Saturday, October 9, 2010

Getting Ready to Protest Autism Speaks




Tomorrow morning I will be joining my friend Melanie and the rest of the gang from ASAN over at the Ohio State campus for the annual Autism Speaks Walk. We will be protesting. Those of my readers who are in the area please feel free to come along.

While this is a protest, I also like to think of it as a celebration. The Autism Speaks walk is a birthday of sorts for us. It was two years ago that I and other members of the Aspirations support group went to the Walk in good faith. Being new to autism advocacy I was not familiar with Autism Speaks ideology. At the Walk I learned from, President Gee of Ohio State no less, that I was a disease that needed to be eradicated. Wishing to take action, Melanie first wrote a letter to President Gee. Later she decided to create a chapter of ASAN and recruited me as her co-chair. So tomorrow we will not just be standing up to neurotypical bigots determined to eliminate us from the gene pool, we will also be taking the time to celebrate legitimate autism advocacy, one in which autistic people actually get to speak instead of being spoken for.

13 comments:

Clarissa said...

- "standing up TO neurotypical bigots."

Have fun at the walk!!! I wish I could join you!!!!

Izgad said...

Thanks.

Anonymous said...

More power to you! Neurodiversity is what makes humanity so successful.

The Bray of Fundie said...

that I was a disease that needed to be eradicated.

I don't get it. If a breast cancer patient in remission went to a 10K walk to benefit breast cancer research would she conclude that SHE was a disease that needed to be eradicated or that she suffered from one that needed to be eradicated?

If you could choose to be born once more (don't like the phrase born again)minus Aspergers syndrome would you not avail yourself of the opportunity?

Izgad said...

Asperger syndrome is a way of looking at the world, not a disease. I might be tempted to take a “cure” if offered simply to make my life easier for myself. I would in no way be making myself better. I like the person that I am now. He is smart and funny even if he has to polish up on some of the technical points of dealing with other people.

The Bray of Fundie said...

Why is it called a syndrome? Do you hold that a change in nomenclature is in order?

Are you smart and funny BECAUSE of Aspergers or IN SPITE of Aspergers or neither?

If possible to explain to someone who lacks Aspergers how does the weltanshaung of ALL those with it differ from ALL those who lack it?

Izgad said...

A syndrome technically is not something negative. It simply means a collection of symptoms. In practice the word “syndrome” does have negative connotations so if one is trying to take Asperger syndrome out of the medical category and make it a social one (along the lines of a minority group) then it makes sense to drop the syndrome part.


I would describe the Asperger weltanschauung as one that focuses on reason and abstract rules as opposed to empathy. Also one relates better to ideas and objects as opposed to people.

The Bray of Fundie said...

And this is, you opine, for a human being, an equally valid, but merely alternative weltanschauung, to one that IS empathic and that relates better to people than to ideas and objects ?!?!

I guess this is a new iteration of the old מחלוקת between the cerebral lomdisha Talmudists on the one hand and the early Beshtian Khasidim and Salanterian Mussarists OTOH.

Anonymous said...

I know that we may disagree on this, but I think that you would be smart and funny with or without Asperger's.

And I really don't get the preference to have this particular collection of symptoms than NOT to have it. I think we would have neurodiversity with or without Asperger's. People are different. People are always going to be different. My siblings and I, and my friends and I, are all different from each other, even though few of us have Asperger's. And if I could increase people's empathy and ability to relate to each other, then I most certainly would.

I also don't see you as having a lack of empathy or ability to relate to other people (at least not to me, usually), so I'm not sure why you make this your hallmark. Maybe it's a rhetorical device, like so much else on this blog?

I'm going to stay anonymous for this one, but I'm sure you know who I am. Who else is this honest and disagreeable? *Despite* being a dreaded neurotypical who strives for empathy and warm and multi-faceted human relationships. (!)

Clarissa said...

"And if I could increase people's empathy and ability to relate to each other, then I most certainly would."

-So YOU should have the right to change others according to YOUR preferences? Without asking them whether they are interested?

Does the word "eugenics" say anything to you?

The Bray of Fundie said...

How does the anti-eugenics crowd feel about those with Downs Syndrome?

Would you change them if you could without their consent? Are they differently abled or disabled IYO?

Izgad said...

DS is a very touchy subject for the anti-eugenics crowd. There would be many (this I think would be the official ASAN position) who would argue that with advancing technology we can do more and more for those with DS and we are seeing more people with DS capable of leading functional lives. I am a “moderate” on the eugenics issue and would argue that people with DS at the moment by and large are not in a position to engage in the social discourse, are wards of society and can therefore be “cured” without their input. I expect though for the situation to change in the near future and for DS to join the Deaf community and high functioning autistics in the socially disabled category.

Anonymous said...

>> And if I could increase people's empathy and
>> ability to relate to each other, then I most
>> certainly would."
>
> So YOU should have the right to change others
> according to YOUR preferences? Without asking
> them whether they are interested?
>
> Does the word "eugenics" say anything to you?

Sorry, I didn't mean that I would change people against their will or if they were uninterested. I just meant that if I could say, offer a free pill for anyone interested that would increase their empathy and ability to relate to people, then I would be amongst the first to take it and encourage others to partake, as well. This pill would increase empathy within reason. I think that people who are so empathic that they feel others' pain as deeply as their own must suffer tremendously, and, likewise, people who are so good at and interested in relating to people that they can never be alone must also suffer.

I guess I'm interested in balance. People striving towards balance. Empathy and relating to other people being, as far as I can tell, necessary for functional workplaces, societies, and families, I would think that those have to be part of the mix.