• xantoxis@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I started at a point of “vaccines obviously don’t cause autism, that’s absurd.”

    I transitioned through “even if they did, there’s nothing wrong with being autistic”

    These days I’m at “autistic people are way better than NT people and I wish vaccines caused autism”

    • flerp@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      No. I’ve come to terms with who I am and even like some aspects of it that I would miss so I wouldn’t give it up if I had the choice, but it’s a disability for me, has been a very hard struggle, and I don’t even have it as severe as some. I wouldn’t wish this on more people. (Unless it was 100% of people because most of the struggles I have with the tism come from trying to live in a world designed by NTs that probably wouldn’t exist in a world where everyone had tism)

      • xantoxis@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Oh, I getchu. I would say a huge component of the disability, probably almost all of it, is because of the ways society is structured to punish anyone who isn’t a NT majority-demographic person. (Which means it literally would be better if it was 100%).

      • SuddenDownpour@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        Autism is a wide spectrum involving people with different life experiences. It’s ok for you to say that you personally don’t like being autistic, but do not use that to throw dirt on the people who are doing fine despite social discrimination.

        Unless it was 100% of people because most of the struggles I have with the tism come from trying to live in a world designed by NTs that probably wouldn’t exist in a world where everyone had tism

        …And this adds even more to my point. This sounds to me like the message of someone who isn’t suffering so much due to their innate characteristics as they have due to being discriminated. If you’re at that point, the logical position isn’t “I wish to be normal”, but “I wish society wasn’t so full of assholes and was more tolerant”.

                • SomeoneElseMod@feddit.ukOPM
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                  1 year ago

                  If you see a comment that breaks the rules, please report it and include which rule you believe it violated in the “reason” box. Don’t argue/reply to comments that break the rules, just ignore them or block the user after you’ve reported it.

                  • SuddenDownpour@sh.itjust.works
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                    1 year ago

                    I cannot report the comment of an user I have blocked, but you have had the chance to see it if you even put the minimum effort to check the context of my comment that you removed.

                    The comment of that user is in line with a social trend that aims to silence the voices of autism self advocates, to impose the discourse that autism is an ill that must be destroyed. If you had checked the other comments of that user, you would seen them speaking in behalf of parents of autistic people, rather than in behalf of autistic people themselves. Maintain the context and change the term: [No one likes being gay], [No one likes being black]. It is not difficult to see that it is hate speech. The fact that you warned someone getting angry at an user telling them that their identity ought not to exist, and actively or inadvertently promoting hate speech, but did nothing with the initial offending comments, makes me distrust the moderation of this community. Do you understand the issue?

        • NathanielThomas@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Nobody likes being autistic for fuck sakes. It’s like saying don’t kick dirt on people who say they’re happy they lost their legs in an accident because their wheelchair is handier.

          The idea that people with autism is some kind of trade-off with benefits is a Rain Man fallacy. Whatever weird quirks come with it that are endearing, a thousand awful things make it hard to live with.

    • SphericalKat@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Me and my girlfriend are both autistic and we would never wish this on anyone. Our child will most likely be autistic, and while we’re more than fine with that, we’d love if the kid didn’t have to go through the same shit as us

      Make no mistake, I love who I am, but being ND is a disability and struggle for the rest of your life

    • NathanielThomas@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      That’s a nice sentiment but autism is a very difficult disability that makes independence extremely difficult. You’ll certainly find that parents love their children even with autism but you won’t find any parents who have enjoyed the struggle of learning how to cope with it.

      • Da_Boom@iusearchlinux.fyi
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        1 year ago

        Ok, that’s not 100% true as autism is a spectrum. Sure there are some parts of the spectrum that does make independence difficult.

        As someone who is on the spectrum, I have trouble with social situations, including sarcasm and taking things literally - I struggle to take a hint and unless you make it extremely obvious I won’t notice flirting… I don’t even notice myself flirting tbh - I try not to use that as an excuse. but I’m reasonable with money management, and I do quite well on my own (I spend more time by myself on my computer and technology than I do with my parents, and we live in the same house.) I have a full time job (still trying to work out how I managed that tbh) with an upcoming pay rise due to a contract buyout. (Let’s fucking go!)

        Not all autism is the same, and sure there are some higher ends of the spectrum that people require assistance, and then there’s everyone in between. I needed more assistance in school - I never finished an exam before my extended time limit , and I had regular extensions on assignments. But aside from that I got through it mostly on my own.

        I wasn’t diagnosed until after my first semester of uni, as public service autism assessments had a waiting list and going private was incredibly expensive.

        • NathanielThomas@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Not all autism is the same, and sure there are some higher ends of the spectrum that people require assistance, and then there’s everyone in between

          I think it’s wonderful you’re on the better end of the spectrum, as you say. However, it may be wise for you to learn that not all, in fact not most, people with autism are so gainfully prosperous.

          Canadian study:

          The study shows 33 per cent of autistic adults reported being employed in 2017, compared to 14 per cent in 2012. However, the numbers continue to pale in comparison to the 80 per cent employment rate of adults without a disability.

          From a United States perspective, and based on their data, Autism Speaks shared that:

          Studies estimate that 50 to 75 % of the roughly 5.6 million autistic adults in the U.S. are underemployed or unemployed. Nearly half of 25-year-olds with autism have never held a paying job. More than 60% of autistic young adults are neither working nor pursuing education/training post-high school in the U.S.

          In terms of the global unemployment rate, the National Autistic Society in the U.K. released a survey in 2016 that confirmed the 85% number. They found that:

          Under 16% have full-time paid work 16% are in part-time paid employment In all, less than a third of autistic adults have any paid work Just over half (51%) of autistic people who are working said that their skills were higher than those their job required (underemployed)

          • Wisely@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Sadly a lot of that isn’t necessarily about ability to work, but ability to get through a job interview.

            The whole interview process is going to weed out the candidates who aren’t as sociable, outgoing, charismatic, etc. They are going to look at body language and eye contact while doing small talk. A lot of soft skills like that are more important to pass a job interview than actual technical knowledge. Even when the job has no customer facing requirements.

            They also tend to not have the connections that get your foot in the door.

            It’s bias in an interview process that isn’t designed with autism in mind. Many who have high IQ with attention to detail, technical skills and are hard workers are still unable to get a job offer because they come off as disinterested or awkward.

            • Piers@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              It isn’t just the interview part. The entire job application process is discriminatory against neurodivergent people. For example pretty much any time a company does one of these hokey “personality tests” as part of it’s employee selection it heavily selects against people with autism. They aren’t allowed to refuse to hire disabled people but they certainly do their best to make it a forgone conclusion anyway.

      • bitsplease@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        Yeahhh I can appreciate the well meant sentiment he was going for but he circled all the way back to being prejudiced lol

      • xantoxis@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Because neurotypical people are in the majority, are not marginalized, and have all the power in the relationship between the two groups.

        Why is it so hard for bigots to understand that society creates a context.

          • NathanielThomas@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Autism is literally a disability. A disability is literally a disadvantage. In that sense, NT people have a decided advantage over NDs.

            Are they “better”? Well, no. But the world is made for NTs.

    • Moobythegoldensock@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      This comment stinks of someone without a disability having wishful thinking.

      Yes, it’s true my daughter is the sweetest, most loving, perfect child on the planet. But she also didn’t get potty trained until age 6. She will never be able to drive. She’s only going to be able to hold the most basic jobs. She’ll likely never be able to live independently.

      There is definitely nothing wrong with autism and she is easily way better than any other person I’ve ever met. But she also faces some real challenges in life, and I don’t wish that everyone in the world had that.

      • twistypencil@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Thank you for pointing this out, many people are not aware of what real autism is like, and associate mild adhd or just distraction as a result of to much internet as autism.