Some people just want to free us from the prison of our mind

Post Reply New Topic

This looks like its aimed at the other end of the autistic spectrum, I don't feel like I am locked
away in a imaginary prison, and I don't think the majority of Aspies feel this way either.

I certainly don't feel locked away. I feel like I'm going places and seeing things.

if we dont want to communicate we wont

I tend to disagree, Zwerfbertie.

I agree more with Daniel.

Dumb = unable to speak. This is its original meaning. It was later bastardized as meaning "stupid".

but if someone had thier vocal cords cut, would that make them stupid?

and what i they could wright?

The way I am interpreting this picture is that the autistic child (outside) is dead in a manner. It's indicated to me by him being buried. The child inside is the one that's alive. The whole "time is running out" with the imagery of the legitimate child being trapped by the defective child gives me the impression that the inside child is the way the child would have been w/o autism and could potentially be released/resurrected with the development of a cure. I could be reading this wrong, but it's the only way that makes sense to me. It could be the child inside is the autistic's secret personality (which everyone has) but cannot communicate, but I don't think that's what this is about. The symbolism makes it look like the autistic is lifeless, but potential to be the living child is contingent on finding a cure. Why else have the child buried and say "time is running out"? Time to find a cure?

If my interpretation is anywhere close, it doesn't matter who here can or cannot/should not identify with this possibly LF individual, it's still a harmful message. Actually, the functionality really shouldn't make a difference for messages like this to affect anyone who even identifies with the autism spectrum. Messages like this only show autism as a tragedy, using compelling analogies like "kidnapping" and in this case apparently death. While in many cases autism can be tragic for families, it's still much more important to promote understanding of people on any place on the spectrum. Showing only the gritty side, even making horrible misconceptions about the value or even the sentience of the autistic person does only the opposite. Believe it or not, these stigmas do spill over onto the high functioning end. It also discourages potential hf autistics from seeking a diagnoses when people aroung them say things like "Did you know 1 in 150 children are born autistic?? That's horrible!! Can you imagine having a child and finding out they are autistic? That would be the worst!". The HFA/AS is either not believed by misinformed people, or viewed as a tragedy by them. The potential autistic still has enough reasons to stay in the closet without such a quantity of significantly misinformed attitudes.

I'm not unsympathetic to parents who would obviously want their child to seem more alive to their perception, and communicate with them in a way they can understand, even wanting a cure for their child. But there comes a point when understanding and acceptance of the child outweighs what the parents may desire their child to be. It reminds me of the movie Magnum Opus, where the father in the story is a brilliant musician who identifies with the world through his beloved music. The man has a son, who as an infant is found out to be completely deaf. The father sees this as the worst possible tragedy, never having the ability to share what he loves with his son, never being able to communicate that part of himself with his son or have his son share anything musically with anyone else. But the real tragedy in the story was not that the boy was born deaf, it was the father's complete rejection of his son for most of his young life. Instead of finding any other ways to communicate with his son (not even bothering to learn sign fluently), or learn to identify with what his son loved, the man only focused on what he perceived to be tragic. He mourned, then he moved on as if his son were dead. Of course in the end, everything came together, the father opened his eyes and realized what was right there in front of him the whole time.

Scaring people into viewing autism as only a tragedy, even equivalent to kidnapping or death does the same thing to autistics. It convinces people to reject a living, feeling person and treat them like an empty vessle instead of encouraging them to love that person and search for ways to understand them, mabe with hard work even communicate with them. It wouldn't come naturally, just like a musical father learning to understand a deaf son. It's there, it just has to be searched for in unique ways. That's far more important of a message than "cure it, or be defeated" regardless of your stand on the curing issue.

But that's just my percieved angle on this based on my interpretation, which could very well be wrong.

Zwerfbeertje,

The current clinical picture is that Autism and personality are completely distinct from one another; the personality determines how one deals with the disorder, nothing else. Some people are happy with not being able to communicate to others, some are very unhappy with such; this depends on one's perception and outlook, which is made by one's personality.

I broke from my shell; I was an unresponsive child to everyone but a few people, and I began to be able to interact with those around me if they interacted with me. This child, me when I was unresponsive, was nothing but a shell that was unable to interact with those around him, me.

Does MS define your personality? Does CIDP define the same? Does CDD do such? In all of these cases, the answer is no, and the answer is the same with Autism.

Have you had direct experience with being trapped in an uncommunicative shell? If someone asks you something, can you answer them and appear to recognize their existence? How can you say the individual within who is like this doesn't wish to interact? This is a prison when it takes away the choices one "should" have compared to the majority, whether someone wants to interact with others or not (this is a part of the personality, what people want to do).

Daniel,

The current clinical picture doesn't picture autism as a prison holding a real child locked away.

The current clinical picture does not separate Autism from personality, nor does it integrate them, they are different concepts.

You weren't replaced by another child, you learned how to interact better. It may have changed your life and you, but it's still you.

Daniel, I never said it was a matter of not wanting to interact, in fact, I said it was a matter of not being able to interact. You have someone else's post mixed up for being mine.