USA today condescending column

Post Reply New Topic

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2016/01/21/autistic-adults-tsunami-services-column/79110016/

We never really grow up. WTF. Tsunami?. I have to admit it would funny to see their reaction if a 20 foot high wave of autistic adults rolled in.

It sounds like another mouthpiece covertly representing Autism Speaks to me. I would like to meet with this woman and tell her that I have managed my life for the past 55 years without any help from patronising and stigmatising people like herself or anyone else (other than the bonds of friendship with other adults) and that the two generations after me who comprise the extended family that I am regarded as the matriarch of are following in my footsteps . I detest the jeremiad scare tactics propaganda and implicit supremacist attitude in the article, the underlying contempt for all people on the spectrum, the judgmentalism and concealed (not very well) smugness that promotes a "tyranny of normal" in a way that encourages disrespect of already marginalised people.

But that is what we have to face and oppose, until our voices speak as loudly and as often, with clear and unified goals. These propagandists are not the random voices they depict themselves as, they are part of a campaign committed to winning the propaganda war against us and making political gains that will lead to greater oppression for all people on the spectrum; (if they succeed). The tragedy is that they are gaining ground all the time because they know there is no really organised counternarrative from the ASD community and it our silence they depend upon. This silence they will misconstrue as consent, in years to come. They will move on to lobby for greater oppressions on the basis of wanting them implemented "for our own good". The historical mentor of these propagandists is Herr Goebbels..

Silence would be an improvement. There seems to be a lot of agreement with some of the points raised in the article here. I hope this does not come across as victim blaming. As I wrote in my comment to the article as tough as it was growing up completly unrecognized I am glad I grew up then rather then now. I did not have to read this stuff, or about tons of research money bieng used to cure me, or deal with 25-40 hours a week of ABA.

How would you feel if your mom wrote for everybody to see that raising you caused combat fatigue?. How dare she? But then since they think we have no empathy or feelings they think it does not matter. Or maybe it's just in our social media era the whole notion of keeping some things private is as antiquated as the horse and buggy.

Surf's up, dude.

My mom would and does talk like that. Meanwhile she lives in dilapidated house and my autistic brother takes care of her. *I* would not. He's a lot kinder than I am.

THIS woman buys her daughter a townhouse, lawyers her onto SSD and then dumps her in the house in what she describes as poverty conditions? Sounds like the daughter is depressed, probably that her mom is a POS who is writing trash pieces about her on the Internet.

The mother seems to be making the assumption that the fact that her daughter can't manage her life or live on her own successfully is entirely due to her autism.

It's very possible that she has comorbid mental health issues that are either adding to the problems, or are entirely responsible for them.

There are many NTs with mental health issues that can't manage their lives successfully for various reasons. Depression, anxiety disorders, personality disorders.

Yeah, I've known many... and a lot lived like what's described in this article.

I know plenty of NT people who live like that. Maybe the mom was a little too overbearing and as a result the daughter never learned how to take care of herself.

People like this irritate me.

I've never quite learned how to take care of myself, either. I have learned, however, that I have no business judging my parents, because I owe them everything. In fact, I owe them much more than a normal child would, due to being so bad at taking care of myself.

I don't like the way this woman talks about her daughter. She goes on about the things her daughter does wrong, and it sounds like it would be quite embarrassing for the daughter. She seems like one of those people who catastrophizes autism and cares more about the impact autistic people have on their families, than the autistic people themselves.

I mean... here's the thing; I've made it no secret I'm not as positive about autism as most people here. But this woman is effectively putting all the blame on autism without accepting any responsibility, and that's pretty childish.

The tone of the article is also not very respectful of her daughter or of other autistic people. Not every person with autism is completely unable to care for themselves. She talks about her as if she's a complete idiot. Even those who can't care for themselves aren't necessarily stupid or childish.

But you can usually get away with treating them as if they were, and, for many, this is all that matters. That behavior seems to be a winning strategy.

In a nutshell: the article writer is using the popular press to inflict psychological violence on her daughter. That the editorial staff either do not see this, or if they do, condone and allow it unchallenged, is unconscionable. Also, the resounding silence to the hater-activist-parent articles maintained by American psychologists who specialize in treating the aftermath of psychological violence suggests that they are either intimidated by these hater-activist-parents and fear threats, or share beliefs in the same toxic myths relentlessly promoted by the HAPs, Autism Speaks and their use of mouthpieces who pretend to be independent voices.

I say, we're here, we're autistic, get used to it!

Sounds a lot like my place, only worse. Truth be told, things weren't that far off about a week ago, then my landlord stepped in an intervened. I still need to finish cleaning my house though.

Sadly, I don't think the article is THAT far off the mark in describing the lives of many autistic adults, especially considering the lifestyle I live. It's not something I like to admit, but it is what it is. Hopefully, HOPEFULLY, once the number of autistic adults increases, the government will see the need for affordable programs to support us.

So true. We are part of the human race and in that sense, the people who try to dehumanise and deprive us of our legitimate part in the diversity of the human race are the ultimate racists.

I believe that we will be the very last minority to gain respect and liberation, long after all other formerly oppressed minorities have succeeded. Currently we are the most demonised, dehumanised and stigmatised. You can tell our political status at the current time by the simple yardstick of the hateful stuff that the international Western media deems acceptable, and the willingness of politicians to turn a blind eye to obvious abuses.

(It is somewhat different here in New Zealand because ASD is not politicized, there is no organised lobby massively financed which is seeking to control, eliminate or cure us, and NT parents of autistic children form peer support groups, not lobby groups to harrass politicians). Here it is more a case of benign neglect in the media than HAP activism. I would not say that ASD people are respected, but they are not subjected to overt or disguised hate speech in the media as an ongoing form of psychological and emotional violence).