Austim being used as an insult

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The past few years I have noticed people calling other people autistic when they say something they do not agree with. For example now that it is election time everyone says this about the other side. I have seen this picture many times over the past few weeks.

http://imgur.com/gallery/pQo7e8E

It bugs me to think that people are assuming you are stupid. Like if I tell someone I have Aspergers are they making these kind of assumptions. I am looking for a job and it's just depressing to think that if I am honest about it they will judge me. If I don't say anything which I have tried in the past they think other things are going on. Autism seems to be a big joke to people now. I don't mind laughing about it. I think humor and being honest with yourself is healthy. But you have to joke about it in the right way. South Park did an Asperger's episode and I felt like they didn't understand what it was at all. It feed into the misconception of it.

I've been called 'autistic' as an insult, in both friendly and hostile ways, by people who don't know I have autism. It kind of makes me laugh inside because of the irony, but if I were more sensitive to what other people think then their ignorance would have been quite upsetting. I certainly don't feel I can say 'well, I am' when somebody calls me autistic as a joke/insult, because their use of it in that way implies a lack of understanding and discourages me from trusting them.

It's not just autism though. I work in HR sometimes and I was in the office today doing paperwork for a colleague who's off work with depression. His line manager called him a "f*****g nutter" and other things, very casually, as she discussed his case with one of my colleagues. He hasn't done anything to give that impression, he's just been off work with a pretty invisible mental illness (which I also suffer from). People suck, and most if not all mental illnesses and developmental disorders become casual insults at some point, because they are poorly understood and easy to project negative meaning onto.

Insults made towards Autistic people should be dealt with the same way as racism, misogyny, Islamophobia, homophobia etc.. Muslims, Gays, colored people and women get special treatment/protection from society, so when is it gonna be our turn?

OP: If you're in the US, I don't recommend you even disclose that you have autism, unless you know that your supervisor or manager understands autism quite well, or is autistic him/her self.

The perception of autism by many is decades behind the times. This is especially so outside of college/academic/progressive circles.

Yes, we have the Americans with Disabilities Act. But it has virtually no teeth---unless a class-action suit was bought against a company by a bunch of people who experienced the same for of discrimination.

If you're somewhere else, I wouldn't be able to advise you.

But be careful about disclosing wherever you reside.

Harvey Milk once said that if he turned around every time somebody called him a fa***t, he would be walking backwards. I agree. Laugh at those who insult us.

When someone uses a disability as an insult, I think of the t-shirt slogan, "I have autism. What's your excuse?" Meaning that people with disabilities are doing the best that they can with their disability. But when someone without disabilities is acting the same way, it is because they are not using their intelligence or manners or emotional self-control. So they are called disabled ("ret*d", "autistic", or "bipolar" respectively) to shame them for not using their abilities. It is not necessarily intended to shame people with disabilities.

Of course, since many people do not understand what many of the disabilities actually are, they attribute the wrong actions to the disability. But, that is just ignorance.

_________________
31st of July, 2013
Diagnosed: Autism Spectrum Disorder, Auditory-Verbal Processing Speed Disorder, and Visual-Motor Processing Speed Disorder.

Weak Emerging Social Communicator (The Social Thinking-­Social Communication Profile by Michelle Garcia Winner, Pamela Crooke and Stephanie Madrigal)

"I am silently correcting your grammar."

I've waded through enough of my own material under the cloak of the condition to not bite or be too upset when some distant clown pretends he has the key which unlocks a door containing his well informed and treasured estimations on how my life is tinted. What is behind the door will be a mixture of, a fifty foot tall middle finger, a bunch of braying donkeys trotting about in gleeful mirth and a pitchfork wielding mob stomping their feet, they'll all want to stampede through and circle the freak with the mysterious condition they all know so much about I could do without concerning myself with such an educated circus, it is a circus they are inhabiting, it's a lot of mental conditions I see being misunderstood and minimized, to feel like they can insult others due to their ailments. Some of the more sinister and dehumanized husks do it for diabetes and joke about rape and cancer even, they are truly sick beyond feeling, I try not to have any for such 'people'.

I have to disagree with what one poster said about not disclosing autism in the US. I disclosed my condition when it was clear that my job would involve exposure to loud music (I film football practices right next to the speakers). I explained that I would sometimes need to wear earplugs, but that otherwise my efficiency should be unaffected. My coworkers also know, and they don't treat me any different. So not everybody is a jerk.

My daughter and I (both autistic) kid each other with the term, I suppose it could be seen as an insult but it is an accepting and self-deprecating one.

I would never, NEVER use it that way against anyone else.

haha i had a youtube comment section conversation the other day:

them: the way you spell "there" makes you look really autistic

me: well thats cool because i am autistic

them: * no reply *


haha awkward, thats one of the things i love about it, is that i can say that and shut them up

You got lucky, Rats and Cats. And I'm glad you got lucky.

I wonder how far you would get if you claim you have Asperger's at Walmart.

Or working some clerical position in an office.

Maybe in IT, in some instances, you can disclose. Then again, in IT, many are on the Spectrum, anyway.

The most I've seen this insult used in my experience was online, but not in real life...