I have repeatedly stated that while I support the #StopSpectrum10K campaign, I am in favour of genetic and biological research. There are numerous autistic activists with chronic illness who feel the same. Some even attend biology research conferences.
https://twitter.com/SexyIsntSexist/status/1436974689214210050
We know that the @spectrum_10K do not support the social model of disability. That is not news.
It came as something of a surprise that the @spectrum_10K leaders deliberately appointed the type of people they knew would destroy the hope, relatability, community-building and support offered by people like Pete.
But then, that is currently the only way to destroy autism: by destroying autistic people.
It's what Geschwind stands for.
And @autistica already proved before that they are prepared to drive people to suicide.
I don't know why I keep getting surprised.
It's what Geschwind stands for.
And @autistica already proved before that they are prepared to drive people to suicide.
I don't know why I keep getting surprised.
I was upset at first that they chose to study this INSTEAD of more socially important things. I thought that it was just a matter of priority.
But they have made it clear that they are determined to DESTROY the support which autistic people provide to each other, and to allistic parents of autistic children. They gloat about doing so.
I will miss his long threads, where he warmly drew people together into a shared experience, and made us feel at home, and understood.
Just like I was incredulous in 2018 when James Cusack announced that @Autistica had deliberately lied to autistic people and knew that people would be hurt, I'm (foolishly) once again surprised that @spectrum_10K are so callous in their disdain for informal community support.
One wants to believe that people like Simon Baron-Cohen simply don't have the insight to understand the fragile beauty of empathic conversations among autistic people, like those which Pete was able to foster.
But then you see the glee with which the people they send out regard the destruction of such a support pillar, and you know: this really is a war against hope, community, compassion and understanding. It is meant to bring us to our knees.
Because when you make people vulnerable like that, you can do what you want with them, and they don't have the strength to oppose you.
That is why we can't put all our strength into fighting them. We MUST save it for building and growing in places they don't reach.
https://twitter.com/ekverstania/status/1437962777281376257?s=19
What is it that you would have focused on building, had this #Spectrum10K thing not come along to ruin the year for you?
Build that thing.
Build that thing.
For me, there are several things, and one of those things involves biology, including genetics. I am pulling together a health task team in October to teach public health workers more about how to work with people with specific disabilities, and our typical health problems.
As you can see, this is not new for me.
https://twitter.com/ekverstania/status/1431225387196076037?s=19
One of the other task team members is a woman who does training and advocacy around the health of people with Down's Syndrome.
Another is a quadriplegic.
We will be working with health authorities in our province.
I do not expect any support from the internationally famous award-winning autism researchers in my city. If we had to try to get them involved, we'd be wasting precious energy. Been there, done that.
I highly recommend cross-disability work instead of trying to get unity and collaboration with people in the autism industry who prioritise genomic research when they could instead #Ask10KAutistics what they need most.
Working with a cross-disability organisation enables me to do more than if I had to constantly interact with the gatekeepers and enablers in the autism industry.
There are people in our network who don't have all these entanglements with abusers.
There are people in our network who don't have all these entanglements with abusers.
https://twitter.com/ekverstania/status/1437500304807837698?s=19
I don't have to spend my time arguing with celebrity autistics about the social model of disability. 🙄
My fellow board members are blind, deafblind, one has cerebral palsy, another uses a power wheelchair and operates his phone with his mouth.
We ALL support the #CRPD.
My fellow board members are blind, deafblind, one has cerebral palsy, another uses a power wheelchair and operates his phone with his mouth.
We ALL support the #CRPD.
We never have silly arguments about whether our disabilities are a disorder or a gift or whatever.
Our chairman became paralysed due to a spinal cord injury in his youth. He supports the social model of disability which is incorporated in the human rights approach to disability, which underlies the #CRPD.
Why am I wasting my time arguing with the 'ambassador' of a UK research consortium who has zero history in disability rights work, when I can work with seasoned activists who focus on accessibility, transport, education and the like?
Work on what matters with other disabled people and their allies who energise you. You will find that the #Spectrum10K crowd and their ilk don't have so much power in those communities.
Enjoy the diversity and the learning.
When the next day comes that you need to stand against celebrity henchmen sent out to bring you down, you may find that there are people who will lift you up, because it is OBVIOUS to them that accessibility and support are more important than studying your genes.
Yeah, yeah, I know it's not that simple, and there's a hierarchy of disability, and some people who became disabled later in life are still not gonna understand your goals.
Find the right allies.
Find the right allies.
A luta continua.
Remember what I said a few tweets ago about how they want to destroy you so that you become vulnerable, so that they can do what they want with you?
Like ABA, they need to break you down so that they can build you into the person they want you to be.
Like ABA, they need to break you down so that they can build you into the person they want you to be.
https://twitter.com/SexyIsntSexist/status/1438070842584338436?s=19
Why would I want to leave a (admittedly messy) community which is at last starting to #ListenToNonspeakers to join one which works harder every day to silence them?
Meanwhile, I'm watching an autistic friend speak what may be his last words, without adequate medical care, with biological problems which are already sufficiently studied to save him, but which his doctors did not learn. And then they say we don't care about biology.
Millions of pounds in genomic research cannot not save the lives which ableism kills.
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