George floyd Riots And Advocy

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I think that what is happen to Mr. Floyd was sick and wrong and I have done my share of crying over it. See I don't think it is only black lives matter it is all lives that matter. all the protest you see out in the streets going on right now over the injustices that have been done I cannot help but think of two groups of people that are constantly mistreated, taken advantage of and abused on regular basis but they never get the mainstream support and have the attention of the media the way blacks have had or gays. The groups I am talking about are the developmentally disabled and mentally ill. They are treated as if they don't know what is best for them and they are sidelined into a forgotten pocket of society where they live out their lives in group homes and day programs. They are left for years in workshops making piece rate or in work enclaves making subminimum wage while the programs they work under collect minimum wage. What about them?
On mental illness I herd a story of a woman with bipolar who was a lawyer but she said in her story she had to wait a year and show she was complying with her doctor before she would get her board cert sign off on and when she did she was told that they normally don't sign off on people like her. I mean if that statement is not every bit as discriminatory as the racism still practiced in this country then I don't know what is. In mental health it almost seems that their lives and what they can and can't do becomes dictated at by the doctors they see and not based on our own abilities to preform or not preform in the job world.
People in general change the way the interact and treat someone with a mental health issue the moment they find out they are mentally ill. These are prejudices they face all the time just for being them but where is their camera time and when do they get their march like the gays and the blacks. When do they get the same rights as everyone else instead of sidelined to these institutional like settings in group homes and day programs? When can be accepted in the work place and not have ask a doctor if is ok that they work in the job they went to school for? When are they accepted and given the same chances everyone else has? Why don't they matter? Why is no one fighting or screaming for their injustices? When they get to be human?

All lives do matter. You matter. No one is saying that only black lives matter, though I can understand that it may feel that way to you.

Many members here share your concern about the various ways that autistic people are not treated as if they matter. We have all experienced it one way or another, many times over.

Yes, Autistic People Matter - though sometimes we are treated as if we don't matter, and it is painful.

George Floyd was killed in a terrible way. Unfortunately so have autistic people been killed in terrible ways, by people and institutions they should have been able to trust.

I hope you are doing ok.

Yes but your not getting what I am saying who is standing up for us to make sure that we have the same rights as everyone else. Where people notice and care about what we go threw and how we are treated. Why are the injustices we faced pretty much ignored and the prejudices we face are not being talked about at all. Why are we not being listen too.Why does no one march for us?

Nobody

And nobody will.
You can't see autism
And something invisible will never have a movement. I don't particularly feel like I need or should have to put a disclaimer that I'm autistic so great me with respect. And that's just how it is and will be.

People with autism go thru life missing out on opportunities , bullied , disliked and the mindf**k that it causes I would imagine is similar to the injustices others experience. When people say I can't understand racism , well , if you want to make this an Olympic sport , I think I win.

Unlike other marginilized groups , there is no actual community. We don't have heroes. We don't have culture. We contribute but those contributions are not attricuted to autism nor should it.

Sure , I suppose I will never be shot but it seems like death by a million small cuts is pretty f****n common. And the worst part is not really having the ability to describe the aggressor as it is everyone.

It sucks. And that's life. The fact that someone will dislike you before saying a word because your amygdala is priming your body to release cortisol sending everyone close by a subconscious signal that I am a threat.

I would actually prefer knowing that someone hated me because I'm autistic rather than just knowing that who I am is not what people consider acceptable and pondering if maybe today , I met a mean person. The daily grind and never really knowing is awful.

You just learn to accept that you take it for the team. You learn to understand that people are not being unreasonable. It is natural to be wary of someone srrange. The anxiety which is always palpable does not say autism. It does say be careful.

Saying "All lives matter", at least where I live (UK) is deemed to be racist. I think I could get away with saying "No lives matter" though,which is probably what it should have been, that none of us matter to the the ruling class. It's heartbreaking that this has been turned into a race issue and that we're being pitted against each other rather than focusing on the real problem that keeps so many of us in poverty.

I saw a video by a young man who basically reminded me about how much of an intersection there is between being black and having mental illness/disability. Its pretty crazy out here and even I am concerned about whether or not me being autistic and black will throw me into a bad situation x_X

Here is one initiative started in Salford, North West England :

https://www.gofundme.com/f/blackandnd

The missing detail is, initially, nobody was protesting on behalf of PoC. PoC were protesting on their own behalf, and others joined in once things gained momentum. Nobody started it FOR them, they started it for themselves. The same way nobody fought on behalf of LGBT people, they fought for themselves, and others joined in after the fact. Comparatively, the analogy would then be that autistic people would stand up for themselves more, and then others will join in.

People who are not affected by an issue generally will not fight as intensely as those who are affected by an issue. Historically, most movements and revolutions are started by the actual oppressed themselves, rather than by supporters of the oppressed. Those who are not affected by the issue have the luxury of being able to stay out of things with no personal consequence regardless of the outcome. No matter how much they care about a cause, it's still not THEIR cause, it's a cause they've chosen to participate in. Often times their own problems get prioritized higher, because problems that affect them are going to be a higher priority than problems that don't affect them. On the other hand, getting involved makes one become a target to those who oppose the movement. Few people are willing to take on a stigma that they don't have to. But the oppressed themselves can't just stop being whatever the excuse for their oppression is - i.e., ethnicity, gender, age, disability, etc.

Of course, the fact that we as autistics often have difficulty with things like engaging in conflict, dealing with crowds, interacting with people, and other such necessities related to protesting and social change, does complicate things significantly. So I do admit it would be handy if there were like, personal advocates of some sort, to go out and do the things we have difficulty doing. We are often a quiet lot, and it's the squeaky wheel that gets the grease. Someone to help us make noise could definitely be of benefit. Until then tho, I will be as loud as I can on my own.

Tl;dr Generally, the oppressed themselves are expected to be at the center of their own movement.

The problem is not that clear cut as what is it that we want?

We mostly want different things

Black people just wanted equality which was easy to do after you create a law banning prejudice.

LGBT just wanted to be left alone which was easy since religion plays a smaller part in the west than it used to.

What do Autistic people want? Some want to be cured some are anti cure, some believe in Neurodiversity and the social disability model, others think thats nonsense.

So we move onto other thing like awareness. Well that has gone up dramatically in recent years with diagnosis rates. Now it’s fair to say nearly everyone knows someone or family effected by ASD. Of course there could be more advertised awareness initiatives maybe?

Then you have workplace initiatives. COVID-19 has kind of given that a huge boost with home working.

A few months ago advocates were lamenting about the open office and how there should be screens up to help autistic people.

Well who cares about that now since millions of office jobs can be done from home and prob will be in the future regardless of the virus since the green lobby will push that going forward.

That brings problems in itself though for autistic people since social difficulties were not our only problem. Bosses have caught up with things now, as a now home working office worker myself I’ve noticed.

It’s harder to hide your true efficiency as an isolated home worker, everything you do is now in the spotlight, monitored and compared with your colleagues in the same situation.

So if you do less, make more mistakes and are not as efficient than the others because you have concentration difficulties / stimming time or other autism related issues then you have to answer for it in ways you didn’t before.

So what is it we all want that we can all agree with?

Just reiterating: all lives don't really matter until black lives matter.