Thread by @NeuroClastic

Connie had bought into the toxic and ableist narrative of scarcity mindset. It is based on the narrow view of disability that means people are disabled based on how easy disability is to see from the outside.

https://twitter.com/NeuroRebel/status/1397153531648413698

Connie believes there is a very narrow way to be disabled, and when someone isn’t disabled the way that her child is, then they are a threat to the scarce resources her child may have access to. This is partially true. Resources are hard to obtain if you don’t seem obvious enough

If you have basic motor control, can speak fluently, can read, and you can answer basic questions about yourself, then you can work in the eyes of the state. This isn’t what prevents most autistic people from being able to maintain a job, though, or from being self reliant.

Do they have the auditory processing speed to keep up with spoken words? If not, then that rules out most low paying jobs.

Do they have the vestibular stability to bend over and stand up over and over? If not, that rules out tons of jobs.

Do they have the executive functioning and working memory to be able to do novel tasks that require multiple steps? If not, that rules out most jobs?

Can they function with the noise level of most jobs? Are there social dynamics at play?

Is there a lot of task switching? Do they have the executive functioning to adapt quickly enough for new tasks all the time?

Do they have co-occurring conditions like epilepsy, IBS, Ehlers Danlos, lupus, mast cell activation syndrome, etc.? Are they able to work some days? Are those days predictable by any metric?

Have they already tried to work without accommodations for so long that their brain and body have such severe trauma that walking into a workplace would be harder than walking into a burning building? <<Because that’s where so many autistic people are.

Someone isn’t a fake autistic or non-disabled because they can type words. People like me can really only type words (but not even consistently) or read words, so we develop that skill out until we are pretty good at it. But abled empathy fails us.

Most non-autistic people have a very flat ability profile. They are about equally as good at one thing as they are at other things. If they can not button their shirts or make a sandwich, they also can’t do complex math or compose orchestral scores. (An example of extremes).

Their brains have relatively evenly distributed resources. They think that all brains have relatively evenly distributed resources. IQ tests are garbage, but they do measure something (just not fairly). On an IQ, there’s more than 100 points difference in my subscales.

My visual spatial intelligence is in the intellectually disabled range. Verbal and memory were very high. I recently was determined to have auditory processing in the .1 percentile. My vestibular system is so hyporesponsive that it’s the equivalent of deaf or blind.

I can’t task switch. My executive functioning is abysmal. It’s not a moral failure or laziness. I could do one thing for days without a break— unless other people are involved. But I can’t just do something else.

I have speech disorders that are more apparent when I’m overwhelmed. They make me seem pedantic or robotic because I don’t pull language from the same place in my brain as most people. I can often ONLY retrieve academic/procedural jargon, which reads as cold in social settings.

But the result is that people like Connie, who think if someone like me “sounds smart,” then we are like neurotypicals and are good at most things. Sadly, they tend to think that people without verbal speech are bad at most things.

And when people see neurodevelopmental differences through a neurotypical lens, they think we are either really good at and capable of most things and are just quirky or we’re really bad at most things and are just in need of charity.

Disability accommodation and inclusion is not supposed to be about charity and handouts. It’s about accommodating people so that they are able to participate and contribute meaningfully in society and the world around them.