If you are autistic, you will be called out and cancelled.

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It’s an attempt to seem hip when you’re really trying to assert your superiority.

Hadn't thought of it that way. May be blind to that because it's used by folks whose politics are something like mine. I'm more of a relativist, so I don't think anyone is superior to anyone else. Others on the left are more PC. I'm not as fond of political correctness. Too reminiscent of Eastern Bloc countries.

This is April. It's Autism Acceptance month. Isn't that acceptable terminology?

Otherwise, the first word of the title turns people off. It sounds political and ageist against those who don't read Urban Dictionary. I guess I'm not young and cool enough to use non-words like Wokening, but likewise it seems derogatory against the people she's trying to inform.

Then, being told I will be called out and "cancelled" .... This sounds like the Holocaust.

I'm just not interested in reading anything that begins with such a negative premise.

PC is often used to oppress people.....ironic in that PC is an apparent attempt to stamp out oppression.

That's "alleged" superiority. 

woke (vt): The act of being very pretentious about how much one cares about a social issue.

Last edited by Fnord on 29 Apr 2020, 10:43 am, edited 1 time in total.

I just wanted to point out that Neurodiversity doesn't only describe Autism.

"Neurodiversity is a concept where neurological differences are to be recognized and respected as any other human variation. These differences can include those labeled with Dyspraxia, Dyslexia, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Dyscalculia, Autistic Spectrum, PTSD, Tourette Syndrome, and others. Left-handedness, transgender and homosexuality are sometimes also included."

Since the title is "Wokening ( ) to Neurodiversity", I would expect all or most of these conditions to be discussed, and not just spectrum disorders.

I'm sorry if I sound negative. I really like the idea that you wrote this article and I can see that you had good intentions. I'm just being honest: I fixate on small details, and right from the start I felt alienated by many of your chosen words.

An “awakening” would be a more apt term, to me.

You were smart to drop out at that point.

Its all longwinded drivel, full of factual, and logical errors, concluding with the old "my autism is an excuse for me to be an asshat" thing (as Funeral said above).

Or maybe I should say that she is saying that "if you are an autistic you need to expect to be called an asshat if you're politically active".

Be that as it may politics is like everything else in life: autistics have the job of going the extra distance to accommodate NTs, but NTs don't accommodate us. It aint fair, but that's how it is.

I know people who read up on this stuff. It's full of arguments to throw back at intersectionalst bully's, its very useful on that level, well done.

Never engage battle with a bully; no one watching will be able to tell which of you is the real bully.

So long as blissdragon is happy to do the fighting part, I'll happily do the being treated with kid gloves bit.

It does well to address an elephant in the room with "Autism politics", namely that excessive focus on carefully chosen words and hidden meanings that are essential to current leftist politics will marginalize people who don't pick up on such things (regardless of diagnostic status).

Aaand that much of the time, SJWs will ignore these complaints as "inherently racist/sexist/homophobic to even ask these questions, go to Google" but if I stick my handy-dandy Autism identity on there, suddenly they'll listen to me because I now belong to a "neurominority".

The difference in my perspective is that the label should not be necessary to communicate that I need extra help understanding this stuff. It seems that identity politics people only listen in the language of identity politics.

Last time I was in the lion's den, so to speak, I remained unscathed in the corner, while leafing through a copy of Valerie Solanas's Scum Manifesto, along with the new dx it worked wonders.

OK, I'll take this seriously and yes, I read all of it.

First, I do relate to some of your experiences and I'm sure others will too. Many people here had the misfortune of being raised or stuck in toxic environments. I've also had first-hand experience with conformist, small-minded communities and it gets just as bad as you describe it. Same goes for most groups: to this age, I don't join any kind of "organised" or established groups whatsoever because group dynamics drive me insane and seeing individuals I otherwise like or respect turning into cogs is depressing. But I have friends and socialise in small, hierarchically non-established groups and had a very different experience with it.

Before I get to what I don't agree with, an observation: you set your article right from the start in a very confrontational, hostile and accusatory way, reinforced through it by the use of "you". I know you mention in the end that you don't mean "everybody", but even then you accuse everybody of being at least complicit if not guilty. Maybe you just needed a good vent, but keep in mind that hectoring and shaming people isn't the best way to appeal to their empathy or help them understand or accommodate you.

What I didn't like are the non-factual assertions and sweeping generalisations about both NTs and well... us.

1. I'm sorry you never met NTs interested in science or introverts who don't do the popularity contest thing, but they exist - they might not be the majority, but they aren't a really small minority either. And neurodiversity (as Isabella already mentioned) includes many other groups aside from autism. You say for instance: "we observe NT thought processes as being utterly high-jacked by emotionality, logical fallacy and cognitive bias." which makes me think that you choose your entourage very poorly and that you don't know a lot of autistic people either, which leads me to:

2. Please, spend some time here, just reading through the forum if you don't feel like participating. You'll meet plenty of autistic people whose thought process "is utterly high-jacked by emotionality, logical fallacy and cognitive bias" It also puts this assertion in a hilarious light: "Therefore we tend to be the least judgmental people you will ever meet. We don’t have the mental compartmentalizing hardware that creates prejudice.", and I'm afraid you make many more such unfounded assertions that look a lot like projecting. Actually, after joining this forum, what surprised me the most was the number of people engaging in tribalism, an "us vs them" mentality, bonding through exclusion and how prejudice of all kind was just as well represented as anywhere else. Are they all like this? No way, you'll find some great people here, some awful ones and everything in between. Wait, that's just how it works for non-autistic people too...

Conclusion: you're pointing out sociological, anthropological or human nature/condition issues related to mob mentality and what it's like to be an outsider or outlier in society that are perfectly valid, but affect in the same way many other groups of people due to various physical or neurological disorders or disabilities, mental illness, race, gender, nationality, religion etc. These are NOT autism specific issues.

And if you want to bring positive change you'll really need to employ more positive means, because, I'm afraid to say, hectoring and painting everyone with the same brush won't make them accept and include us. Too many people fall into the trap of answering hate with hate and it's a sad thing that never leads to a positive outcome.

I probably sound harsher than I mean; I do understand and empathise with a lot of what you say and thought you deserved an honest opinion.

^ Thanks, Bender! ^

Sometimes you can be much more eloquent than I could ever hope to be, even though we share similar opinions.

Thank you I'm often too lazy to go further than one paragraph.