‘The Hill’ opinion column on identity first language

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Sam Farmer wears many hats, among these father, husband, musician, computer consultant, and autism spectrum community contributor. Diagnosed later in life with Asperger’s Syndrome, he writes blogs and articles, records coaching videos, and presents at conferences, sharing stories, ideas, and insights as to how one can achieve greater happiness and success in life despite facing challenges and adversity that often interfere in these pursuits. To learn more, visit samfarmerauthor.com.

“A Long Walk Down a Winding Road: Small Steps, Challenges, & Triumphs Through an Autistic Lens” is available on Amazon and can be purchased at all major booksellers.

Autistic person' and 'person with autism' are not one and the same

Unfortunately the author contradicts himself on the one hand he understands those who view their autism as a disorder and accepts their view.

On the other “words matter” and he wants and expects to be called an autistic person.

So how is anyone else expected to know which camp he or others like him sits in?

He’s someone with autism when he needs help via housing and welfare because it’s viewed as a disorder and help is given.

When he’s on Twitter presumably it’s identity politics.

Why not just use a vague description of being wired differently.

Or better still those like him to invent their own labels like the trans community did, if you don’t feel you have or want to be associated with a disorder.

Like the Common Cold, there’s no cure for autism. Both are quite treatable, though.

Autism will always be rooted in medical disorder, which unlocks the help in the first place for those that need it
Half of autistic kids have an IQ below average, 30% are ID, (adult figures are only slightly better on average IQ) many are unable to live independently or work, there`s no escaping that fact.

So autism will never just be a natural difference any more than fragile x or Rett syndrome.

Many autistic people want to be cured, i believe a poll on WP a few years ago showed around 30%, of course they were able to use a computer, if you added the many that cant because they are ID, i bet it would be probably around half.

So the community is at an impasse because both sides are trying to claim autism is something else & one encroaches on the other

The best way forward for those that don’t want to be associated with the medical / disorder model or even autism would simply be to emulate the trans community and create a label for themselves.

While most people are not familiar with the 60 or so forms of gender most people now are familiar with terms like non binary or CIS gender. In this case these people only need one or two labels to describe themselves.

And what? Have people who calls autistics half ret*d and half insane take over on how the future of autism would go?


Please. Giving "anti medical" autistics a new label is redundant and confusing at best, and alienating at worst.
Also parents have enough power to filter the new label from their child, as much as they can instill hate towards autism before being able to decide for themselves.

The poll years ago? If it's over 10+ years old, it's practically irrelevant on the now because things changed.



As for desiring cure -- the observations are true that those who seek cure are either due to their mental health and how others treated them.

Partially because any human who are never happy with themselves will.
Partially because any human who are goaded into it and convince they needed it because of external standards -- meaning, it's not about them. This includes parents who speaks for every autistics out there.

And partially because of some form of helplessness and the human desire to overcome it. Be it proving people wrong or just for the sake of power or plain envy or outright fear of living.



The problem around autism is how autism is advertised.

This is an old issue.
In fact, it's those foreign parents who sought cure were the ones who had been encroaching opinions first.
Their then speaking adult children came later in protest, which says something. How else neurodiversity is made in the first place?
And so the dynamics are reversed.


And now in this present -- the debate is about medical consent instead of who have it worse and everything centered around suffering and facts about lifespans or quality of life.

It leads to a very strange dilemma whenever intellectual disability, mental health and minor age enters.

Know what happens when a cure is available? Adult parents would get them for their children.
And children generally do not make those decisions and are very much easily swayed. Even do so without their consent.


You, a married legal aged adult no less, can consent and have the right and capacity to.
But children under care? Adults under certain guardianship conditions? Questionable.

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"I have diabetes" " I am diabetic"
"I have autism" "I am autistic" I use these phrases and don't see why one must choose "either/or".
Each is useful in different contexts and different situations. Do what is right for you.

Polls vary wildly online but there’s a hardcore of anywhere between 15-30% of computer able autistic people who would like to be cured.

Or conservatively 1 or 2 in 5 if you added those with ID and other issues who find their autism painful. So not an insignificant number.

When single gene editing comes into being as recently reported for autism I suspect fear will reduce and that figure will go up.

Autistic people have been subject to label changes for years.

Aspergers was forgotten about until 1994 then it was incorporated into Autism in 2013.

So then it became ASD level 1//2/3.

So it’s not like we are not used to label changes.

Many aspies I remember reading hated being associated with the so called “head bangers” of autism.

Many hate being associated with the medical grounding of autism and its associated negativity.

I believe the best way forward for these people is to simply copy the trans community and create their own positive label to describe themselves.

Nick Walker for example I believe calls himself a “neuro queer”.

That way the medical term is left to those that want it.

I'll say it again -- redundant and confusing.

How about I'll just define the differences then:
Pro ND autistic; favors neither medical nor social, does not deny medical but pushes social, favors positive but do not deny negatives.

Segregationist; has a clear distinction which 'side' of the spectrum they belong into -- they are either HFA or LFA, and nothing in between. LFAs favoring medical and "negatives", HFAs favoring social and "positives".
Neither are inherently positive nor negative.

Supremecist; denies medical model, believes that autism is the next step of evolution, toxic positivity.



But mostly none of these are inherently positive nor negative.

Unlike the DS kids, we're not advertised by parents as happy, requires patience and understanding to thrive, and unconditionally lovable.
The difficulties are met with sympathy on both parties -- parent and child. Child does not need to be redeemed, nor divided from functioning levels.
Parents don't attempt to foresee said child's future with doom or with suspicion that they'd commit crimes or something -- some don't just not chose to abort them -- they don't care if the child is disabled, has shorter life span and health issues. They'd choose to love this child as much as the child's time on earth, even if difficult.

Nope, we're advertised as "worse than aids and cancer combined", pities the parents and condemns us as "not human enough".
If not that, having to "redeem" ourselves as useful and talented or whatever trope characters out there these days.
Having to divide between who has traits that can "redeem" from whatever horribleness that is autism.

It could've been worse though. Like how ADHD or ADD isn't taken seriously enough.
But unlike in autism communities, there seem to be some consensus about how ADHD is treatmented and how it is approached medically no matter what side of functioning or achievement someone is.
There is no debate on consent, because being off meds is a possible option for them in adulthood if they've been taking it since childhood. The same with self medicating, really.
I don't think autism does not have this yet. But then ADHD is one of the most treatable psych conditions.
The closest divide it has over treatments are those who judge those who's being dependent on taking meds (usually stemmed from either imposter syndrome or said meds as smart drugs or 'basically meth') or assumed too much that everyone's the same.


Take models from LGBT community? I think we're past that. Well, maybe at least about to past through.
I'd say autistics would take pages from ADHD, and parents or carers learn from DS.

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