disability is not positive, it's restrictive. We can still be disabled and at the same time still be worthwhile people. These aren't mutually exclusive.

I really do not see it as a NT world vs an AS world.
To me that is like a paraplegic seeing it as a paraplegic world vs a walking world.
Or a blind person thinking of it as a blind world vs a sighted world.
The fact is that I do have a disability.
I went to schools for the developmentally disabled, not the non-NT.
Mt goals and achievements have not been towards becoming more NT.
My goals and achievements have been towards overcoming my disability to a degree.
I still need assistance based on my disability.
When I become an adult, I may need assistance income, because I am disabled.
NT is the norm in this world, just like being able to walk, hear and see are the physiological/ neurological norm.

The OP is only 16 years old [in case no one noticed] and what he states may very well be his reality.

We also live in a world where sociopaths(especially mild ones) are usually passed-off as being NT which complicates it even more.

Spot on Cynic.

For a long time I thought something was really wrong about me, since I got that impression from everyone else. Now I choose to stand up for who I am instead, since nothing is wrong with me!

Last edited by qawer on 09 Jan 2014, 5:30 am, edited 1 time in total.

How are your priorities a little wack?

I do not think the OP is being talked to wrongly based on her age.

Ezra, I really like your points of view, you add a lot. And you communicate your point really well. Which is a breathtakingly difficult daily challenge for some of us. You made the point better than I did that one size does not fit all, and you did so respectfully to OP and all of us, and you're 13 years old.

I don't think it's wrong exactly what some people are writing, but Vicky is right, too. There is something a little bit undignified about adults arguing too vigorously with a 16 year old girl, and I emphasize girl, because you're right to correct the assumption she was male, most people diagnosed with ASD are male and Zombiebride does not happen to be male so has to presumably struggle as a minority within a minority to be herself as a person, not at all easy to do. People make all kinds of assumptions all the time, and even if one is functioning really really well, ASD means it is an often terrifying, overwhelming, confusing struggle. At least that is my point of view, I can't say what it means for Zombiebride.

But I can definitely relate to the idea, and maybe Zombiebride feels this way, too, that some of the things that are part of the ASD, part of the reason for diagnosis with ASD, maybe don't seem to be dysfunctional, and in fact are, or at least could/can be very, even more, functional and effective, than typical ways of thinking, acting, and doing things, leaving me at times so terribly frustrated as I watch people doing things that do not make sense, seem counterproductive, even unkind, even ridiculous. And I often think that the world could be a much better place if more people were a lot more straightforward in the way they relate to each other and in their expectations and a lot more willing to focus on the task and direct content instead of getting lost on meaningless (from my point of view) arguments and jockeying for position. So disability, yes. But there is something valuable that I often wish could be around more, rather than squashed because it's not typical. Because typical isn't always very pleasant or good.

I don't think anyone, no matter how impaired, no matter how disabled, deserves or wants to be disregarded and defined solely by disability. That's the point I take away from this thread.

Excellent answer Waterfalls, I agree.

If everyone on the planet was autistic, would we be having this conversation?

If everyone on the planet had no legs, would we be having this conversation?

Probably not - so, when is it a difference versus a disability. I guess it depends on one's own viewpoint and the degree to which one is bothered by their inablilty to do things that others can.

For me, I see my autism as more of a difference - but that's just me, I cannot speak for others here. I am unable to do things that many can do but conversely I am able to look at and do things that many others cannot. So, is the glass have full or half empty? Each will have their own answer, no answer is wrong, and either answer is quite fine.

Thank you!! ! im no good with words but you got the point across. also Thank you Erza for clarifying im a girl. its not always obvious.

My mother belonged to an email group about autism, and one wise lady once told her, "Autism is different brain wiring, not bad brain wiring."

I know it's kinda against the rules to post something that doesn't further the discussion, but...

I've read pages and pages of threads here on WP on this very subject, and never have I seen a string of better-founded, more insightful and respectful posts than on these two pages, from both the posters agreeing and disagreeing with the original post. Excellent little discussion to read so far. That's all I wanted to say.

Would you be able to survive and reproduce 40 000 years ago with the way your brain is wired right now? If not then it's a disability just as much as being born with no legs would be.

Are you disable because the way you function is not compatible with how society evolved? That's a different sort of disability.

I have no doubt that I would of survive long enough to reproduce at the dawn of humanity with the same brain I have right now. While im not disabled in 2014, I do feel like im surviving the world more than im living it.

^ This is exactly what I was saying in my previous post! I think this applies to everyone on the Spectrum, whether they consider themselves disabled or not.

I'm very curious as to why your sister wishes she could be mind blind, it's a highly irritating and sometimes embarrassing trait to have. I get incredibly frustrated watching highly interpersonally driven TV shows because so much of the dialogue requires the interpretation of complex facial cues, and I never understand them, so I have to fumble along and guess by the dialogue what's going on.