Article by Autistic somewhat critical of Neurodiversity

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I’m High-Functioning Autistic. Here’s What the Neurodiversity Movement Gets Wrong. I think it’s great that people want to normalize autism. But sometimes they gloss over how disabling it can actually be.

This really resonated with me, especially this part:

Exactly how I feel. It's nice to see I'm not alone.

i support neurodiversity but i also think remembering the disability aspect is also crucial

The multiculti SDW mindeset of AWESOMEtistic neurodiverse is only good for the ones that can mainstream enough.
No we can't be "cures". We are some hiccup. A short circuit. A evolutionary side path to address? not sure what environment it tackles. We have value and rights but we are DIFFERENT. Not the "norm". And it should be okay to say that without justifying we are better than norm, the new norm or the "hey Norm!" Avoiding stigma is passed from parents of the "defective children" . fighting stigma should be saying it is normal too. It should be from the strength that we are a portion of the population at large.

Even for those that were so well transitioned as me .. to quote someone in another thread
All it takes is for one shaking crisis to turn that "normal" seeming Aspie's world upside down in a way they can't adapt to.
My son .. is straight up DIS-abled. Handicapped. He is intelligent, funny and kind.
But he still could not communicate to a stranger in emergency, still may randomly do something that could cause injury to himself, still is incontinent. A farm hand or walmart greeter is the level he has of things to do that are not in a group home. Not exactly a positive result of "diverse". Though he may physically attract he will likely not get a relationship personal nature. I worry for him. But he has time for now

(so much problem with how sit eis behaving. It brough t up wrong OP post <-<

I like the idea of accepting neurodiversity, in the sense that you still support the people who need it and provide the necessary accommodations...whilst still respecting us as individual people that still have value regardless of impairments the autism can cause.

Also intellectual disability and autism are not the same thing, there are quite a few cases of 'low functioning autistics' who have been assumed intellectually disabled because they can't talk...but then its found they are quite articulate writing/typing about their experience. based on that I can't help wondering how many low functioning autistics never had someone take the time to bother treating them like a person and opens some form of communication even if it has to be something other than verbal speech, and have been essentially treated like an empty shell to be carted around. I am not discounting there are some very severe cases, but I am wondering how many are made more severe simply by being treated as if there is no one home and just negative/abnormal behavior without a conciseness to control.

Neurodiversity needs to apply to these individuals to...seems they are disregarded as invalids because there isn't a 'cure' and people act like until such time there is a cure there is no hope whatsoever for a lower functioning autistic to have a better or more comfortable life regardless of accommodations/supports. Trouble is humans even with neurological disabilities develop better with nurturing and a caring environment...how many low functioning autistics have that vs. a sterile envirionment of behavior centers, hospitals and parents who see them as only a shell of what could have been their child.

I don't suggest not pursuing treatments, advancements and accommodations to help individuals with autism...basically a requirement of being treated like sentient human beings shouldn't be that we have to appear as normal neurotypicals or be cured.

That's a great piece. I totally agree with the author.

I also mostly agree with the article.
I do want to add another caveat though; the fact that i (and many others) am high-functioning adds another layer to the issues.
I appear "normal" most of the time, i appear to make eyecontact, i am not visibly bothered by sounds and light, i join in with social interaction, i do not stim (visibly)...

This makes it even worse when the facade fails, for some reason. Someone who is visibly autistic can get away with a small meltdown, even at work. Those of us who have the autism fully hidden do not get that.

These ^ comments really resonate with me.

Great article Gwen! You make a good point about aligning with the people who have the money. Adversity makes for strange bedfellows.

An excellent reply Sweetleaf. I have always seen the neurodiversity movement as challenging the commonly held belief which seeks to say that this "normal = OK, you can be a citizen" but where different = abnormal or is pathologised as a disorder and "No, you can't come into this club!". This medical approach has failed so many people for so long that it is time to look at it from the person-centred way.

My reading of neurodiversity is that we should all be seen as equals but some of us, me included, will need certain reasonable adjustments to home or workspace etc. to get the best out of me and allow me to function to my full capacity. Being seen as a human being, rather than a disorder, should then shift the focus away from these adjustments being seen as a burden and hopefully move towards them being supplied as a matter of course.

I'm not aware of any neurodiversity advocate saying that "autism is great and everybody is awesome just as they are!" Some people will always have a more complex situation than others, but why should that mean they are treated as less than anybody else? I don't look at it that way, but sadly society still does. That is why I support the neurodiversity movement in its drive to change the way society looks at disability of all kinds. It is at least attempting to play a long game and change hearts and minds; I accept this isn't going to change things overnight but surely it is better to have a movement of some kind than nothing at all?

It is hard to imagine any organisation or movement being able to represent all of the millions of different individual circumstances but this is a fight that is spread across a lot of flanks. It is good to hear different takes on this, but I think more clarity is required from neurodiversity advocates to clarify the points raised in the article.

It is an old adage, but it remains as true now as it ever was, united we stand, divided we fall.

I am high functioning as well, but I don't appear normal most of the time...I don't appear obviously autistic either. I have trouble with eye contact which people probably take as rudeness or disinterest. I can be bothered by sounds and light which as a child I just got 'stop complaining' to this day I am always afraid to ask for lights to be dimmed or noise to be reduced because I worry about getting accused of being too picky about things/complaining. I join in with interactions with people I am close to but I still can't go up to someone new and strike a conversation or anything, I'll talk to them if they talk to me first however. And people have certainly noticed some of my stims but not sure they know that is the term for it.

I cant comprehend how one could 'fully hide' their autism, it's beyond me.

I was like that when I was younger (in my teens), and it was due to my mother's incessant pushing/training/pestering/belligerent obsessing about it. I could VERY easily hide my autism- for specific amounts of time & in the right isolated and coordinated social settings. She told me what to wear, who would be there, what they might say, how they would say it, and things I should mention or talk about. I would do what she said, and ad lib sometimes, but when it was what I wanted or when the situation changed I did something "non-NT" that didn't pass mustard- depending on how long it had been I would either get a pass or they be like- "ew, weird" and slink away (they wouldn't actually say that just look it). I also was never as gregarious or 100% normal as other NTs, but definitely adequate- and I would get along; I could only be out for so long before overload, I could only talk to certain types (ones who had similar interests), and did better in more formal regimented settings were people weren't so friendly or colloquial. Then, afterwards, I would have my debriefing (for hours) with my mom (she actually LIKED this ) where I would tell her what I said, who I talked to, what they said & did, and then she would decode it for me afterwards- many times she was there with me so she observed stuff too and had insight to provide if I didn't give her the right NT-details. Then she would prep me on what to say/do afterwards ... depending on how things went. She was also exceptionally incredibly GOOD at socializing- she's what I call a hyper-NT, hyper-aware, hyper-social, and extremely gifted at NT politics and playing "the game". Sometimes I would call her in the middle of social situations, and she would feed me lines- for example I would go to the bathroom/into a different room and recount what everyone was doing/saying. And due to that- I got along well enough. However, I trust you can see how unsustainable this is
But in those times no one thought anything of it!

Definitely thought provoking.

I once saw someone once ask why there wasn't a movement in the ADHD community that supported neurodiversity like there is in the autistic community. And, someone else pointed out that a lot of ADHD people actively and willingly receive medication to lessen the blow of ADHD. They said that the movement wouldn't make sense in the ADHD community because people fight to get on pills instead of off.

The author has a point. In that by combining with mentall illness, we may be able to accomplish something greater. Perhaps, the access to treatmnt but still the acceptance, nevertheless.