Friday 28 February 2014

the imbalance of respect in the autistic community

there is a imbalance in the online autistic community,and those who are active on wrongplanet will know the opinion of mine on this.

am talking about how those of us under the 'low functioning' spectrum do not have our voices heard enough without others butting in and thinking they speak what we think,plus the divisive,bigoted and at times elitist nature of an autistic community that is naturaly biased towards the high functioning.

this imbalance comes from the fact most in the low spectrum either have always been assumed to be NON functioning and have never been taught how to use a computer OR do not have the mental capacity to communicate language across well enough to use forums,which means the majority of online autistics are high functioning.
so that answers why our views are undersupported in the autistic community,but not why our fellow HFA brothers and sisters are unable to defend us like they defend each other.

lets take that majority group and examine the issue further, why are so many amongst HFAs totaly against the idea of an autism cure and say of the whole autistic spectrum;we are autistic; not a disease,we dont need curing we need support and understanding....BUT,those of us who are low functioning have no qualities,are non functioning and need curing?

why is it a high functioning autist understands that HFA is a HUGE spectrum within itself and all aspies differ in their autistic quality of life plus vary in the size of their support team, but cannot apply that same thinking to LFA?
why is it WE are assumed to be automaticaly in need of a cure? why do so many aspies and parents of autistic children think we are suffering terribly because they apply how they woud deal with our lives and obviously come out with a negative interpretation?
we have different expectations and wants/needs in life compared to HFAs or NTs but that doesnt make our life inferior-it just makes us different.
yes-there are so many things we really coud do with better help with;that dont require kicking an MP up the arse to get any funding to get there,but a cure doesnt help that-its having the autism and autistic communities standing up together and fighting for better understanding,support and funding.

the autistic community needs to be defending EVERYONE on the spectrum-defending every autistics right to live how they want and not be treated as a non functioning burden.
aspies are the closest people to understanding how we feel,and those of us who are LFA who are involved in activism need to be supporting our aspie brothers and sisters to,we dont get anywhere without support.

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