polls about autism in current society, please have your say!

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The polls and my thanks
Here is the list of polls so that you can easily vote and give your opinions on each one, please do so, there are 25 polls (one is actually just an open question) in total for you to visit and give your opinions on. There is also one stupid poll I did at the end just for fun but I've not counted that in these figures. The poll options themselves are not so important, the most important thing is the comments because this is where people can put their thoughts on the topic into their own words, I've been very opinionated and I think that's a good thing to get the conversation going.

1. What do you think about the current statements made about autism?
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postp4239218 ... t=#4239218

2. How you feel about the way your mentality was described to you whilst growing up? (sorry no option E by mistake) http://www.wrongplanet.net/postp4239226 ... t=#4239226

3. Do you think that you need a cure?
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postp4241508 ... t=#4241508

4. Be positive, neutral or negative when talking about autism and autistics?
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postp4241522 ... t=#4241522

5. Parents of autistics unhappy with their autistic children
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postp4244622 ... t=#4244622

6. Are autistics obliged to become more normal and to fit in properly?
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postp4244633 ... t=#4244633

7. The current way autism is described to the public, is it correct?
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postp4244655 ... t=#4244655

8. Is it right for autistics to request different terms to describe them?
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postp4244662 ... t=#4244662

9. Do you agree that autism is a disease?
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postp4247271 ... t=#4247271

10. Is the media correct when mentioning Autism and Aspergers in a story?
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postp4247271 ... t=#4247271

11. What should autistics who disagree with the current terms used to describe autism do?
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postp4247460 ... t=#4247460

12. What do you think autism actually is?
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postp4247472 ... t=#4247472

13. Do you think that the word “Diagnosis” is the correct word for your neurology?
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postp4249731 ... t=#4249731

14. How do people react when learning that you’re autistic?
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postp4249735 ... t=#4249735

15. Does neurological diversity actually make any sense?
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postp4249738 ... t=#4249738

16. When describing that you’re autistic, which do you most relate to?
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postp4249740 ... t=#4249740

17. Video about irrational conformism and counterbalance with persecution
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postp4254319 ... t=#4254319

18. Is it fair to call these autistic people mentally ill?
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postp4254337 ... t=#4254337

19. Should non-autistic people be allowed to define autism?
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postp4254354 ... t=#4254354

20. Are you happy with organisations which speak on the behalf of autistic people?
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postp4254370 ... t=#4254370

21. Is one of the most common terms for autism: A Brain Development Disorder, the correct term to use?
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postp4254696 ... t=#4254696

22. What do you think about identifying and erasing autistic genes?
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postp4257299 ... t=#4257299

23. Are the current terms used to describe autism the most accurate and appropriate?
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postp4257260 ... t=#4257260

24. How do you feel the positives and negatives of your neurology adds up?
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postp4257276 ... t=#4257276

25. What do you suffer from, Autism? Other people? Your environment? Etc
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postp4257303 ... t=#4257303

26. Bonus poll
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postp4259936.html#4259936

I really think that autistics need to get a much stronger hold on autism in society as it's true that there are a lot of non-autistic people out there right now spreading absolute rubbish about autism and "caring for" aka torturing autistic people, but as autistics we should have the strongest voice on the subject. Whilst neurotypical people are studying autism intensely we simply have an innate understanding and enlightenment about the subject which they could never possess, whilst they speculate, presume and claim based on their own feelings and/or research we could be giving the real truths which are so obvious to us but which they otherwise wouldn't be able to see.

I think that if you completely agree with everything currently being said about autism then that’s great but you should still let them know that you agree, If there is anything that you disagree with then you should let them know that you disagree.

I think it's important that autistic people can have their say on these issues. This isn't supposed to be "our final say!!" heroically led and largely dictated by myself! This is just supposed to prompt more discussion and help get us started a bit more. I am just one person and I need your help, I can't speak for all autistics and I'm not trying to, despite being very opinionated myself I am just trying to get you to speak more for yourselves, and if enough of us speak then yes, together we can start to speak for autism, this has to be the opinions of many autistic people who between them express views across the spectrum of opinions on the subject, but at least we could try to reach agreements on many issues. I know most of us are very introverted and don't ever shout but I think it's time to raise our voices and right any wrongs we see.




These are my own final thoughts (Warning: The scattered thoughts of my mind expressed as text, long and possibly I shouldn't have written it)

What is a disability? An impairment? Something that stops you from doing something or at least from doing it as well? There are lots of things people can't do, a lot more than they can do in fact. Everything is relative, inside of this one dimensional bubble of reality in which we live we can make up rules and judge the value of things relative to a specific end goal but does everyone have the same goals and the same purpose in life? There is no set meaning of life so there is no set best mentality to work on this meaning, we all just give ourselves meaning, a mind is a complete unit on its own, providing both its own goals and means to achieve them. If someone is disabled it is in a specific context, so what is a disability then? If not something that stops you from doing something in general is it something that stops you from doing something specific that other people do? "This person has a disorder relative to my understanding and specific, though unspecified, meaning of the word, and my one dimensional view of how someone 'should' function in comparison with how they are functioning"? You really think that someone who socialises "normally", has a job 9-5, a mortgage, wife and kids and then dies, carrying on this cycle without even knowing why, is the "ideal" life form and the one that doesn't socialise, doesn't work, doesn't marry or procreate is disabled? Why should there be one set way of being? These things mean nothing in the bigger picture, look beyond this one dimensional reality and you will see that we are all infinitely disabled. Don't be drawn in by thinking that there is one ideal way of being and that if you don't live up to it you are in some way defective. If nothing is stopping you from doing what you are here to do does that mean that you are a disabled life form or that you aren't disabled? How should a disability be considered? Relative to your self given purpose or relative to what other people think you should do? No one can tell you that you are disabled or even judge the value of your neurology apart from yourself.

I am autistic and I am not disabled, I do not have mutated genes which are causing a mental illness, I do not have a brain development disorder, in fact my brain developed much faster than my peers in the more beneficial ways but I did not look down on them for it, I am not missing, or wrongfully underdeveloped in, any essential sections of my brain, I do not have any more trouble making sense of the world around me than any other person, I have a different perspective which is valuable, not a confusion which makes me struggle, I do not have, do not suffer from, am not affected by, a condition or a syndrome, I do not have autism; I am autistic, it is an inherent part of what and who I am, not something extra which I have, Autism is not a negative aspect to my neurology and anyone who tries to speak for me and says otherwise is lying; here I am as proof. I do not speak for anyone other than myself in saying this and if another autistic person says that autism is something different to them then it is.

As a natural self defence mechanism people with no generally praised outstanding talents feed their egos via otherwise relatively pointless, conformist, and so socially manipulated into praiseworthy, for the benefit of the groups' egos, activities all the time and further validate doing so by mocking those who do not. This is what I believe to be the true barrier, along with the more obvious praising themselves and looking down on others due to the ego telling them that they are correct, along with further validation by the essential balancing of a counterpart in the form of incorrectness in others. But again it's all relative and people need to learn this. People just need to accept that they don't have some esoteric knowledge which no one else has, that they are not uniquely blessed by the universe and secretly the most correct life form in existence, that there is no correct way of being and that if there was they would not be it. They just need to accept that they are complete idiots, that they have no clue whatsoever what is going on, that they are not special or important or intelligent and that it's just their ego telling them all of this.

People who look only to see negatives are fools. It is those who look to see the positives who carry the entire human race on their shoulders, for every invention has come from someone seeking value in something other than themselves. These are the people who have solely allowed us to advance and the people who should be listened to and admired.


Well, don't say I didn't try, and don't say I don't love you.

bump

I just want to just quote myself and make it clear that I'm not talking about myself here, in case anyone thinks I'm more arrogant than I actually am.


I've been dealing with a lot of people lately regarding my being autistic and the negative (and inaccurate) words towards my neurology that I had to hear every day built up too much, I do believe that most of the people I spoke to honestly think that I am mentally ill and suffering from a disorder and that everything they said to me was accurate and appropriate. It upsets me how all autistics are thought of as being mentally ill and I just had to do something, I was initially going to write my own thoughts down but I thought that I should see how other autistic people feel as well.

The polls were all set to 60 days and I'm hoping that there will be a few more comments left for each topic, like I said, the poll answers are my own words and my own opinions have shone through, despite having my own strong opinions I don't want to put words into other people's mouths, that’s why I think comments on the topics are important as well.

I need autistic people to write down what they think about each topic. Once the polls expire maybe people who can potentially change the laws regarding how autism is presented to society can take a look at all of the comments and decide if anything needs to be done. I will show them to people as I was planning on showing my own opinions anyway, maybe something will come of it or maybe not, personally I don't have much faith in other people. I have tried my best though and I'm giving up for now, it's not a topic which I enjoy thinking about so much, it's just something I felt had to be done from my own experience in speaking to people about autism.

Anyway I think this is my last post, I've given up now, I'm too tired doing this. Unless anyone wants to talk about the entire thing here? I mean what do you think about the topics in general? Has this society got most of the things about autism right or not? Am I doing the right thing by making threads like this? Is anyone upset by the topics? Personally I do find it an uncomfortable and stressful subject but one which I also can't really ignore.

My version of poll 26 is better.

I rather wonder whether it's necessary to reframe everything so we're not disabled, or have our disabilities accepted and accommodated.

Whatever I say about my life, I still have a lot of limitations that I struggle with. I don't think abled people are superior to me, but I know they can do a lot of things that I either cannot do or find difficult to do.

I agree that autistic people should have the strongest voices on autism. NTs are even more mind-blind to autistics than we are to them, so their interpretations of our behaviors and the experimental results are often or usually or almost always wrong.

Fortunately, there are NT researchers who recognize this problem and are eager to learn about autism from autistic people. I met a couple of them earlier this year, and if everything works out in the coming year, then I will be working with them to study neuroscience and autism in graduate school.

Unfortunately, there are a greater number of NT researchers who believe that autistic people have nothing at all to offer to their studies of autism.

Yeah, it's funny how NT people said that we have a "lack of concept of thought" but I think it's their egos making them think they're perfect and so always correct. Really it's a two way thing and perhaps it's worse on the NT end because they have less experience with autistics, we are around them all the time and have to think about why they do the things they do.

I think this is a good example of the NT lack of concept of thought, the ignorant being prayed on by the biased portrayers of autism http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rVX_nSLFtg

I read something interesting recently about dyslexia just being a different set of neurological strengths and dyslexis actually often being smarter because of this, it made me think what if 90% of people were dyslexic? Teaching methods would be different and neurotypicals would probably be classed as disabled. I guess a disability is relative to your environment but what if people try to change the environment, to accomodate a disability completely could remove it? What if you lived in such an environment that you never experienced any problems in your entire life? I think it's more important to play to people's strengths and to recognise the difference between someone having different strengths and someone being "disabled - disabled"

I don't know where it is, link it?