theconsultingdramaqueen:littlerainbowofnotokay:azariathegoat:finessesurmic:ohmygodjamal:ar
theconsultingdramaqueen: littlerainbowofnotokay: azariathegoat: finessesurmic: ohmygodjamal: archive-of-gorgeousness: Amazing! An angel It’s beautiful how people with autism are typically so much more spatially advanced…my little cousin has memorized all the freeway systems in California and he’s like 9 From memory…. Let that sink in…I barely remember myself I’m reblogging this again because I just want to like… Make an example of things that are sorta gross and honestly really annoying. So that third comment: seems pretty harmless and actually nice, right? Yeah I mean it’s sort of a compliment but the issue really is that it a) sort of generalizes all autistic people and b) really reallly comes off as inspiration porn. So, to respond to a) not all autistic people have good spatial awareness. I do appreciate mediating this effect with the “typically” part but the issue is that it’s not really a typicality. I have the worst memory and no sense of direction, and I know at least a couple other autistic people who are the same way. Knowing of two autistic people who have good spatial awareness does not mean that everyone who is autistic is going to have that skill. And b) inspiration porn is gross. It makes me (or us) feel like nothing more than objects to make neurotypical people happy and feel all mushy inside. Yeah what this guy can do is SUPER COOL, but you don’t need to say that autistic people are “beautiful” for having this spatial awareness skill. We aren’t your entertainment. Imagine being sick with the flu at school and being in gym class. You’re going to play dodgeball, but when they start to pick teams, you get picked first because you’re sick and everyone claps and smiles. It sounds nice, yeah, but you KNOW that the only reason their reaction is like this is because they “helped” someone who was sick. Then later when you need to sit out or rest because, hey, you have the flu, they say “but that’s not fair, we don’t get to sit out”. Being autistic isn’t like being sick, but the analogy stands. People get a high off of “helping” or “appreciating” or “complimenting” autistic and disabled people and turn around and won’t accept that we need certain accommodations. That’s the issue. The problem is that we tend to label things like this as “beautiful” for the way it looks to us on the outside (i.e. we get to admire this man’s amazing artwork) and often forget to ask what autism looks like to the autistic person from the inside. As soon as someone has autism and can’t do a neat trick like this, it’s suddenly seen as much less “beautiful”. And before you say, “What’s the big deal? It was a compliment!” (I get that, I do, but this is important to understand) please take a minute to research awful organizations like Autism Speaks, because too many people who claim to support autistic people still see them mainly as burdens to bear until a cure can be found. And part of that is this mentality that autistic people “typically” have special talents that “make up” for their autism, whereas for them, the autism itself may be a huge part of their identity and they wouldn’t trade it for the world. (Not true for all, but certainly for many.) Just remember: ASD can vary drastically from one person to another (seriously, the range of symptoms is huge and fascinating and still not all that well-understood in some demographics like women and adults) so there’s absolutely no way to say “this is what autism is” just by looking at a couple of gifted individuals. -- source link
#autistic