Autism used as a jokes
ASPartOfMe
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Joined: 25 Aug 2013
Age: 67
Gender: Male
Posts: 35,887
Location: Long Island, New York
Autism jokes create harmful environment
One boy turns to the other and says, “That’s autism.”
“I usually joke about autism with a couple of my friends because we all think it’s funny,” said Paul Jackson*. “We don’t actually mean that a person is autistic or that something is autism. It’s just a joke so we continue to joke about it.”
Many autism jokes are posted on Instagram. Like other social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, Instagram uses hashtags to make it easier to find a post related to a topic.
There are about 7 million posts on Instagram tagged with the hashtag “#autism,” with more being posted every minute. However, most of these posts aren’t related to autism at all.
“I sometimes post things on Instagram that look stupid or odd and call it autistic because I think it’s funny. It’s a lot easier to joke about autism on social media because I’m protected by my phone screen. More people may be able to see that I joke about autism since it’s out on the internet now, but I don’t have to face them in person, which makes me feel more secure,” Jackson said.
Whether it’s over social media or in real life, jokes about autism are viewed as disrespectful by many. However, people like Jackson often don’t know about the harm they’re causing others.
“I’m quite surprised because I didn’t know that my jokes were heard by so many people besides my friends,” said Jackson. “But after finding out that other people hear them– both in person and over social media– and that I’ve hurt and harmed others, I regret joking about it so much.”
Posts like this are commonly found on twitter
I just got a #flushot today and I just want to make sure I'm not getting autism. Is soreness in your left arm a symptom?
Putin said that Americans are autistic and fat b/c they sit all day behind their computers; I agree with him on that
Hazard has had a better year than Neymar. If you disagree you have autism
I can really believe that the FCC is so autistic and ret*d that they will pass it. I swear if congress agrees, the internet apocalypse will be upon. Have fun everyone, have fun.
I read a post on a weather forum from a guy joking he was autistic because the computer model was forecasing a slightly higher rain amount just south of him and he was rooting for the next run to move the higher rain amount right over him. I guess I am supposed to be offended by that joke but I relate to it too much.
While all the jokes are cringeworthy the FCC one is the one I found truly insulting.
Unrelated, this article was from a high school newspaper. For a generation that is supposed be tech savvy to not know the wide reach of ones twitter postings is disturbing.
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Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman
There have to be funnier jokes about us than these out there.
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Petition against Amazon selling 'make downs extinct' t-shirts. And other hate speech paraphernalia.
People sure like to use that word nonchalantly... Especially in a public/professional setting.
Being someone who's spent years in online communities, it's easy to come across people who use autism as an asset to many jokes.
Not too long ago on a pokémon battling simulator, I witnessed moderators joke around about autism with regular users but no one batted an eye to at least consider that it would be offensive to some of them.
Jokes about autism is such a common thing in the gaming and furry communities that it's almost as if no one even considers it being offensive to others.
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[Inactive - I have left WP permanently]
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