Discussions about civil rights and social issues always place emphasis on how non-white and LGBTQ+ communities are disproportionately affected. But autistic people are almost always excluded. It is not my intent to any way to try to take anything away from what any marginalized group, but my concern is that autistic people remain invisible and excluded from activist language. In short, I would like to emphasize that I want address what remains absent.
One example that illustrates this clearly is this LifeWTR "Life Unseen" PSA that used to run in movie theatres:
This PSA gives a comprehensive list of every group LifeWTR considers a marginalized minority. Disabled people are identified in the PSA as one of those groups, but notice how the language used specifies "the abilities of our bodies". While I doubt this was deliberate, it shows nonetheless that LifeWTR gives no consideration to the millions of people whose disabilities are mental and/or neurological. While I use this PSA to highlight this issue, it isn't a matter that is exclusive to LifeWTR. I have noticed this is a trend across social justice talking points in general.
There is a significant body of research that demonstrates that the marginalization, discrimination, violence, and abuse autistic people face on a daily basis is comparable to any other minority group. But despite that, we rarely see anyone talk about the marginalization of autistic people.
Yesterday, 9:09 am
