This is a heated topic, so I hope it's OK to ask about this here. This is not a sub toot directed at anyone here.
For people who object to autism being called a "disorder", or ascribe pretty much all the difficulties of being autistic to the world we live in, rather than anything inherent in being autistic:
Is there an aspect of internalised abelism in that position?
As in, we're still valid humans even if our difficulties are caused by something inherent in us, right?
A person with a disorder is every bit as fully human and the fact that we have needs that require accommodations is nothing to be ashamed of?
If this question causes distress, please mute this topic, or mute or block me.
@Zumbador @actuallyautistic I seldom have a clear cut response to questions like this so…
There are aspects of autism which can be difficult for NTs to deal with, especially if they don’t know we’re autistic. (Let alone if we don’t know!) This can complicate matters for everyone involved, so to call these aspects disordered seems logical. For example, when our manner comes across as rude or inconsiderate of someone’s feelings. OTOH, if the syndrome is classified holus bolus as a disorder (spell check wants holds blouse 😂), that can pathologise any aspect of our behaviour that is irritating or inconvenient, whether or not it is truly autistic. This would/does allow for greater levels of marginalisation & exclusion.
@Susan60 @actuallyautistic Susan that makes a lot of sense to me. So instead of *autism* being the disorder, it's whatever - um - co morbidities, maybe? an autistic person might have that are the disability?
I think for me it's that autism *can* be disabling, but autism isn't automatically and necessarily disabling.
And in typing that and re-reading it, maybe I'm trying to subdivide into groups or categories of autism. Or maybe not. I'll have to think about it more.
@Susan60 @ScottSoCal @Zumbador @actuallyautistic I started looking for myself just under a year ago. Like I said to a mental health clinic executive (they were discussing if they would shut down the autistic self support group (they didn't, but we really fought for it!)): "you can't dissolve 40+ years of shit in a couple of weeks".
@ScottSoCal @Zumbador @actuallyautistic Oh… I was writing a response, when I had a sudden realisation. Fairly newly self diagnosed, I’m wondering if all those years of masking even from myself, & the resultant denial of anxiety, made possible by the development of multiple strategies to help me function, was the root cause of my depression. That level of masking was only possible because of my “category of autism”. (Which is yet another construct. Egad!)