Why aren't we allowed to be proud?

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Even though discrimination against all minorities is still a huge problem it seems like every other minority nowadays is allowed to be proud. You can be proud to be a woman, proud to be black, proud to be gay. Even transpeople are increasingly accepted as being the real people they are whose lives have value and are genuine, healthy variations of human diversity.

Not so with autism. We're still regarded as being diseased, defective and short of being fully human. Many people think we are pure evil and cannot ever be trusted under any circumstance. I find it sad how the social justice movement seems so keen on embracing every neurotypical minority but won't allow us into their treehouse. I was familiar with the Occupy movement and I can tell you first hand they associate autism with misogyny and bigotry because of the way we speak and have a tendency to be rude accidentally.

The only autistic people who get any respect are the ones who use their skills to produce large amounts of value for the economy such as Bill Gates, but honestly the vast majority of people on the spectrum will never be able to fully participate in the NT world including many so called "high functioning" autistic/aspie people. Even people like Bill Gates aren't so much valued for being human but for being productive "machines" that enrich others.

The left hates us for having bad social skills and because they don't view us as a legitimate minority (they also hate the way some of us "generalize"), and the right hates us for being different and having a hard time making a living in capitalism. When social justice advocates see me, all they see is a "privileged white male oppressor", not a member of a minority that is largely unwelcome by society. Even the rights of animals are more important to them than the rights of autistic people.

Why do NTs think we're making up the discrimination we face? If other minorities complain about the system persecuting them and selling them short, many people listen. But those same people think we're being "delusional", "narcissistic", "obsessive", "self-important" or just too damn sensitive, even though we suffer enormous amounts of random violence, make far less money than NTs, have employment rates that make just about any other minority look good, are treated as inferior even by other disadvantaged groups and are outnumbered 40 to one by the neurological majority.

Last edited by Decadeology on 24 Jan 2016, 5:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Why do NTs get mad when we acknowledge the fact that most people do feel biased against us and many people outright hate us and would rather we went extinct? It's just a fact if you read the comments on any video about autism on YouTube, especially if the autistic person is not good looking or having a meltdown. You'll see many people saying we ought to be locked up for life or killed on the spot and in my opinion they're completely serious most of the time.

I don't acknowledge this fact because I feel enormous self pity and a "persecution complex", it's because I'm finally aware enough to recognize reality. I never fully realized the bias and hatred we face until very recently.

Who says we're not allowed to be proud?

The rest of your arguments seem to be based solely on your own subjective point-of-view. Do you have any valid evidence to support your claims?

You sound just like the NT bullies saying this.

"Oh you have no evidence ... That's just your opinion man. Can you cite twenty papers from sources I consider legitimate right here on the spot to back up your wild claim? Go, go. Oh? You're making it up, stop generalizing. Stop whining." That's what you're basically saying.

I find when I explain to NTs that I have autism it makes them less sympathetic towards how I am, not more. They view it as being an excuse, not an explanation or they dismiss me as being "crazy".

Compared to NTs autistic people are held to ridiculously high standards when they make a statement and their opinions are readily dismissed. An NT calling me a "sperg" (which is every bit as offensive as the N word) holds more weight to another NT than a detailed account of the things I go through.

I've been through the Gay Pride thing as a Lesbian, through Women's Pride, and for a friend of mine, Trans Pride. Now, with my recent diagnosis, I am learning to feel good about myself as an autistic woman.

The toughest thing about having pride is, you have to have pride in yourself even if people think you don't deserve it. Don't wait for permission, own that pride like it is your God-given right. You will encounter haters in real life and trolls online. They do not define you. Don't let them. It's tough, very tough, but you must define yourself on your own terms, not on other people's. You must tell yourself what admirable qualities you have, and surround yourself with people that remind you of those qualities and help you achieve your goals. There will always be people trying to denigrate you and run you down, not because you deserve it, but because they secretly feel bad about themselves and it gives them a mean sort of satisfaction to hurt other people.

Start by saying "I am worthy" to yourself, act like it, and other people will come to believe it.

So, it seems that you would rather attack me than support your claims. Am I right?

If your claims are factual, and not just opinions, then I can accept that. Instead they seem to be only opinions, and not necessarily fact-based. But I could be completely wrong about what you've said, so why not provide something more substantial that I could peruse and ponder?

Leave him alone Fnord, you never have anything nice to say to anyone. Virtually all of your posts either attack or dismiss people, and you make people feel bad about themselves. My evidence is my direct observation of your behaviour on these boards for the past four years I've been here. If you would like specific examples, I refer you to your own post history page.

Decadeology, I agree with you. I feel like every time an aspie tries to say, "I'm proud to be the way I am," there's an NT waiting around the corner to say, "Well you must not be very disabled then," or, "You have no idea what my severely autistic child is going through, how dare you be proud about such a terrible disease?" I'm tired of being treated like I and my difficulties don't matter, like my strengths are just weird quirks, or worse, even more annoying symptoms. I'd love to start up some kind of autism pride movement. We deserve to be as proud of our uniqueness as every other minority.

Proudness has an element of subjectiveness. I am proud of my personal growth and what I have accomplished. We exist through an amount of diversity, so we deserve that right. On the flipside, everyone else has some obstacles to surmount so it's a universal recognition... We are not undeserving, but we aren't exclusive special snowflakes. If we truly are, then each individual is also...

I'm simply amazed at the sheer ignorance regarding Asperger's. It's becoming more and more common, and there are TV shows and movies about Asperger's, but people are still completely unwilling to learn about what it truly is. I think part of it is a fear of the unknown—people can't comprehend that people with a disorder can be stronger than them in some areas, so they refuse to acknowledge it or insult us. Women, blacks, and LGBT people don't really have innate abilities that are caused by them being female, black, or LGBT, so I guess it's easier for people to accept them because they don't have to feel threatened by any potential "benefits" that the NT might not possess. Just my theory.

Why are women listed as a minority? They're half the damn population for christs sake.

^This

I think it would be a start if people would realize that ASD and intelligence are unrelated. There's the misconception that we either have extraordinary talents or suffer intellectual disability with nothing in between. I don't like standardized IQ tests either. We often do really well on parts of them and poorly on others, simply because of how our brain is wired. They were designed for NT people and quite frankly we perceive the world in a very different way so drawing meaningful conclusions is difficult if possible at all.

I say this because it contributes to these misconceptions and also causes problems when it comes to disability benefits. If your IQ is too high it gets quite tedious even though it's mostly unrelated to the problems that people with ASD face. And it's really hard to actually prove that these problems are a result of ASD. Even though the numbers speak for themselves looking at rates of employment, depression, suicidal thoughts, homelessness and what not. Not that it's impossible to be succesful and/or happy with ASD, but it is what it is.

I'm not really one to complain quickly. But if I look at what LGBT, foreigners, transgenders, women or whatever social group have to suffer, it doesn't even compare to living with ASD. It really doesn't. And none of them have it easy by any means so that's saying something.

I'd define pride as being not ashamed in your specific human condition, whether it's your culture, your orientation, your gender identity, your neurology or whatever. It doesn't mean you feel superior, just that you're not ashamed.

Last edited by Decadeology on 24 Jan 2016, 8:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.

It's subjective just like the other person said, you can be proud all you want and hopefully that makes life a better experience for you..

On second thought, for me I have no reason to be proud of a label but my achievements in life..

They're not a minority in a numerical sense (except in Asia where girls have been artificially reduced in number via abortion and killing) but in terms of wealth and power, women are still globally discriminated against with the exception of Western women born after 1980 who are probably on par with men.

It does irritate me as an Aspie man when NT women say I'm more privileged than them. I can agree that I'm more privileged than a woman with Aspergers, but the gulf in power between NTs and neurotypicals is much broader than the gulf between men and women, especially in western countries.

This probably belongs in the Politics section but here it goes. My theory is that unlike a black people who has a minority skin, LBGT who has minority sexuality, we have different way of thinking. IMHO many progressives view people who think differently then them as lessers who are a threat to thier view of the way the world should be.

Eugenics is not 'Right-wing'

Ellasaid Woodhouse, Eugenics and the Left

I'm not a proud person.