[CW: ableism being mocked] Autism discussed on Reddit starter pack

Of course.

It's generally accepted that autistic people prefer to be referred to using language that uses the term "autistic person" rather than "person with autism" because the latter is considered to be externalising autism and denying it as being central to the identity and experience of the autistic person.

Just as we wouldn't say "a person with blackness" or "a person with womanhood" or "a person with homosexuality" because that is seen as separating out the core experience of being a black person, a woman, or a gay person so too does the autistic community feel that phrasing it as "person with autism" has the same effect. (Also in the case of a gay person, the way of phrasing it above has implications of pathologising and medicalising the experience, which is what happens a lot for autistic people too and that has historically been to serious detriment to autistic people.)

For me, being autistic, there is no "outside" of autism; it colours who I am, it shapes my relationship to and understanding of the world (and this extends to how I experience myself) so to put autism as external to me is to imply that it's sort of additional somehow and it gives the impression that there's a "real" me beneath the autism, which I personally reject the notion of.

Note that this is just the general consensus here; some people don't care, some people prefer to refer to themselves as "a person with autism" and that's valid. But as a rule I'd say that it's best to refer to autistic people this way around as it's the preferred term.

That being said, I will sometimes say things like "excuse my autism", "this might be my autism acting up", "today the autism won", and "this is just my autism speaking but...", although I do this ironically.

The word autism to me isn't like "something I have" but rather just a descriptive term about me and my traits. It's like

"That person is nice" = nice person "that person is mean" = mean person "That person is into art" = artistic person

Autism is just a label, an observation made that "hey people with X and Y trait also seem to have A, B, C trait in common". I would be who I am with or without the word existing so putting it as something I "have" rather than am feels odd.

But you're free to use and prefer what you want for yourself.

Ugh. This is abysmal.

Autistic people are just as likely to be cranks as anyone else. Perhaps even moreso because the degree of focus it usually requires in order to become a crank is not that common in the allistic population whereas autistic people are much more inclined towards hyperfixations and, thus, they are more likely to become a crank due to this ability to sustain their focus on a singular subject of interest.

We're just as susceptible to the Dunning-Kruger effect as anyone else.

Just like how clumsily hammering away at the keys of a piano for 10,000 hours will not turn me into a concert pianist, so too is 10,000 hours of hyperfocus on a subject insufficient to turn me into an expert on it. With training and guidance, or in less common circumstances with a keen focus on self-teaching, devoting that amount of time can turn someone into an expert (which is why autistic people tend to be more likely to be a wealth of knowledge in their interests) but unless you've taken account of your biases and for the fact that information needs to be viewed with healthy skepticism and a critical eye then you probably aren't going to end up an expert in a subject, you will likely just end up being a very proficient crank.

yes such a good point!!! especially since its an increasing "concern" by terfs to "protect autistic people from trans ideology". trans comrades dont need another reason to be invalidated.

Hang on I didn't know about this and i'm in europe, can you explain what this means? Is having a diagnosed mental illness a justification for refusing access to hormones?

i agree with everything you said, please read this in a friendly and confused tone. i dont see how that contrast with my original statement. My goal was to make self diagnosed comrades who were feeling insecure from assholes in the post above feel better. the fake disorder crigne sub is harmful imo. there are definitely the keffels of the world and tic tok teens and those people suck but do not invalidate actual autistic individuals self diagnosis.

Which is a problem because our autistic friends struggle to recognise it. And they're a vulnerable group for grooming.

hahaha oh trust me I know. I have been left feeling tricked and hurt quite a few times, I still always believe my comrades unless I have reason not to.

Which is a problem because our autistic friends struggle to recognise it. And they're a vulnerable group for grooming.

what do you mean by this exactly and how should the issue be adressed, then, in your opinion?

And they're not just making fun of them, but acting like they can accurately diagnose someone else's mental conditions perfectly from a 30 second tik tok video. They're all perfect armchair psychologists who are never wrong in their assessment that everyone different from them that they don't like is just "faking it."

And that's not even to mention the FDC very rarely has an understanding of what these disabilities look like either. Like sensory processing issues is well known to have high comorbidity with autism and yet saying you dont like loud noises gets the response of "no one likes them, you're not special". But if no one likes them then why do people go to the movies? Why are concerts a thing?

Who wants to bet those same assholes suddenly larp as autistic people with hypersensitivity when the topic of wearing a fucking mask comes up?

Also, to note, being a system doesn't relieve us of responsibility for our stuff, is our take. We community police ourselves, so to speak and like even if the alter that is extremely sexual is fronting, the rest is somewhat in control to uphold thought. It is not like a car where only one person can drive, i'd guess.

I don't have DID, but a pretty mild form of OSDD, I think. It's like, breaks in memory, extremely varying amounts of gender dysphoria, between like paralysing sadness after seeing my beard shadow and being able to walk around in swimming trunks on a beach. Political opinions swing from social democracy to "the GPCR was the best thing that ever happened." Different likes in food etc, different behaviour, from nice and charming to constant anger. I try to figure myself out, but therapists are and will never ever help, so I am left to do so on my own. I have two alters that I can consistently identify. It even affects my autism, one alter is almost NT and another one pretty autistic. There are probably some more, but bc of Opsec, no details. I am also extremely suggestible, which I can use for autosuggestive stuff, incidentially giving me decent discipline, but complicating any discussion of that topic (bc people are like "you just convinced yourself you have got it")

@President_Obama@hexbear.net since you asked in the closed mega, this answers your q as well

I have some experience with two people who had DIS/multiple personalities and with the (non-)acceptance of psychiatrists and psychologists. One person might get a borderline disorder instead of DIS. At least Frank Putnam's MPD book has large stretches that are not good or factual or good science (and do sometimes lack patient centering) Edit: Read Huldra's comment about him, they highlight important consequences of his ideas.

I have a couple of theories of, but mostly it doesn't matter so much. What matters is how we want to interact with bodies that we recognize. We do ascribe to them a sense of continuity and permanence which obviously is wrong and yet not seldom useful. We do ascribe to them certain patterns of acceptable or estimated behavior, too. A clearly neurodivergent friend I have gets cut much more slack if he isn't finding the right tone of cultural civility, which is the right thing to do. Other people would get more scold for failing social cues.

What matters in interacting with DIS is that you yourself are still allowed boundaries and it isn't a failure not to get not communicated things. Though it is nice to talk to people as they want to be talked to, even if that varies.

Was that person a full on troll? Damn, they said some stuff that helped things click for me with less common gender identities. I'm worried I was duped into believing some harmful bullshit now.