Offensive blog entry about the term Autie (Ransom Notes)

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The HFA/AS comes out at about 1 in 159, that seems a high proportion to me but not outrageously so. LFA is 1 in 2,000 and I really don't have enough experience with how common it is to judge it's accurace. (Edited for clarity.)

On the topic to hand, I actually really hate the terms autie/aspie, precisely because they're cutsie and take the diminutive form. They imply childishness, which frankly is the last sort of impression I want to give of autists - that's why I use autist and aspergian instead. I've spent a lot (a lot) of time studying politics, campaign strategy, and the use of language to create impressions and tendancies in the populations you're campaigning in. The use of language is incredibly sophisticated these days, and there's an enormous understanding of how just one word, or a frame from which you make a point, can alter a population's perception of things. Autie and Aspie are bad words, they're really harmful for us if we want to be taken seriously because they immediately conjure a frame within which we are childlike and incapable. That's not a frame you want to create, ever.
I do realise that these are the terms created by the community, but part of that reason is, I'm afraid, that autists in general don't understand the subtleties of language and the hidden implications within what's said. It's just not something we get, and it's not something we react to, either. NTs mostly don't understand it, either, but they do react to it a surprising amount, so we need to use the right sort of language if we want to advocate for ourselves.

Some of the blogger's points are well made - the cutesy one especially so. The rest, not so much, but then that's because he's a pro-cure guy. My thoughts on that are a whole other comment, possibly topic in and of itself, but from a purely linguistic point of view, whether it's a term autists created for themselves or not, it's still a bad one we should cease to use. I don't think it's offensive per se, it's just... it doesn't give the right impression.

Last edited by mmaestro on 28 Dec 2007, 4:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Well Alex, it took me a little while to use the term aspie on my blog because I initially felt it might be degrading... it was only after a bit of thought that I realized it was a "cutism".

It seems to me that this particular blogger has been opening their mouth without giving the required thought. I've posted a reply on their blog.

Replace the word Autie with Gay in her diatribe you see how ridiculous her view is....

<rant>

"In the new post Ransom Notes world of homosexuality discussions it seems that freedom of speech, and truth telling, must give way to the sensitivities of various persons and organizations. That being the dynamic of this new homosexual world order then I would like to offer my list of terms that I find offensive. I ask that the sensitive souls who petitioned NYU into submission over the Ransom Notes campaign, and others, cease and desist their use of these offensive and demeaning terms. I will start my list with two that I find particularly offensive: "gay" and "straight".

1. Gay - is an expression used by some persons with Homosexuality, and some parents and professionals who have surrendered to the ideology of the anti-cure movement, to describe persons with homosexuality. I have a son who is diagnosed with Homosexuality with profound developmental delays. The use of the term trivializes the very serious challenges he faces now and for the rest of his life. It is demeaning and stereotypical. Homosexuality is a serious neurological disorder and can involve serious and dangerous intellectual, communication and behavior deficits. Please do not use the term "gay" to describe my son or other Homosexual persons.

2. Straight - is a derogatory term which is intended to be derogatory. It is a term coined by some anti-cure high functioning persons with Homosexuality, and those who support their ideology, and it is primarily directed at parents trying to help their children; parents trying to treat and cure their homosexual children. It is also directed at organizations promoting research aimed at curing homosexuality. Please cease and desist the use of this hateful, offensive term."

</rant>

I feel sorry she is full of so much bitterness right now as parenting an autistic child can't be easy, but telling us what we are allowed to call ourselves is just so arrogant!

Last edited by MsBehaviour on 28 Dec 2007, 4:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I just don't like the word aspie, it's too cute for me.

I use Aspergian. Or Autistic person.



Actually.... what the poster a few above me put. I'm a writer so well aware of language and implications. I just don't like the words - they kinda belittle the whole thing and therefore the people 'with' it.

I sometimes use Aspie because Asperger's makes a very messy noun. Also, it's silly, imo to say "autistic" on one hand (which I do) and then "person with Asperger's" on the other hand.

I'm also a writer and I agree that words are incredibly important but with my synaethesia and visual thinking the mind-sound and shape of words are also incredibly important to me. I think that's the main reason I prefer the softer 'nicknames' to describe AS like aspie and autie. They sound so much more friendly and look nicer written in lower case letters. Personally I hate giving a clinic label to describe my unusual wiring and never use the terms to be belittle anyone else. That never even enters my head.

BTW, Alex, Harold posts on neurodiversity blogs and he is generally just like you've quoted. Obviously, I don't know the guy personally, just going by his posts. But he has a the habit of squashing all debate or opinion because no one else's kid is like his or no autistic person has the experience he does as a parent of an autistic.
I don't like his comments on other people's blogs.
It's frustrating when other parents use the argument, "you disagree because you don't have a severely affected child". Parenting an autistic child should not be a competition for misery or sympathy. I do have an autistic child, I do work very hard to care for him and teach him how to handle an NT world. Being anti-cure isn't being anti-care or anti-education. I deeply resent that accusation every time it's brought up and it usually is when people protest the curebie movement.

And also, Harold defends the JRC when it's brought up in blogs. Take that for what it's worth.

Personally I find Doherty to be an idiot - although I agree he isn't as bad as Best (heck I defy ANYONE to find someone as bad as that facist!).

He's definitely a "curebie" (sorry for those who don't like that word) and I have no respect for people like that as they affect the efforts to get acceptance for Autism as a whole in the community - especially the higher functioning parts (such as HFA and Aspergers).

Here's an "N" word that's getting a bum rap in the war over acceptance - neurodiversity. As a word, it's harmless. But it has to be used correctly. There are plenty who use it to describe the activist movement, and I don't think that's right. It could well be that the usage of terms is considered derogatory, not the term itself. The other "N" word used earlier became a derogatory term because of the way it was used - although I admit to not knowing if there was another meaning originally. There might not have been but I don't know.

For myself, I don't use the term "autie". Not because I find it offensive or anything, but because I just don't see the point. Autism and Autistic are short enough terms to be used. Aspergers Syndrome on the other hand can be more readily abbreviated to Aspie. And I think (someone correct me if I'm wrong) that term originated on the Internet.

But sometimes, your intentions are less important than the perception you create. I know no one here is using the term "aspie" to imply we're all at a pre-pubescent stage of reasoning and should have the NT adults who know better decide for us, but that's still the impression the term creates, regardless of the original intention.

I've always felt the word aspie (as well as autie) has a childish connotation to it. It's just like anything that you add a "ie" or "y" suffix to, just think of name Johnny or Joey, you assume someone with those names is a little kid or at least I do.

It also sometimes seems like a way for autistics segregate themselves from the rest of the world, almost as a cult would. I don't mean this particularly negatively, this is just mostly based on how some particular "aspies" have come across to me... people who use every opportunity to unleash their hate on "neurotypicals".

He doesn't even know where the term autie came from. From what I heard it was used by some people in general who provided services to autistic children, and Donna Williams (who does not "have Asperger's" by any definition) picked it up and popularized it.

If that author is the one I am thinking of, though, he does not listen to reason on this sort of thing. I have tried to tell him over and over that:

1) I'm diagnosed with autistic disorder (while he continues to insist that his son is different because his son has "autism disorder").

2) It's "autistic disorder", not "autism disorder", and that term is used to refer to everyone from those normally classified as LFA to HFA, just not those classified under the current system as having another autism-related condition. There is no separate diagnosis called "HFA" and "HFA" doesn't mean "AS" under the current designations.

These things have never gotten through to him. He continues to belittle the problems of adults who can communicate in typical ways (no matter how long we took to do so), and he continues to act like we all have "Asperger's" (which has become a way of dismissing autistic people even though people dxed with AS can have serious problems too). He continues to act like we're some kind of threat to his son. And he continues to ignore science that tells him that his beliefs are probably not substantiatable.

He is someone who has been heavily involved, in Canada, in the fight for ABA as a mandated "medically necessary" service, and he has argued often that the only solution besides an ABA-caused cure is institutionalization (which I have called the "cure or institutionalize dichotomy" and explained in many ways how that dichotomy nearly -- literally -- destroyed my life when I was younger; he doesn't listen or care). And he doesn't listen to autistic people unless we agree exactly with what he has to say (at which point he magically quits belittling them or accusing them of not being autistic).

I once posted that some of the attitudes he engaged in (claiming at one point that autistic adults who could communicate needed no help to get through the day) could potentially result in the death of autistic people. And it can -- people don't get services because they're assumed not to need them and they frequently, if their family isn't there to help out, end up dead. I've known too many people who've been in or near that situation to be able to ignore it. But he never let it through, even though that's one thing there's actual evidence for.

I posted this post on my blog in response to the blocked comment and his really-strange reply to it. And I still want to know, how on earth is it not acknowledging that autistic people can be severely disabled, for me to point out that autistic people who can talk can in fact be severely disabled enough to die without certain help that isn't normally given to people in this society?

Last edited by anbuend on 28 Dec 2007, 5:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.

MsBehaviour said

Gay is the opposite of straight

Autie isn't the opposite of curebie

There must be people who want to fix gay people, they'd be the ideal replacement for curebies - what are they called - extreme religious groups?

I don't understand the power of words. Words are just words. They only become more than that when people decide to attach feeling to them. I think our country is in the process of hanging itself with political correctness.

My thoughts on aspie/autie/NT is that it helps us, in our home, have conversations. My husband and I have AS, and our children both have Autism. We use the word aspie frequently. I don't like the word autie, just because some words don't feel or sound "right" to me, but that is one of my AS-isms and has nothing to do with the meaning of the word. I dunno. I guess people who whine about this stuff are fortunate, for I have much bigger worries in life.

I'd like to start some sort of campaign to debunk the misleading information from Autism Speaks that parents get sucked into. I'd like to discredit Autism Speaks to the population at large.

They shouldn't be using 1 in 150 to get fundraising when they make it seem like all autistics are low functioning

Last edited by alex on 28 Dec 2007, 5:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I don't think it is the mark of a "good person", by the way, to fully believe that anyone who says they have an Asperger's diagnosis is telling the truth, but to act conspicuously doubtful about anyone who says an autism diagnosis and to question whether the person even knows about some serious problems that can come from being autistic (and that have almost nothing to do with level of speech or typing). It's a fashionable yet disgusting way of dismissing anything autistic people have to say about ourselves, to first off insist on characterizing us all as Asperger's or as somehow lying about our autism diagnoses (or the severity of difficulties we encounter), and second off to dismiss the very real difficulties encountered by many people with Asperger's or "high functioning" autism diagnoses. None of these things are the marks of someone who's basically a decent guy. And I think some people just send out social signals that say "I am nice" even if all their actions say "I am really mean and unfair." (And then those of us who can't send out the "I am nice" signals are considered mean and unfair even if all our actions say otherwise.)

Last edited by anbuend on 28 Dec 2007, 5:40 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Alex said:

So how do we start?

Compile a list of the things we think are misleading?