Friday, February 12, 2016

Things at Autism Events that Make Me Uncomfortable

This post is inspired by an Autism Speaks walk & an Autism Society of Oregon "adult" conference several years ago).

-Parents with adult offspring talking for and about them while they stand right there mortified.

-Obviously sensory unfriendly surroundings (loud thuddy music? really?)

-Cognitive dissonance on full display--Lee Grossman & other CEOs who talk about 'these kids' at events ostensibly about adults? I'm looking at you.

-Being the only person to call people on their bullshit.

-Being scolded for this.

-Being thanked privately for this. What the fuck.

-The double standard for autistics & allistics.

-Grossly inappropriate cure the kids! talks at 'adult' conferences.

-Erasing of adults who are likely to be pushed into the cracks (you know, those of us who speak & can make you think we know things).

-Assumption that we have Ability A because we can do Task X.

-Being expected to be a universal translator.

-Being erased because I'm cute, female, and athletic.

-Parent-centered everything.

-Being hit on. A lot. Persistently. When I say not interested. Ad nauseum.

-Scaremongering, from anyone.

-The looks I get for taking care of my sensory needs.

-Being talked to like a toddler.

-Allistic professionals' continued insistence that their Unethical Treatment is ok & browbeating me to try to get me to agree.

-The continued pressure to cede my voice in autism issues because as an autistic person I clearly don't know what I need or want.

This was initially written in 2010. The only thing that has changed is Lee Grossman isn't still the CEO of Autism Society.

4 comments:

moxadox said...

Well, everyone knows that there are only "autistic children," right? Maybe that's why they treat us like children, no matter how old we are. I went to one of those "parents of autistic adults" things, and that is also the NUMBER one. Meaning The Last. I'll define myself, thank you, neurotypicals. Sigh. Do you think there's hope for them? My own parents reacted to my diagnosis (as an adult) by throwing it in the trash. I myself was elated, because it gave me permission to be my own weird self without feeling, um, weird about feeling weird.

SmackCrackNPop said...

Psalm 106, Verse 3

"Blessed are those who act justly, who always do what is right".

I understand there might not be too many religious people reading this, but as long as you know you're in the right, God will know. He will deal with evil and vile people in his time.

The ableist is highly wicked, cursing his fellow man for supposed imperfections.
I would just like to let you know that I call upon the name of Jesus to solve difficult issues such as this. You are invited to do so if you would like to.

Anonymous said...

Yeaahhhh, this.

Oh, one addition:

Getting patronized when you try to speak up. "Yes well I'm sure you think that but you need to understand..."

SmackCrackNPop said...

You guys need to realize that the FARTCRACKS of the Awareness machine are so dumbed down that up is down, down is up, oppression is freedom, black is white, backward is forward, and above all that we're animals that need to be destroyed. Separate your soul from them...