Neurotypical Privilege

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I too hate the phrase "check your privilege". I think it comes across as arrogant and disrespectful and yes privileged, as if the person saying it has privilege to the Truth (with a capitol T).

I believe you can hold someone to account without having to humiliating them.

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As mentioned above it has gone beyond politicalization to weaponization. It is meant to say because you are born privileged your opinion is invalid.

What is the right word to say advantaged and disadvantaged that I use. How about instead of using the weaponized guilt tripping “Check your privilege” explain it in a similar manner I did above.

While the expansion of the term privileges was probably made with good intent it turned into intersectionality which turned into “oppression olympics”. It is a fine line between being clear eyed as to what we are likely to face as a minority as wallowing in victimhood. I would not want to see the Autism Rights movement turn in an Autism Justice Warriors Movement.[/quote]

“oppression olympics”. . . That is an awesome phase. So true.

Interesting point, It acknowledges that whilst the neurodiverse are useful, their services are not worth the same value as a neurotypical.

Our services ARE worth the same, but until ALL people like "that Aspie kid down the street" stand up and demand fair pay for their work, they will continue to be paid with only pocket change and cookies.

Alot gets mentioned about civil rights in autism but not really any specifics about what is wanted and how that differs from general disability rights??

Some see autism as an identity others do not and are against such an idea.

Some are against a cure or research for treatments others are suicidally desperate for a cure

Statistically 30% of autistic people have a normal intelligence. That leaves 70% who do not. What % of them are able to compehend any idea given to them and if not who speaks for them and how do you claim to know what they want?

Some are against abortion of autistic pregnancies others are casual about it.

Compare this to gay / black rights movement:-

"Equal rights with everyone else and an end to discrimination."

Well who in the gay / black community would have been against that? Do you want to be discriminated against? Err "No"

This is not the same as autism as the gulf in views is vast.

How does autistic rights wanted differ from the laws protecting disabled people?

Your source for this statistic?

I suspect that your source, whatever it is, may be out-of-date. I seem to recall that under the DSM IV classification, it was said that only about 30% of people diagnosed with "autistic disorder" had average or higher intelligence. But I'm pretty sure that's not the case for ASD generally, for which "high-functioning" people are the majority.

I should also point out that the 70% of people with "autistic disorder" assumed to be intellectually disabled included a lot of non-speaking people, for many of whom little or no effort was ever made to teach them to read and write, type, or use sign language. Alas a lot of people still assume that one must learn to talk before one can learn to read and write, even though it's known that many autistic children are hyperlexic, i.e. capable of learning to read and write before learning to talk. So there are probably many (though we don't know how many, of course) nonverbal autistic people out there who could have manifested average-or-higher intelligence if only they had been taught to read and write.

One of the rights that the autistic rights movement needs to fight for is the right of speech-delayed autistic kids to be taught how to read and write, type, or use sign language if at all possible, without waiting for them to learn to talk.

More generally, in my opinion, the therapy given to young autistic children needs to put more emphasis on their cognitive development and less emphasis on things like trying to get them to make eye contact just like an NT.

Last edited by Mona Pereth on 31 Aug 2019, 9:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.

There's no way we're ever going to get "ALL people like 'that Aspie kid down the street'" to do anything whatsoever.

What we do need is a bigger and better autistic rights movement. To that end, we need a much bigger and better organized community from which said autistic rights movement can draw support.

I will block anyone who says this. This is just a way to be dismissive and it's like saying "How can you be struggling and be the real victim here where there is actual oppression going on here?" It it minimizing your problem. These people have no empathy and they only do for certain things. If people can be this dismissive, I wonder what else are they dismissive about and what else are they rude about? I don't want to interact with rude people.

I am sorry to be thick-headed, LG, but I don't know what you are referring to here. You will block anyone who says what/

We are born where we are by the luck of the draw. Whatever benefits we get by virtue of that random drawing are usually taken for granted. In some cases, we can't even "see" what those advantages are.

I consider myself lucky to be born in America, a white woman from middle class background, with enough intelligence to muddle by through this NT dominated world without disability-specific assistance. So, I have some advantages, some disadvantages.

Because I came to my aspie-ness very late in life, I have not thought about these topics in relationship to high functioning aspies, but I have spent 20 years advocating for people with disabilities, the vast majority of whom can't advocate for themselves, including many people with autism. I end up advocating on a case by case basis because that is the way my work is structured. Others and myself have tried to "rally the troops" for disability rights but as Mona pointed out, that is like herding cats.

I really appreciate Mona's thought-out posts and Fnord's inimitable way of distilling information.

Especially not when even people in this community attack others for not fitting a certain mold. I’ve gotten attacked by others here because they don’t want me to succeed since I don’t think the same ways they do and I’ve been told that I don’t “understand my place in the land of discrimination” by someone here because he was upset I didn’t fit his expectations of what someone on the spectrum was supposed to be like. I won’t let anyone tell me how to live my life just because they are upset about me.

In order to rally any of the troops, you first need to gather a large number of the troops into a wide variety of peer-led groups/programs that help them in their daily lives. THEN you can rally SOME of the troops to support disability rights.

That happens in groups in general, alas. When it happens to enough people, a group splits. A healthy subculture includes a wide variety of groups, so that a wide variety of people can find places where they can feel comfortable and accepted.

It’s made me no longer want to raise awareness, especially since my detractors are part of those who want more awareness but they attacked me. Even if I did join in with them, they don’t want me to succeed but to just be an “useful idiot” so I don’t ever want to give these people any support.

I also hate the term, "Check your privilege." It drives me up the wall.

These are understandable questions to ask in our current age, but my answers will surprise.

As I've learned more and more about my faith (Christianity), I'm less inclined to "fight for my rights" (as much as my natural inclination would like to!), and instead seek to be thankful for what I do have, and wish to be more content with what I have. Few these days are fond of turning the other cheek, or are thankful they live better than previous generations, or are content with their lots in life. There's so much outrage coming from every demographic that's not white male (and also outrage coming from white males, lol).

And yet, in Western culture, all of us are living the easiest lives perhaps ever recorded in modern history for all groups, women and minority populations included. Most people had to work grueling hours and die of diseases throughout history, as well as endure far worse gender and racial prejudice than what we see today (remember, 100 years ago, women couldn't even vote, and blacks were still lynched). It's like we're not thankful for the gains we've seen.

As far as disabilities go, as recently as the 1970s, many still lived in crowded asylums where they were treated like robots. Now those with disabilities are encouraged to live in the least restrictive environment (LRE) and often have their own houses in ISL (individualized supporting living) arrangements, and many even have jobs.

The fact that most aren't thankful for such progress reveals our inherently self-centered natures. We try to disguise it in the name of social justice and equality, but in all truth, we're perpetually self-obsessed in whatever way is most suitable to us.