I found a very useful and extremly simple explanitory technique for explaining the full impact of societies considerations of Aspergers to NTs.
Basiclly, when a statement is used about Aspergers ie.
"Asperger's have a serious condition, and thus should not be given the same rights as a normal person".
Simply ask them
"Try replacing "Aspergers" with "Homosexual" and tell me that isn't deeply offensive." - and you'd be suprised how many people suddenly change their standpoint.
For instance, try reading this page here, and replace all autistic references with "Homosexuality":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controversies_in_autism
A page that read like that about homosexuality would be considered deeply offensive. The day where Asperger's gets the same careful consideration as other minority groups like Gays, Jews, etc is the day we win our place in society
[/Public Information Service]
Fortunately, the situation for gay people has gotten much better yet it still has quite a ways to go. Hate crimes against homosexuals still occur with a distressing degree of regularity. Real tolerance, ime, comes with every day familiarity, and this requires that many people who are different from what is considered typical must "come out" with respect to their differences. And then still, it sometimes takes generations (I'm thinking for example, of the women's movement here--even non-minority groups can have trouble with acceptance, depending on the prevailing cultural values...but I digress).
Well, on the whole Homosexuality is no longer considered a "disease", and they no longer try treating Homosexuality with drugs and therapy, but they're given specific protection and rights. Whether people actually accept that and carry it through is soemthing else, but Aspergers is still far short of even that mark, it's largely unheard of, greatly misunderstood, and people are still trying "fix" it.
So the homosexuality comparrison helps give people a familiar point of reference.
Yes, its small steps in a long process.
So here's a question...homosexuality was removed from the DSM-III in 1973. Will the day come, or should the day come, that autism is so removed?
See link below (broken) for an "interesting" perspective regarding homosexuality--one that would likely be similar to a curebie advocate for AS. I just found this while googling to see the year for the DSM change.
http: //www.catholicsocialscientists.org/Symposium2--Nicolosi--mss.htm
There are still people who discriminate against Gays and Jews.
Energeia:
The American Psychiatric Association voted in 1987 to "urge its members not to use the '302.0 Homosexuality' diagnosis in the current ICD-9-CM or the '302.00 Ego-dystonic homosexuality' diagnosis in the current DSM-III or future editions of either document" (APA, 1987). They took this action because, although the American Psychiatric Association had dropped "homosexuality" and replaced it with "ego-dystonic homosexaulity" in DSM-IIIR, the revised manual was not expected to be published immediately. Furthermore, at the time, another widely used listing of mental disorders – the World Health Organization's International Classification of Diseases 9th edition (ICD-9) – still included homosexuality as a diagnosis. Only in 1992, did the WHO removed homosexuality from the ICD-10.
Maybe then someone ought to convence the current people working on another revision of DSM to drop the autism/asperger diagnoses because they are listed in the ICD. Then we can work on getting the ICD to drop them next! :wink:
Once a social construct is built, it is hard to demolish it. Becuase it's not necessarily logical glue that holds the construct intact, argument frequently doesn't work to dissolve it. Change is slow.
Once a social construct is built, it is hard to demolish it. Becuase it's not necessarily logical glue that holds the construct intact, argument frequently doesn't work to dissolve it. Change is slow.
You mean like Pluto still being classed as a planet?
What is it now?
(I won't say a disney character dog) :razz:
Pluto's official status as a planet was never in jeopardy until 1992 when David Jewitt and J. Luu discovered a curious object called 1992 QB1. QB1 is a small icy body, similar in size to an asteroid, orbiting 1.5 times further from the sun than Neptune. QB1 was the first hint that there might be more than just Pluto in the distant reaches of the solar system.
Since then nearly 100 objects like QB1 have been found. They are thought to be similar to Pluto in composition and, like Pluto, many orbit the sun in a 3:2 resonance with Neptune. This swarm of Pluto-like objects beyond Neptune is known as the Kuiper Belt, after Gerard Kuiper, who first proposed that such a belt existed and served as a source of short period comets. Astronomers estimate that there are at least 35,000 Kuiper Belt objects greater than 100 km in diameter, which is several hundred times the number (and mass) of similar sized objects in the main asteroid belt.
My theory is that all the first 8 planets were found by other nations, and it mebarrases America no end they can't claim to have found a planet of their own, so they hang onto pluto jealously :wink:
I've heard that said, too.
Pluto is more of a double proto-planetoid. It's "moon", Charon, is almost the same size as it is. We really need to work out what constitutes a "planet".
Alison