Do you still believe in the Autistic Community & Culture

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ProfessorX
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05 Jan 2011, 6:17 pm

In regards to the Autistic community, I had once been on a public forum/.panel along with other Aspies.Yes, all 6 of us were not mirror images of one another however, being part of the panel did help me to wok at my social scenarios though, it's been quite some time since I've done an formal speaking engagements.
Personally, I feel there are ways people in the auttistic spectrum might be able to fuse together as, Labpet has stated there are many threads where many unique qualities have been presented.Honestly, I wished I could do another speaking engagement but, with my work schedule ait's not feasible at this juncture.
Anyways, hopefully other Aspies can find ways that help them to unite or feel part of an alliance one could say.Yes, I did not do a good job of stating my point but, tried neverless..



KenG
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08 Jan 2011, 8:42 am

Asp-Z wrote:
The autistic culture will live if it is supported, but I can't say members of this forum do support it from what I've seen.
I agree with you, but I'm wondering why do most members of this forum not support it.
Surely, we can expect most autistics to support autistic culture, just as most Americans support American culture. No?


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pgd
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08 Jan 2011, 10:02 am

KenG wrote:
When I first discovered the autistic community and culture, back in the late 1990's, I had high hopes for its future.
I envisioned a reality in which millions of autistics from around the world are participating in autistic culture events around the world.
For example:
I envisioned national autistic self-advocacy groups who have hundreds of members in each of their local chapters.
I envisioned autistic musicians forming bands together and going on tours together.
I envisioned autistic painters opening galleries together and doing group exhibitions together.
I envisioned international autistic gatherings, such as Autreat & Autscape, being attended by hundreds of participants.
I envisioned local autistic groups, with dozens of participants, holding events together.
I envisioned Autistic Pride Day events all over the world being attended by hundreds of participants.
Etc.

Nowadays, I am becoming a bit skeptical about this.
WP only had 2,000 members when I joined it, and nowadays it has 43,000 members, but it seems the discussions are revolving around the same subjects again and again, year after year.
I was expecting WP to serve as an excellent platform for planning various offline activities, but when we did the European WP gathering, in 2009, we only managed to bring in 8 participants...
Nowadays, I am frequenting WP less and less, because I can't find here enough discussions which actually promote the advancement of Autistic Culture in real life.

How about you? Are you still optimistic about the future of the Autistic Community & Culture?
Do you think the hopes I have listed above will soon become realities?
Or are you also starting to share my skepticism about the future of the Autistic Community and Culture?


----

The Autistic Community & Culture exists. Today, I tend to participate in it via the Internet/www only. This is because of several experiences when I attended live conferences and found out some of the speakers (often professionals) at the conferences could not easily adapt to some questions I asked them, for example, basic questions about the possible neurology of autism or the ADHDs or the many subtle epilepsies (petit/absence/TLE/complex partial) or basic questions about FDA approved drugs or the role of good nutrition. My impression was that many speakers were running agendas and trying to drum up business vs openly discuss autism at all so I decided not to invest (aka waste) my money at live conferences where some (entertaining) speakers would dance around and dismiss very basic questions I asked. Sorry if my view offends some readers. I also ran into a few people whom I would deem to be fervent Andrew Wakefield autism is all caused only by vaccines believers/the communists - so to speak - are behind all of autism who tended to throw tomatoes at basic questions along the lines of why is there so little evidence to actually support Wakefield's boasting? I compared the answers I received to the same questions from other discussion groups and felt other discussion groups would stay on topic and try to address some of these very basic questions even if the questions were difficult to discuss and only partial answers/partials insights were possible. I see no advantage to spend money (aka waste money) to hear autism/other neurological challenges speakers who are all talk and no action or who are allowed to aggressively promote approaches or therapies which do not work or do not work as advertised.



Delirium
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08 Jan 2011, 3:13 pm

KenG wrote:
Asp-Z wrote:
The autistic culture will live if it is supported, but I can't say members of this forum do support it from what I've seen.
I agree with you, but I'm wondering why do most members of this forum not support it.
Surely, we can expect most autistics to support autistic culture, just as most Americans support American culture. No?


TBH, I don't even like having autism and I find most autistic people to be really annoying. Why would I want to participate in a culture based around autism?


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Moog
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08 Jan 2011, 4:39 pm

pgd wrote:
My impression was that many speakers were running agendas and trying to drum up business vs openly discuss


This is also the model for most of the non autistic culture too.


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Moog
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08 Jan 2011, 4:42 pm

Delirium wrote:
KenG wrote:
Asp-Z wrote:
The autistic culture will live if it is supported, but I can't say members of this forum do support it from what I've seen.
I agree with you, but I'm wondering why do most members of this forum not support it.
Surely, we can expect most autistics to support autistic culture, just as most Americans support American culture. No?


TBH, I don't even like having autism and I find most autistic people to be really annoying. Why would I want to participate in a culture based around autism?


Good question. I guess the answer for you is, you don't.


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MindBlind
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09 Jan 2011, 7:16 am

do I believe in autistic culture? Well it's hard to deny its existence. If you mean "Do you believe that it works?" or something of that nature, then it must because just look at websites like this. Hundreds if not thousands of people go on these sites on a daily basis and find a community to be a part of. Much like the deaf community, there is language and shared conventions that are only apllicable to that culture. I mean, it's pretty hard to deny something like this when it's already happening.



KenG
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10 Jan 2011, 5:44 pm

leejosepho wrote:
In principle, and from "Alcoholics Anonymous", the book:

"The feeling of having shared in a common peril is one element in the powerful cement which binds us. But that in itself would never have held us together as we are now joined.
"The tremendous fact for every one of us is that we have discovered a common solution [for our troubles] ..."

At present, there is just not enough bringing people together to cause and to hold or sustain the required "together".
I think many autistics have enough in common with each other to sustain the required "togetherness", but I can only feel that "togetherness" with autistics I have met in real life, even if my regular communication with them is online.


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KenG
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12 Jan 2011, 10:16 am

Wallourdes wrote:
I am currently working in my own country on setting up an initiatives along with some healthcare proffesionals, although my take on this is mutual acceptance in general (neurodiversity).
I also support Neurodiversity.


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Wallourdes
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12 Jan 2011, 3:48 pm

KenG wrote:
Wallourdes wrote:
I am currently working in my own country on setting up an initiatives along with some healthcare proffesionals, although my take on this is mutual acceptance in general (neurodiversity).
I also support Neurodiversity.


I'll refer you if you are ok with this.


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KenG
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14 Jan 2011, 8:54 am

Wallourdes wrote:
KenG wrote:
Wallourdes wrote:
I am currently working in my own country on setting up an initiatives along with some healthcare proffesionals, although my take on this is mutual acceptance in general (neurodiversity).
I also support Neurodiversity.


I'll refer you if you are ok with this.
Yes, I am OK with this. Thank you.


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KenG
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15 Jan 2011, 10:07 am

conan wrote:
I don't feel that autistics are a characteristically similar enough group to be held together by that alone
So how do you explain the ongoing work of Autism Network International, and autistic-run organization that has been operating for over 18 years now?
And how do you explain the ongoing existence of Autreat, an autistic-run conference that is taking place every year for about 15 years now?
(Autreat's website: http://www.autreat.com/ )


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b9
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15 Jan 2011, 11:09 am

the words "autistic" and "community" are strange bedfellows,

to compile then into a single sentence is to weave a story that is based on futile hope.

sorry. i am being negative again. i promise that my negativity will evaporate soon (like a few weeks or something)



Magneto
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15 Jan 2011, 11:09 am

I don't need an autistic culture. I regularly meet 2 other Aspie's every Friday, at Church youth group. I'd prefer just to hang out with anyone I make friends with. I don't need [more] cliques.

Have you ever thought it's maybe a good thing that an autistic culture hasn't arisen fully offline, because mainstream culture hasn't pushed everyone together as much?



KenG
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16 Jan 2011, 1:43 pm

anbuend wrote:
But I think overall the important thing is that in order to handle the mess things are turning into in lots of places real community is needed. Not hiding away among only our own kind in little single issue communities. But building connections between all kinds of people. The kinds of connections that ensure survival in hard times regardless of if people are similar or even like each other. (But there's a difference between decent people disliking each other yet connecting for a higher purpose, and on the other hand accepting the cruel people who poison communities.)
I agree with this. I always try to build coalitions between the autistic community and other minority communities.


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16 Jan 2011, 2:19 pm

I find 'autism communities' to harbour a lot of aspie-wannabes who just want a diagnosis to explain their eccentric behaviour. It's the most frustrating thing.