Last updated on November 26, 2023
Podcast Episode 0086, Season 5, Episode 17; 04 April 2022
Autism Awareness 2022
Transcript
Welcome to The Autistic Me Podcast. I am Christopher Scott Wyatt, speaking as The Autistic Me.
I am preparing this episode on April 2, 2022. It is World Autism Awareness Day, the second day of Autism Awareness Month… or Acceptance Month… or whatever label this annoying month has.
Some of the autistic adults I know take a month-long break from social media during April. April is a month of inspiration porn and martyr mothers, autism cures and absurd ABA success anecdotes.
Others take the opposite approach, making it their mission to respond to every article, blog post, tweet, or discussion about autism they can find. They set Google alerts and track autism hashtags.
Those avoiding April and those attacking it are all responding to the trauma of how the world around us responds to autistics.
We aren’t allowed to just be ourselves… and autism awareness campaigns bring attention to how stigmatized our differences are.
In past years, I have argued for “Autistic Pride Month” and some sort of “Neurodiversity History Month” that would focus on the contributions of Neurodiverse people, past and present. It seemed like a positive idea, until some autistic friends and I talked through the pitfalls.
Inviting people to diagnose historical figures is fraught with complications. Labeling is problematic enough, but it’s more problematic when the label is considered a cognitive disability.
Finding possible role models also leads to spotlighting idealized versions of Neurodiversity. Historical figures are remembered because they were outliers, not because they were average individuals with routine lives. Autistic advocates who keep trying to explain we aren’t all savants or individuals with magic-like splinter skills don’t want an Autistic Pride Month that celebrates the savants, the geniuses, the scientists, and the artists who reinforce stereotypes of autistics with special gifts.
I know why schools and organizations invite me to speak. My academic success, my marriage, and my role as a father all neatly fit within the inspirational role model niche I’m expected to fill.
For audiences, I’m the checklist speaker: an awkward tech geek with multiple graduate degrees. The concerned parents cannot wait to ask how my wife and I connected. The educators ask leading questions about how great college must have been.
The autistic parent of Neurodiverse daughters? Who better to have on stage? Some audiences expect me to list all the wonderful aspects of autism, while others anticipate a list of heartbreaking challenges.
I surely disappoint many people in those audiences with my blunt honesty. Life just is what it is, and often it is a struggle. Yet, I also don’t want to feed into the myth of the helpless, unemployed, isolated autistic.
The big name autism organizations try to raise money during April, often reinforcing the worst stereotypes of autistic life. The self-advocacy groups and individual advocates spend the month in conflict with some parents and many service providers. It is all exhausting.
An autistic colleague told me recently that I need to be all over social media this year, so I can build a brand. April isn’t a business opportunity for me, and that’s okay.
My activism is low-key, even during April. I write and speak about my lived experiences. I’m not an outgoing, media-savvy activist with book deals and speaking tours. I don’t have a handler, someone to help me build the podcast and blog into a business.
Mark Autism Acceptance or Neurodiversity Pride in whatever way you believe this month can be made useful.
In an ideal world, we wouldn’t need special months or days for marginalized communities. It would be wonderful to just be me, whoever and whatever I am, without any expectations.
I am Christopher Scott Wyatt, speaking as The Autistic Me.
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