Skip Navigation
I would appreciate a diagnosis or classification of autism that isn't described as a disorder
  • "Maybe it’s because we associate disorder with non functioning, when’s it more “life on hard mode in the current social/cultural context”."

    If a disorder manifested itself in a limited context then it wouldn't be a disorder. Disorders are inherently defined by their impacts in multiple contexts. It could be argued that society itself is a social/cultural context but society as a whole cannot be changed in a reasonable period of time to accomodate an individual, so it is impractical to classify society in that way.

    "It also implies there’s something wrong with the individuals rather than recognizing that the environment could also be adjusted to help the individual thrive."

    Although this implication is present within society in many ways, the use of (modern) autistic terminology is intended to inform the accommodations a person needs to thrive. The negative stigma of disability is entrenched deep into our society and even affects the discussions we have within our community.

    What negative connotations do you see with the word "disability" and what motivates you to distance yourself from it?

  • I would appreciate a diagnosis or classification of autism that isn't described as a disorder
  • I believe that you have good intentions with your post but this line of thinking is alienating to the autistic people who have difficulties that cannot be merely attributed to societal discrimination, but require support for their disability to allow them to live and thrive at all. Using terminology that is only derived from the social model of disability removes the agency from autistic people, particularly people with moderate-to-severe presentations, to communicate their difficulties clearly.

    "However, many individuals would function quite well in a setting that was designed to raise, educate, and accommodate autistic brains."

    Environmental accommodations do not eliminate the presence of autism as a disability. A disabled person is still disabled when they receive accommodations. The fact that we need accommodations distinct from allistic people is indicative of its status as a disability.

    As you are a leader of an autistic community, I suggest for you to consider the implications of these statements towards autistic people with moderate-to-severe presentations and to be inclusive of them when discussing the social model of disability.

  • What was the most surprising change you noticed after starting medication?
  • Realising that my medicated state is the average person's default.

  • Welcome
  • Hi, welcome to the threadiverse.

  • I've been getting a ton of transphobia lately on here
  • Thanks for clarifying the situation. In that case, yeah, defederation pretty much solves it.

    And yeah, trolls can just register a new account, but if they’re doing it on an instance with active admins, they don’t last long.

    Which should be standard but unfortunately instances aren't created equal. At least with the instance you're running, it seems to be going well. Keep up the good work.

  • Is it me, or the hive mind mentality has come over here as well?
  • It could be brought up in a feedback community or feature request page if it exists.

  • The social model of disability can co-exist with the medical model.
  • But it is also good to have the ability to communicate effectively with autistics, yet your framing may contribute to drown that consideration.

    I can see where you're coming from and I appreciate the constructive criticism. My intention was to convey that difficulties will still be present for many autistic people when communicating despite accommodations, but I do not intend to dismiss existing progress made by advocates to educate neurotypical people about autistic communication.

    (...) and you may be successful at masking with a communication style that doesn’t come natural to you for a day, a week, a month, years - but all of that is extra effort you’re loading on your back for the sake of not coming off as weird (...)

    I find it extremely difficult to fully mask personally and that doing so brings great strain on myself so I avoid doing it as much as possible. It helps that I have recently had the opportunity to be in a supportive environment where I can be fully unmasked without backlash. The possibility of societal acceptance in a wide variety of environments is very foreign to me. I think it's something I'll mull over.

  • Alone pros/cons
  • There's a difference between solitude and loneliness.

  • private email service?
  • What features are you looking for?

  • *Permanently Deleted*
  • There would still be conflict relating to that as there are many autistic people who have the reduced capacity to work or outright cannot work at all.

  • *Permanently Deleted*
  • This is something I tried to take into consideration for my comment as it is difficult to really give a definitive answer. I think people forget that autistic people aren't guaranteed to cooperate with each other and may even have more conflicts.

  • *Permanently Deleted*
  • I was more interested in the percieved respect, honesty, integrity (e.g. people not nicking your stuff if you drop something somewhere), generally friendly attitudes, tech innovation, appliance design etc.

    I like those aspects of Japanese culture as well but I think it's always good to be wary of accidentally romanticising a culture as no country is perfect.

  • Is it me, or the hive mind mentality has come over here as well?
  • Upvotes/downvotes are usually for the approval/disapproval of the comment itself so it would be best to upvote a comment expressing your opinion or write your own if there isn't any.

  • Mastodon and politics, what do you think?
  • I wouldn't recommend it unless moderation grows more robust and there's a clear way to deal with legal issues such as uploaded CSAM/CSEM.

  • I've been getting a ton of transphobia lately on here
  • Disclaimer: Not MTF, just lurking communities/magazines.

    Defederating helps for instances that are exclusively used for bigotry or prominently contains bigoted content but bigotry within your instance should be managed with active moderation. I haven't explored all of the features on Lemmy and kbin but there may also be features that allow you to curate your experience, which will hopefully reduce the transphobia you receive. Sorry that you had to deal with that on your posts.

  • Arguing with dumb people actually makes you smarter because you have to figure out ways to explain things in a way a dumb person can understand
  • It would also be waste of time if the "dumb" person is arguing in bad-faith. I would even argue that it's smart to value your time and redirect it to something worthwhile, as you've said.

  • How can I request a community?
  • You could try asking on c/support.

  • Which privacy-focused search engine are you using?
  • The concept is nice but the search results are less than ideal.

  • /kbin meta @kbin.social pogosort @kbin.social
    Are there any plans to have an uptime/status page for the main instance?

    Although uptime/status pages are instance-specific, it would be beneficial to have an uptime/status page so users can be informed of any technical issues or server outages more easily.

    0
    The social model of disability can co-exist with the medical model.

    Rejecting it will alienate the people who rely on it.

    Hi, I'm Pogo. As you can see, my account's fairly new so I might come across as a concern troll or something but I assure you that I am not new to the community (and the threadiverse) in general.

    What I find concerning about existing autistic communities is that some can lean heavily towards the social model of disability. This normally is not a concern as the social model of disability empowers autistic people and allows them to advocate for themselves, but there are certain behaviours associated with this crowd that are concerning for current and future participants. Particularly participants who are diagnosed with level 2 or 3 autism under the DSM-V or are referred to with relevant terminology.

    A major source of confusion and misinformation in the community is that functioning labels and the DSM-V diagnostic levels are the same. This is incorrect and results in stigma against DSM-V diagnostic levels. It is understandable that people who have not heard of the diagnostic levels or were not diagnosed under the DSM-V would assume that they are used in the same way as functioning labels. DSM-V diagnostic levels are assigned to an autistic person on diagnosis and they indicate the formal supports they require. This diagnostic level is used by medical professionals to ensure the autistic person is getting the required supports. Unlike functioning labels, the DSM-V diagnostic levels are directly informed by the person's experiences and are assigned by qualified professionals. They are not assigned based on uninformed assumptions and do not force an expectation upon a person.

    Another issue I have noticed within discussions is that advocating for more accurate terminology can be misdirected to deny people the autonomy to use the terminology they find comfortable for themselves. This can be seen with people attempting to "correct" someone else because they were using a term that is considered outdated or offensive. This behaviour is unproductive for autistic advocacy and should be discouraged. It does not advance autistic acceptance and only hurts our own people.

    With conflicts between the social and medical models of disability, I have observed people who are averse to identifying autism as a disability or acknowledge that autism can have inherent difficulties that will not be solved by societal change. This is most commonly expressed for social difficulties in interactions with neurotypical people. I believe that this aversion is due to existing stigma against autism and disabilities in general as being negative so people desire to disassociate themselves from it. Unfortunately I do not think this is helpful for the autistic community nor for autistic advocacy. Disability is simply the lack of ability and is morally neutral. Recognising this may reveal internalised ableism that can be resolved through self-acceptance and compassion. Sugarcoating the impacts of disability with "acceptable" terminology invalidates the real experiences of autistic people and alienates them from a community that should include them by default.

    I want to be able to interact with people like me. I want to be able to relate to your experiences. I cannot do that if my existence is denied by default. I cannot do that if my words are silenced. I cannot do that if I feel like an outcast within outcasts.

    Thanks for reading.

    8
    pogosort pogosort @kbin.social
    Posts 2
    Comments 21