Getting a little fed up with 'autism awareness'

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First, Welcome to Wrong Planet!

On the subject of treating your daughter "special enough":

This is my favorite of the Autism awareness t-shirts http://www.cafepress.com/mf/9004739/thi ... irt_tshirt


Picture a kitten being raised with 3 puppies. Each of the 4 would have a specialness that is uniquely her own. The kitten wouldn't be more special than anyone else. She would be different, but as Temple Grandin's mom often said "Different, not less".

The goal wouldn't be to make the kitten be able to pass for a puppy, but rather be the best, most confident, kitten she can be, who knows how to interact with puppies. It helps if the puppies also learn how to interact with kittens.

This is where true awareness and acceptance would greatly help spectrumites when they go out into the world. Even when all other obstacles are overcome, some very profound differences remain. These differences are not defects. Thinking in pictures is not a defect. Thinking in patterns is not a defect. Needing solitary downtime to regenerate is not a defect. . . .

"This is a cat, not a defective dog"
This is an Autistic, not a defective Neurotypical
Different, not less

Last edited by CuriousKitten on 02 Dec 2012, 10:53 am, edited 1 time in total.

+1

Interesting.

Autism awareness is almost nonexistent in Brazil; the average person either has not heard of it or thinks it is a kind of mental retardation (which led to one friend telling me I am too high-functioning for it). But now that you mention, I realize that the so-called "awareness" is just the media telling people we are damaged. I guess it was stupid of me to expect the truth from them.

As somebody mentioned before (and as I said in a few other topics), the real problem here is the inability of people to accept differences. There is an unspoken, unwritten set of pointless rules you are expected to follow and if you disregard them (or if you follow your own set of pointless rules), you will be shunned. Or worse, treated with condescension.

Interesting. Sort of like the boomer generations feeling pitty for every person under 30: "Oh, well, they can't have the same freedom and prosperity we went through." That has taken a crap on me too.

Whatever we aspies or autistics do, we must not present ourselves as if we are living our lives badly. I am not a religious person but to paraphrase the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Catholics are guilty of the rise in atheism if they don't act effectively.

The whole thing that upsets me the most about "Autism Awareness" is how so many people are still unaware.

Awareness, Acceptance, Adjustments, Accommodations, Appropriate Accommodation, Ameliorations, Assistance, Advocacy, Appreciation, Access and Advancements Assisting All Autistics..

Advance Autistics!

Advance All!!

Autism Acceptance Day?!

Why is it that the terminology remains so limp?
Because we (autistics) are all so used to being kicked in the proverbials?

How about Autism Advancement Day or Autistic Advancement Day or Advance Autistics Day?

Yes, Autism Acceptance is slightly less pathetic than Autism Awareness though it still sounds to me like 'Please sir can (may) I have some more?'. Almost like, 'Oh well, we are aware of these *****s; might as well accept them'!

Best wishes to you ALL, autistic or otherwise. HaVe A gReAt dAy!

Jim from Jimberry and the Couscous (small Youtuber)

Interesting link

It's slowly becoming obvious that parent lead groups are the biggest problem with autism awareness.

Put simply, a lot of advocacy and awareness about autism has occurred over the years but a lot of it is harmful, child orientated and sees autistic people as damaged children with extra social credit brownie points for trying to "fix" them.

I have no time for the parents of many autistic kids. They just see their own kids as nothing more than an experiment to toss on the trash heap the second they're adults.

Edit: just noticed how old this thread is, still relevant today as it was a decade ago though.

Last edited by Nades on 02 Apr 2022, 12:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Hi Nades,

Perhaps problems present riposting opportunities?

Kind regards,

Jim from Jimberry and the Couscous (small Youtuber)

Never paid attention to it before as I don't disclose my diagnosis to anyone. Going to try and put some positive messages on my twitter account though @MayorGoldieWil1

Feel free to link up!

Autism is a collection of symptoms that vary greatly between individuals diagnosed. Typically one is diagnosed "autistic" if these symptoms have a disabling impact on the person in question. However, autistic people do not have a well-recognized set of shared problems or shared experience to unify them as a movement, unlike disabilities such as deafness or mental illnesses such as schizophrenia.

On the other hand, it's really easy to go out and proclaim "I'm raising an autistic kid and it sucks!" but then for some people raising any sort of child sucks, but if your kid has been diagnosed autistic then you have a valid excuse to piss and moan.

I found this series of posts interesting, as my son (age 7) has been diagnosed with autism during the last year.
He is a wonderful boy with many interests, highly observant, kind heart, and great sense of humour and we have a lot of fun with him.
Sure, he has social difficulties and anxieties, and I have read many books on autism and raising autistic/Aspergers kids, to try to understand and help him.
I have realised I am probably near or on the spectrum myself, as I have experienced some similar social difficulties and anxieties (especially as a child/teenager), but have learnt to cope over many years.
I have learnt a lot from books, about myself and my child, and am grateful to all the authors of good books on autism (e.g. there are many great books on autism in children and adults that you can get from Jessica Kingsley publishers https://uk.jkp.com/).
However, occassionally a sentence or two of these books have made me angry and upset as they make having an autistic child sound an awful burden or embarrassing for the parents.
Usually the books are well meaning and generally very good, it is just a sentence here or there that annoys or upsets me.
Sometimes I have felt like writing to the authors and asking them to remove offending sentences, but usually I decide that in the end the author is actually trying to help autistic kids and their families and doesn't deserve to be made upset by harsh criticism.
I think that raising any child has challenges and is sometimes very tiring, but is far outweighed by positives, as our son makes us so happy and is a happy child.
I think that having autistic child has made me look at society a different way, and see that there is huge variety of people and that everyone deserves a chance. It has helped me understand myself and other people too, and I would like the world to become a place more tolerant of neurodiversities and differences in general.
I wish that was the focus of 'autism awareness'.

Hi Everybody,
Please use fleeting moments like these to ask your friends, families and supporters to sign open Government petitions relating to autism and improving the lives of autistics so that all might thrive?
Thanking you in anticipation of your kind support and wishing you all the very best. HaVe A gReAt DaY from Jim from Jimberry and the Couscous (small Youtuber).