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Is the 'vast middle' being ignored?

IMO the 'vast middle' is being ignored to a large extent; those of us who are neither high fliers or need 24 x 7 care. Parents advocate for their severely disabled children. 'High fliers' advocate very much, but not exclusively, for their own kind. Those of us for whom autism  is a mixed bag of strengths and weaknesses are often an afterthought.  

Comments

  • Statest16Statest16 Citizen, Mentor
    Yes for sure,I have been saying since the early days of wrongplanet.
    I don't know the solution though
  • I'm struggling to think of a solution too. I'm 65, so its more about halting age related cognitive decline as long as possible than giant steps forward if and when the 'vast middle' ceases to be an afterthought.
  • verityverity Administrator, Citizen
    edited March 2022
    I think children have more resources available to them in comparison to adults. When you get to around 18-21 then resources available are less, so yes when it comes to disability then  authorities either want to play down or play them up.

    Why would they play them down? Well one reason woudl be control. Certain program assume a certain level of functioning, if they can play thsi down they can avoid paying for them. A good exampel of this is education. Once the person has reached age they have less option with regard to education

    The reason to play up is for similar reason, if the person assumed to function well then they is less reason to provide public services to them.

    This is one the reason why the middle is forgotten. It is not so much they aren't aware of the spectrum it is that have two boxes to fit them in.
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