thoughts on functioning labels

[Greatshield17]

We have enemies?

Well, people who wanna make us all non-existenty in the human race, and say that level-3 Autism is "true Autism" and Autistic people who do well in life "have" only "extremely mild Autism" or perhaps don't even have Autism all; dat dun' sound to frenly to me.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

Robertson Screw, only found in Canada.

 

[Nitro]

Well, people who wanna make us all non-existenty in the human race, and say that level-3 Autism is "true Autism" and Autistic people who do well in life "have" only "extremely mild Autism" or perhaps don't even have Autism all; dat dun' sound to frenly to me.

One again, please define "us"

 

[Greatshield17]

One again, please define "us"

Us Autistic people of course.

 

[Nitro]

Us Autistic people of course.

So that includes even the level 3 autistic people too?

 

[Callistemon]

I have to disagree. We are humans that are different from the majority of the population. I do not like the connotations that I'm someone that needs to be studied and figured out. Again, it's just my opinion.

Excuse me because someone else might have said this - I'm not at the bottom of the thread yet - but isn't everyone a puzzle to be solved, and likewise life? And our biggest puzzle is working out ourselves, no matter whether on the spectrum or not. It's just something I see as the human condition.

 

[Crossbreed]

Excuse me because someone else might have said this - I'm not at the bottom of the thread yet - but isn't everyone a puzzle to be solved, and likewise life? And our biggest puzzle is working out ourselves, no matter whether on the spectrum or not. It's just something I see as the human condition.

True, but it would lose its distinctiveness as an "autism" symbol.

 

[Storm Hess]

True, but it would lose its distinctiveness as an "autism" symbol.

Do we really need a symbol that depicts us as something "not normal"..."that needs to be studied and fixed"? A puzzle...something needs to be figured out. Do we really need to be marketed?

puz·zle
(pŭz′əl)
n.
1. Something, such as a game, toy, or problem, that requires ingenuity and often persistence in solving or assembling.
2. Something that baffles or confuses; an enigma: the puzzle of the author's true identity.
3. The condition of being perplexed; bewilderment: I'm really in a puzzle over how this happened.
v. puz·zled, puz·zling, puz·zles
v.tr.
1. To baffle or confuse mentally by presenting or being a difficult problem or matter. See Synonyms at perplex.
2. To clarify or solve (something confusing) by reasoning or study: He puzzled out the significance of the statement.
v.intr.
1. To be perplexed.
2. To ponder over a problem in an effort to solve or understand it.

I don't see a definition of me in this definition. I see regards to us as "a problem to be pondered". To be a human puzzle, we are indirectly regarded as 2nd class citizens. Do you feel that you are? I do not.

Maybe I'm taking this a little too personally...I don't know...I'll stop now.

 

[Callistemon]

G'day, @StormHess, I can see why you'd feel the way you do, if you've had that in your face.

Before this evening, this thread, I had no idea someone was using a puzzle logo in relation to autism. I'm just a person who has always enjoyed fitting things together to try to work things out and arrive at some kind of solution or method or some way to help me understand something better. So I see that as a positive thing, but one that applies to all humans, not just some, and to life in general. I don't think neurotypicals understand each other all that well either.

It's kind of like Christmas: The commercial variety, versus what you can make of it yourself if you don't like the commercial Christmas. Some things can be reclaimed, and perhaps ought to be - away from the BS, y'know.

 

[Crossbreed]

Do we really need to be marketed?

(I was replying to @Callistemon's proposal that all humans are enigmatic in one fashion or another.)

A logo like the one I suggested would not be for marketing so much as for association. Many of us include "neuro-diversity" as a perseveration [special interest].

 

[Storm Hess]

I think I'm taking it too personally. Thanks.

 

[Callistemon]

Nice re-wording of my central idea there, @Crossbreed, and totally spot on!

 

[Callistemon]

I think I'm taking it too personally. Thanks.

Easy to do in many instances. It depends on the experiences you had. In middle school I was so used to the bullying with derisive laughter that for years afterwards, if people laughed in the street, I'd wonder if they were laughing at me. But in the vast majority of cases, they were just privately amused for reasons that had nothing to do with me.

It's kind of like classical conditioning.

Can I tell a nerd joke here? ...Pavlov was sitting in the pub drinking beer, when the phone rang (they had landlines back then, with a simple ringing bell, FYI for anyone that's not grown up with landlines...). He jumped up immediately and said, "That reminds me! I've got to go feed my dogs!"

 

[Greatshield17]

So that includes even the level 3 autistic people too?

Well that’s precisely the problem, we’re not trying to make people use the level system and many self-advocates are actively discouraging people from using the level system. Because the level system is discouraged, people are able to demonize Autism and portray it as though level-3 Autism is “true Autism.”

 

[Nitro]

Well that’s precisely the problem, we’re not trying to make people use the level system and many self-advocates are actively discouraging people from using the level system. Because the level system is discouraged, people are able to demonize Autism and portray it as though level-3 Autism is “true Autism.”

Ok, so then how do you recommend we fix it?

 

[Thinx]

I think ASD1, 2 and 3 are useful compared to vague function related labels. I wonder if they hoped to be able to relate these to different genes originally, but they've found so many relevant genes, over 70 I think, that that presumably isn't likely at present if ever. Which in some ways could be a blessing, as a single or easily identifiable gene could raise the spectre of terminations.

Really I think there needs to be more education out there generally, so people even know about the actual labels and what they mean, because even medical staff and therapists largely don't, let alone everyone else. There isn't enough research from the perspective of people who experience autism. Plenty of people with autism have no help to articulate their own experience of their autism, so all we have are one off memoirs and accounts. Whereas there could be a much broader research based account that gives some general support and guidance to us and to non autistic people.

 

[Greatshield17]

Ok, so then how do you recommend we fix it?

What I said before, we promote the level system, and demand that people be specific as to what level they are talking about when referring to Autism.

 

[Nitro]

What I said before, we promote the level system, and demand that people be specific as to what level they are talking about when referring to Autism.

Ok, I agree, but since the autism spectrum is just a fraction of all of the potential psych issues we have at hand, how are you intending to promote your idea to people who may never be willing to accept it?

In the end, a number can become just another label with just as many chances to be used in an ill manner.

Face it, jerks are always going to exist, no matter what type of reeducation you try to push on them.

 

[Greatshield17]

Ok, I agree, but since the autism spectrum is just a fraction of all of the potential psych issues we have at hand, how are you intending to promote your idea to people who may never be willing to accept it?

In the end, a number can become just another label with just as many chances to be used in an ill manner.

Face it, jerks are always going to exist, no matter what type of reeducation you try to push on them.

I don't need everyone to agree, I just need Autism Acceptance to become the mainstream in society.

 

[Nitro]

I don't need everyone to agree, I just need Autism Acceptance to become the mainstream in society.

The main ones you need to agree, you know, the enemies, likely won't