Autism Awareness Month

So its Autism Awareness month yep there is a month and or day for everything but as someone on the spectrum I wanted to say my bit about it. I also figured it is kind of a way of trying to reach out to other people with it and to parents that might worry about there kid having it, I also wanted to talk about how cruddy the charity autism speaks is and about my thoughts about there being an autistic puppet on sesame street.

autism speaks is not a nice place

shy guy 64 wrote:autism speaks is not a nice place

Yeah, I had heard little bits about them and they sounded a bit dodgy but I did some deeper research on them and almost couldn't believe some of what they've said and claimed.

kerr9000 wrote:

shy guy 64 wrote:autism speaks is not a nice place

Yeah, I had heard little bits about them and they sounded a bit dodgy but I did some deeper research on them and almost couldn't believe some of what they've said and claimed.

Yeah they do not speak for autism

strawberry float Autism Speaks. ABA is abuse.

Autism Acceptance > Autism Awareness

Yours,

Actual Grown-Up Autistic Person who isn't 4 years old and repped by likes on a parent's inspiration porn instagram/YouTube account.

Bonus Material: a woman put their 1 and half year old child (which is way below the age in which autism is normally formally diagnosable) into 40 hours a week of ABA therapy so that they "wouldn't need help" when they went into nursery. 40 strawberry floating hours of forcible "learning". That's 160 hours a month.

Yeah sure let's just squeeze the autism out of them, they're definitely not going to be an impressionable, vulnerable adult with no semblance of self or voice.

The "results" of ABA are probably PTSD. Just make the child shut up and that's great, they're easy to care for and "virtually indistinguishable from a neurotypical person". GG everyone.

Also strawberry float this banana split



Also Hans Asperger was probably, almost certainty, a banana split. Psychotherapeutic eugenics in the promotion of false ideals of "normalcy" is Very Wrong. As wrong as gay conversion therapy or racism in my opinion.

Happy Authentic Self Month

You be you and be awesome.

Also good luck for everyone who is autistic and queer, because that's seemingly a correlation too. As much as a correlation between autism and creative or scholarly minds. I have no evidence for this but I am pansexual so whatever. I am evidence of myself. I have value despite historical bypassing and segregation of all the "wrong 'uns". I don't need to behave and conform to your ideal of normalcy. I don't need a normal job to be considered successful. Going to school and getting a degree is not evidence that autism is made up nonsense and not really autism (thanks Department for Work & Pensions).

High functioning versus low function labels are ableist and enable elitism and whitewashing by proud parents of "basically normal" kids.

And no, we're not "all a bit autistic". Sure it's a spectrum disorder but if you don't have a diagnosis and/or a range of the traits that have a marked impact on your day to day functioning (for life), you're probably not autistic. My GP said that. We don't "all have a bit of the cold" or "we're all a bit dark skinned" or "we're all a bit gay really". strawberry float off and let people identify and own with their own struggles without marginalising them.

I googled autism test,



Im not going to do anything about it.

I got 14 on the above test. Slight tendencies. I'll take it, seems about right.

It was an interesting video, thanks Kerr for taking the time to do it.

Gave the test a bash out of curiousity. I got 11, which is a common result, I have no tendencies.

I think that's about right. Interesting little quiz, never done on autism test before.

Also scored 14

I scored 16, I can live with this.

Green Gecko wrote:strawberry float Autism Speaks. ABA is abuse.

Autism Acceptance > Autism Awareness

Yours,

Actual Grown-Up Autistic Person who isn't 4 years old and repped by likes on a parent's inspiration porn instagram/YouTube account.

Bonus Material: a woman put their 1 and half year old child (which is way below the age in which autism is normally formally diagnosable) into 40 hours a week of ABA therapy so that they "wouldn't need help" when they went into nursery. 40 strawberry floating hours of forcible "learning". That's 160 hours a month.

Yeah sure let's just squeeze the autism out of them, they're definitely not going to be an impressionable, vulnerable adult with no semblance of self or voice.

The "results" of ABA are probably PTSD. Just make the child shut up and that's great, they're easy to care for and "virtually indistinguishable from a neurotypical person". GG everyone.

Also strawberry float this banana split



Also Hans Asperger was probably, almost certainty, a banana split. Psychotherapeutic eugenics in the promotion of false ideals of "normalcy" is Very Wrong. As wrong as gay conversion therapy or racism in my opinion.

Happy Authentic Self Month

You be you and be awesome.

Also good luck for everyone who is autistic and queer, because that's seemingly a correlation too. As much as a correlation between autism and creative or scholarly minds. I have no evidence for this but I am pansexual so whatever. I am evidence of myself. I have value despite historical bypassing and segregation of all the "wrong 'uns". I don't need to behave and conform to your ideal of normalcy. I don't need a normal job to be considered successful. Going to school and getting a degree is not evidence that autism is made up nonsense and not really autism (thanks Department for Work & Pensions).

High functioning versus low function labels are ableist and enable elitism and whitewashing by proud parents of "basically normal" kids.

And no, we're not "all a bit autistic". Sure it's a spectrum disorder but if you don't have a diagnosis and/or a range of the traits that have a marked impact on your day to day functioning (for life), you're probably not autistic. My GP said that. We don't "all have a bit of the cold" or "we're all a bit dark skinned" or "we're all a bit gay really". strawberry float off and let people identify and own with their own struggles without marginalising them.

are you yelling at anyone in particular?

Curls wrote:I got 14 on the above test. Slight tendencies. I'll take it, seems about right.

It was an interesting video, thanks Kerr for taking the time to do it.

Thank you very much.

I got a 7 on the test.

Interesting to hear your thoughts on this Kerr, thanks so much for posting.

I joined a group at work to raise awareness for this. We've had a guest speaker per week (got another today).

I had little to no knowledge of it going in, so it's been really educational and beneficial for me.

shy guy 64 wrote:

Green Gecko wrote:strawberry float Autism Speaks. ABA is abuse.

Autism Acceptance > Autism Awareness

Yours,

Actual Grown-Up Autistic Person who isn't 4 years old and repped by likes on a parent's inspiration porn instagram/YouTube account.

Bonus Material: a woman put their 1 and half year old child (which is way below the age in which autism is normally formally diagnosable) into 40 hours a week of ABA therapy so that they "wouldn't need help" when they went into nursery. 40 strawberry floating hours of forcible "learning". That's 160 hours a month.

Yeah sure let's just squeeze the autism out of them, they're definitely not going to be an impressionable, vulnerable adult with no semblance of self or voice.

The "results" of ABA are probably PTSD. Just make the child shut up and that's great, they're easy to care for and "virtually indistinguishable from a neurotypical person". GG everyone.

Also strawberry float this banana split



Also Hans Asperger was probably, almost certainty, a banana split. Psychotherapeutic eugenics in the promotion of false ideals of "normalcy" is Very Wrong. As wrong as gay conversion therapy or racism in my opinion.

Happy Authentic Self Month

You be you and be awesome.

Also good luck for everyone who is autistic and queer, because that's seemingly a correlation too. As much as a correlation between autism and creative or scholarly minds. I have no evidence for this but I am pansexual so whatever. I am evidence of myself. I have value despite historical bypassing and segregation of all the "wrong 'uns". I don't need to behave and conform to your ideal of normalcy. I don't need a normal job to be considered successful. Going to school and getting a degree is not evidence that autism is made up nonsense and not really autism (thanks Department for Work & Pensions).

High functioning versus low function labels are ableist and enable elitism and whitewashing by proud parents of "basically normal" kids.

And no, we're not "all a bit autistic". Sure it's a spectrum disorder but if you don't have a diagnosis and/or a range of the traits that have a marked impact on your day to day functioning (for life), you're probably not autistic. My GP said that. We don't "all have a bit of the cold" or "we're all a bit dark skinned" or "we're all a bit gay really". strawberry float off and let people identify and own with their own struggles without marginalising them.

are you yelling at anyone in particular?

Yeah;- society that doesn't generally accept autism or thinks it is a disease that needs to be cured. Something to laugh at and be ridiculed just like gayness or downs or extreme gait (strange walking) or something else. Gotta get rid of all that weirdness, what a bother.

There is no cure. It's genetic. It's no longer even classified as a disease, which is scientifically correct. It's a condition. People get diagnosed with autism and it's all "oh I'm so sorry". Sorry for what? Yeah sorry that that person is different and they must be normalised, what hard work for those poor parents that need to suddenly be parents. That kid is probably going to be too noisy, too quiet, spin around in circles, refuse to move when they're unhappy and other baaad stuff. Having children who are likely to be born with differences is part of having children. Obviously the sad thing is that so many of these children are neglected, and the adults severely underserved by our health service. Obviously feel worse for autistic kids or adults that have no family to speak of, but one of the most dangerous ideas around at the moment is literally beating the autism out of kids. Or bathing them in bleach. I'm angry about that, and of course I will always be angry about that.

One of the things that cheeses me off about awareness movements is so often it is the voice of parents with children that are autistic rather than the autistic people themselves. We have a voice too. And you know what? Adults with autism exist too! Not just abusive videos parents put up encouraging their kids to have a meltdown to show how dramatic it is and what they have to deal with - oh how horrible for them (but you were, just there, abusing your kid for youtube hits).

A lot of strawberry floated up stuff out there. MMS for one. Extremely restrictive diets that make no difference another, which cause kids to lose weight, lack muscle mass and generally eat miserable, boring food they don't enjoy. Based on some book by a Doctor in Geology or some gooseberry fool with 5 star amazon reviews. All parents slapping each other on the back for finally finding a cure for their wrong kid that needs to behave right, thank god. Etc.

This is what acceptance means compared to awareness, both are good, but acceptance is better. A lot of people treat autism awareness, as, "oh did you know about this awful thing called autism? I feel so sorry for parents of autistic children, that must be hard work" rather than "hey people are different, celebrate that and support that".

People are allowed to be different, and think different on a neurological level. That's basically the whole point of the autism rights movement; that people have different brains and there's nothing wrong with that. We don't need a cure and some of us don't want one either. I wouldn't be even a fraction as good at some of the art, music and engineering stuff I do if it wasn't for my autistic brain. And that includes this website actually.

mcjihge2 wrote:I googled autism test,



Im not going to do anything about it.

Which test/framework is it?

Bear in mind a proper test needs to be done by a clinician / psychiatrist and usually consults with somebody who knows you over a long period of time (say 10 years) and can provide impartial testimony of your behaviours and development (if possible in childhood). For me fortunately it was my mum. The online tests aren't really indicative of much alone because it's only one part of for example getting a referral for a possible diagnosis, even if you score really highly (it could be something different such as OCD or ADHD or various other specific learning difficulties or ASC diagnoses for example). Most people will have a couple of those traits to some extent on the test I'm thinking of that may indicate a possibility of autism (I can't remember which) there's about 5 areas of traits in which you need to score in all of them and at least 2 should be highly prevalent (i.e. cause day to day difficulties in normal interactions with people and/or alone about the house, for example poor gross motor coordination, tendency to speak aloud, going on long poorly articulated rants to nobody in particular when only one or a few people are present and aren't paying any attention, and things like that).

(and yeah this explains a lot about my posting style, and why in recent years I've stopped bothering to tailor it, although I don't post nearly as much as I used to, I just don't have the time!)

I wouldn't take any online test too seriously, but...


...it wouldn't surprise me if I were towards the autistic end of the spectrum. I certainly have some of the social traits (social anxiety, specific interests, I have to work quite hard to read social cues sometimes). If we lived in a better society with easier access to healthcare I would go and ask about it, but it sounds like a very difficult process.

As Gecko was just saying, there's a lot of overlap between the symptoms of the various ways you can be neuroatypical. I wouldn't apply a specific label to myself without a diagnosis but I'm pretty convinced I'm neuroatypical in some respect.

Cheers for a helpful and thought provoking video - you're a great fella Kerr

Neurotypicality and neuroatypically are helpful words too. I managed to get this weaved into a workplace's code of conduct where I had a lot of difficulty being odd, inexplicable or different, but essentially completely harmless to anyone and I had to leave. Subsequently I wasted a LOT of money. And it often does qualify as a disability (any diagnosis will) and so there are adjustments and policies that need to be put in place under the equality act. I can tell from experience that sadly this is almost never the case because autism either isn't taken seriously, "everyone's a bit autistic really" or "you're 'high functioning' aren't you, so not really autistic".

Sometimes you hear the phrase "actually autistic" as a retort to that. I've literally been told by mentors, colleagues, and even my own dad, "are you sure you're autistic?" or some variation of "you don't look autistic". That's ridiculous too.

Autism awareness/acceptance is really a rights movement for equal treatment and access to healthcare for legitimate needs (such as therapy or in-work occupational support or benefits) so it really does implicate pretty much everyone in society and not just parents of autistic children, autistic parents, autistic children or autistic adults.

Green Gecko wrote:

shy guy 64 wrote:

Green Gecko wrote:strawberry float Autism Speaks. ABA is abuse.

Autism Acceptance > Autism Awareness

Yours,

Actual Grown-Up Autistic Person who isn't 4 years old and repped by likes on a parent's inspiration porn instagram/YouTube account.

Bonus Material: a woman put their 1 and half year old child (which is way below the age in which autism is normally formally diagnosable) into 40 hours a week of ABA therapy so that they "wouldn't need help" when they went into nursery. 40 strawberry floating hours of forcible "learning". That's 160 hours a month.

Yeah sure let's just squeeze the autism out of them, they're definitely not going to be an impressionable, vulnerable adult with no semblance of self or voice.

The "results" of ABA are probably PTSD. Just make the child shut up and that's great, they're easy to care for and "virtually indistinguishable from a neurotypical person". GG everyone.

Also strawberry float this banana split



Also Hans Asperger was probably, almost certainty, a banana split. Psychotherapeutic eugenics in the promotion of false ideals of "normalcy" is Very Wrong. As wrong as gay conversion therapy or racism in my opinion.

Happy Authentic Self Month

You be you and be awesome.

Also good luck for everyone who is autistic and queer, because that's seemingly a correlation too. As much as a correlation between autism and creative or scholarly minds. I have no evidence for this but I am pansexual so whatever. I am evidence of myself. I have value despite historical bypassing and segregation of all the "wrong 'uns". I don't need to behave and conform to your ideal of normalcy. I don't need a normal job to be considered successful. Going to school and getting a degree is not evidence that autism is made up nonsense and not really autism (thanks Department for Work & Pensions).

High functioning versus low function labels are ableist and enable elitism and whitewashing by proud parents of "basically normal" kids.

And no, we're not "all a bit autistic". Sure it's a spectrum disorder but if you don't have a diagnosis and/or a range of the traits that have a marked impact on your day to day functioning (for life), you're probably not autistic. My GP said that. We don't "all have a bit of the cold" or "we're all a bit dark skinned" or "we're all a bit gay really". strawberry float off and let people identify and own with their own struggles without marginalising them.

are you yelling at anyone in particular?

Yeah;- society that doesn't generally accept autism or thinks it is a disease that needs to be cured. Something to laugh at and be ridiculed just like gayness or downs or extreme gait (strange walking) or something else. Gotta get rid of all that weirdness, what a bother.

There is no cure. It's genetic. It's no longer even classified as a disease, which is scientifically correct. It's a condition. People get diagnosed with autism and it's all "oh I'm so sorry". Sorry for what? Yeah sorry that that person is different and they must be normalised, what hard work for those poor parents that need to suddenly be parents. That kid is probably going to be too noisy, too quiet, spin around in circles, refuse to move when they're unhappy and other baaad stuff. Having children who are likely to be born with differences is part of having children. Obviously the sad thing is that so many of these children are neglected, and the adults severely underserved by our health service. Obviously feel worse for autistic kids or adults that have no family to speak of, but one of the most dangerous ideas around at the moment is literally beating the autism out of kids. Or bathing them in bleach. I'm angry about that, and of course I will always be angry about that.

One of the things that cheeses me off about awareness movements is so often it is the voice of parents with children that are autistic rather than the autistic people themselves. We have a voice too. And you know what? Adults with autism exist too! Not just abusive videos parents put up encouraging their kids to have a meltdown to show how dramatic it is and what they have to deal with - oh how horrible for them (but you were, just there, abusing your kid for youtube hits).

A lot of strawberry floated up stuff out there. MMS for one. Extremely restrictive diets that make no difference another, which cause kids to lose weight, lack muscle mass and generally eat miserable, boring food they don't enjoy. Based on some book by a Doctor in Geology or some gooseberry fool with 5 star amazon reviews. All parents slapping each other on the back for finally finding a cure for their wrong kid that needs to behave right, thank god. Etc.

This is what acceptance means compared to awareness, both are good, but acceptance is better. A lot of people treat autism awareness, as, "oh did you know about this awful thing called autism? I feel so sorry for parents of autistic children, that must be hard work" rather than "hey people are different, celebrate that and support that".

People are allowed to be different, and think different on a neurological level. That's basically the whole point of the autism rights movement; that people have different brains and there's nothing wrong with that. We don't need a cure and some of us don't want one either. I wouldn't be even a fraction as good at some of the art, music and engineering stuff I do if it wasn't for my autistic brain. And that includes this website actually.

ok it just seemed like it was directed at people in the know

Personally I think humanity should abandoned to concept of normalcy all together