Don't Blame Us for the Bigotry We Receive

Many people try to convince others that the hatred we neurodivergent people are on the receiving end of is our fault. We are taught social skills curricula such as Social Thinking teaching us that our behaviors are a direct cause of people having "weird thoughts" about us, and organizations like Autism Speaks and NAMI convince neurotypicals that neurodivergent people are burdens. But bigotry is the fault of the perpetrator, not the victim.

There are more factors that affect people's reactions than another person's behavior. People's reactions to people's behavior has a lot to do with cultural attitudes, telling them what is socially appropriate behavior and what is socially inappropriate behavior, and what kinds of behavior are signs that someone may be dangerous. In a culture where we are taught that behavior of people of certain neurotypes are socially inappropriate or are a sign that someone is dangerous, those people are going to get a lot of hate. To solve that problem, we have to change society, not ourselves.

Also, if someone knows that someone is disabled, and they act ableist towards them because of that, this is definitely not the disabled person's fault. The only thing the disabled person is doing is existing as a disabled person.

The belief that neurodivergent people are to blame for being discriminated against is wrong in both ways. Not only is it incorrect, but it also harms people. It can lead to ND people to feel guilt when they are discriminated against, or even become depressed. ND people should know that no matter what other people say, they are not to blame.

Autism and Schizophrenia Are Not Opposites

Autism and schizophrenic spectrum conditions are often considered opposites. However, people who are both autistic and on the schizophrenic spectrum exist (for example, SteelMaiden on wronplanet.net). The reasons given for those two types of neurologies being opposites is based on stereotypes of autistic people.

One stereotype given as a reason is that they are opposites is that autistics are better at math than art. However, some autistic people are bad at math, and some autistic people are good artists (and I'm not just talking about drawing real things accurately).

Another stereotype that is used to support the argument is that autistics lack a theory of mind. However, the very concept of theory of mind is fundamentally flawed. When autistics don't understand neurotypicals, it is attributed in the theory of mind deficits of the autistic person. When neurotypicals don't understand autistic people, this is also attributed to the autistic's poor theory of mind. Is it possible that neither of them can understand the other's experiences? Furthermore, there is evidence that failing theory of mind tests may be due to difficulty processing sentence structures in Theory of Mind tests.

Finally, people use the stereotype that autistic people lack imagination. It boggles my mind why people think that, as I've never seen that in autistics, and I don't think I can give a good explanation, so I'll just leave you with this link:

http://www.logarithmic.net/pfh/blog/01121170648

Personality Disorders and the Social Model of Disability

Personality disorders are conditions in which a person's personality is drastically different from social norms. Often, these conditions are said to be inflexible and maladaptive. People with these conditions are said to be unable to adapt their personality, which makes the case that the conditions are diabilities. And, they are said to blame the challenges they create on others and society.

Wait a minute.

Personality is drastically different from social norms?
And they also blame the challenges they create on society?

Something doesn't add up.

Those contradictory statements said about personality disorders is an example of one of the problems with the medical model of disability: biased and inaccurate views of disabilities.

Personality disorders are highly stigmatized. Personality disordered people are often seen as abusers, when having a personality disorder does not make you necessarily abusive (even in antisocial individuals; many of them don't hurt others because they realize it will hurt them in the long run). Also, their problems are seen as all their fault when they did not choose to have a personality that is at odds with society, and even though one essential characteristic of personality disorders is that they significantly deviate from social norms. What is worse is that they are said to not realize that how their personality is is a problem, which is really a matter of opinion. They, like other people, have the right to hold a different opinion.

One way to resolve the stigma is to think of personality disorders using the social model of disability. Because the model says that disability is an interaction between an individual and society, personality disordered individuals would not be seen as entirely at fault; the reason they have so much difficulty is that the individual's personality and society clash, and if society were to accommodate personality disordered individuals, their difficulties would lessen.

Also, I would like to ask readers something. What do you think would be a more neurodiversity-friendly term for personality disorders? Please post your ideas in the comments.

Why I Am Against Autism Speaks

Autism Speaks is the most prominent autism organization, so many people wonder why so many autistics are against Autism Speaks. This is why I am against Autism Speaks.

First off, Autism Speaks' budget doesn't give autistics much of what they need. Autism Speaks' funds mainly go to awareness and research, with only 4% going to services. Plus, its awareness portrays autism as a tragedy and the research it funds tries to find prevention and cure for autism.

Its awareness often says that autism is a tragedy. It often says that autism has taken away the real child. It tries to portray autistics as burdens by saying things like how much it costs to care for an autistic child. It uses functioning labels, which are inaccurate and often lead to under or over-estimation of an autistics abilities. It also uses the medical model (I have written about its flaws in this post). It spreads many other myths, too, such as autistics being worse at Theory of Mind than neurotypicals and that autism is an epidemic.

Its research into the causes of autism often equates correlation with causation. Doing so is bad science. Also, those studies are often used to scare people into thinking autism is a tragedy.

Also, there are no autistics on its board. This makes the name "Autism Speaks" misleading. In fact, Autism Speaks silences autistics while claiming to speak for them. A more accurate name for Autism Speaks would be "Parents Putting Words in Autistics' Mouths".

Also, Autism Speaks supports ABA. However, ABA, when done in the way it is intended, is abusive. Many autistics have reported getting PTSD from being subjected to ABA.

This is why I am against Autism Speaks. What actually supports autistics are organizations such as the Autistic Self Advocacy Network.

Anti-Vaccination Activists, Consider This

People who are against vaccines, consider this. The research published by Andrew Lakefield was a fraud. The data was manipulated to make it look like the MMR vaccine causes autism. Furthermore, further research has found no relationship between vaccines and autism.

Not convinced? Then consider this. What is worse, having a child with a neurological difference, or having a child be exposed to a disease that can result in permanent hearing loss and causes death 1 or 2 out of 1,000 cases?

Autism gives individuals intense interests that eventually make them an expert, a unique perspective, and better self-awareness. It also makes them see things as they are. And how is that worse than getting a disease?

What Does Disability Really Mean?

The most common model of disability used is the medical model of disability. The medical model views disability as a deficit, and says that disabilities should be cured or disabled people should pass as normal. Also, it focuses on the individual only. The medical model often results in scientific studies that focus on coming up with a cure (thanks a lot, Autism Speaks) and shoehorns differences observed as deficits (How is that objective? Shouldn't scientific studies minimize bias?). It also can lead to pressure to have the person seem normal, which can lead to problems as disabled people are different in such a way that the normal way of functioning does not help them accomplish a task.

This model can be easily accepted if a person decides to focus on only the disabled individuals or sees differences as being bad. However, if a person looks at the society around them and withholds their typical judgements, they may realize that the social model of disability is more accurate.

The social model is neutral and focuses not just on disabled individuals, but also on the society they live in. Also, it says that disabled people should be accommodated rather than be cured or be encouraged to pass as normal.

Think of it like biological adaptations. They do not help or harm an organism in and of themselves, but the same adaptation can help or hinder an organism in different environments. For example, a species of animal may have a digestive system specialized to process food found in their habitat. However, if it gets whisked out of its natural habitat and into one that has different kinds of food available, it may have trouble digesting it. The cure approach would be to surgically alter its digestive system to process the foods found in its new habitat, which is invasive and may lead to the death of the animal. The "pass as normal" approach would be to have it eat the food found in the new habitat. However, this leads to the animal not being able to function due to improper nutrition. On the other hand, the accommodation approach would be to get the food from its old habitat and let the animal eat it, and to be cooperative when the animal turns its nose up at food that gives it digestive problems. This leads to the animal being able to thrive.

Likewise, abusive treatments used on neurodivergent individuals may result in damage to their body or even death. Making them pass as normal may make them unable to function. However, encouraging them to do things in their natural way and to figure out what works for them and what doesn't will lead to them being able to thrive.