Art by slammer on BlueSSkkky

Context

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Links To Resources (Aid and Theory):

Aid:

Theory:

  • Commiejones [comrade/them, he/him]@hexbear.net
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    1 year ago

    A person with a sprained ankle and a person who is paralysed below the waste are both lame. A person who had a nonmalignant melanoma removed and a person who went through stage 3 leukemia are both cancer survivors.

    • autismdragon [he/him, they/them]@hexbear.net
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      1 year ago

      Disagree that the autism spectrum can be compared to those things cleanly like that. Like, we abolished the seperate label of ASpergers not just because Hans was a nazi but also because we recognized that its all a spectrum and seperating it like that doesnt make sense.

      • Frank [he/him, he/him]@hexbear.net
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        1 year ago

        Agreed. It’s a diagnostic category that encompasses many different symptoms that people experience to a greater or lesser degree. There’s no biomedical marker you can point to that is required for diagnosis. Gatekeeping it is silly and just further stigmatizes the condition.

      • Commiejones [comrade/them, he/him]@hexbear.net
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        1 year ago

        Yes it is a spectrum just like a rainbow and I am saying there is a distinction between the rainbow itself and warm/cool colors or a shade of green 5/7ths the way from yellow to blue. The autism spectrum is a umbrella term for a multitude of different conditions and a range of severities. Autism isn’t a thing, it is a group of things.

        Most neurodivergent people are so low on the spectrum that they don’t even know. Most of the low-middle on the spectrum people that I have met prefer to make the distinction between their situation and that of people on the deep end. There is a marked difference between how you relate to a person who is non-verbal and a person who has difficulty identifying other peoples interest in a topic of conversation.

        Autism is a un-understandable and un-relatable diagnosis specifically because it covers so many terms some of which are completely contradictory. Its a big boogie man that alienates people. Breaking up the autism spectrum to identify specific forms of neuro divergence will only lead to better understanding of those conditions and only lead to more acceptance.