Disability
firemonkey
Citizen
in General ASD
I do get the impression that some like what are seen as the 'positive ' parts of being an autistic person enough to want the dx, but are vehemently against any suggestion they're disabled.
I'm not in that category. I have absolutely no doubt that I'm disabled. I' m not this high achieving autistic superperson. Not because I'm totally stupid. High range IQ test scores show that that isn't true. However there is a significant adaptive functioning < IQ gap.
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As for a 'cure' I'm at a basic level against '' 'cure' without consent'' but that raises the thorny issue of ability to give or refuse that consent. Ideally I'd like the negative aspects eliminated while keeping,in my case, the few good things about being an autistic person. I don't think that level of fine tuning is currently available. There's, IMO, a small but very vocal group of people promoting the nonsensical idea that ASD is not a disability or illness
My friend is also extremely intelligent (HFA) and extremely competent in many things and yet other simple things are terribly difficult. It seems to be really frustrating for him and very baffling for me.
Thanks. It's actually quite baffling. One of those things where my inquisitive mind would like an answer. Those were both tests of fluid intelligence. I did very well on them. However on a test of fluid intelligence involving mental rotation I drop down to borderline/low average level. I did consider that the latter might be due to aphantasia ,and having poor visual memory, but I've come across more than a few aphants who are good/very good at mental rotation tests.
My best scores are with verbal testts
This exact statement echoes one of the major issues with the neurodiversity movement. Discussions I've engaged in or read about neurodiversity itself or within neurodiversity-aligned communities have been invalidating to my lived experiences of disability and the lived experiences of Level 2/3 autistic people. Efforts I've made to consolidate these issues have been met with resistance that gives the impression that the movement intends to ignore or erase people like me, which I have obviously found to be heartbreaking and disappointing.
Splinter communities have been cropping up as of late that are dedicated to Level 2/3 autistic people and advocacy to include them has been increasing. Although the social model of disability has been beneficial to improving the outcomes of autistic livelihoods I believe it suffers from the same limitations as its medical predecessor. Healthcare, activism and discussions about autism should be informed under a hybrid psychosocial model which acknowledges the societal issues that autistic people face while acknowledging the tangible, inherent impacts that having an autistic brain has on a person's life.
Alternatively, it could be argued that the concepts behind the social model of disability have been deeply warped and misinterpreted to the extent that we see on mainstream social media platforms. I would further argue that this is a radical branch of the social model that is designed to only benefit autistic people with milder presentations whether it be Asperger's syndrome, Level 1 Autism Spectrum Disorder or a subclinical presentation that does not fulfill the criteria for a formal diagnosis. As generalisations are, this obviously does not apply to every autistic person who falls under the groups mentioned prior but it is more common for moderate-to-severe autistic people to have a significant reliance on the medical system. The extremely narrow-minded interpretation of the social model outright erases any concepts associated with a concept of disability which can lead to misguided activism that creates deeply devastating implications for the continuity of autistic healthcare. Whether these behaviours come from ignorance, superiority (dubbed "aspie supremacy/superiority" in relevant discussions) or malice, it is an issue that needs to be addressed within the community to heal the growing divide between diverse support needs.
I am pro-cure in principle but anti-cure in practice. Witnessing the development of artificial intelligence and large language models in real-time has given me the consensus that our present society will not be capable of managing the development of cures for autism without gross negligence and a significant breach of ethics. As long as the human race continues to treat developing technologies like children's toys, we will continue to have a history filled with failures and unnecessary sacrifices.