Thread by @EricMGarcia

Ok. So I gathered my thoughts because I didn’t want to mouth off. On one end, this is good because it means #ActuallyAutistic Black and Latino kids are getting diagnosed. On the other end, I worry this will lead to autism being stigmatized and therefore kids won’t get services

https://twitter.com/ap/status/1639001688810967060

Autism has historically been seen as a condition that affects upper-class white folks. Leo Kanner in his first study of autism featured nine WASP families and two Jewish families. All of them had elite parents. Well, guess who could afford to send their kids to be observed?

Of course autism services weren’t a cakewalk for white folks. One study showed that upper middle class people benefited the most from Medicaid home and community based services waivers because they wouldn’t have access to those services otherwise

So on one end, this is a really good thing. Black and Latino autistic kids have historically been diagnosed with behavioral disorders and if they do get diagnosed, it’s often later. So again, good things

One of the other gaps specifically for Latinos is the language gap. In addition, plenty of Black and Latino families simply don’t know enough about autism. That prevents diagnoses as well.

So HOPEFULLY researchers see it affects Black and Latino families as much if not more than white people, then hopefully it will force them to bridge the divide, learn cultural outreach and find ways for families to check for autistic traits

Now to what worries me: if Black and Latino families see it as something that largely affects their communities, it might be something that they will be more likely to hide since they feel their kid goes through enough. @DrSamiSchalk has talked about this at length.

In addition, it could lead to stigmatization in schools. We know the federal government never fulfilled its promises on the IDEA. Resources for Black and Latino students for IEPs are already stretched thin. If students have autistic traits, teachers might just silo them.

In addition, it could lead to doctors, school administrators and educators to stigmatize autistic Black or Latino kids. Anyways, I wrote a whole book about this. If you like my tweets, please buy it. harpercollins.com/products/were-…