Problematic perceptions of folks with autism or Asperger's

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Hey everybody,

I've noticed some weird things about the public perceptions of folks with autism. Notwithstanding people using the terms like sperg, etc as an insult, but just the perception of how autistic or Asperger's adults are like.

Like libertarian, privileged, far-right wing, spoiled, rich, lily-white, uniformly male. Even the stereotypes of our interests are tinged with privilege - like computer culture / Silicon Valley, which is coded as wealthy, instead of working class interests which the majority of us are into most likely. It's like in the public perception, women of color or poor people, who have to work hard aren't supposed to be autistic. Social problems that the media alleges result from autism, are suburban school shootings and bad Wall Street trades leading to the financial crash - which are coded as being done by privileged perps.

It's almost like the subtext is saying that autism results from being spoiled and privileged. That autism is a first world problem, the disability version of being a hipster. I'm really uncomfortable with this and not just because it ignores that women / minorities / profoundly affected / poor adults with autism exist, but because it's being coded with this idea of 1%ers during a down economy when the phrase 1% vs. 99% is very significant.

I'm really uncomfortable with this idea of autistic people being viewed as 1%ers, as expensive and privileged. And I don't know if this is a carefully crafted media image to throw autistics under the bus. There seems to be a bit of a parallel here with the middleman minority trope, such as the Korean Americans of California in the 1980s or Jewish people in old Europe. That "look, these people might seem discriminated, but in actuality they're doing much better than you. So let's build resentment between different groups."

Which resulted, in the widespread oppression of Jewish people in old Europe, as well as the media pitting Black and Asian communities against each other in California in the '90s. Anyone here with me? I don't know who autistics are being pitted against, but the effect is to drive mass opinion against us by saying look, this minority group is doing much better. And in a down economy, it can lead to scapegoating and widespread discrimination while the authorities look the other way.

Or am I just being paranoid? Your thoughts, please.

Yes, you're being paranoid.

Here's the media's MO:

OMG MUST FEED CONTENT MAW MOAR MOAR OMG WRITE FASTER FFS HEV NOT UPDATED BLOG/SITE/TUMBLER/TWITTER IN 24.8 SECONDS

There isn't much time for carefully-crafted anything.

But I'm talking about this in a context of for example like, we know that bias against people of color exists in Hollywood. We know that criminals are more likely to be portrayed as black in American movies, and heroes as white. We know that there is racism in the media, so why not other forms of discrimination?

I think I have a vague understanding of what you're saying. It makes me recall this study (if thats the right word for it).

http://isteve.blogspot.com/2007/08/nyt- ... e.html?m=1

Yeah, I'm reading this article and it says a lot of that (Although I've got to warn you - Steve Sailer has written racist stuff before). I think this is a huge stereotype in society and that the hyperwhiteness of nerds (or the idea that autistic = nerd) is only the tip of the iceberg. Because this stereotype isn't just about whiteness or maleness, but about an entire system of privilege that most white men do not have - that of wealth and power, and the amorality attributed to such. Especially in a down economy where Marxism - much of which I support - is becoming increasingly popular.

If you read Sailer's article carefully he also perpetuates the model minority stereotype by pitting Asian against African American communities. A huge part of racism in American history is pitting either Asians or Hispanics against African Americans by racists attributing the opposite stereotypes to them that they do to black people. Like if 'blacks are lazy', 'Asians / Hispanics are hardwordking', etc. I am wondering who autistics are supposed to be the 'foil' to.

Info on these ethnic stereotypes: http://abagond.wordpress.com/2010/11/19 ... rs-effect/

I don't think it's a choice of whether or not to 'adapt' for everyone, since I'm not NT-passing. You mean that you had it tougher due to fewer resources, like I did? And I don't think that "nerdy" interests are not working class. We're talking about stereotypes here and not how things actually are. Raised working class here, now lower working class.

I think a lot of Silicon Valley types are held up as positive examples for the community. This means that in the public eye, people are on the spectrum are either rich white computer nerds that live in Silicon Valley, or completely incapable and incommunicative. People don't seem to see anything in between.

it sounds like the poster is non white and has his or her own stereotypes about people who are white and resents being thought of as white.
sounds like a freudian something going on.im not trying to put down the poster but just trying to give you some perspective.white technicaly means anyone of indo european decent.technicaly speaking Iranians are white.

i am 1/4 irish 1/4 english 1/4 danish and 1/4 canadian french.quite the caucasian mutt.lots of different white people in the world.using race as an adjetive is always dangerous and conecting autism with race is unproven.relax and dont worry about what silly people say

exactly, o0iella, that's a huge part of it and kind of casts this idea that autistics aren't just regular people - but exceptional either at the very top or very bottom.

vermontsavant I don't have anything against white people + I have close friends of various races. I used the terms lily-white and WASP because the stereotype is actually preventing black, asian, hispanic, poor etc. kids from being diagnosed. It is not to be racist or offensive. If you would like to think about it in non-racial terms, it's even that more men are diagnosed than women, and more rich than poor people.

Maybe it's related to anti-Intellectualism and the elitist connotations that come with it.

from Yahoo Answers:

"
What exactly is Asperger's aside from being a shy, introverted, insecure young intellectual?
My point is: (a) its very existence as a diagnostic entity seems to reflect not a concrete, discrete disease but a societal bias against loners, passive men, and a general anti-intellectualism.

(b) While you can point to "harder" symptoms such as "stimming" and sensory issues, about 60% of the symptoms seem to be little more than unpopular personality traits.

(c) It seems nearly all its sufferers are white, upper middle class males, introducing the possibility that some of what we call "Asperger's" is actually behaviors learned from particular subcultures, such as the white, suburban, professional culture in America. You rarely see any black or Hispanic "Aspies" which makes me think that their cultural values generally prevent their kids from becoming nerds and sissies."

I don't know-- at the milder end of the scale, Asperger's IS a first-world problem. Seems to me, anyway.

First-world countries are the ones with the luxury of extremely complex (one might say unnecessarily complicated) systems of social behavior. The ones who can afford to flip out, basically, over which fork you eat with or how you hold your champagne flute.

First-world countries are the ones who can afford to take "survival" for granted and start niggling over "optimally thriving."

First-world countries are the ones where people have so much superficial interconnection, and so little actual interdependence, that they can afford to basically discard people because they "rub you the wrong way," even if they do their jobs and are basically decent.

They say there are no autistics among the Amish. Wanna bet?? Are there really no autistics?? Is their gene pool somehow autism-free?? Are the same pollutants not in the soil they walk on, the rain that falls on them, and the air they breathe?? Do all the Amish actually live on a GFCF diet in addition to being culturally free of artificial colors and flavorings??

Or do they just have a simple enough, concrete enough, consistent enough social code that the only ones who show up have serious comorbid intellectual disabilities (and the majority of these, also, can be put to doing SOMETHING valuable), and maybe a stronger ethos of valuing your neighbor regardless of stumbles (or, conversely, a much more threatening taboo against stumbles that keeps more folks' mouths shut)???

Autism is everywhere, and Asperger's happens to every demographic.

But picking it out, obsessing over it, and completely losing it over not having the glamorous life you think you should ARE first-world problems.

I'll add one more think: Among poor white hicks, there ain't nothin' wrong wit' me 'at a good cup'a cawfee n mebbe a laugh cain't cure. Worst case, mebbe I had ought to read m' Scriptures.

Among the suburban middle class, I'm about half a step from being a pariah.

Think on that.

Might be my bias skewing my vision.

Then again, it might prove my point.