Autistic Blogger calls Temple Grandin ableist and classist

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I love how Temple isn't PC. She speaks her mind and says things the way it is and she still uses the word mental retardation in her books. I know it's not a medical term anymore but she still uses it. But I think it's sad she still calls her childhood meltdowns as tantrums because that is what they were called when she was a kid and young adult. The term meltdown didn't exist then and I first heard it when I was 16. But yet she will use the term meltdown when she talks about autism but when she talks about her own and her childhood, she uses the word tantrum. Maybe she really did have tantrums than meltdowns but who knows.

SJWs don't seem to understand that just because you disagree with someone it doesn't mean you have to attack everything "wrong" about them constantly. If everything anyone said had to be wrapped up in a PC bubble so not to offend the easily offended then nothing would ever get said. Anything could be offensive so therefore we can't ever communicate.

These types of people will just angrily watch videos and nitpick at things said and accuse the person of having hidden motives based on how a particular sentence was worded. And what's ridiculous is they're nitpicking someone with a communication disorder who is speaking literally about her experiences. SJWs never fail to amuse me in their ridiculous ways.

Today in New Zealand we are celebrating a public holiday of longstanding significance, as it commemorates the accomplishment of the socially progressive individuals who campaigned for a 40 hour working week (and no more) in the 19th century, making NZ the first country in the world to encode this into law. Other 19th century 'warriors' here dared to agitate against the patriarchal status quo of the time for women to have the vote; thus it was that New Zealand women were able to do this in the century before the last, again the first country to recognise that equality in law. These achievements and the people who achieved them - and later major social reforms - are honoured here. So it really surprises me that the references to American social justice activists on WP are so often simply nasty and pejorative; perhaps 'SJW' means something else in the land of the free?

I'm not American, but there are people who call themselves SJWs. The examples you gave are activists.

Ok thanks that clarifies it for me.

I like Temple Grandin and her books gave me a place to start when i knew next to nothing about autism or how autistic brains are different from NT brains. (Then as i was reading about the autistic mind for the benefit of my son, I kept thinking, "so...the autistic brain is 'unusual' how? You mean the whole world doesn't think like this? 'Cuz i certainly have a lot in common with the 'autistic brain' too. Hmmm." But anyway...) I found a lot of practical helpful things i could use with all of my kids, although only one is diagnosed on the spectrum. The other 2 have a lot of the tendencies so reading T.G. helped us all.

That said, is she perfect or does everything she says apply to all of us? Of course not. She is human and makes mistakes too; and because autism is a spectrum disorder, not everything that applies to her applies to me and my family. However, that doesn't mean we should throw the baby out with the bathwater. She has done a lot of helpful things for autistic ppl and given some of us a place to start working on being successful, instead of sitting back wringing our hands because we realize that we or our child(ren) could be or definitely are autistic.

I think there was a lot of vague nitpicking in the blog entry without any concrete evidence to back it up. Also a lot of conjecture and maybe/probably taking what she said out of context or in a way she did not mean. I never took T.G.'s writings that way. I do remember statements about LFA's being tragic; but IMO, if the difficulties of some of those folks don't make you sad, you have bigger problems than any offense you may take at T.G.'s writings. Anyway, my 2 cents for what it's worth.

Okay, it says she was actually diagnosed with PTSD and she was cyberstalked and bullied. It looks like to me her issues are being trivialized because someone had it worse. I think comments here are worse about it than hers. My little brother was traumatized from being locked in the dark bathroom as a time out and it took him years to over come it and there are people out there who have it worse than being locked in a small room with the door closed and to this day I still don't understand how being locked in the bathroom can cause trauma in the child because the same happened to me and I didn't get it. Maybe because I was five years old and knew what was going on and I knew how to turn on the light and my little brother wasn't even two yet so he didn't know what was going on and he didn't know how to turn on the light because babies are not that smart yet. But yet I hear it can still traumatize a child no matter how old they are so I guess I was just lucky I didn't get PTSD over enclosed rooms and tiny rooms nor did it make me afraid of the dark, my brother only got afraid of the dark. I don't think it invalidates her fears and feelings just because there are worse things out there than being trolled online.

My husband also has PTSD from his childhood and I didn't even know he had it until last summer when I said something to him and it brought back memories of other kids and when they would say that to him and it really hurt him. That still wouldn't invalidate his feelings and how it affected him to this day. Even a doctor had mentioned it to him a while back and he never said anything to me about it. How he handles it is blocking it all out and not talking about his feelings or sharing his past. Yes people call that PTSD even professionals so I am sorry if this is so insulting to war veterans and what about people who claim PTSD from bullying or rape? There are worse things out there like the war.