Petition: Why Does Microsoft Think Autism Is A Dirty Word?

Post Reply New Topic

Tell Microsoft Autism Isn't A Dirty Word!
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/523/082/859/tell-microsoft-autism-isnt-a-dirty-word/

Microsoft keeps a list of words that are banned from use in gamertags and mottos on their XBox Live service. It recently came to my attention that the word "autism" is on this list. As such, mottos such as "Support Autism" are not allowed. Whatever Microsoft's noble intentions are in this regard, the end result is that it makes it more difficult for those on the Autism spectrum to self identify, and by extension, self-advocate. This has political repercussions, as in an attempt to protect individuals from slander, they instead marginalize us.

It's not like anyone ever uses the word "Autism" as a slur anyway, usually the big insult is the "R" word. If Microsoft can't understand that Autism isn't offensive, we'll have to make them understand. Because all they succeed in doing is making us feel as if there's something fundamentally offensive about US instead.

We wish to get Autism, and other medically recognized terms for various disabilities/diffabilities removed from Microsoft's list of banned terms. We also demand that this list be made public, in order to better help marginalized communities make their voices heard. Thank you for your support.

Maybe it hits too close to home for Bill Gates.

Anybody who signed my petition, there was a glitch and it wasn't counting the signatures, its fixed now so please try again.

I disagree... I tend to think the only reason they would do this is to stop people from bashing inviduals with Autism (and other disabilities) on XBL. Which is something I could unfortunately see happening in this "community"... Removing such words from the list might do more harm than good.

I think it was meant to stop people using autism as an insult and it may also be too close to home for Bill Gates

Anyone care to post a link confirming Gates' diagnosis? I mean anything factual, not the endless re-quotes of speculative comments.
"He's an ex-nerd" doesn't count.

Just sayin'

There are other indications that he is (observed self-stimming - short fuse - and indications of obsessive behaviors to name a few). But yes, the only way to be officially Autistic or Asperger's is to have a diagnosis from a mental health professional. BTW it is the only personality type that requires a doctor to say you are before it is accepted fact. I mean we call people "bit++y or Jerk or nerd without first checking to see if they have been diagnosed. Maybe its time that we can do that for us as well. This is far more of a problem for our kind that Microsoft deciding that Autistic is some kind of slur. By your logic I was perfectly NT until a little after my 60th birthday - when suddenly I became Asperger's and my brother who looks to be a bit further along the spectrum than I is still a normal NT because he sees no reason to get a diagnosis!

Actually we can start using Asperger's to describe personality - because the professionals are abandoning the therm Asperger's Syndrome next year.

We should be able to id both ourselves and others as showing Auttie or Aspie/Asper traits and as displaying a Asperger's or Autistic personality without having some doctor pass on it first. No wonder the NT world thinks they have every right to "cure" us - we allow them to label us as diseased and broken only! It is high time that we take control of who and what we are - and the words that describe it best.

So here goes - I declare that I, My son, My bother show traits that indicate that we have an Asperger's personality. Further after examining the personality traits of some others I feel that these people also show an Asperger's Personality - Nikola Tesla, Thomas Jefferson, and Bill Gates. Mind you I am not saying they were or are diagnosable with anything.

PS...
Yes, I know that Autism and Autistic were first coined by English speaking mental health professionals to label a conditions that they considered an illness. And maybe they can keep those words. Hans Asperger on the other hand was describing a personality type - unfortunately I do not read German so I must go on secondary texts on his works. He, as I understan argued that that these children were normal enough to keep them out of the hands of the Nazis. So I see every reason to claim Asperger's and Aspie/Asper to describe a general personality type.

Bill Gates has never publically indicated he has a form of autism, nor is there any proof that he has been professionally diagnosed, as such.

Perhaps he's on the broader autism phenotype, but he presents no evidence of significant impairments in functioning in an important area of life functioning, associated with Autism Spectrum Disorders; a mandatory requirement, if he were to be diagnosed.

He is extremely successful in all areas of life, heading one of the largest companies in the world, and now heading up one of the largest charitable non-profit organizations in the world. This guy functions at a level higher than 99.99% of the rest of the population of the world, per combined intellectual, social, and material accomplishments in life.

Traits of autism have been measured out into up to thirty percent of the population. That's a potential 100 million people just in the US. Likely, Bill gates is part of that 1 in 3., but extremely unlikely he would or could be diagnosed as part of the small percentage diagnosed with an actual autism spectrum disorder where all symptoms work together to significantly impair one in an important area of life functioning.

Terms associated with autism like autistic, aspie, aspergers, etc. are already used as pejorative stereotypes in the media to describe individuals that spend most of their time gaming, indicating that the gaming is their problem rather than an actual autism spectrum disorder. The potential for all the terms related to autism used as slurs, in an X-Box game video environment to offend others is almost a certainty. People come to this site, and do the same thing occasionally, just for fun, to hurt others.

It doesn't hurt to start a petition, but the reality of how this is already treated perjoratively in the media is something that Microsoft cannot ignore. Aspergers is used much more often as a pejorative than autism, but Microsoft can't reasonably justify allowing one autism spectrum disorder for a game tag and exclude another.

Not likely that one is going to find or will ever find any disorder classified in the DSMIV, allowable as a gamertag in a Microsoft Xbox online gaming environment. Someone diagnosed or their family members or friend would take extreme offense at it, even if the terms are not used in a pejorative sense.

If one desires an explanation from Microsoft as to why they are not going to allow the term autism as a gamer tag, I'm quite sure Microsoft would repond by email, if one directs the question to the customer service part of the Xbox live gaming website. I think the explanation is pretty straightforward, without asking, per their Xbox live current terms of service, but it can't hurt to ask; they may have additional rationale not addressed in the terms of service or this thread.

And, after the DSM5 goes into effect, and it is acceptable to use the term Aspergers, in geographies where the DSM5 is the acceptable measure of classification, as one to describe symptoms that do not limit one in everyday life functioning, although similar to those seen in Autism Spectrum Disorder, it's still highly unlikely that Microsoft XBox live environment would allow the term Aspergers as a gamertag, because of the widespread perjorative use of the term. I don't think anyone is requesting Aspergers as a gamertag, in this thread, but if that were the case, it's highly unlikely that Microsoft would allow it.

There are already other terms to describe that such as BAP, BAPPY, or part of the Broader autism phenotype. And even introvert, per many of the basic clinical features that are similar in nature, but not severe or disabling per life functioning. Interesting that introverts are measured out into about 30% of the population as well as individuals that have at least 1 trait of autism; would be interesting to see a study that correlated both issues. I would guess that there would be a significant correlation.

And another note, if Microsoft were to publish a complete list of the words that are censored as offensive, there would likely be thousands upon thousands of individuals that would attempt to defeat the censorship effort by changing one or two letters of a word to gain the same impact; then going back to Microsoft insisting hey this word wasn't on your list.

That would mean more businesses costs for Microsoft in addressing an issue that is clearly delineated in their terms of service; there are many more alternate areas of gaming, if one were not to agree with their policies. But highly unlikely that a significant number of individuals would pursue another online gaming platform, based on this one issue.

Microsoft already knows that, and bases their decisions on cost/benefit analysis. In the case of disabilities as gamertags the potential negative impact to customers is weighted significantly higher than the positive impacts for those that wish to use disabilities as gamertags. Otherwise, the word autism would have never been censored in the first place. Microsoft is no fly by night operation, their business decisions are carefully analyzed by well qualified individuals, and implemented per that analysis.

Interestingly, I understand they have relaxed their rules somewhat, and do allow gamer tags based on sexual orientation now, as long as they are not used as pejoratives. One might ask how that is different; sexual orientation is not classified as a disorder. They have determined the benefits to customers outweigh the potential negative impacts. Likely, in part, from customer input like the petition described in this thread.

It never hurts to make a reasoned effort try to change something. I don't think Microsoft is going to budge on disabilities, but it's worth a try, if one believes the benefits outweigh the costs to the general good of people. It would likely require a huge amount of positive customer input to make the change possible.

Last edited by aghogday on 19 May 2012, 3:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Aside from the last, you had no opportunity to observe them at all and unless you've met and talked to Bill Gates, nothing could really be stretched into implying that his personality had been examined.
You see how incredibly tenuous it all gets? And yet it's all swallowed and promoted further as "truth".

Excellent points ahogday, thanks.

OP, you state "Tell Microsoft Autism Isn't A Dirty Word!" and yet instead, you rail at them with an online petition with no guarantee that anyone with influence at Microsoft will see it or even care.

Nothing wrong with the petition of course, but I can't help but feel you'd stand a better chance of achieving something if you contacted Microsoft directly, as ahogday suggests - and as he says, you may even find they have quite valid reasons for disallowing it.
It seems highly unlikely that "autism" was banned because someone at Microsoft thought it was a dirty word and it would be interesting to know what the people responsible have to say about it.

because microsoft and bill gates is a $@#%@# jerk thats why how dare them do that to us im very afended by it we should protest that jerk and ms i signed that thing to ms too and i let them know how i really felt about it too in more ways then one lmfao

I did this a while back, it achieved nothing. And also I'm not railing against anyone. The petition is worded rather politely i think.

i dont think autism was the intended concequence.using a disability identity as an online handle or gametag is getting very common.i this this aplies to all disability nicknames.i dont see microsoft changing this anytime soon because so many busineses have been sued in the name of the americans with disabilities act.i agee this is anoying

You sir, have clearly not been on a chan imageboard. Calling someone Autistic or saying they've got Autism, is the equivalent of calling someone a obsessive pedantic and/or pretentious f***tard on there from what I see.

I may be off the mark here, but I really don't think we should be in the business of lettung channers determine what we can and can't use to identify ourselves with and take pride in. If it were a slur word it would make sense. For instance I am transgender, and can use the word with no problems, but a slur word like "tranny" (and it IS a serious hotbutton slur word, don't be mistaken) is a much different story. One is a scientifically ane medically accepted terminology, the other is just that, a slur.

It used to be that any mention of sexuality was forbidden on XBL as well but the Gay and Lesbian community cried foul and MS relented, so now people can actually use their self identified words, Gay and Lesbian. And those are some of the most abused words in the dictonary right now. I mean how many times do you hear "oh man that is soooo gay"? But the community isn't thanking MS for having banned those words because those were self identified terms, not slurs, and if we let someone else tuern Autism or Autie or Aspie or any of those terms into slurs, if we just stand by and let that happen, then we'll end up deserving a lot of what we end up getting back from society in return.

Oh yeah, and you might want to work on your pronouns. No offense.