Tuesday, September 25, 2012

The "High Functioning Blogger"

So, I figured I'd run down what people seem to think is true of the autistic bloggers And I will point out which parts of the stereotype I do/don't meet and why each one is false.
  • We are all considered high functioning by doctors. (I would be.) [Doctors can't agree on who is and isn't high functioning... because functioning labels have big problems. Which means we've got bloggers who haven't been given any functioning label, bloggers who've gotten both high and low at different points/from different people, and basically any other way of being considered for these labels.]
  • We all speak. (I usually do.) [I believe I have listed non-speaking autistic bloggers before? I've met some of them too.]
  • We have difficulty in social situations. (It depends on the situation.) [I think most of us do in at least some situations. It's just not the biggest problem we have.]
  • This social awkwardness is our biggest autism issue. (NOPE NOPE NOPE. Sensory processing issues are much worse. So is people being mean about stimming. Executive dysfunction is a problem too.) [Bahahahaha. I think that people taking away AAC devices when they think no one is watching or getting death threats over telling people you deserve to be treated like a human being or sensory processing issues or motor skills issues are worse.]
  • We don't have those "other medical cooties." (Pretty much, actually. Just the sensory processing, really.) [Amy's got epilepsy and cerebral palsy. Kassiane has epilepsy and adrenal failure and I forget what all else. Henry has a hearing impairment. One of the moderators for autistic eagle has a pain disorder and is immunocompromised.]
  • We don't have public meltdowns. (That totally explains why I melted down three times in front of the same teacher this past summer. AKA NOPE.) [Autistic Hoya blogged about one too. So yes, some of us do.]
  • We all have the Aspergers diagnosis. (I do.) [Speech delay disqualifies you from Aspergers, as does never speaking. Remember those non-speaking bloggers? How about the ones who just had speech delays, like Julia and Kassiane?]
  • We're obsessed with social justice. (Not really. I just get to engage my actual obsessions offline. And I don't think trying to make people stop dehumanizing me is social justice.) [Life experiences and social justice aren't the same.]
  • We think all the autistic kids are like us. (No, I'm well aware they aren't all just like me. I've met some of them, remember? I think E from The Third Glance is just like me, though.) [The bloggers are sufficiently varied that we can come up with someone similar. And we're aware that we're not even all like each other, so we can't think every individual kid is like every single one of us.]
  • We don't stim in public. (I've had everything on my desk including my pen confiscated in a failed attempt to make me stop fidgeting. I flapped all through some of my finals. I've flapped in front of every in-person employer I've ever had.) [Kassiane posted a picture of herself stimming in public too. It's not just me.]
  • We're all good at math. (I am.) [Autistic Hoya isn't. And she hates it, too.]
  • We hate parents of autistic kids. (Not usually, but I don't usually trust you unless you earn it first, either.) [And that's pretty common. We kind of have reason not to trust you, since it is parents who kill their autistic kids and parents who get the sympathy of other parents when this happens.]
  • We think autism is a blessing. (I think it's sometimes awesome and sometimes stinky.) [Thinking it's sometimes awesome and sometimes stinky, but needs accepting because it's who we are is pretty common.]
I think I've about covered it. Did I miss anything?

No comments:

Post a Comment

You're allowed to disagree, and I might even answer, but if you use personal attacks or make comparisons that are actively dangerous, I reserve the right to remove your comment. Hate and fear-mongering can be spewed elsewhere. Questions sans fear-mongering are fine, though I may answer with a whole new post.