Trigger Warning: Ableism, tragedy model, quotes from the "I am Autism" transcript
``I am Autism."
No. No, you aren't. Autism is an abstract label applied to a huge group of people, and no one person can be autism.
``... I am invisible to you until it is too late."
No. See, there is no such thing as too late. Whatever you might say about early intervention being important... we can help an autistic person of any age. Also, fear-mongering much?
``I know where you live. And guess what? I live there too." Um, hello fear-mongering. I hadn't seen you since... the last line of this thing.
``I work faster than pediatric aids, cancer, and diabetes combined." Yeah, except those three all have the ability to kill people. Autism... doesn't. (Epilepsy, which sometimes comes with autism, can be fatal. But epilepsy is not autism.)
``And if you’re happily married, I will make sure that your marriage fails.
Your money will fall into my hands, and I will bankrupt you for my own self-gain." So, maybe this is where that myth about some insane portion of marriages fail when the kid is autistic comes from? Also, who is gaining from the money spent? It's not the abstract concept. It's either the kid or the parent. Also, fear-mongering.
``I don’t sleep, so I make sure you don’t either.
I will make it virtually impossible for your family to easily attend a temple, birthday party, or public park without a struggle, without embarrassment, without pain.
You have no cure for me." Ok, seriously? Sometimes it's not much, but autistics do sleep eventually. And that embarrassment is because of societal norms. And not everyone wants a cure anyways.
``And the truth is, I am still winning, and you are scared. And you should be." No. See, that's fear-mongering. That's something you're NOT supposed to do about disabilities.
The rest is trying to sound hopeful. It's trying to sound like a message of strength and solidarity. And it is failing, because it is treating a big part of who these people are as the enemy to be defeated, that autism is an outside force that came for the kid. That just isn't the case, and seeing it treated that way is hard. It tells us we're broken, and essentially everything they said was a problem in Don't Mourn For Us. (Yes, I really like that essay.)
``I am Autism."
No. No, you aren't. Autism is an abstract label applied to a huge group of people, and no one person can be autism.
``... I am invisible to you until it is too late."
No. See, there is no such thing as too late. Whatever you might say about early intervention being important... we can help an autistic person of any age. Also, fear-mongering much?
``I know where you live. And guess what? I live there too." Um, hello fear-mongering. I hadn't seen you since... the last line of this thing.
``I work faster than pediatric aids, cancer, and diabetes combined." Yeah, except those three all have the ability to kill people. Autism... doesn't. (Epilepsy, which sometimes comes with autism, can be fatal. But epilepsy is not autism.)
``And if you’re happily married, I will make sure that your marriage fails.
Your money will fall into my hands, and I will bankrupt you for my own self-gain." So, maybe this is where that myth about some insane portion of marriages fail when the kid is autistic comes from? Also, who is gaining from the money spent? It's not the abstract concept. It's either the kid or the parent. Also, fear-mongering.
``I don’t sleep, so I make sure you don’t either.
I will make it virtually impossible for your family to easily attend a temple, birthday party, or public park without a struggle, without embarrassment, without pain.
You have no cure for me." Ok, seriously? Sometimes it's not much, but autistics do sleep eventually. And that embarrassment is because of societal norms. And not everyone wants a cure anyways.
``And the truth is, I am still winning, and you are scared. And you should be." No. See, that's fear-mongering. That's something you're NOT supposed to do about disabilities.
The rest is trying to sound hopeful. It's trying to sound like a message of strength and solidarity. And it is failing, because it is treating a big part of who these people are as the enemy to be defeated, that autism is an outside force that came for the kid. That just isn't the case, and seeing it treated that way is hard. It tells us we're broken, and essentially everything they said was a problem in Don't Mourn For Us. (Yes, I really like that essay.)
No comments:
Post a Comment
I reserve the right to delete comments for personal attacks, derailing, dangerous comparisons, bigotry, and generally not wanting my blog to be a platform for certain things.