my autistic traits would still be barriers<\/a> to functioning.<\/p>\nWhen I speak, I do remind audiences that everyone relies on other people and accommodations in some way. Few humans could or would choose to live alone in the wilderness. We have evolved as social beings, reliant on our social groups.<\/p>\n
However, autistic do need additional supports, beyond what is considered typical. We do have cognitive challenges, from sensory processing differences to language processing challenges.<\/p>\n
In 2007 I argued that I was disabled, not merely different or diverse. I am still disabled.<\/strong><\/p>\nWe need \u201cinvisible\u201d accommodations, yes. We need inclusive designs for physical and virtual spaces. We absolutely need to change how our cultures view disabled individuals. Still, I dislike the phrase \u201cdifferently-abled\u201d and hate \u201cspecial\u201d to describe disabilities.<\/p>\n
Yet, even inclusive design cannot offset disabilities entirely. There will still be some need for extra assistance. That\u2019s fine.<\/p>\n
We shouldn\u2019t be ashamed of needing extra tools to accommodate our minds and bodies. My calendars and lists are accommodations and adaptations to my executive function impairments. My canes help my physical impairments. Tools help me, and there\u2019s no shame in that. People don\u2019t feel the least bit ashamed of glasses. In fact, my daughters love glasses. We now associate glasses with being smart, a curious shift from seeing them as signs of disability. Let go of the shame. Move on.<\/p>\n
Autistic communities continue to be toxic<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/strong>The divisions in the autism and autistic communities run deep. The political activists demand fealty to their manifestos. The martyr parent groups demand everyone view autism as a tragedy, a cause for mourning. The charities don\u2019t collaborate. The activist groups are dominated by personality conflicts. All the communities are exhausting.<\/p>\nEducation stinks for autistics, both students and teachers.<\/strong> My pursuit of a career in education led to this blog. My experiences as a student fueled my desire to change education from within. Now, as a parent and teacher, I see that little has changed and almost no signs of progress. That\u2019s 14 years during which education has made little to no forward progress. Instead, I\u2019d argue we\u2019ve gone the wrong direction for autistics and Neurodiverse students. More group work? A sure way to cause problems for autistics, and one not supported by long-term research. More emphasis on public speaking, presentations, and social skills? I understand why we emphasize social skills, but I fear we\u2019re merely surrendering to the extroverts among us.<\/p>\nTesting. More testing. Followed by some testing. That\u2019s not what students need. For autistic students, I cannot imagine these testing disruptions help retain skills or knowledge.<\/p>\n
Yes, I could and hope to write books on what\u2019s wrong with education from the \u201cASD\/ADHD\u201d perspective.<\/p>\n
Workplaces are more social, not less, and unemployment has remained at 80 to 85 percent for autistics.<\/strong> Again, no progress in 14 years. No change. So, my frustrations continue. Companies have created autistic recruiting programs and there are employers that hire disabled workers. Yet, overall, the statistics have stagnated. I attribute this to the social nature of workplaces. As we spend more hours working, the workplace has become our social space. Autistics struggle in social settings, so we struggle in these increasingly social workplaces.<\/p>\nThere isn\u2019t a lot of socializing on an assembly line. But, I don\u2019t want to work on an assembly line. I do want to be left alone to focus on my tasks. I do this as a writer. I do this often as a teacher. I sit at my desk, in my office, and prepare my work. I can and do collaborate, in ways that work well for me. What I don\u2019t want are hour-long Zoom meetings or full-day \u201cteam-building\u201d retreats.<\/p>\n
Autistics should be asked to design our ideal workplaces. Then, we can collaborate with employers, compromising, to develop healthy spaces and healthy practices for employment. Spaces and policies should be flexible.<\/p>\n
Yes, autistics are tired of being flexible. I\u2019m not suggesting we surrender \u2014 that\u2019s been our past experiences. But, I understand we cannot reject all social norms, either.<\/p>\n
I remain on the edges of the autistic community.<\/strong>\u00a0I do not celebrate my autism, nor do I embrace the same language as some self-advocates.<\/p>\nI do not like many of my autistic traits. Again, I\u2019ve said I\u2019d love to never have a migraine again. I\u2019d love to not be in pain on sunny days. The\u00a0physical experience of autism hurts<\/strong><\/em> and nobody likes pain. But, I do like being good with patterns, having a passion for learning, and other autistic traits. There\u2019s more negative than positive, for me, but that\u2019s because I\u2019m always in physical overload. (My wife and I do all we can to minimize the physical triggers.)<\/p>\nDespite the negative experiences I associate with autistic traits, I absolutely do not want to live to see genetic tests for autism. I fear eugenics, which would then remove the positive aspects of autism alongside the negatives.<\/p>\n
Down syndrome serves as a cautionary tale to autistics and is why many argue for Neurodiversity. Once there was a test for Down syndrome, potential parents began choosing to terminate pregnancies. Down syndrome was called a genetic mutation, a deviance, and an abnormality.<\/p>\n
By arguing for diversity as an inclusive term, activists are trying to counter the mutant, deviant, abnormal labels that encourage people to fear autistics. For a group already alienated socially, having our traits considered mutations or deviations further excludes us from discussions about us.<\/p>\n
Today, I use the terms Neurodiverse and Neurodiversity.<\/p>\n
A community might be ethnically diverse. We all have an ethnicity and multiple ethnicities together are diversity.\u00a0We all have neurological traits. A community of people is always neurodiverse. Reminding people of this seems to be a good idea.<\/p>\n
Years ago, I did not use or embrace the term Neurodiversity. Those concerns I had with the term remain, but I also see a rhetorical benefit to supporting Neurodiversity. \u00a0What concerns could I have with a term that promotes acceptance and inclusion?<\/p>\n
Neurodiversity, again, suggests to some audiences that autism is \u201cjust\u201d a minor difference. We know that\u2019s not the case since the spectrum includes individuals with significant cognitive and physical challenges.<\/p>\n
Autistic self-advocates justifiably worry that society will eventually seek ways to eliminate autistic traits.<\/p>\n
But \u201cdivergent\u201d isn\u2019t as simple.\u00a0I still avoid \u201c-divergent\u201d because it has too many negative connotations. Diverging is not merely being different, it\u2019s breaking apart, going in another direction. Divergence and deviance were once used synonymously in psychological literature. I most certainly do not want to be labeled deviant. I have similar issues with \u201ca-\/ab-\u201c prefixes. \u00a0Abnormal psychology. Atypical neurology. Too close for comfort.<\/p>\n
Linguistically, there continue to be arguments over what to call the individual versus the community. Divergent and atypical are labels I do not want and will continue to reject, alongside genetic mutant.<\/p>\n
I will continue to use Neurodiverse \u201cincorrectly\u201d for myself and my daughters. And for those whining \u201cBut language!\u201d my response is \u201cYou have declared \u2018they\u2019 is singular, so language evolves.\u201d<\/p>\n
Overall, the 2021 and 2007 \u201cme\u201d remain similar, but today is better.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nThe biggest changes since 2007 are that I have completed three degrees, moved three more times, and have become a parent.\u00a0That\u2019s a lot of positive change to celebrate.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cWhat has changed since you started blogging in 2007?\u201d The question from a Facebook follower prompted me to skim the older posts and compare them to now. What has changed over 13 years and a bit? What has remained the same? Have my attitudes changed dramatically, or only a little?…<\/p>\n
Continue ReadingThe Autistic Me 2007 vs 2021: Any Changes?<\/span> <\/i><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":4014,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"iawp_total_views":24,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,4,5,8,11],"tags":[39,100,210,244,255,405,555,591],"class_list":["post-2210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advocacy","category-education","category-employment","category-media","category-relationships","tag-advocacy","tag-blogging","tag-diaries","tag-education","tag-employment","tag-journals","tag-poetry","tag-relationships","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tameri.com\/autisticme\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2023\/12\/Podcast-HD-1920x1080-comp-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1440&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pfivLC-zE","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tameri.com\/autisticme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tameri.com\/autisticme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tameri.com\/autisticme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tameri.com\/autisticme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tameri.com\/autisticme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2210"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.tameri.com\/autisticme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2210\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3551,"href":"https:\/\/www.tameri.com\/autisticme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2210\/revisions\/3551"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tameri.com\/autisticme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tameri.com\/autisticme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tameri.com\/autisticme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tameri.com\/autisticme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}