Autistic Hedgehog

[“You’ve comforted someone in their time of need? You can’t be autistic!”

Why the everloving fuck not?]

[TW: Death] I think this is one that pissed me off more than most of them. Autistics get a rep for being cold and unemotional, for not being affectionate or sympathetic, when it truth most of us just show those things in unconventional ways. 

When my husband’s grandfather passed away a few years ago, I comforted him by sitting with him and reading The Spiderwick Chronicles aloud. Yeah, it’s not “I’m so sorry for your loss” but my husband knows me. He knows that 1) that’s not how I operate (but that doesn’t mean I don’t care) and 2) I’ve actually lost a lot of people in my life and find phrases like those empty and meaningless, so I never say them. 

A couple of years ago his sister-in-law was diagnosed with cancer. One evening we found out she didn’t have long to live. The next morning, when the phone rang, I left the bathroom (not quite literally mid-pee, but close) and ran out to hold him while he got the news. (I knew it would be bad news because the phone always rings in the morning when it is. Any time the phone rings before noon, I’m hard-pressed not to freak out.)

When my mom was curled up on the floor screaming and crying over the death of my fourteen-year-old cousin, I was the one who held her.

It’s true that in most cases I’m quiet. I stand by, silent, not crying so everyone else has room to express their grief. That’s how I act, how I cope. That I don’t often comfort people in the expected ways does not mean I’m not trying, in my own way, to offer comfort. And when I do offer comfort, this by no means negates my autism.

That goes for all of us. 

neuroatypically-speaking:

goldenheartedrose:

survivalxineo:

imtootired:

survivalxineo:

So it looks like the 60 doses of the 16 different vaccines are doing their jobs then. Too bad the parents aren’t doing their jobs by knowing what’s in those vaccines.

Poor kids are being sold out by their own parents and are completely helpless to stop it!

Nah, what it looks like more is that you’re an idiot. Autism isn’t a disease needing a cure, or a defect caused by vaccines, it’s a form of natural human variation. Just the same as being gay, or bi, or ace, or trans, or intersex, or whatever the fuck other myriad ways in which humans vary from one individual to another. Maybe you should know what’s in the vaccines you’re blaming before making ridiculous claims, and of course cite evidence to back yourself up while you’re at it. I wasn’t a poor kid because I was autistic, I was a poor kid because people have shit attitudes toward anyone who is different, which manifests in shitty nonsense claims like yours, where we can only be seen as disordered victims in need of rescue by muggles. Just get the fuck out.

Alright - you don’t see the link? You don’t put the one with the other?

Lets break this down then shall we?

http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vac-gen/additives.htm

Common additives found in vaccines as CITED from the CDC.

Aluminum
Antibiotic
Egg protein
Formaldehyde
Monosodium Glutamate (MSG)
Thimerosal (Mercury)

Just looking at this listing tells you that the common components are KNOWN to be harmful or outright toxic. I mean hell, this list sounds like a board of health violation write up from the truckstop waffle house or a rat infested chinese food restaurant in the dirty side of town.

So let’s look at some of the effects of just ONE known harmful ingredient …

http://hazard.com/msds/mf/baker/baker/files/m1599.htm

The Material Safety Data Sheet for Mercury states that KNOWN harmful effects include chronic effects such as:

“Chronic exposure through any route can produce central nervous system damage. May cause muscle tremors, personality and behavior changes, memory loss, metallic taste, loosening of the teeth, digestive disorders, skin rashes, brain damage and kidney damage. Can cause skin allergies and accumulate in the body. Repeated skin contact can cause the skin to turn gray in color. A suspected reproductive hazard; may damage the developing fetus and decrease fertility in males and females.”

I rest my fucking case!

This response to your soapbox’ed, uninformed, baseless, and ignorantly skeptical standpoint is longer than I really wanted to make it.

What I really hate is that people don’t even bother to think anymore. They do as they are told and one of the main things that people are taught, is to attack anything that goes against the state’s paradigm or philosophy of science, technology, education, medicine, or history.

Congratulations! You’re one of the idiots still chanting that the earth is flat.

Have you even considered for a moment that the people you’re responding to are autistic, and hey, might know something about autism (ahem, more than you do)? How about you consider some studies proving NO link between autism and vaccines.

http://yesthattoo.tumblr.com/post/37108102277/re-a-list-to-hopefully-shut-up-anti-vaxer-do-you

Also, if I have to say one more fucking time that <i>ethylmercury</i> is not dangerously toxic or that thimerosal isn’t in vaccinations given to children under seven, I might explode. 

Not to mention how many studies (we’re up to eight now, aren’t we?) have proven all this shit to be a load of hogwash, pedaled to ignorant douche weasels by fearmongering, greedy alt-med gurus. Most of the things found in vaccinations used as preservatives are not remotely toxic in the amounts in which they’re used, so your list proves nothing, OP, except that you’re yet another gullible anti-science child-killer. Congratulations! You’re one of the jackasses still chanting that the earth is the center of the universe! 

Go talk to some moon-hoaxers or something. We’re not in the mood for your counter-factual conspiracy theory bullshit. 

[“You lead a very active sex life? You can’t be autistic!”

Guess I’ll just stop then. … Pfft! Not!]

I’m not sure what exactly this particular generalization is supposed to be based on. The misconception that we’re all asexual? The misconception that we’re incapable of consenting to sex? The misconception that we can’t socialize enough to get laid? All of the above? Your guess is as good as mine.

[“You aren’t obsessed with a single interest? You can’t be autistic!”

Even Simon Baron-Cohen thinks you’re ridiculous.]

‘Nuff said.