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Would you support an autistic town?

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Would you support an autistic town or city?
Yes, and I'd move there 24%  24%  [ 19 ]
Yes, but I wouldn't move there because I don't have the means 0%  0%  [ 0 ]
Yes, but I wouldn't move there for some other reason 10%  10%  [ 8 ]
Yes, and I'd become very involved in it 6%  6%  [ 5 ]
I'd have to see the specifics of the city 15%  15%  [ 12 ]
I'd have to see who's running it 0%  0%  [ 0 ]
I'd have to think about it 5%  5%  [ 4 ]
I'd have to see if it's working out 6%  6%  [ 5 ]
No 30%  30%  [ 24 ]
Obligatory other option 3%  3%  [ 2 ]
Total votes : 79

Woodpeace
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29 Jan 2011, 11:37 am

I would not support it.



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29 Jan 2011, 11:43 am

I think it's an interesting idea and it would be interesting to see how a predominantly autistic community would be. I think it might in many ways be a nice place to live, although there would of course still be some issues like in every town.



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29 Jan 2011, 11:49 am

The Dominos Pizza guy tried to make a city just for Catholics. That's Ave Maria, Florida... by Naples, Florida. It's still populated by non-Catholics because there was controversy over the overwhelming Catholic overtones. It's still more Catholic than the Vatican.

Anyway... I love me my NTs so I wouldn't want to live among just other auties. I briefly considered an apartment complex where there would be consideration for noise sensitivity but, on the other hand, there are auties who can cause a huge ruckus during a meltdown.



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29 Jan 2011, 4:07 pm

DGuru wrote:
That would be an interesting social experiment, and pretty easy to do. Just like the "Free Staters" are doing(for those who don't know the "Free State" movement is a libertarian movement encouraging mass migration to the state of Vermont in order to change the political climate) a website could be set where Aspies promise to move to a town if enough people agree. Of course just as with the Free State project it could not be legally binding, but the idea would be that enough people would promise so even if some don't make good on it there would be a significant number of people going.

It would be a town run by political junkies. That could be good since the politicians would actually know what they're doing and be less persuaded by special interests. But that could be bad if someone is unwilling to compromise on some "pet policy" they want to push through and it causes gridlock.


The Free State movement is hasn't really worked. Pretty much all of the "Let's move to one area and turn it into a libertarian paradise/theocracy/all-white country" movements are total flops.


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Last edited by Delirium on 29 Jan 2011, 4:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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29 Jan 2011, 4:09 pm

Sounds awesome to me.



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29 Jan 2011, 5:36 pm

claudia wrote:
But, it should be a city, not a state... Penal and civil code depends on the State, and also vote. And why should LFA be excluded from vote? Disabled people are not excluded from vote. If only normal (or high functioning, pardon) people had to vote... who's completely normal? Few people should vote...


This really depends on where we put the city. It's not going to necessarily be in any country you may be thinking of right now. I'm coming up with a list of countries for an autistic city. I'll be making a post for anyone to add any to the list, and then a poll to see where people would want it to be.

As far as Aspieville... what about HFAs, MFAs, LFAs, and PDD-NOS? :P How about Autieville?


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29 Jan 2011, 5:39 pm

If you changed autistic to african american in your original post does it help you understand why this is a bad idea?? Seperation is never the answer.



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29 Jan 2011, 6:41 pm

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29 Jan 2011, 7:13 pm

Nerdykid wrote:
If you changed autistic to african american in your original post does it help you understand why this is a bad idea?? Seperation is never the answer.


Autistics should never be allowed to be a majority?


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29 Jan 2011, 7:32 pm

Delirium wrote:
DGuru wrote:
That would be an interesting social experiment, and pretty easy to do. Just like the "Free Staters" are doing(for those who don't know the "Free State" movement is a libertarian movement encouraging mass migration to the state of Vermont in order to change the political climate) a website could be set where Aspies promise to move to a town if enough people agree. Of course just as with the Free State project it could not be legally binding, but the idea would be that enough people would promise so even if some don't make good on it there would be a significant number of people going.

It would be a town run by political junkies. That could be good since the politicians would actually know what they're doing and be less persuaded by special interests. But that could be bad if someone is unwilling to compromise on some "pet policy" they want to push through and it causes gridlock.


The Free State movement is hasn't really worked. Pretty much all of the "Let's move to one area and turn it into a libertarian paradise/theocracy/all-white country" movements are total flops.


That's good. I was scared for a minute. I live in Vermont and I don't think anyone here liberal or conservative would appreciate people moving here in order to change the political climate. Seems selfish and not considering the people who live there.


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29 Jan 2011, 7:37 pm

ruveyn wrote:
Aspieville. That has a ring to it.

Or Aspine. We already have Aspen Colo. Why not Aspine?

ruveyn


Only if it's AS only no other autistic people.


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29 Jan 2011, 7:39 pm

wavefreak58 wrote:
Other.

I can't wrap my brain around the idea. In any practical sense, it would be nearly impossible to achieve. Because of that I'm having a hard time grok-ing the idea.


It's possible. Deaf people did it. I'm just not interested.


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29 Jan 2011, 7:48 pm

I guess I don't get what the envisioned benefit of this are. I try to imagine how it would be to live there, from a first-person, day-to-day point of view, and I don't know how to figure it out.

Are there going to be fewer conflicts? Fewer people acting like a-holes? More 'friendliness'? Or more people keeping to themselves and not bugging others?

There are plenty on the spectrum who want to be distanced from the "lower functioning" folk, so there's no guarantee there's not going to be some prejudice and/or ugliness, there.

ASC people can and do form cliques and such. The portion of hard-up people (I've been/am there, so I don't mean that as a bash) may be no better off (there do seem to be some ASC Romeos/Juliets who could monopolize things).

There are ASC people who are a-holes and/or bullies (and even worse).

Is an ASC employer necessarily going to be more understanding, more of the time? I can imagine some being a lot worse than average (say, if they haven't experienced cognitive losses, and are rigid thinkers).

I'm not trying to say it would be a disaster, I just am not sure how it would be better.



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29 Jan 2011, 7:48 pm

The problem with this type of initiatives(autistics only) is the practicalities of "excluding" NTs. In practice you have to apply apartheid-like policies, or you'll just end up with just a normal town. The poster of the thread didn't thought through that bit. I stress, on the "in practice" part, not the "in theory" part.



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29 Jan 2011, 8:52 pm

Drapetomaniac wrote:
The problem with this type of initiatives(autistics only) is the practicalities of "excluding" NTs. In practice you have to apply apartheid-like policies, or you'll just end up with just a normal town. The poster of the thread didn't thought through that bit. I stress, on the "in practice" part, not the "in theory" part.


MrLoony wrote:
Simple question: Would you support a town run by autistics where 80% or more of the people are autistic or parents/spouses of autistics?

Naturally, neurotypicals wouldn't be excluded from living there, but those that aren't autistic or living with autistics would be discouraged from moving there and there would be incentives for autistics to move there (aside from almost guaranteed employment).


Not autistic only. As far as how the incentive and disincentive process would work, the NPO that handled it would basically make it easier for autistics and harder for neurotypicals from a financial standpoint. Basically, the NPO would pay a portion of autistics' rent and possibly other expenses.


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29 Jan 2011, 10:14 pm

MrLoony wrote:
Not autistic only. As far as how the incentive and disincentive process would work, the NPO that handled it would basically make it easier for autistics and harder for neurotypicals from a financial standpoint. Basically, the NPO would pay a portion of autistics' rent and possibly other expenses.


Lets assume that unemployment in the town is 1%. What are you going to do with all the NT "migrants"? Families will almost certainly be mixed, exemptions for families? Spouses, grand parents? Who has voting rights? Everybody? NTs and there autistic friends will simply vote for equal rights. What if NTs go on strike?

If you dig deeper, you will realize that unless you start doing aparhaid-like policies, your autistic town will not remain autistic for long. I don't see how you can implement your proposal in practice, without being forced to use immoral policies in the end.