Is it OK to be autistic and not embrace autistic culture?

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Feralucce
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12 May 2016, 1:30 pm

LaetiBlabla wrote:

Nobody is "an autist".

You are a person with autism, with an experience, with some knowledge, with plenty of other things.
(a)utism does not define you as a person.

Please do not attempt to tell others what label they should wear...

I AM an autist... since the word was coined by autistics and is defined as one with autism... I embrace it. I have been told by NTs that I am not autistic, but I have autism... and I tell them where to stuff it...

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TudorGothicSerpent
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13 May 2016, 10:09 am

Benthedemon007 wrote:

vermontsavant wrote:

Benthedemon007 wrote:

Short answer: yes, it is OK. The aspie police won't be knocking on your door. You have the freedom to embrace whatever the hell you want.

Long answer: You remind me of myself, actually. I have very mild aspergers (that used to be a lot worse) and, while I'm awkward and social rules doesn't come naturally, I can get myself out of bad social situations and don't have social anxiety. I also don't have any sensory issues. So yes, I am living proof that "mild" asperger's exists, and so are you. So anyway, I share some of the same views as you: I hardly ever talk about aspergers, don't see it as a big deal, and am not that offended at the notion of a cure (although I disagree with it.) I think that autistic culture can be a little irrational sometimes, even if I generally agree with what they say. For example, there is nothing offensive about ABA, and the idea of a Ritalin-style pill but for aspergers or a cure for intellectual disabilities (both of which I support and are not "curing autism") should not be seen as controversial. There is nothing good about stimming I personally think that we live in a neurotypical world where people have their irrational ticks and don't like to be embarrassed (just like we do sometimes) and thus we should work on not stimming in public.

The point that I'm trying to make is that autism doesn't define who you are and it's okay for your point of view to diverge from what other aspies think.

who are you refereing to when you say we have a lot in common.

I am saying that I have a lot in common with the asker, as we both have relatively mild aspergers.

I sometimes wonder if having less pervasive symptoms might make a person less likely to identify with autism cultur. Obviously there's no way to separate who you are as a person entirely from the way that your brain is wired up, but if something is more of a nuisance that interferes with you properly expressing certain other aspects of yourself, then you're less likely to identify with it and more likely to build your identity partly in opposition to it.

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ASPartOfMe
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14 May 2016, 10:44 am

Not all Irish people and people with Irish backgrounds join the Emerald Society or participate in St. Patrick's day festivities. You will find people in every group that do not participate in thier groups culture for any number of reasons. It is ok for them to make that choice and it is ok for Autistics to not participate in autistic culture.

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K_Kelly
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14 May 2016, 7:48 pm

My main issue is when people have the belief that disabled people should stay with each other. Ever since I heard of or was diagnosed with autism aspergers, I felt uncomfortable participating in any group activity related to autism. I felt "different" as opposed to being a human being.

Also, the same applies if I was LGBT, I would not attend a LGBT parade or anything. It's stupid to be "proud" of something like a personal characteristic, and it only drives those types of groups to stay together rather than truly integrate into the rest of society.

Jo_B1_Kenobi
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15 May 2016, 7:44 am

Benthedemon007 wrote:

Short answer: yes, it is OK. The aspie police won't be knocking on your door. You have the freedom to embrace whatever the hell you want.

I agree, I think it's fine not to embrace autistic culture (although personally I'm not really sure what exactly is meant by autistic culture - perhaps, as another WP member said, it's in it's early stages of developing).

Benthedemon007 wrote:

There is nothing good about stimming I personally think that we live in a neurotypical world where people have their irrational ticks and don't like to be embarrassed (just like we do sometimes) and thus we should work on not stimming in public.

I just wondered if you have ever felt the need to stim youself? I find it very helpful in controlling anxiety and calming down from sensory overload. So, from my point of view I think there is a lot of good in stimming but it can problematic in public because of the way the general public can react to things which they percieve as being unusual.

Benthedemon007 wrote:

The point that I'm trying to make is that autism doesn't define who you are and it's okay for your point of view to diverge from what other aspies think.

I think this is an important point your making here. After all, how can autistic people ask others to accept more neurodiversity if we don't accept diversity between ourselves?

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Benthedemon007
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19 May 2016, 7:23 pm

Quote:

I do stim/snap/tap a little bit when alone or around people who I know don't mind it, and I pace for hours on end. I agree with you that it's fine in private and I know that there are aspies that need to stim in order to function, but I don't like it when people have an "I'll stim whenever I want to stim" attitude because it's distracting, even to me sometimes, when other people stim. For example, the majority of employers would rather have someone giving a presentation who doesn't shake their hands when they talk than someone who does. I personally can look past it, but the world is full of judgemental people no matter how hard we try to be accepted and nothing is wrong with self-improvement.

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Your neurodiverse (Aspie) score: 91 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 122 of 200
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