Autistic Hedgehog

When allistics refer to Autism as something separate from the person.

Saw this on the Autism tag. “Look out Autism, we’re going to deal with you!” Okay, first off, don’t these people see how immature they sound? Like, “We’re going to fight you big bad Autism doo doo head!”

I think growing up being expected to behave socially appropriate by the schools I went to, has given me no tolerance for adults who cope the way toddlers do. Autism is a developmental disorder. It’s not the boogeyman, or the monster under your bed. A child shouldn’t have to deal with a parent, who refers to their diagnoses like a scared toddler. Finding out your child has Autism means you need to be more of a parent, that means helping your child, rather than calling “Autism” bad names as if you’re going to scare it off.

A lot of consideration should go to those of us with Autism who try to understand your situation. It’s like helping a 2 year old get over their fear of the dark. Adults with Autism shouldn’t have to come and tell you it’s going to be all right, because your sniffling over your child having a difference.

I’m sure I’ll be getting over dramatic responses about how, I don’t know what it’s like, and “You’re MEAN!”. Autistic people have a right to existence. They have a right to be treated as any other child would. That means not having to parent their parents, because their parents age regressed when they found out the diagnoses, and wanted to hide under their blankie and suck their thumb. How can a child have a childhood, when their parents hear the word Autism, and collapse into a self-pitying crying jag, or start chanting that they’re gonna beat that big bad Autism.

I am not exaggerating, on one of the Autism Every Day videos, they had the parents call on the “Powha of voodoo” to save their children from Autism. Autism Speaks is leading self-pitying martyr parents in a kindergarten sing-a-long. That is pathetic. Meanwhile Autistic children have to deal with the real world, while their parents go on Tumblr and other sites communing over how the big bad Autism ruined their lives.

So why should Autistic people be expected to function, when so many NTs have shown they can’t. No, I don’t have slack of empathy. I just reserve it for parents who act like parents. Not parents who woe is me over their child’s diagnoses. Not parents who go to one of Autism Speaks open house kinder care for parents with a child with Autism group “Everyone gets a hug because they helped their child today! Yay!” sessions. I reserve my empathy for adults who act like adults. Don’t tell me or anyone else with Autism they have functioning problems, while you’re dealing with life as a small child does.

gryblogs:

metapianycist:

[Autistic Hedgehog meme: Pokemon player slams on players who has ASD and autism. Apparently forgot that the creator of Pokemon has Asperger’s.]

autistichedgehog:

Nothing makes me prickly like people who equate autism with mental retardation.

mod note: I didn’t know that about the creator of Pokemon but ohmigod that makes so much sense! It’s such a very autistic sort of thing, if you guys know what I mean. Also, Pokemon FTW.

It also kind of annoys me when autistic people talk about MR/ID as if it’s an objectively bad thing worthy of ridicule. Submitter, I don’t know if you meant to do that, but if you did, it was kind of shitty. Especially because I believe there are autistic people who also have a diagnosis of MR/ID.

I didn’t mean it that way, and I see what you mean. I may have been lost in definition. “Autistic” is thrown around just as much as “retarded” nowadays when there is nothing wrong with being either; it is implied that we are all severely mentally deficient (I think that might have been what I was shooting for) or “stupid”, because we are not neurotypical, with the term used as an insult towards anyone who suffers a momentary lapse in judgement or tact. I apologize if I offended anyone.

To clarify, I had figured this was what gryblogs meant in the first place. Maybe it’s just the years of experience, but I know autistic people in general have a tendency to say things straight and blunt without thinking deeper about how other people might perceive it. I just thought about what my brain would mean in the situation and went from there.

But obviously, that won’t always work. I want very much to give my fellow autistics the benefit of the doubt with what they say (something allistic people have rarely given me) but I don’t want anyone to end up feeling unwelcome here, either.

Please, if you submit something, absolutely don’t be afraid to explain what you mean in detail. This form of meme means that misunderstandings can happen pretty easily. As well, I’m wondering: Would anyone mind, in the future, if I contact you about a submission if I feel there may be something that could come off offensive and would like to get further clarification on what was meant?