tetris wrote:
Aimee529 wrote:
tetris wrote:
SnailHail wrote:
But Autism Speaks helped create the character is anyone not bothered by this?
I read that they worked with Asan too, so at least it wasn't just autism speaks.
What I don't like about it is pretty much everywhere is saying with autism rather autistic. But apart from that it seems okay.
Is Autistic preferred by most? When I was in college (I studied School Psychology before realizing I was misdiagnosed as a child), I was told that you should never say someone is Autistic, that you should always say they are a person with Autism because it emphasized the person. At the time I thought that was a rather complicated way of saying the same thing but took the professor at her word (she was and still is considered an expert on Autism), but when I saw your post I thought....hmmmm..... I always preferred the more direct way of saying it....maybe others on the spectrum do too... So which is it?
Most autistic people prefer autistic, whereas most non autistic people seem to prefer with autism. I think autistic is preferred as autism effects every single little thing about everything and that it doesn't need to be separated from a person, whereas with autism separates the autism from someone and makes it seem like it shouldn't be there and that it is unwanted or should be gotten rid of.
Often autistic people don't tend to mind too much if people prefer to use with autism, but don't like it when non autistics insist it should be with autism, as the autistic should have the choice to which they prefer.
This has been my experiece too. I always use the term "autistic" to describe myself and my fellow spectrumites, but every other person I interact with (professor, work counsellor, mother, etc.) all use "with autism". I guess it doesn't really bother me, but it is interesting to note. One thing that did frustrate me rather, while also making me laugh with derision, was when I used the phrase "autistics" in a paper I wrote for a class, and my professor scribbled it out and wrote "people with autism" above it. Like she has the right to determine how I describe people with a condition that I have and she doesn't.
As for Julia, I hope they turn her into a real muppet. I'm excited to see what she looks like. I read the online story, and it seems cute. I did find it a little far fetched when Julia refused to speak to Abby, and Elmo kept coming up with various explanations why, which Abby just accepted without question: "it's hard for her to talk when she's swinging", "Elmo's daddy told Elmo that Julia has autism... when Elmo talks to Julia, he uses fewer words, and sometimes says the same thing several times.", and "Sometimes Elmo waits a long time for Julia to answer!". No little kid I know would be patient enough to wait around while the oddball got their act together. Fingers crossed that Julia's addition to the show will change things though!
One other thing I think they should have explained, which they never really touched on, was Julia's language difficulty. In the story, she used fragmented phrases like "Play with Abby and Elmo", "No hot", "Snack", etc., and I think little kids would be confused to run into a kid who didn't seem to be able to speak properly.
I was pleased by Sesame Street's decision to make their autistic character female. Female aspies seem to be something the media forgets exist many times. The only two diagnosed female aspies I can think of on TV are Sonya from The Bridge, and Isabelle from Mozart and the Whale.
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"Survival is insufficient" - Seven of Nine
Diagnosed with ASD level 1 on the 10th of April, 2014
Rediagnosed with ASD level 2 on the 4th of May, 2019
Thanks to Olympiadis for my fantastic avatar!
24 Oct 2015, 12:12 pm
