ASD as a Rising Subculture

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I *think* this section is the best place for this topic (shrug).

I was reading Berger and Luckmann's "The Social Construction of Reality" (1966) and came upon this section about how a rejected sub-society could become de-victimized and ultimately viewed as superior to the main society in some ways. The people in the sub-society would, at the very least, simultaneously be identified as inferior and superior. I thought about how as the diagnosis rate for ASD and awareness are rising, I could see this happening in the future. One could argue that it's happening now.

The authors are using an example of a group of people who have been declared "lepers" simply because they were born during a year when there was an earthquake. So, not real lepers. They were sent to live in a specified region and were originally supposed to live under the conditions of the main society (not a real example).

"As long as such individuals, even if they number more than a handful, do not form a counter-community of their own, both their objective and subjective identities will be predefined in accordance with the community's institutional program for them. They will be lepers, and nothing else.

"The situation begins to change when there is a leper colony sufficiently large and durable enough to serve as a plausibility structure for counter-definitions of reality-- [in ASD's case, the advocacy society affirms a reality where people on the spectrum are respected and celebrated for their differences, not pitied and punished, so this would be a re-writing of regular social rules, or the main reality] and of the fate of being a leper. To be a leper...may now be known as the special mark of divine election. The individuals prevented from fully internalizing the reality of the community may now be socialized into the counter-reality of the lepers' colony; that is, unsuccessful socialization into one social world may be accompanied by successful socialization into another.

"...At this point an individual assigned to the leper category may discover "hidden depths" within himself. The question "Who am I?" becomes possible simply because two conflicting answers are socially available-- the crazy old woman's [from the main society] ("You are a leper") and that of the colony's own socializing personnel ("You are a son of god")."

I apologize for the leper/ASD comparison, I know that's super offensive, but I wanted to quote the book and that was the given example. This is not the same thing, but I'm heavily tattooed and I remember 15 years ago catching all kinds of rude comments for it. Once I was out having breakfast with my Gran when I was a teenager and we both nearly got into a fight with some old men because they were saying horrible things to me as I passed by with my tray. NOW people stop me wherever I go and compliment me because tattoos stopped being a counter culture thing and became very common. The tattoo shows on TV really did it. I wonder if ASD dialogue might become so common that it becomes spoken about differently in the mainstream.

Interesting - ever read the Chrysalids? LM

Autists are a very socially fragmented subculture. There are several major ideological divisions in the online Autism community.

LM - I have not read The Chrysalids, but it looks awesome. It looks similar to one of my new favorite fiction writers, Jack Vance.

Dr. Foster! I definitely agree. But don't you think the rising awareness forms an overall sort of subculture, even though it may not be an organized and unified society in the same way that we can say that the Amerindian subculture is separate from the post-colonial American continent? I'm seeing it more like a rise in biracial identity. Simply because there are so many people that now identify on the spectrum, the way we understand it HAS to change.

It is possible. However, I think it may be too soon to say. What I mostly see is division - Autists attacking other Autists over just about everything.

The biggest issue is whether Autism should be "cured" (either partially or entirely). I used to be in the anti-cure camp. Since I changed my mind, the anti-cure people have removed me from their email lists.

There are other differences, as well. A small minority, but highly vocal, segment of Autists believe that Autism represents some kind of "super race."

If a fixed subculture does emerge, in the direction I see it, many Autists (including me) will likely drift away.

Last edited by nominalist on 11 Aug 2012, 9:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Could you descend the ladder of abstraction and step on the earth for a moment and explain what this means in laymen's terms?

Are you saying that aspies will become like Blacks in America?

Or like Gays?

Or what?

Both groups have a kinda subculture. Both have been marginalized and yet both have a certain cachet and cool.

What precedent are you using for this coming aspie culture?

then again couldnt the same be said of the overarching mish mash of sub cultures we call a [national] culture?

the main difference would then be in the size of that community, the consequences of that in this context are nicely accounted for in the OP.


mind you i dont think there is any coherent aspie sub culure, least of all in the physical world, that is not to say it couldnt happen in the future though.

there are some inherent issues with the concept of sub culture as we discuss it here though, in reality people can easily fit inside several sub cultures, to varying degrees and with different mindsets, something that is veryy hard to bring into any structured discussion.

Last edited by Oodain on 11 Aug 2012, 9:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.

A better analogy might be the Deaf community.

That is possible. However, in order for subcultures to be stable, certain traits will distinguish them from the rest of the culture. There needs to be a shared identity.

true

could that identity not be circumstances in a person life?

I don't know yet. That could be. I don't think it will be clear for several years. Some of the factors which now divide Autists would need to be resolved on some level.

I'm against the notion of a culture or subculture for us. Labels aren't inherently a bad thing, but we get too caught up with them. Labels are supposed to just give you a summary of something so you can sort the details out later, but people often just stop at the summary and make their minds up from there. Having quirks isn't just our prerogative, but labels make conflation really easy.

Getting labelled as defective is not a good thing.

i wasnt neccesarily speaking about people on the spectrum, more from a conceptual pov.

i think the problem is how one looks at sub culures or groups as i stated before.

there doesnt need to be a label for there to be a subculture, they can exist as defacto subcultures, our society is made up of shards and fragments of sub culture, some overlapping, other distantly removed, the whole is what we see as culture.

That's a good point. However, I have yet to find an Autistic subculture which agrees with me.

i hope you dont base that view on ppr alone