Mum slams Home Bargains over 'offensive' Christmas jumper but views are mixed
Quote:
A mum has slammed Home Bargains when she spotted a festive jumper in store.
Now that December is just round the corner, stores are stocking up on all things Christmas to get into the festive spirit.
However, a slogan on a ladies jumper became a hot topic of discussion when the mum took to MumsNet to ask if she was being 'unreasonable' for finding the jumper offensive..
The jumper in question has a picture of a melted snowman on it, with the slogan: 'I'm having a meltdown".
Along with posting the image of the knitwear, she wrote: "I seen this when I was in store today and it just didn't sit right with me. I do have a neurodiverse DD so that might be colouring my view slightly."
sparked a debate on MumsNet with some agreeing with the original statement and others claiming it is just a bit of fun.
"I don't see anything wrong with it to be honest, just a bit of humour" One said.
Another added: "Literally anyone and everyone can have a meltdown. Snowmen included.
sparked a debate on MumsNet with some agreeing with the original statement and others claiming it is just a bit of fun.
"I don't see anything wrong with it to be honest, just a bit of humour" One said.
Another added: "Literally anyone and everyone can have a meltdown. Snowmen included.
One asked: "Is the expression "having a meltdown" particularly related to autism? I had no idea. I thought it was a widely used expression."
And someone replied, explaining: "The issue is that the language has been appropriated by the NT community to mean a tantrum, and so now, the neurodiverse community have no language that expresses the biological phenomena that they actually experience during a “meltdown”.
Merriam-WebsterQuote:
Meltdown appears to have begun being used as a noun in the 1930s. Many of the earliest citations we have are using the word in a somewhat technical sense, in the jargon of ice cream manufacturers, to describe the rate at which ice cream returns to a liquid form. By the 1950s meltdown had begun to be used in reference to “the accidental melting of the core of a nuclear reactor,” and now can also refer to any general rapid and disastrous decline.
I may have this wrong but from what I can recall it was the other way around. I heard meltdown being used as an expression to describe a person losing self control from being overwhelmed before it being used specifically for autistics.
There is little doubt the term meltdown is used generally today. There is an issue with meltdown being used interchangeably with tantrum which the opposite of loss of self control but willful behaviors designed to get something. Because of this “Tantruming” an expression commonly used by ABA therapists and some parents is not only offensive but the assumptions behind it are harmful to the autistic children undergoing ABA therapies. All of which has nothing to do with sweater/jumper in question. I believe the designers and the women buying that product are thinking of the general use of the term not autistics as it says “I am having a meltdown”
I guess you can say the sweater is ableist because it ignores the specific meanings to autistic behaviors and why they occur. But I don’t think it is worth the time and effort to launch the educational and language policing effort it will take to make that word only about us.
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Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity
It is Autism Acceptance Month
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman
25 Nov 2021, 11:16 am
