Elon Musk, Twitter, and Disability
ASPartOfMe
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Elon Musk is locking Twitter's disabled users out of his 'town square'
Eric Garcia is the senior Washington correspondent and bureau chief for The Independent. He is the author of "We're Not Broken: Changing the Autism Conversation."
Historically, Twitter has allowed nonspeaking autistic people who might otherwise be ignored to elevate their voices in dialogues. The platform’s (relatively) low barrier to entry had also helped many people with disabilities, who may not be able to participate in other forms of political organizing, to mobilize around political causes. See the #CripTheVote hashtag for an example. But under Musk, not only has Twitter granted a “general amnesty” to Twitter users who have engaged in racist, homophobic or transphobic rhetoric, but it has also made it more difficult for people with disabilities to engage in the same public square.
In a letter Friday to the Musk, Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., correctly argues that eliminating the accessibility team “represents a dramatic and unwelcome shift, one that has already had devastating consequences for Twitter users with disabilities.” Markey asks Musk whether his platform complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act and accessibility regulations under the Federal Communications Commission. Markey also asks Musk whether he will commit to change Twitter’s default setting so users are reminded to use alt-text to describe images, user-friendly closed-captioning, and audio-description tools for videos. All of those changes would make Twitter a much more accessible place.
But Musk has shown little interest in making Twitter more accessible. If anything, he likes to revel in digging into the muck of anti-disability rhetoric, even going back and forth with the right-wing extremist Libs of TikTok account to say a laid-off employee suffered from a “tragic case of adult onset Tourette’s.” With that comment, he elevated one of the worst stereotypes about the syndrome, the one that suggests everybody with Tourette’s engages in uncontrollable swearing, when the most common symptom is involuntary tics that can be incredibly painful.
Almost two years ago, when Musk said on “Saturday Night Live,” “I’m actually making history tonight as the first person with Asperger’s to host SNL,” plenty of people who use the hashtag #ActuallyAutistic let out a collective groan.
First, Musk’s announcement showed how little he has kept up. Over the last 10 years, naming specific permutations of autism has been replaced by the use of the umbrella term “Autism Spectrum Disorder.” Second, the term “Asperger’s Syndrome” specifically has fallen out of favor because of the collaboration of the man it is named for, Hans Asperger, with the Nazis during the regime’s occupation of Austria. Third, Dan Aykroyd, who not only has hosted “Saturday Night Live” but was also one of the most iconic original cast members, identifies as being autistic.
In response, though, autistic people were able to discuss on Twitter their thoughts about one of the world's most publicly visible executives being among us, and they could debate whether his announcement was or was not a step forward for autistic people. Furthermore, autistic people could interact with non-autistic people or non-autistic people could simply observe and read what autistic people had to say. This was public discourse at its best: productive, nuanced and, at times, incredibly funny.
Musk’s actions as the “Chief Twit” have distressed not just autistic people, but also people of all disabilities. For example, one of Markey’s concerns is that Twitter has begun charging a fee for third-party to access its application programming interface, which many worry will make it harder for accounts that create alt-text to survive.
In 2015 he was interviewed by the Huffington Post
At 11:20 he says he says he is self-diagnosed. Which is it?
Without a diagnostic report or a clinicians statement we have no way of knowing if claims of being autistic are true. My usual policy is to believe claims because being suspicious of all claims is destructive. Of course that means I am going to be fooled. To me that price is the lesser of two evils.
Celebrities claiming autism is particularly fraught because they and their publicists are well known to make things up to sound interesting. Certainly Musk’s claim has been doubted but Ackyrod’s is seemingly almost universally believed.
The difference is Ackroyd is loved and in many circles Musk hated.
Ackroyd’s contradictions might be a matter of him getting mixed up over what happened when and he might indeed be autistic but they are enough to break my don’t question claims rule.
Rhetorical question, Why was the Ackroyd thing in even in the article?
1. Who was the first Autistic host is irrelevant to whether Musk is moving twitter in a direction that is harmful for disabled people
2. If it was not Ackroyd there has likely been another autistic host.
3. Being an Autistic host and coming out as one are two different things.
Of course why Garcia and so many others have made such a big deal of Musk claiming he is the first host is because they want to discredit him.
And just by reading wrong planet but also elsewhere one can tell that the term “Aspergers” has not fallen out of favor.
If you are going to criticize some one for not being up to date be up to date yourself.
The above does not change my overall positive opinion Ackroyd or Garcia.
But I hold professional journalists to a higher standard then I do comedians or WP posters for that matter.
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Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman
Last edited by ASPartOfMe on 01 Mar 2023, 1:02 pm, edited 6 times in total.
These attention seeking self diagnosed celebrities are full of crap.
Asperger's wasn't officially recognised by psychiatry until 1992 and the US 1994. So no one was diagnosed with Asperger's before then.
Why people are gullible enough to keep believing in these silly claims of the self diagnosed i don't know.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asperger_syndrome
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ASPartOfMe
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Asperger's wasn't officially recognised by psychiatry until 1992 and the US 1994. So no one was diagnosed with Asperger's before then.
Why people are gullible enough to keep believing in these silly claims of the self diagnosed i don't know.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asperger_syndrome
While "Aspergers Syndrome" was very occasionally used in psychology journals before then it was not until 1981 that it received significant notice in the field when Lorna Wing published her paper proposing "Asperger Syndrome". The DSM is a guideline, not a mandate that if you don't follow you lose your license. So while it is theoretically possible Asperger's diagnosis was given out any claim of an Asperger's diagnosis when Adam Ant, Duran Duran, and Boy George were popular pin-up material ought to ring all sorts of alarm bells. Never mind Aspergers, Autism diagnosis was rare then.
As for why people are gullible when you are struggling it is comforting to think you have something in common with people that a lot of other people like. This goes on not only with self-diagnosed celebrities, but celebrities such as Bill Gates who have made no such claim, and historical figures who can't make any claim because they are dead.
_________________
Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman
Asperger's wasn't officially recognised by psychiatry until 1992 and the US 1994. So no one was diagnosed with Asperger's before then.
Why people are gullible enough to keep believing in these silly claims of the self diagnosed i don't know.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asperger_syndrome
While "Aspergers Syndrome" was very occasionally used in psychology journals before then it was not until 1981 that it received significant notice in the field when Lorna Wing published her paper proposing "Asperger Syndrome". The DSM is a guideline, not a mandate that if you don't follow you lose your license. So while it is theoretically possible Asperger's diagnosis was given out any claim of an Asperger's diagnosis when Adam Ant, Duran Duran, and Boy George were popular pin-up material ought to ring all sorts of alarm bells. Never mind Aspergers, Autism diagnosis was rare then.
As for why people are gullible when you are struggling it is comforting to think you have something in common with people that a lot of other people like. This goes on not only with self-diagnosed celebrities, but celebrities such as Bill Gates who have made no such claim, and historical figures who can't make any claim because they are dead.
The 80’s was a different world
Anyone younger born before the early 90’s would find it difficult to imagine.
No internet or mobile phones researching information was extremely difficult and literally meant visiting a library or driving / getting a plane to an information center of some kind like a university.
It’s highly unlikely any professional doctor or psychiatrist would go outside the framework of official diagnosis labels to use an obscure word last seen in Nazi Germany 40 years previously.
I understand the motivation behind imagining a celebrity sharing the struggles we face.
However in the long term it does more harm than good, most of these self diagnosed celebs probably have personality disorders, BAP or other neurotic problems rather than ASD, made worse by living in a bubble.
As a result they give false expectations to people and society that ends up depressing the autistic people that look up to them and whitewashes real disability which can be dangerous.
_________________
"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends upon the unreasonable man."
- George Bernie Shaw
What a strange article.
It is a collection of contradictory and illogical statements that seem to be an exercise in mud-slinging rather than any truth based journalistic inquiry.
The title claims Musk is “locking Twitter's disabled users out” but fails to substantiate anything of the sort in the text. Who exactly has been locked out? Apparently no-one.
Rather the complaint seems to be that innovations that would help some users with specific disabilities have not yet been put in place on Twiiter. The only things specifically mentioned are reminding users to use alt-text to describe images, user-friendly closed-captioning, and audio-description tools for videos. Out of interest, are any of those things available on this site?
The article calls the twitter account Libs of TikTok a ‘right wing extremist’. Which seems a bizarre phrase to use about an account which reposts mostly anti child safeguarding and anti women’s rights self owns by misguided people. Anyone who thinks child safeguarding is ‘rightwing’ is pretty much claiming that the left wing are all child abusers. An implication which I take as a personal insult.
The article states that Musk’s hilarious burn of a disgruntled ex-employee was suggesting that ‘everybody with Tourettes engages in uncontrollable swearing’. Why are obvious lies like this being treated with any respect? What is the goal of trying to reframe comments like this as something malicious?
Then there is the abominable paragraph trying to link people who use the name Aspergers for their diagnosis with Nazi’s. It is bizarre. Everyone who wanted to eat and who lived in a Nazi occupied area ‘collaborated’ with the regime. It simply was not possible openly to do otherwise.
Plenty of people who were diagnosed before DSM V continue to use Aspergers as a description for their diagnoses because the word ‘autistic’ covers a huge range and for older people indicates people with much lower functioning.
How anyone can read an obvious hit-piece and not want to debunk it (whatever they think of the target of the hit-piece) is beyond me.
ASPartOfMe
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Asperger's wasn't officially recognised by psychiatry until 1992 and the US 1994. So no one was diagnosed with Asperger's before then.
Why people are gullible enough to keep believing in these silly claims of the self diagnosed i don't know.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asperger_syndrome
While "Aspergers Syndrome" was very occasionally used in psychology journals before then it was not until 1981 that it received significant notice in the field when Lorna Wing published her paper proposing "Asperger Syndrome". The DSM is a guideline, not a mandate that if you don't follow you lose your license. So while it is theoretically possible Asperger's diagnosis was given out any claim of an Asperger's diagnosis when Adam Ant, Duran Duran, and Boy George were popular pin-up material ought to ring all sorts of alarm bells. Never mind Aspergers, Autism diagnosis was rare then.
As for why people are gullible when you are struggling it is comforting to think you have something in common with people that a lot of other people like. This goes on not only with self-diagnosed celebrities, but celebrities such as Bill Gates who have made no such claim, and historical figures who can't make any claim because they are dead.
The 80’s was a different world
Anyone younger born before the early 90’s would find it difficult to imagine.
No internet or mobile phones researching information was extremely difficult and literally meant visiting a library or driving / getting a plane to an information center of some kind like a university.
It’s highly unlikely any professional doctor or psychiatrist would go outside the framework of official diagnosis labels to use an obscure word last seen in Nazi Germany 40 years previously.
I understand the motivation behind imagining a celebrity sharing the struggles we face.
However in the long term it does more harm than good, most of these self diagnosed celebs probably have personality disorders, BAP or other neurotic problems rather than ASD, made worse by living in a bubble.
As a result they give false expectations to people and society that ends up depressing the autistic people that look up to them and whitewashes real disability which can be dangerous.
Like anything else it is how it is used.
What can often be proven is that certain famous people have traits associated with autism. Similar with historical figures. I do not have a problem based on these traits people saying I suspect or think this person is autistic. But it should not go beyond that. I have a problem with people making blanket assertions about peoples neurology based on them being, quirky, or socially awkward etc. With Ackroyd from what I have read it is almost universally accepted that he is autistic. The whole Musk was not the first “autistic” SNL host made the Ackroyd is Autistic a constant drumbeat not only in autistic spaces but repeated by the mainstream media.
So yes famous accomplished people are autistic or have autistic traits. How should the struggling Autistic person process this knowledge? The toxic way of doing it is to say these famous people “prove” Autism is just a gift. That I would not be failure if only those hive minded NT’s would stop discriminating against me. A better way is to say these people with similar traits to mine found a way to workaround negative attitudes towards these traits therefore I may be able to find ways to avoid a lifetime of failure.
Being born in 1957 I can attest life was very different then. At the time autism was not something I gave thought to but we called “New wave” was something I did. I looked at David Byrne and DEVO and thought to myself these people are nerdier and weirder then me and making music I related to and people actually like them. I knew I was not them. I had no desire to spend hours every day making my hair freaky or “gender bend”. But it was a great thing for my self esteem and that translated into making my life a lot better.
_________________
Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman
The very name "Libs of TikTok" suggests that it is either right wing or (less likely) extreme left-wing. The account's very name suggests that it is against "libs," i.e. liberals.
Looking at the Twitter account itself, I see a retweet of CPAC (Conservative Political Action Committee) speaking approvingly of the account owner. So she is indeed obviously right wing.
I also found a quote tweet of this Tweet by David Gilbert pointing to this VICE article. The article is titled "The GOP Is Weaponizing LibsOfTikTok’s Anti-‘Woke’ Hate" and subtitled "Chaya Raichik amassed millions of followers by going after queer people and the doctors and teachers who support them. And now, she’s speaking at CPAC." According to this article:
In June she posted the location of a drag show in California that was then stormed by the Proud Boys. She also posted the locations of drag shows in Dallas, and in Coeur D’Alene, Idaho, where 31 members of the Patriot Front were arrested before they could reach the show.
In August she tweeted over a dozen times about Boston Children’s Hospital and its gender-affirming care facilities, falsely claiming that they were providing gender-affirming hysterectomies to minors. As a result, doctors and nurses received death threats and the hospital received a bomb threat.
In the days and weeks after these threats were made, Raichik made false claims about numerous other hospitals, including Akron Children’s Hospital, the Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C, and at least half a dozen others. After Raichik tweeted about them, staff at those facilities were threatened and harassed.
And in November, hours after a man shot and killed 5 people at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, Raichik targeted a group that supports young drag performers and that was holding an event in Colorado.
Raichik has also targeted dozens of teachers who promote inclusion and diversity in their classrooms, many of whom have faced online harassment or have lost their jobs after being features on LibsOfTikTok.
There is a long history of right wingers presenting themselves as protectors of children, usually as an excuse to pick on some marginalized minority group or other. In the case of Libs of TikTok, it seems to be primarily an excuse to pick on transgender people.
Older examples include: (1) Back in 1977, Anita Bryant's anti-gay organization had the name "Save Our Children." (2) The "14 Words" of today's American neo-Nazis end with "... and a future for White children." (3) Here in NYC, I've seen local neighborhood "civic associations" or "block associations" agitate against homeless shelters on the alleged grounds that they are a threat to local children.
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Last edited by Mona Pereth on 02 Mar 2023, 4:19 pm, edited 3 times in total.
funeralxempire
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That's a beautiful downplaying of what Libs of Tiktok is actually known for.
https://www.them.us/story/libs-of-tik-t ... s-grooming
Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) is the handle of a right-wing, anti-LGBTQ+ social media presence, most popular on Twitter. It often peddles misinformation and alt-right propaganda, fueling outrage about hot-button issues and events, like all-ages drag shows, gender-affirming care for trans youth, and more. These sometimes include outlandish and false claims, like posts about a second grade curriculum teaching children about furries or a conspiracy theory that schools had installed litter boxes for students identifying as cats. Often, the page reposts TikTok videos or social media posts from others, adding commentary to humiliate and draw negative attention to the user, whose name or handle is rarely censored.
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Article is mostly woke garbage, but what about the closed captions? Any reasoning behind that?
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ASPartOfMe
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That makes a nice story but in an interview shown in my post two years after he said he was diagnosed by a doctor, he claimed he is self-diagnosed. While I believe a thoroughly researched self-diagnosis is a good workaround when a competent diagnosis is not available Ackroyd has a credibility problem with this issue.
Ignoring the credibility problem while is theoretically possible somebody could be diagnosed in the early 80s it is highly unlikely that one would be diagnosed in that era because unless one read psychology journal articles about autism one would not even know about Aspergers, it would not be in the DSM for another 10 years. Then you add even though he says he is self-diagnosed after saying he's diagnosed it is just plain wrong to state without caveats that the man is Autistic as is done by so many in our community over and over and over and over again.
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Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman
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