Media upraise debate on ASD
Oh you certainly aren't, this isn't really the most disturbing trend to me though. The internet has reflexive, sarcastic ways of addressing intolerance and injustices. It really reminds me of things like the 'Homophobia is Gay' campaign. Bear in mind, at least the crude jokes mean that their writers know something about what they're chiding. Autism spectrum disorders are not without social fallout, but awareness in general isn't a bad thing, and I wager plenty of those gamers rank on our spectrum themselves. I also don't think a few crackpots asserting that Autism's a fraud is as damaging as whole political groups asserting that it's caused by vaccines. That doesn't necessarily mean all FDA approved vaccines are safe, but I'm pretty sure mine is the direct result of my dad's age. Jokes can get cruel, but they do a tidy job ceasing to be jokes before they convey any real disinformation.
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"Standing on a well-chilled cinder, we see the fading of the suns, and try to recall the vanished brilliance of the origin of the worlds."
-Georges Lemaitre
"I fly through hyperspace, in my green computer interface"
-Gem Tos
This.
No, you are not the only one noticing it. And yes, it does hurt feelings.
But it is far from the most dangerous thing out there.
The vaccines-cause-autism people are more dangerous, both because they're feeding the potential for deadly and debilitating epidemics (all we need is thousands of people disabled by, say, lung scarring from whooping cough-- while autism rates continue to rise as less and less profoundly affected people are diagnosed) and because they feed the view that autism is a fate worse than death (whooping cough, while debilitating, is mostly only lethal to the very young and the very old; measles, tetanus, and diptheria all kill significant percentages of their victims).
Well-meaning (we hope) advocacy groups do a lot more damage, too. Fifteen years ago, I was a wierdo. About the worst things anyone could call me were lazy, selfish, or a freak. Those things were painful enough...
...but nowdays, thanks to the efforts of Autism Speaks and others, I'm disabled. Broken. Diseased. As in, cannot achieve and should not try. As in, dismiss the things I say because my voice is not valid (which I mostly get, perhaps not ironically, from mental health professionals). As in, try to take my kids away despite the fact that they are happy, healthy, and well taken care of (at least as long as I don't go crazy obsessing about looking normal), simply because having a disabled parent might endanger them in someone's opinion at some future time.
Next to all that, some jackass using "autistic" as in insult, usually to imply that one is engaging in idiosyncratic behavior, just doesn't stack up.
And PC language isn't going to fix the problem. I've been dismissed in polite language so many times-- in fact I have noted that most of the people who have tried to harm me, sometimes knowingly, spoke in very polite, PC-jargonized language-- that I have learned to take politically correct speech as a BIG FAT RED FLAG.
People who want to BE SEEN AS open-minded and tolerant use PC language.
People who ARE open-minded and tolerant have no need to think about making sure they are SEEN that way.
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"Alas, our dried voices when we whisper together are quiet and meaningless, as wind in dry grass, or rats' feet over broken glass in our dry cellar." --TS Eliot, "The Hollow Men"
I make jokes about my ASD all the time at home, why should NT's be any different? They have no stake in how we feel so are not going to care if we are offended.
As has already been said, it is the people who disingenuously want to 'help' us by treating us as incapable of independent thought who are more toxic.
Call me a ret*d, and I'll just say "yeah, so what's your excuse?" But try to handle me like I'm a ret*d who needs help tying his shoelaces, and I'll get peed off.
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Autistic dad to an autistic boy and loving it - its always fun in our house
I have Autism. My communication difficulties mean that I sometimes get words wrong, that what I mean is not what comes out.
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