Elon Musk’s “coming out” as “having AS” on SNL is just going to embolden ABAers to sell their conversion therapy even more to hypercompensate for its abusiveness and distract from the PTSD it causes. Please listen to #ActuallyAutistic people on this one. 1/
Aspergers Syndrome doesn’t exist anymore because it’s part of the spectrum of autism. It’s neither higher functioning nor less severe nor a milder form. It IS, however, frequently used by people to distance themselves from the ableist stereotyped scariness of autism. 2/
@NeuroClastic describes how Aspergers has been fraught with issues around functioning assumptions and support needs: neuroclastic.com/2018/12/30/asp… 3/
Aspergers has often been used as a way to deny empathy and support to autistic people, but also as a way to delineate who was more worthy of living: thinkingautismguide.com/2018/04/on-han… 4/
The problem with clinging to an Aspergers diagnosis (which was rolled into the broader ASD rubric in the DSM-V, don’t @ me about “disorder” it’s a neurotype), is that it often perpetuates “Aspie Supremacy”: rationalwiki.org/wiki/Aspie_sup… 5/
Several people who initially were diagnosed with Aspergers have seamlessly made the transition to identifying as autistic, and the autism acceptance movement has benefited from that (this source is not the best but a good intro): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autism_ri… 6/
I just fear that people like EM will have their edgelordery praised and autistic kids will be pressured into “reaching for the stars” like him, and seen as failures if they don’t/can’t. He is an exception due to his privilege: redflag.org.au/node/7195 7/
EM stans will say I’m just jealous because I’m lazy and not successful and motivated. Naw, I just require a certain set of ethics from supposed role models, and his ethics on the whole ain’t it: insidehook.com/article/tech/e… 8/
Bringing us back to autism and neurodivergence and capitalism. Many parents worry about their newly-diagnosed autistic child’s “chances at success”. “We’re mining a vulnerable community for the bits we like, not embracing the neurodiversity whole.”: forbes.com/sites/drnancyd… 9/
ABA “therapy” preys on the fear that an autistic child will be a burden if their “behaviours” aren’t fixed (suppressed/eliminated) or at best redirected (forced substitution that’s acceptable to a neurotypical setting: sociallyanxiousadvocate.wordpress.com/2015/05/22/why… 10/
Ole Ivar Lovaas, pioneer of ABA famously claimed "If I had gotten Hitler here at U.C.L.A. at the age of 4 or 5, I could have raised him to be a nice person." Who wouldn’t want their autistic kid to avoid becoming the next genocidal poster boy? nytimes.com/2010/08/23/hea… 11/
Lest we forget that ABA is the same thing as gay conversion therapy: catalystjournal.org/index.php/cata… 12/
So, back to the untapped market for autistic workers. It’s either to develop a pool of coding savants or workers who will happily accept menial work (and if they aren’t satisfied, they can take (surprise!) ABA to fit into workplace culture: linkedin.com/pulse/dark-sid… 13/
And EM is set to become the new poster boy (cis & white) for autism inspoporn, which sets an awfully high standard for those who are not “palatable” autistics (or other NDs) in a capitalist paradigm: autistichoya.com/2016/02/disabl… 14/
Remembering that fascism (via eugenics) separates the good/useful from the useless/expendable, capitalism rebrands certain neurodivergent traits as acceptable - if it benefits the bottom line and fits within lean production: solidarity-us.org/leanproduction/ 15/
Productivity “hacks” have been used to exploit the workforce. Autistics and other NDs aren’t ignorant of when they’re being gaslit (unless you count the ability of ABA to temporarily keep AAs unaware of self): hbr.org/2021/03/where-… 16/
Mindfulness and meditation is not a panacea. It can be used for nefarious reasons. It also can be good for AAs/NDs to gain awareness but doesn’t provide options/alternatives/solutions (that’s where our lack of fully universal health care fails us): aeon.co/essays/can-med… 17/
"And so mindfulness is being sold as a respite from hyperconsumerism, or as support for our struggle to comply with pressures to enhance productivity in the workplace.” independent.co.uk/life-style/hea… 18/
Anyway, ABA therapists already capitalize on mindfulness as a synergistic add-on to upsell their business model. It still a focus on conformity and not self-awareness/acceptance, and does nothing to change inequality: google.ca/search?q=aba+m… 19/
Ugh, back to EM… he is the awkward wet dream of libertarians, neolibs, and ancaps who don’t know why they’re turned on (but if you ignore imperialism, worker and environmental exploitation, you can still be turned on by his edgelordery) because he’s a maverick! /20
What does this mean for AAs/NDs and disabled people? More pressure to conform and comply, increased disposability, decreased social supports and program spending. It would be nice if EM were to revolutionize autism acceptance and allyship, but that’s not his forte. /21
Sure, some high-profile autistics have “made a name for themselves” and contributed to slight gains in “autism awareness” (cough TG cough), but have been fine with throwing other less palatable AAs (including QT2S and racialized) under the bus in doing so. /22
If you want to learn about true autism acceptance without the requirements of how to fit AAs into an exploitative social construct, check out anything with the hashtag #ActuallyAutistic, for alternatives to ABA, #BanABA: a4aontario.com/2019/04/01/if-… /23
Lack of solidarity from EM others sandbags AAs/NDs/disabled folks while encouraging A$ and the adjacent NPO/medical industrial complexes to value acceptable (exploitable/profitable) over “profound/severe/disordered” neurotypes. It’s eugenics, fascist, and colonialist. /END
Signal boosting this analysis: t.co/7WkcaIPUPe
Also signal boosting:
https://twitter.com/KiraYoung4/status/1391425095197880325
This goes without saying, autism is a spectrum not a linear hierarchy: neuroclastic.com/its-a-spectrum…
@threadreaderapp unroll
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
