Why do people with ASD want to be declared as "minorities"?

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I just don't understand why many autistics and aspies are acceptable with being labeled as or declaring themselves as "minority"? Being an aspie/HFA myself, that status label makes me feel alienated from being "normal" and there is also the issue on those who choose to identify as "minority" seeking to impose an identity politics agenda.

I don't understand, that word has a stigma vibe to it.

Wouldn't it depend on their personal experiences?

I have always felt alienated from "normal".

IMHO "Autism" has a larger stigma then "minority" and identity politics is the least important reason why.

I feel like as someone on the autism spectrum, I AM a minority. Make no bones about it, most people aren't autistic.

Yes, most of the world's population aren't autistic. But I associated the word "minority" with identity politics and this "poor me, poor me" mentality.

I'm a minority of one, and left any pretense of "normal" behind back in kindergarten.

I can tell your age without even looking, because the very fact you ask this question demonstrates that you haven't been discriminated against enough to be crushed by the experience yet. Another 20 years of life experience, and it wouldn't even occur to you to ask such a question.

If you have autism, you ARE a minority, and there will come a day in your life when the protection provided by that word, and any anti-discrimination law that covers it, will be very valuable to you.

You may not like the notion of being "poor and pitiful," but there are plenty of bullies in the world who will think of you as pathetic and useless, and treat you that way, and you will be personally powerless to stop them. You can be pummeled into pulp, or seek protection as a disabled "minority."

I think there's a weird culture sprouting around the social justice movement -- which, before I get attacked, I do support -- but where those who are white, straight, cisgender, etc. feel "left out", as though they also want to be persecuted in some way.. so they look for reasons/identities to adopt to feel that way. It's really bizarre, and undermines what actual minorities go through.

I'm not sure if what you're posting about comes from this as well, but I abhor identity politics being applied to autism. It's just not the same thing on an institutional level, nor should it be. There should be (and in many places, are) protections in place for various disabilities, which should include ASD. But that's not the same as what would traditionally be called a "minority" group like the LGBT community, people of color, etc.

You certainly don't want something like the Chinese Exclusion Act
Wikipedia: The Chinese Exclusion Act was a United States federal law signed by President Chester A. Arthur on May 6, 1882, prohibiting all immigration of Chinese laborers.

Minority out groups are at the top of progressive stack, your value as a person is directly tied to the amount of victimhood one can claim. If identity politics are legitimate then so are infinite identities, no one in their right mind would say the Obama daughters are oppressed. It's same thing with privilege, it there is white privilege then there is infinite amounts of privilege since their are an infinite amount of scenarios which one may be unfairly disadvantaged by another. It doesn't just get to stop at race and sexual orientation, they don't get just exclusive seats at the cool kids table and it's disgusting how they are held up as golden calves by idiot leftists. Your racial "baggage" does not trump my personal experience, **** you, saying that is literally racism.

I think the social justice warriors are dead wrong in labeling all whites, males, NT's as born racist, sexist, ableist, privileged etc. More about them later.

While we have anti discrimination laws and protections "real minority" groups have anti discrimination laws and supports such as quotas for them. Not only is there institutional discrimination against us but in some respects is it worse than that against "real minorities". Would a place center the tortures black criminals be allowed to be open for 30 years? The Judge Rotenberg Center that uses shock treatment against autistics has been allowed to stay open for that long. It is not acceptable or usual for groups that research "real minorities", or charities/advocacy groups designed to help "real minorities", or those that make policies for "real minorities" to have little or no representation of said minority yet that is most often the case with research, charities, and advocacy groups designed to help autistics. Unlike "real minorities" 25 to 40 hours of behavioral therapies designed to make autistics more like the majority is recommended and often carried out. Research is often is carried out in college and behavioral therapies in schools, these are institutions. Governments that fund these is an institution.

Autistics are 1 to 2 percent of the population that makes us a REAL MINORITY.

The problem in taking identity politics to such an extreme as the Social Justice Warriors have created a weariness and backlash against any discussion of discrimination, prejudice individual or institutional. Any claims along these lines no matter how legitimate is now seen as "identity politics" and the complainer is thought to be a whiney brainwashed brat. Take the Columbus or St. Patricks Day Parade. Streets have to be closed, police assigned those are special accommodations for those minority groups. Often those holidays involves displays and talk of ethnic pride. Yet they are not often accused of "identity politics" although that is what is being practiced.

The above is acceptable but if a somebody dares identify as Aspie as Autistic not only are they whiney SJW's practicing "identity politics" they are not part of a real minority. Sad and utterly frustrating.

I don't want to be declared a minority or anything really. ASD is not something I want people to know I have, and it's a bit difficult to hide it, but when I need some sort of explanation for one of my "behaviors" then typically telling them of the diagnosis is an option, and I either get treated like an idiot, a child, or a minority. But in general, I don't want to be a minority. I don't think anyone would want to be a minority because minorities are occasionally isolated socially and culturally, trapped in a bubble of "sameness" with their own communities and lacking communication with the outside. Maybe most people who want to be minorities just don't know what minority means, both currently and in a historical sense?

What bieng part of a minority often does is put one at a significant disadvantage. No amount of wishing it away will change the fact that you and I are part of a minority. Disadvantages of bieng a minority can and have been significantly reduced both on an individual level and as a group. But those things only happened because people accepted that they were part of a minority. That our condition is "invisable" means some of us can fake people out for a time. The old sayings "You can't fool mother nature" and "You can run, but you can't hide" apply. Unless we accept reality any progress we have made will be temporary and we will lose ground individually and as a group.

Same here. I'm not going to live in denial of my mental condition, but I don't need to be recognized as a minority. I don't see my ASD as some kind of political issue, and I don't want the the rest of the world to handle me with kid gloves. I'm satisfied with having a few key people in my life who care and are willing to help.

I see your point here and fully agree with it.

If autistic people feel like minorities, sometimes it's because they choose to feel that way. Personally, I try not to let my Asperger's define who I am. I'm so much more than some disorder.

And somewhat ironically, living in a more liberal progressive and "politically correct" age where identity and victimization is mainstream than it was 50 or 60 years ago, over those 50-60 years, it doesn't seem to me like aspies are any more successful or integrated. At least in some parts, aspies only seem to have a harder walk in life than they would if they had grown up that longer ago.