Aspies For Freedom

I work with adults with learning disabilities, in self-advocacy and 1-1 advocacy support. Without exception, and I DO MEAN THAT all parents say that their childs disability/difference is due to a botched birth, i.e.meical profession mistake. When will people realise that disability is natural, ergo not a disability, not a fault, not something broken or missing, but a perfectly valid way of being, that needs no explanation, excuse or reason? Do loving parents  make a problem rather than realising that there is no problem? and therefore make disability an issue, rather than accepting that people are people, full stop.

First, our culture is predisposed to assign blame.  Everything "has to have a reason"--right?  Aren't we indoctrinated with this from childhood?  "I don't know why." is rarely an acceptable answer to give to an adult.  It would be easy to lay it all at the feet of "religion", but I've met many a committed secular humanist/atheist who is just as much into the blame game.  However, instead of "sin" or "the devil", it's some social group, like "conservatives" or "rich people", or "patriarchical institutions" who take on demonic proportions.

That being said, some of the responsibility for this can still be laid at the feet of the medical profession.  The first "explanation" for autism was the "iceberg mother", after all, which placed full responsibility for the condition upon maternal mistreatment.  Freud attributed homosexuality to damage done by a domineering mother and passive father.  Then we had real-world events like thalidomide.  Remember that?  The profession's refusal to accept responsibility for its past errors only exacerbates matters.  As far as I know, the American Academy of Pediatrics has never admitted responsibility for any deaths that might have been caused by following its advice to have newborns sleep on their stomachs (they have since changed this advice).

It's a coalescence of horrible social tendencies and the history of medicine.

I used to work in care homes for adults with learning difficulties & the majority of the 'older' parents of clients shared those views. It was what they were fed when their child was born.  I worked with many people with Downs who were institutionalised at birth because "they'll never be a useful member of society & will always be aburden to you" yet when they were with us they were able to learn to be self sufficient  :roll:

As societies views on downs has changed over the years, we can hopeully take heart that the same attitude shift will occur in the future with autism.  Downs is more prevelant, more obvious & more accepted as it's been 'known' of widely for longer.  Have faith that the world will catch up eventually, then come to realise what we've all known for years, Aspies make great contributions to society.

It's very sad.

If our hair and skin colours are differences, why aren't the different ways we think differences? Because Person A finds talking to people complicated unlike most people, it's considered a disability, not a difference. Black people aren't given odd treatment to lighten their skin, so why should Person A be given treatment because talking to people is hard?

I don't think the Autistic spectrum is "becoming more common", I think it has ALWAYS been there since mankind first walked the earth, only people are noticing and trying to stop the differences now. It's the same sort of difference as hair or skin colour, so why should eccentric "brain structure" vanish?

It's also even sadder that Autistics and Aspergians can now be recognised before birth, and so ignorant mothers fear that the Autistic Spectrum is some form or mental retardation and abort the fetus to save it from a bad life. The only things that make the life of an Autistic bad are the people who bully and not employ them for it.

I hesitate to bring religion into this......Sooooo if any sort of religion offends you I guess skip this reply. BUT!

With out getting to deep into it, I was taught that a special needs people, like downs were special spirits, who were stronger and actually better htan us and sent here to teach us important life lessons. They are more loving than any other. And this way Satan couldn't reach them, they were always in the child like state.

I think autistic and aspie people, like us (Boy that something to get used to! :grin: are here for special reasons, too. We are whole, complete human being who are here for a special reason. Angels if you will.  I know my son is an absolute angel with his autism and has shown me some great spiritual leasons.

I like that idea. It cheers me up. ^_^ I should remember to call upon you and your beliefs the next time I'm depressed.

So, going by that ego-boosting theory, I guess I am here to enlighten people about being who we truly are, and not letting the big stuff paint over us and make us all look the same.

I feel like Buddha! =D

*At least, I hope, black people where you live. There is an enormous market for skin-lightening products in a lot of countries.

Sadly, some people will be persuaded that death is better than life in all sorts of circumstances. I wish I could save every doomed child from their ignorant parents.

Oh well said!

I don't like the idea that disabled people are any better than anybody else. They really aren't; they are just people, just different. That's a kind of reversed prejudice, really--we're neither angels nor pitiful creatures... just people.

I think that you have neatly described, in one simple phrase, the reason for everything horrible that has ever been visited by anyone on this planet on all other life forms, including fellow humans. You are a genius. I have read long, long tomes on the subject that have failed to describe human history as well as you have in less than twenty words.

So, hard birth is the cause of ASD in most cases....?

Here we go again....

I have AS, and my eldest DS has AS...and what I hate, hate, hate is when people say things like 'children with autism are special angels sent from God', and that parents of children with autism are special parents!

Aaaarrrrggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!

I find that whole mawkish attitude completely patronising and offensive!

AND I hate the awful mawkish poems along these lines that people feel complelled to share (they are always badly written and don't scan either!).

There, I've wanted to get that out for years...sorry for the rant.

B

Meiolyn noted:

"I don't think the Autistic spectrum is "becoming more common", I think it has ALWAYS been there since mankind first walked the earth, only people are noticing and trying to stop the differences now. It's the same sort of difference as hair or skin colour, so why should eccentric "brain structure" vanish?"

I basically agree with you, but I've come to feel that the condition has become more severe than it used to be, and thus more obvious.  I am sure, for example, that my father was an Aspie, but he never carried the impairments my son has, like coordination difficulties that keep him from being to able write, and focus issues making it almost impossible to complete homework.  Basically, my father seemed to have the Aspie brain without having sensory issues or stims.  So this is what I wonder:  could the chemicals we increasingly exposure ourselves to in life be increasing side effects related to the unique brain wiring?

Explanations rarely are exclusive, single faceted.  Often a myriad of things are working together.  What I don't want to do is polarize the thought processes, or use the concept of acceptance to avoid trying to mitigate what are, to those affected, real impairments.

Personally, I believe our society demands much more of its people than it ever did before and so the sensory and other issues are more noticed than in earlier times.

Hi, Pik.  I wander in and out but am trying to keep from being "addicted," lol.

Pak, I agree that our society is much more demanding, and I do think it has something to do with either the actual increase in sensory issues, or the activation of them.  We are surrounded by an excess of confusing input on a daily basis, with few ways to escape it.  Sad, really.