(so, there’s supposed to be a picture here of me wearing my red tights while escorting this morning, but guess who forgot to take a picture?)
Today is World Autism Awareness Day and that means two things:
1. Red is awesome.
2. Blue can suck it.
Why? Because blue and blue puzzle pieces and “Awareness” and all that are symbols for Autism Speaks, a group that sounds good on the surface, but sucks.
How much?
A$ treats autism like a disease, one to be cured. Do you know how shitty it is to treat people, living breathing people, like diseases to be cured or puzzles to be figured out just because they process information differently? Also, for all the damn money they take in, not a whole lot of it goes towards actually helping anyone. Seriously, learn what autism is, check out all of these links that exposes their shit, and this Mary Sue article that tells you how you can help this month (and all year, for fuck’s sake). Hell, they even call this month Autism Awareness Month.
Hey, I’m aware of autism. I’m aware of people with autism. What next?
How about Acceptance? How about treating the neurodivergent (which I think includes my ADD ass) like PEOPLE and not terrible burdens on their parents and caretakers. How about instead of teaching autistic children to sit still with “quiet hands”, we teach the world to accept them? How about instead of moaning about the great burden handed to you and recording meltdowns to get sympathy, you learn to work with your child?
(actually, while I’m at it, can everyone stop posting pictures/video of their kids having tantrums/crying? That shit isn’t cute, and if someone stuck a camera in your face while you were that upset, you’d punch them into next week.)
So, just imagine my red tights, act like you’ve got some sense around this issue and remember, it’s Autism ACCEPTANCE Month, okay?
Oh, and fuck Autism Speaks, cause it doesn’t speak for autistics.
(cover image courtesy of The Bullshit Fairy’s Facebook Group)
I hate the thought of autism as a disease. I have a wonderful friend and a dear grand-nephew on the spectrum. They’re not diseased; they’re just a bit different. They, like all other humans, have unique talents and skills and interests and foibles and quirks. I love them dearly. Why would I think they are diseased?
Now, I admit that people who are SO different that they have trouble navigating neurotypical culture need a hand up, because that is a real setback in life. But that still doesn’t mean they are diseased, just that us neurotypical folks are lazy and rely too much on the shortcuts for communication that we’ve developed. Brains are wonderful, almost magical, organs that do so damned much for us humans that we don’t appreciate. We need to all accept that they aren’t all wired the same, and that’s just how it is.
Thank you for this, my niece’s oldest is on the spectrum and fortunately they live in a state that has early intervention and assistance programs. He has been able to get speech, physical and occupational therapy since he was not quite 2. He’s an awesome 5 year old today who speaks pretty well for his age and is already reading. Early intervention and therapists who could show his parents how to interact with him on his terms made all the difference. Learning how to figure out what he was trying to communicate has helped cut down on his frustrations and melt-downs so much. Every person who talks about autistic kids in terms of “getting my child back” or their child being “broken” makes me sad. Being different doesn’t make them broken. Autism Speaks acts like there are no adults on the spectrum, how about they try letting adult autistics speak for themselves sometime?
Yeah, the “getting my child back” and such is bullshit. You have a child. They’re right there, if you bother accepting them.
I generally think early intervention should always be more for the parents than the kid – intervene early so they can learn acceptance instead of fear!
Glad to hear the kiddo is doing well. 🙂