Apologies for two depressing posts in a row, but this is important
I'm not usually the type to sign online petitions - they rarely make any difference - but I must make an exception for this.
http://www.autism-hub.co.uk/autism-speaks-dont-speak-for-me/index.php
On May 9th 2006, Autism Speaks launched a film ( Read more... )
http://www.autism-hub.co.uk/autism-speaks-dont-speak-for-me/index.php
On May 9th 2006, Autism Speaks launched a film ( Read more... )
I do, do, do think people shouldn't make documentaries like that. I'm not particularly surprised? The duty of every documentary producer is to make the bitchiest, least helpful, most offensive video ever. The second-worst thing in the world is watching a mainstream documentary (i.e., for the tv, not specifically for a classroom) that you actually know about, because you will sit there going...wha? The worst thing is watching a mainstream documentary about something you know and care about and is controversial. Haha, ohh the "being gay means you will commit suicide" videos.
I guess the only problem I have ever, ever had with this is I hate rosy pictures. The documentary was way, way out of line in the negative direction. You...seem to skew too far the other way, and it niggles me a little.
My life is all about being stuck in the middle. I believe in the middle. The middle is good. I hate people who are extreme left, extreme right, extremely religious, extremely atheist, (irrationally) extremely fat or thin. I think the middle of this issue is significantly closer to your side than theirs, but I don't think you're on the reasonably un-biased line? I feel you're close, but still a little pundit-y. A pundit on the side I favor, but I favor people who show light and dark more? About OCD, you're extremely dark, but about autism you're all light?
Ok, now about something tangential to the argument anyway. Have you met disability pride people? If anyone does have a close connection to the disability community near them, feel free to step in, but what I could get from the folks at UW, is this. They are disabled, but this is not a bad thing. In fact, trying to cure diseases like that is technically genocide of their vibrant community. In their own houses/apartments, everything is the right height, and everything is accessible, and they just want the rest of the world like that. (I don't know if they've done this in the UK, or for that matter if you ever go to the store when your parents buy things, but here they now have one keypad at chest height, and have installed a second keypad at about hip height for people in wheelchairs to use their PINs in. I think this is cool, but I also think we could go too far with this.) If I ever complained to any of them about how much I want to go hiking, they would just tuttut about how I was living to someone else's expectations. When, really, I think those are probably my expectations because I freaking love hiking. I could see my acquaintance Erica (who is feisty, shall we say) calling you ignorant and disrespectful for saying nerve damage is clearly a real problem, because the world needs to adapt to it, and we already have. Blah blah blah. It's a problem for me, and I want to go fucking hiking. That's why I stopped hanging out with them. It was nice at first to have some people who understood how hard it is to get around and get everything done at UW when you're not exactly jogging around, but I can't take positivity that much. I can't take righteous anger when I'm there going, um, sure, I'll take the free parking space, that would rock! But, trust me, they have exactly the same attitude about whatever the hell they each have as you do with autism. Cool enough. Install elevators, you jerks, so I can get to class on time without dying. But some of the things they were suggesting just bothered me. I can't say for sure now.
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About OCD, you're extremely dark, but about autism you're all light?
Yes, because my OCD is an illness which I have developed and which is damaging to my quality of life. Aspergers is something that is part of who I am and always has been, and I wouldn't want to live without it because I wouldn't be me. It's just difficult navigating that sometimes.
However, I wouldn't say I'm 'all light' about it either. Have you read some of my less political posts about Aspergers? Here are a few I just fished out of the tags...
http://sasha-lilyrat.livejournal.com/142133.html
http://sasha-lilyrat.livejournal.com/116765.html
http://sasha-lilyrat.livejournal.com/106433.html
http://sasha-lilyrat.livejournal.com/106208.html
http://sasha-lilyrat.livejournal.com/17695.html
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The funny thing is that Erica isn't disabled. She clearly states that, so it isn't an invisible disability, either. But the others were just as vocal, just not as likely to bite people.
Do you want me to leave? I do not do this often. You have not seen me do this before. Whether I stay or go, you are not likely to see it again.
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You can write those entries, and still consider it not a problem?
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Yes. I think this is where we are getting stuck - the terminology of it. I don't see Aspergers as a problem. I do think it causes problems. There is a difference. But I'm not quite sure how else to explain it.
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I can no longer sit at the computer and argue/debate/bitch/slap people around. Whatever it is I am doing. RenFaire...I'm going dressed as the 60s. For some reason.
But could I know if you intend to unfriend me before I go off to the park? It would be better for me to stop stressing. I hate arguing/debating/bitching/slapping people around, even with people on the internet, and would feel much better with some sort of response.
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So, um, yeah I don't know. Yes, I am so helpful like that.
Have fun at the RenFaire, anyway! :)
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The thing about autism that's always bothered me is families. I go to extreme lengths to try to not be in the way. My being gay has never impacted my family in any material way. I don't give a damn about my dad's "OMG," it's not financial, it's not physical. My throat injury has cost us - money for doctors, medicine, follow up surgeries. Mostly, it's cost us time and effort, as the rest of the family has to take the heavy suitcase, my dad has to carry my skiis for me, my dad hasn't gotten to go hiking either because I was the one he always went with. It hasn't cost them much, but then again, it's mostly my burden. H's family struggles a lot. But even the Aspie Satellites I know...I can't imagine not having a job. I was out of a job for two years because of injuries and I hated it. I'm sure there are jobs that fit the right qualifications, but I'm not sure how many and how full they are. I've never done a job you or J or M (woot privacy initials) could do. ...Or my parents', aunts', uncles', friends' jobs. I couldn't work while I still had anxiety attacks, so they were a problem for my family as well as just me.
This might be just my upbringing? There's a very old Protestant sense that you better damn well contribute. My family isn't even religious anymore, and I can sense it. Which is probably why being laid off sent me into a non-showering, non-eating death spiral. Because if there's a good reason why you can't work, then there is something distinctly wrong with you in my culture. (Subculture? Is there something between a culture and a subculture?)
I think you think there is some iconic life I want everyone to lead, and hit people with sticks when they don't? Or at least that I am buying into the society's drilling that this is correct? I don't think I am, or at least I think I am as far from that as possible? Somewhere in the middle of conformity and anarchy? (And yes. I do know anarchists at school. They are best not spoken of.) I don't really care what people do. I just hate seeing how various things impact the lives of those around them. I don't want my mother to take care of me any more than is necessary for a not-quite-out-of-the-nest girl who still occasionally needs to be taken out to lunch after a broken heart. I didn't like it when I had to depend on my SO-of-the-time after my surgery - I love him more because he stayed so close to me, spoke for me, drove the car, held my hand - but I think it ruined things that one of us was leaning on the other more than normal. Even then - it was only about 5 months that I was having the worst problems. It wasn't years and years. Again, probably my background. H's pretty bad autism, my surgery, my sister's and my severe depression disorders, my grandfather's Alzheimers, my really good friend's abused past. I love my sister and my friend, I loved my grandfather, and I like H perfectly well. I just tend to consider anything that makes us shelter someone and do their work for them and go way, way out of our way every day for them a problem. And I can see your mother does this for you. That might be primarily OCD related, but you can't tell me it's not Aspie related, too. And, scrolling between the fandom posts, it always makes me wonder what she would be writing if she has a diary/journal/blog. (I do this a lot. It's a weird habit of mine I do with almost everyone. Please, please do not take this the wrong way.) Even from here, I am certain it would be full of a ton of love and not wishing you and your brother any other way. But I'm also fairly certain it would contain the desire for a break, the need for someone else to help her, the stress of mothering more than I think the average teen's mother needs to. Unless your mother is a robot. It's possible. I have no idea.
*has a feeling she desperately needs to bake and deliver brownies at this point*
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I think you think there is some iconic life I want everyone to lead, and hit people with sticks when they don't? Or at least that I am buying into the society's drilling that this is correct?
I don't think this at all. :\ I just think you're not fully aware of the effect that neurotypical society has on the Autistic community. That's all I was saying.
As for my mother... see this post. I am perfectly aware of how difficult it is for her, how hard I make her life, and how absolutely wonderful she is for coping the way she does. I have plenty of guilt about it already. I don't really need you to tell me how I make her suffer.
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