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carlos55
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01 May 2021, 3:33 pm

The Cognitive Distortions that Feed Neurodiversity Radicalism — NCSA (ncsautism.org)

https://www.ncsautism.org/blog//the-cog ... istortions


Quote:
The Cognitive Distortions that Feed Neurodiversity Radicalism

By Lucy Kross Wallace

A year ago I was en route to becoming the type of "neurodiversity activist" who cyberbullies autism parents in the name of tolerance.

I had every hallmark of such an activist: a recent ASD diagnosis, a desire to partake in the social justice that surrounded me, irrational self-confidence, ignorance of the more severe end of the autism spectrum, and a Tumblr account.

Clearly, if I’m writing this blog post, a lot has changed since then. While I don’t wish to excuse my former self or the behavior of anyone who harasses parents or trivializes autism, I do want to elucidate a series of cognitive distortions that accelerate radicalization. Eventually, these distortions can motivate extreme behavior, including harassing autism parents online, calling them “MaRtYr MoMmIeS,” and accusing them of wanting to murder their children. Disturbing as these actions are, my experience as a former ideologue shows that there’s a way out of this rabbit hole.

Autism as an Identity

The path toward neurodiversity radicalism begins with the adoption of autism as an identity and the perception that being autistic grants a person authority on all autism-related matters. My slide into this mindset started innocently enough. After years of mental illness and unsuccessful treatment, I finally had a diagnosis that explained my impairments and idiosyncrasies, enabling my doctors to help me transition from psych ward patient to college student. Reading about autism online gave me a vocabulary to describe my experiences and reassurance that I was "different, not less."

But of course, in classic Asperger’s fashion, I took this useful framework to an unhealthy extreme. "Autism is a part of who I am" became "autism is a critical part of who I am," which then became "autism is who I am." I was inspired in particular by the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, whose slogan – "nothing about us without us" – invoked a sense of urgency, suggesting that any failure to insert oneself aggressively into conversations about autism constituted a betrayal of the cause. The motto "autistic people are the real autism experts" appealed to me for the same reason. It offered automatic street cred that I could use however I wanted. Who wouldn’t want to be more knowledgeable than a doctor or parents pouring themselves into care for autistic children simply by virtue of having a certain diagnosis?


Identitarianism Fosters a False Equivalence

Next, due to the concept-creep associated with the word "autism" and the collapse of multiple diagnoses into one autism spectrum category, we suffer an illusion that different people with “autism” have more in common than they actually do. In my dark days of advocacy, I fought fiercely against the notion that my autism was any less severe than anyone else’s, drawing on bizarre, nonsensical analogies I’d found online that equated autism to cupcake flavors and insisted that a single person can be both high- and low-functioning. Of course, these arguments were ridiculous, but admitting that my autism was relatively mild would have forced me to surrender my sense of authority.


Normalization of dysfunction

The radicalization is accelerated by advocates’ stringent adherence to the neurodiversity tenet that autism is "natural" and "normal." This argument constitutes a logical fallacy and immediately crumples upon close examination, as autism is no more natural than earthquakes, syphilis, wildfires, or dementia. Moreover, the research literature strongly suggests that autism has abnormal physiological roots beginning early in brain development.

The “natural” argument is much easier to make for those with milder autism, where it may indeed be the case that stigma overshadows intrinsic impairments. For instance, there is substantial evidence to suggest that when high-functioning autistic girls "camouflage" and attempt to fit in with their peers, they run the risk of developing mental illness. This predicament highlights the importance of acceptance, rather than attempting to "fix" autism, for some people on the spectrum. It would be erroneous to overgeneralize this conclusion, but this is precisely what neurodiversity advocates do.

The fallacy of mutual exclusion

While there may be no one exemplar for neurological health, some people are clearly impaired. We can respect and love people with disabilities while hoping to remedy their impairments whenever possible. And we can fight discrimination without downplaying the value of prevention and medical intervention. Both concepts can and should exist simultaneously; they are not mutually exclusive.

Negative filtering

On Tumblr, my fellow activists and I complained endlessly about instances of "ableism," neglecting the enormous strides our society has made in accessibility and inclusion over recent decades. Negative filtering is also evident when neurodiversity advocates scorn "autism warrior parents" whose experiences are dismissed the moment they question neurodiversity doctrine.

There is also routine discounting of the positives (e.g., the parent’s love for their child), and routine catastrophizing, for example, claiming that a negative comment about autism will somehow result in a parent (no matter how devoted and loving) wishing to abuse or even murder their child. When the activist goes on to harass the parent, she genuinely believes that she is speaking out against an enormous injustice and that "silence is compliance."


Black-and-white thinking

Neurodiversity devotees tend to favor dichotomous thinking over nuance. On multiple occasions, I began reading articles on autism, only to shudder the moment I noticed a phrase like "affected by autism" or "living with autism." I had internalized the neurodiversity preoccupation with language so thoroughly that these innocent words were enough to make me discard an entire article, deciding that its contents were irredeemably bigoted. These rigid judgments fed into my belief that the world was composed of good people and ableists, matching the “you’re either with us or against us” attitude that characterizes the neurodiversity movement.


Personalization

I immediately connected conversations about autism to my own experience, never missing a chance to pipe in with my (often uninformed) opinion. This distortion plays a significant role in the harassment of autism parents: thanks to the neurodiversity movement’s obsession with language, a parent’s use of perfectly reasonable terms like “suffering from autism” or “severely autistic” are taken as personal insults, met with a self-referential chorus of “what about me?” Advocates concern themselves only with their own identities and needs, rejecting realities of severe autism that could sully their preferred portrait of the disorder. In other words, they see themselves as victims of phrases that were never meant to apply to them.


Out the Other Side

Ultimately, I was driven away from neurodiversity not by its positions but by its attitude/actions toward detractors. As I explored various criticisms of neurodiversity, I was struck by advocates’ refusal to acknowledge these concerns and by the vitriol hurled at critics.

The turning point came when I read two scathing responses to **** eminently reasonable criticism of the neurodiversity movement. The author of the first response mocks ***** struggles to navigate dating ("Perhaps if he’d stop making sexist remarks and would stop talking…about smearing feces, he’d have better luck with women") and intimates that ***** is responsible for his own unhappiness ("He is focused on something that will never happen [i.e., an autism cure]"). The second response, by a writer using the ironic pseudonym "Humble Aspie," begins with a clumsily photoshopped parody of a 1936 Nazi propaganda poster. Aspire to being a pure bred aryan [sic] winner? the caption reads. Join Self Loathing Autistic People #autisticdarkweb. Needless to say, this appalling attempt at satire trivializes the atrocities of the Holocaust and confirms **** observation that neurodiversity proponents "are frequently less than cordial to those who disagree with them" – to put it mildly.

I didn’t end up reading the rest of "Humble Aspie’s" article. Instead, I slammed my laptop shut and decided that my neurodiversity days were over. If your version of justice involves cyberbullying and slander, count me out.


The Way Forward

While certain advocates have demonstrated cruel and egregious animosity toward neurodiversity dissidents, I suspect that most #ActuallyAutistic internet users would never be so vicious toward victims in real life. Social media distances us from one another, allowing us to see others as avatars for ideology rather than human beings. Much of the support for the hatred of "autism warrior parents" is tacit: casually liking a Tumblr post or a tweet, reblogging the occasional sarcastic meme, passively buying into stereotyped depictions of "curebie moms." These decisions’ apparent smallness belies their cumulative effect, making it easy for internet users to worsen the problem of bullying without grasping the consequences of their actions.

Meanwhile, those who genuinely oppose the neurodiversity doctrine may be reluctant to speak out for fear of being harassed and abused. There is no alternative to neurodiversity that offers the same instant friends, prepackaged identity, expert branding, trending hashtags, catchy slogans, appealing merchandise, and support from popular media outlets. This renders opposition to the movement virtually invisible, discouraging open criticism.

I see three crucial components of working toward change. First, we need condemnation of this bullying on a much broader scale. Leading advocacy organizations and responsible clinicians, providers, and researchers must take a firmer stance against anti-parent bullying. Explicitly stating that harassment is unacceptable should be a no-brainer.
Second, activists should engage in self-reflection and demonstrate the same awareness that they demand from others. My propensity for rigid thinking and hyperfixation contributed to my neurodiversity obsession. Once I recognized this and challenged my rigid thought patterns, I developed a much more balanced mindset, gained empathy for families and individuals affected by severe autism, and stopped wasting time on pointless quarrels about language.

Finally, I think that much of neurodiversity radicalism lies in fear – fear of stigma, fear of discrimination, and fear of being overlooked. I didn’t get the help I needed for years because doctors assumed that because my autism was mild, I should be able to manage on my own. It wasn’t until I became severely ill that anyone paid serious attention to my diagnosis. But as the National Council on Severe Autism has stated in its FAQs, the reality of low-functioning autism doesn’t mean that high-functioning autistics don’t deserve support or don’t have a real disability. This is not a competition, and when we treat it like one, everybody loses.

Lucy Kross Wallace is an undergraduate student at Stanford University.


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01 May 2021, 3:47 pm

In other words, autism is not a religion. :lol:

And so do it's 'sects' like neurodiversity and pro-cure, everyone else are infidels who have to burn in whatever version of hell.

Then humans involved treats it like that.
In the name of love, peace and understanding™.



How does this convince anyone or change anything? :twisted:
Did you even surf a quarter of twitter and tumblr yet? :lol:


I'm sorry. But this doesn't change human patterns.
While the article/account of one realized user may partially smother one side of the war so to speak, it is incomplete from my point of view.


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01 May 2021, 5:24 pm

Somethings that are said by those on the spectrum to those who are not can confuse someone who is either not on the spectrum, or does not know where they stand.
One of the issues is that most people out there have never considered how they think. It is only someone on the spectrum, or thinks they may be on the spectrum so is looking, who starts to think how they think, and it takes a lot of time to think about how one thinks to come up with logical conclusions, as one has to do a lot of memory searching of past events, and marry them up to present thought to come up with logical conclusions before one can come up with some answers.
So when one meets someone who has been assessed, and knows they are on the spectrum, and one asks them what autism is, and they say "My brain is wired differently" (Which is the reply that I once had when I once went out with an autistic lady (Aspergers)), one simply does not understand because this answer takes a great many months of mentally searching to fathom it out to know what it in reality actually means.
(It really confused me because I assumed I was not autistic despite having a few struggles (Shutdowns throughout my life (I did not know what they were) and I had gone through two or three burnouts by then), and yet I shared quite a few traits that she had so when she shared her traits, I thought it was "Normal"? So when she said she was wired differently, I could not work it out).
Saying "I am wired differently" confuses others who have not thought about the concepts of how one thinks. A better explanation is to say "Some of my brain signals do not make connections, but other small parts of my brain overdeveloped to compensate, so I may be very good at some subjects but really lack in other areas".
Now this will make sense for a non autistic person to comprehend because it is easier to relate to and understand, as "My brain is wired differently" is a complete mystery statement which is one that a non autistic minded person does not know how to interpret, as it leaves too much guess work for their minds to do to understand the interpretation of what the statement actually means.
So being able to phraze things and communicate in ways that others can understand helps not only those who are autistically minded to explain, but those who are not on the spectrum to have an understanding as to what is going on and why it is happening, as to a non autistic person, all they have to go by are what they see from the outside, and this may not amount to anything for some on the spectrum, while to others on the spectrum who are severely physically dissabled through it, they may really notice the lack of physical ability, but they will not understand why. (I like to explain it using a computer analogy. If one cuts a random connection on the computers circuit board and then runs the computer, it may not start up, or it may work absolutely perfectly until one day it needs to perform a certain specific task....)

The way we explain what autism is to others goes a whole long way into helping them understand what autism is, and how it effects us (I am not sure if I am on the spectrum but I do know for sure I have quite a lot of traits, so I use the term "Us" as I did not know what term to use in the situation that I am in as I have not been assessed yet).



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01 May 2021, 9:03 pm

I have read other disturbing pieces by Lucy Kross Wallace. She did a similar hit piece on the Black Lives Matter movement. I think the behavior is more a reflection of her than the neurodiversity movement.



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02 May 2021, 11:32 am

I think the letter reflects a situation that has eased over the last few years. When I first became aware of these things back in 2013 it was the height of the “Autism Wars”. You were a either “Autism Warrior” parents or adult Aspie advocates. ND advocates thought the parents were child abusing modern versions of Nazi eugenicists and the parents thought the advocates were elitist brats who were not autistic or did not have “real autism”.

This conflict is not gone, elements of it still persist but it is a lot more complicated and nuanced these days. You have parents who think their autistic children have superpowers, and autistic critics of neurodiversity movement such as Tom Clements whom have had their articles published in the mainstream media. While Carlos’s opinion is a minority here he has not been cancelled, as far as I know no attempt has been made ban him and the debates with him have been civil.

The anti ND advocates I have read dispise the anti-vaxxers, and generally dislike ABA and Autism Speaks and are for more Autistic rights. Most people on this site whom identify as aspie or autisic acknowledge its imparing disabling elements of it a many describe it as a disabilty.

The above is not meant to gaslight Lucy, to say she did not see what she described. Back in 2014 when the mostly younger members of WP were accusing people who identified as Aspie or ND of being elitist, not real autistics etc I asked them where they were getting this stuff from as it was at odds with what I was reading. Tumblr often came up as a place full of “self diagnosed” autistic wannabes who were pushing the idea that Aspies were superior, the next step in evolution. This was both dismissive of Autism caused problems and stigmatizing “real autistics” by 1.Making people think autism is not real 2. Is real but full of people who were wrongly diagnosed or outright faking it in order to seem trendy or to excuse bad behavior. Unfortunately it seems Tumblr is still a den of toxicity.


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02 May 2021, 6:22 pm

I don't get it. (What I write I do not mean it to be an insult. I write to try and explain how I felt while growing up and it was mainly due to not knowing what autism was, and also growing up in an area where we were taught not to mention anything to anyone in athority such as a doctor about any mental health condition, because my Mothers Mum was addicted to tablets which made her like a human zombie for half her life which doctors put her on, and my Grandmother on the other side was one who told me never to tell a doctor anything about mental health because "You will be locked away and never allowed out" and in her generation, many were where there was nothing bad wrong with them... Mental health carried a very bad stigma here in Wales, UK. I mention this so you can understand where I am coming from and why my wanting to be assessed is a big step forward but I reached the point were I was unable to work and I needed help).


I have had quite a number of times in my life had people come up to me and say I was autistic or ask if I was or tell me that I was an aspie or ask me if I was one. I dis not like these people telling me this as I had been taught that it was a negative thing. Sort of an insult to have this said to me or asked of me etc., especially as I have had a lifetime of masking to try to be percieved as "Normal" (Whatever that means? I was getting asked "Why can't you be "Normal" like everyone else?" So I was putting all the effort I can to try to be "Normal" and often failing!)
So having people suggest or ask if I was on the spectrum, even though they did not mean to insult or hurt me, would either puzzle me or make me feel bad. It was like a sort of insult, because I had a wrong concept of what autism actually is and what causes it etc.
The times when I have gone to explore "How" I think, I was met with very negative advice based on past negative experiences of my one grandmother (Who I am sure was on the spectrum but in those days autism was not a medical condition in the UK) who had got herself off addictive medication several times for the supplier of the tablets to keep changing their name, and doctors unknowingly putting her back onto them (They did not realize they were the same tablets, or sometimes a new doctor would not realize they were the same medication she had spent years trying to get off... She was a very kind and gentle lady, but the medication made her into a walking zombie and her life was awful while on them).

So anyway. Sorry for repeating myself.

But for me to finally realize that there was more to autism then I thought (And my concept was based on seeing vegetable like serious cases on TV who were really unable to do anything and whom I would love to be able to heal them from such an awful situation) was quite an eye opener.

So the concept of autism being "Trendy" was not one which applied to me. For me it was more in desperation in looking for answers to the problems I was facing that after quite a looong story led me to realize that the issues I was facing could be related to autism. Once I accepted this, I went one a mass binge studying of everything I could cram into my head about the subject! I kind of exhausted most of the youtube loops I was on... :D
But it took me a few years to come to this possibility, and view autism not just for what it really is, but in a factual way and not in a stigmatized negative way. (All my grandparents have passed away, and I am at the ge where I don't care what people think of me. I want to... I need to understand what is going on and why life has been such a struggle especially in recent years where things started to collapse around me).



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03 May 2021, 3:59 am

I’ve never been interested in going on Twitter but have read multiple articles that confirm the bullying of the parents of severely disabled kids is real.

There appears to be a sadistic troll army of ND extremists who get pleasure in spending all day hurling abuse at desperate mothers going through severe stress where social media may be one of the few stress releases.

Maybe the only thing between a parent mental breakdown with the child being put in care or worse increased risk of suicide / infantcide ( the very thing they claim they ironically say they try to prevent)

As much as I commend the bravery of the author and her changed ways I don’t really buy the claim of trying to prevent the murder of a child.

I feel like the whole Sia thing it’s more to do with the inability to accept severe autism.

Severe autism is the fly in the ointment or wreaking ball to their fragile carefully constructed alt universe they have constructed for themselves.

They desperately want them and their only voice suppressed and it appears this is these trolls primarily aim.

I suppose fists through walls, 24/7 care , 3am 911 calls that lead to being dragged to a secure mental health unit don’t really fit into the autism is “ cupcake flavors “ narrative.

So that leads to the inevitable “stop lying ***” “you should celebrate your child being severely disabled “ blah blah blah

I guess if one chooses to become the physical embodiment of a neuro developmental disorder, then every time it’s inevitably attacked you then feel the need to defend it to the point of pointless absurdity increasing personal stress as a result.

As discussions of treating / preventing it become personal attacks in a way other disabilities where the individual seperates themselves from their condition like bi polar don’t.

I suspect there are also elements of unresolved issues with their own mothers at play.It’s so much easier to attack strangers than what may be your primary care giver.

If there ever is a real autism community those with mild symptoms should spend time with those with severe autism to encourage greater understanding across the spectrum to prevent these evil things happening and they are definitely evil actions despite their pathetic excuses.


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03 May 2021, 1:22 pm

carlos55 wrote:
I’ve never been interested in going on Twitter but have read multiple articles that confirm the bullying of the parents of severely disabled kids is real.

There appears to be a sadistic troll army of ND extremists who get pleasure in spending all day hurling abuse at desperate mothers going through severe stress where social media may be one of the few stress releases.

Yes.
But seriously -- if you know what kind of users are there in most spaces of tumblr and at least parts of twitter... A lot of toxicity. :o Former might as well be a den full of SJWs

It's not just autism, but pretty much any topic.
It can be something as real as gender equality and politics, or something that doesn't reflect much in real life like fandoms and conspiracy theories.

Quote:
Maybe the only thing between a parent mental breakdown with the child being put in care or worse increased risk of suicide / infantcide ( the very thing they claim they ironically say they try to prevent)

As much as I commend the bravery of the author and her changed ways I don’t really buy the claim of trying to prevent the murder of a child.

I feel like the whole Sia thing it’s more to do with the inability to accept severe autism.

Severe autism is the fly in the ointment or wreaking ball to their fragile carefully constructed alt universe they have constructed for themselves.

They desperately want them and their only voice suppressed and it appears this is these trolls primarily aim.

I suppose fists through walls, 24/7 care , 3am 911 calls that lead to being dragged to a secure mental health unit don’t really fit into the autism is “ cupcake flavors “ narrative.

So that leads to the inevitable “stop lying ***” “you should celebrate your child being severely disabled “ blah blah blah

I guess if one chooses to become the physical embodiment of a neuro developmental disorder, then every time it’s inevitably attacked you then feel the need to defend it to the point of pointless absurdity increasing personal stress as a result.

As discussions of treating / preventing it become personal attacks in a way other disabilities where the individual seperates themselves from their condition like bi polar don’t.

I suspect there are also elements of unresolved issues with their own mothers at play.It’s so much easier to attack strangers than what may be your primary care giver.

Unsurprising.

Imagine being at least a 10 or younger years old diagnosed autistic 10 years ago or earlier -- in an era where 'Im Autism' is out there.

Just a case of an autistic with enough awareness and language receptive skills.
Maybe high functioning, maybe not.

And the most popular topic at the time in autism is glorified filicide, force feeding bleach or something and maybe school shooters -- which is real and did happened.

Then said adults and parents talk as if the child was not there.
Being anxious, wanting to walk out, but he or she can't -- they'd get restrained or something when leaving.
Or might as well be drugged elsewhere.

It was because, then, the most popular and dominant view at the time is that autistics are basically non-humans and to make them human is to cure them.
Or kill them, because that's mercy.

That's the 'reality' for most if not all of such people's childhood.


You think their lives having parents subscribed with that belief were pleasant? :lol:

Imagine, people being very comfortable with the idea of murdering you and it's because you're a monster or something -- and the opposite view is either too silent or had no voice until now.

Then fast forward to this present. Maybe late teens or already of legal age, likely no formal support because of age limit.

Said child is now grown up at least capable of typing in the net.
And still carrying those memories and experiences -- while the world already moved on, organizations changed, dynamics are now reversed.


What do you think? :twisted:
They don't need neurodiversity to hate autism parents, and project their abusive parents in them.

It already spread it's knowledge of abuse.

Ends up spreading the associations against treatment, against parents complaining, against whatever doesn't fit in their idea of autism.



I wonder... Just how old are you?

Quote:
If there ever is a real autism community those with mild symptoms should spend time with those with severe autism to encourage greater understanding across the spectrum to prevent these evil things happening and they are definitely evil actions despite their pathetic excuses.

If parents and professionals didn't alienate or outright dehumanize autistics to begin with, neurodiversity might not even needed.


I'm in such autism community personally.
But that's because parents here do not subscribe with the fear mongering views from the west.
In fact, said parents here rejects it despite a being the most popular view with worldwide influence at the time.

:P From where I came from, the goal is to have... "An (Autism)A-Ok country".
It doesn't alienate the idea of neurodiversity nor the medical views.


The US and the places it influenced could've done so much better...
But alas, they would had to fix their mess. :twisted:




As for trolls...
How much do you know about the nature of the internet? :twisted:


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carlos55
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04 May 2021, 4:57 am

Edna3362 wrote:
carlos55 wrote:
I’ve never been interested in going on Twitter but have read multiple articles that confirm the bullying of the parents of severely disabled kids is real.

There appears to be a sadistic troll army of ND extremists who get pleasure in spending all day hurling abuse at desperate mothers going through severe stress where social media may be one of the few stress releases.

Yes.
But seriously -- if you know what kind of users are there in most spaces of tumblr and at least parts of twitter... A lot of toxicity. :o Former might as well be a den full of SJWs

It's not just autism, but pretty much any topic.
It can be something as real as gender equality and politics, or something that doesn't reflect much in real life like fandoms and conspiracy theories.

Quote:
Maybe the only thing between a parent mental breakdown with the child being put in care or worse increased risk of suicide / infantcide ( the very thing they claim they ironically say they try to prevent)

As much as I commend the bravery of the author and her changed ways I don’t really buy the claim of trying to prevent the murder of a child.

I feel like the whole Sia thing it’s more to do with the inability to accept severe autism.

Severe autism is the fly in the ointment or wreaking ball to their fragile carefully constructed alt universe they have constructed for themselves.

They desperately want them and their only voice suppressed and it appears this is these trolls primarily aim.

I suppose fists through walls, 24/7 care , 3am 911 calls that lead to being dragged to a secure mental health unit don’t really fit into the autism is “ cupcake flavors “ narrative.

So that leads to the inevitable “stop lying ***” “you should celebrate your child being severely disabled “ blah blah blah

I guess if one chooses to become the physical embodiment of a neuro developmental disorder, then every time it’s inevitably attacked you then feel the need to defend it to the point of pointless absurdity increasing personal stress as a result.

As discussions of treating / preventing it become personal attacks in a way other disabilities where the individual seperates themselves from their condition like bi polar don’t.

I suspect there are also elements of unresolved issues with their own mothers at play.It’s so much easier to attack strangers than what may be your primary care giver.

Unsurprising.

Imagine being at least a 10 or younger years old diagnosed autistic 10 years ago or earlier -- in an era where 'Im Autism' is out there.

Just a case of an autistic with enough awareness and language receptive skills.
Maybe high functioning, maybe not.

And the most popular topic at the time in autism is glorified filicide, force feeding bleach or something and maybe school shooters -- which is real and did happened.

Then said adults and parents talk as if the child was not there.
Being anxious, wanting to walk out, but he or she can't -- they'd get restrained or something when leaving.
Or might as well be drugged elsewhere.

It was because, then, the most popular and dominant view at the time is that autistics are basically non-humans and to make them human is to cure them.
Or kill them, because that's mercy.

That's the 'reality' for most if not all of such people's childhood.


You think their lives having parents subscribed with that belief were pleasant? :lol:

Imagine, people being very comfortable with the idea of murdering you and it's because you're a monster or something -- and the opposite view is either too silent or had no voice until now.

Then fast forward to this present. Maybe late teens or already of legal age, likely no formal support because of age limit.

Said child is now grown up at least capable of typing in the net.
And still carrying those memories and experiences -- while the world already moved on, organizations changed, dynamics are now reversed.


What do you think? :twisted:
They don't need neurodiversity to hate autism parents, and project their abusive parents in them.

It already spread it's knowledge of abuse.

Ends up spreading the associations against treatment, against parents complaining, against whatever doesn't fit in their idea of autism.



I wonder... Just how old are you?

Quote:
If there ever is a real autism community those with mild symptoms should spend time with those with severe autism to encourage greater understanding across the spectrum to prevent these evil things happening and they are definitely evil actions despite their pathetic excuses.

If parents and professionals didn't alienate or outright dehumanize autistics to begin with, neurodiversity might not even needed.


I'm in such autism community personally.
But that's because parents here do not subscribe with the fear mongering views from the west.
In fact, said parents here rejects it despite a being the most popular view with worldwide influence at the time.

:P From where I came from, the goal is to have... "An (Autism)A-Ok country".
It doesn't alienate the idea of neurodiversity nor the medical views.


The US and the places it influenced could've done so much better...
But alas, they would had to fix their mess. :twisted:




As for trolls...
How much do you know about the nature of the internet? :twisted:


Of course I’m sure that’s all true to those who were diagnosed in childhood not really disagreeing with that.

Of course there are probably autistic people with milder symptoms who are sadistic bully’s just as some NTs.

When autistic people read ND stuff encouraging them to be autism as opposed to having autism that’s probably where the problems occur.

Autism is a spectrum for now and society will always naturally view severe disability as a bad thing that ideally should be treated or prevented.

The same goes for all developmental disorders. If a child cannot effectively communicate or form relationships its a bad thing, few in society will disagree.

So ND advocates who want to be autism will end up setting themselves up to take things personally every time prevention and treatment is inevitably mentioned. For they see themselves as autism itself and feel the need to defend it as a personal attack.

This leads many advocates to a world of increased stress and physiological pain as they try to defend the indefensible online which is severe disability.

Having to maintain a whole alt universe at odds with reality trying desperately to make everything fit and suppressing info that doesn’t, whether a movie portrail, scientific report or something a mother says online.

Unfortunately it never works since suppressing the truth for them doesn’t make it go away and nothing changes.

It may however push a vulnerable mother to the edge and lead to tragedy though

Severe autism is officially still part of the autism spectrum like an unmovable lead anchor to the pathology status of ASD.


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Mona Pereth
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08 May 2021, 1:55 pm

carlos55 wrote:
The Cognitive Distortions that Feed Neurodiversity Radicalism — NCSA (ncsautism.org)

https://www.ncsautism.org/blog//the-cog ... istortions


Quote:
The Cognitive Distortions that Feed Neurodiversity Radicalism

By Lucy Kross Wallace

[...]

Next, due to the concept-creep associated with the word "autism" and the collapse of multiple diagnoses into one autism spectrum category, we suffer an illusion that different people with “autism” have more in common than they actually do. In my dark days of advocacy, I fought fiercely against the notion that my autism was any less severe than anyone else’s, drawing on bizarre, nonsensical analogies I’d found online that equated autism to cupcake flavors and insisted that a single person can be both high- and low-functioning. Of course, these arguments were ridiculous, but admitting that my autism was relatively mild would have forced me to surrender my sense of authority.

One can reject the over-simplified dichotomy of "high-functioning" vs. "low-functioning" while still acknowledging that some people are more disabled than others.

I've never considered badgering individual parents to be a productive form of activism.

As for the idea that being even a mildly disabled autistic person makes one an expert on even the most severely disabling kinds of autism, there was much more truth to this idea in the early days of the autistic rights movement than there is now.

Back in the early 1990's, "Asperger's syndrome" wasn't yet in the DSM. Therefore, most of the leading figures in the autistic rights movement were not Aspies, but people who had had long speech delays as children -- and who had clear memories of (1) what it was like to be nonverbal and (2) how they finally learned to talk (or otherwise communicate, e.g. by typing). Jim Sinclair, for example, didn't start speaking until age 12.

The early leaders of the autistic rights movement were people who, for at least several years prior, had been attending parent-oriented autism conferences, sometimes as speakers on a panel, and were valued by the parents and professionals for their insights into what it was like to be nonverbal and how they eventually developed various basic skills. For an example of the kinds of things these autistic public figures talked about back in the late 1980's and early 1990's, see Bridging the Gaps: An Inside-Out View of Autism (Or, Do You Know What I Don't Know?) by Jim Sinclair.

At the same time, they found it alienating to be treated like "self-narrating zoo exhibits" and bugs under a microscope. They also felt that the extreme negative attitudes of many of the parents would likely be harmful to their children's development. That's what led Jim Sinclair to write Don't Mourn for Us.

For more historical background, see also Historicizing Jim Sinclair’s “Don’t Mourn for Us”: A Cultural and Intellectual History of Neurodiversity’s First Manifesto by Sarah Pripas-Kapit.

These days, the majority of autistic activists are either Aspies or people like me, who were too developmentally delayed to qualify as Aspies, but nowhere nearly as developmentally delayed as Jim Sinclair. I have no memories of what it was like to be nonverbal or how I learned to talk. So I'm certainly no expert on what it's like to be a nonverbal autistic person.


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