When Mr. Autism decides to visit

Post Reply New Topic

I find it well written and factual, despite the ever present emphasis at the end on high achieving exceptions.

I assume that the one line "not anyone is supportive" was supposed to be "not everyone is supportive" although there are days when it feels like the former. :D

Mr. Autism's neighbourhood topic

I agree with litguy. And this article is an in-your-face to people in denial. Shock and Awe approach. It is written for NTs. It reminds me of the articles on gay/lesbian teens that challenged parents to come out of the closet and face "Queer Nation."

Yes. We are Autism. We are here. We speak for ourselves.

I do not find it offensive and it is a good introduction to the subject, for NTs.

It reads like a weird Mr. Rogers parody.

They forgot to mention his laser of death; that's what you have to watch out for.

I like the way it is posed as a challenge. Many challenges are not impossible, they are just not going to come through easily. It gets those proactive bits of the mind working.

It's tacky, smug and condescending

I don't really like it, but at least it sheds more positive light. Although, starting with such negativity doesn't help one bit.

The style is too cutesy for my liking, but it succeeds in presenting a pretty accurate overview of ASD's in a concise manner. It confronts most of the common myths, misunderstandings, stereotypes, and questions about ASDs.

I find the tone to be patronizing, and I suspect that many would feel the same way. But (sadly?) I have found that a lot of people need to have information presented this way in order to understand and remember it. I know this sounds elitist, but it is simply an observation based on years of experience. Maybe it is because these people are used to learning from television, which presents tiny pieces of information very slowly, aurally and visually, in a heavily stylized manner. Who knows.

I think that for what it is, it is a good article, and it may help some people to be better informed. I don't find it offensive.

Meh.

Too mundane, at best. Without reading the whole thing, it strikes me as either condescending, or trying waaay too hard to be all clev-var n' stuff. Clearly written for n00bs and/or BY a n00b to the spectrum. The snippet posted here promises an unduly credulous tour of the stereotypes, without acknowledgment of their superficial and/or fallacious nature.

And I can just BET that the author does not even begin acknowledge that the REAL debilitating realities lie not in autism itself, but in how we are treated by society at large.

As for the "Mr. Autism" personification (which has been done to death), I am compelled to refer readers to a much more compelling piece by Cal Montgomery of Ragged Edge Online, called "Critic of the Dawn." It's a classic, must-read for any NT who ever hopes to understand how mainstream social perceptions and prejudices needlessly suffocate anyone who fails to "live up to" popular stereotypes -- or DOWN to them. In the piece, Montgomery creates her own personifications -- "my uncle Bruce" and "my sister Mary" -- to poignantly illustrate perceptions of "disability" and "ability," and what a rat's nest of untenable presumptions and consequences they create.

In fact, it's a thorough and powerful "unpacking" of what's expressed in a quote I recently encountered:

"The difference between high-functioning and low-functioning is that high-functioning means your deficits are ignored, and low-functioning means your assets are ignored." --Laura Tisoncik

"Critic of the Dawn" is the next step in understanding what that quote really means. I encourage everyone here to read it:

http://www.ragged-edge-mag.com/0501/0501cov.htm

---

No wonder I'm such a blokeish gal.

I like the Mr. Autism piece as an introduction for people. "Critic of the Dawn" is beautiful. Thanks to Alex and dkmnow for sharing these.