#Autchat: Six Months of Showing the Diversity of Autism.

Note: For those who want to be able to jump between sections more easily, I made an indexed version as a Google Doc; the link is here.


Introduction / What is #Autchat?

Approximately six months ago, on February 4th, 2015, a group of autistic activists, myself included, decided to start a Twitter hashtag for autistic people to talk about autism from our own perspective. The next Tuesday, February 10th, the first #autchat session was held.  It has been held on Tuesdays since, from 6pm-7pm UTC for the past six months.

In those six months, autchat has had over a hundred participants total, and up to ten or fifteen people per session. autchat sessions have had lengths of six hundred tweets at times, with the average being closer to three or four hundred.  It has grown considerably from the small gathering of autistic minds that started it, so much so that we created a Google Docs page for information on it so that people can read it without asking us, which can be found at http://bit.ly/autchat.  autchat has even gathered the attention of a reporter for the Washington Post, who interviewed two of its creators for the neurodiversity article that was recently posted.

However, autchat never made it into that article.  Even so, one does not need to be employed by a periodical to make an article; the only thing that is needed is the desire to write and people to interview.  To that end, I decided to make my own article, especially with the semi-annual celebration on August 11th. I gathered my questions, asked for participants, and got quite a few responses.  The feedback for autchat has largely been positive, which was great.  In total, six autists aside from myself have responded to my interview questions.

Finding Autchat

The first question I had asked was how people found autchat.  Aside from the creators who were interviewed (Myself and @theoriesofminds; the other creators did not request to be interviewed,) most of the people who answered had discovered autchat shortly after joining Twitter; it had already been well established at that point, with weekly sessions well-known to the regular participants.  Some, like @tuttleturtle42, found it through the existing participants, as they note:

“When I first joined twitter, I was adding primarily autistic people. Early on, Twitter suggested  to me @theoriesofminds. I saw the end of an #autchat and was really confused about what it was at first, but figured out how twitterchats work after seeing people talking about #neurodiverseSTEM.”

#NeurodiverseSTEM, for those who have not heard of it before, is a similarly moderated Twitter chat about neurodiverse people in the academic fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, commonly referred to as STEM.  It runs on Thursdays from 7pm-8pm UTC.

Of course, one does not need to have been aware of other Twitter chats to learn how #autchat works; as @autistictic states, sometimes the participants themselves can be helpful:

“I just recently started out on twitter. I was not involved in social media at all until about two months ago. The first thing I did was look around for other autistic people. I followed some of them on twitter and one day the #autchat hashtag just started appearing in my feed.

At first it seemed a bit mysterious and I didn't quite understand how it works. But all I had to do was post a question with the hashtag and I got all the help I needed directly from the participants!”

A Community for Ourselves

The common theme appears to be autists looking for community amongst themselves, and autchat provides an excellent means of that: an organized and timed Twitter chat where fellow autists can speak about their experiences.  In fact, for some people, autchat has been their introduction to the autistic community as a whole.  Stella notes this in her response to my second question, wherein I ask “How have your interactions online with the autistic community changed since participating in autchat sessions?”  She responds:

“Before participating in #autchat, I had no interactions online with the autistic community so it changed everything for me. Thanks to #autchat I have made friends, have exchanged about topics that interest me related to autism, and I’ve been able to share experiences and feel that other people could relate.”

People have reached out to each other and made friends through autchat as well.  Kitty responded in such a manner, stating “I have bonded better with other autistic people online.”  For some autists, it’s easier to have a more personal connection and have confidence when communicating through computer screens than in face to face conversations.  @princesshannyx notes this in her response:

“I now have a group of Twitter "friends" who all share my condition and we help each other in difficult times. It's also so helpful for checking whether what you feel is shared by anyone else or if you have had the same experiences as other people. I don't know anyone who shares my condition personally so it's really nice to have people who understand and I can speak to confidently as it is over a computer and not in person.”

The Perils of Publicity

Of course, for some people, the interactions may not really change; after all, even though autchat is a safe space for autistic people, it is still a public forum, as @tuttleturtle42 adds:

“It's probably actually where I'm watching where I'm saying in regards to being autistic most, because I know some people will look back at what I've said. Most of my interactions are in places where there aren't publicly available logs online like there are here.  However, that is only things like "Oh, actually I personally might want privacy in the future", nothing beyond that.”

Confidence through Community

For some, autchat has made people feel better about being autistic.  @autistictic notes that autchat is one of her first experiences being around other identified autists, which gives her the confidence to be more openly autistic herself:

“There are people there who relate to me. And I relate to them. That doesn't happen with the non-autistic people I know offline. I am not ashamed about anything when talking in #autchat. I feel accepted which makes it easier to learn to accept myself as well.

I have learned a lot about the different traits of autism, the problems and challenges that come with it, and all the different ways other autistic people deal with them. That has given me many ideas to try myself. Since I grew up without a diagnosis and surrounded by only neurotypical people #autchat is my first time getting support at all. There is lots of help and advice in practical things there as well.”

Of course, some people had already reached the point of self-acceptance before even stepping into autchat.  For them, there’s not necessarily any way to feel better about being autistic than they already do.  When asked if they felt better about being autistic since participating in autchat, @tuttleturtle42 replied, “No, sorry :( But that's because I haven't felt bad about it. I think it is a good place for others to do this, who have had to deal with that.”  Stella gave a similar remark to the question as well: “I didn’t feel bad about being autistic before participating, but I did feel lost and confused. Now I feel I have a support network of people like me who are supportive and friendly.”  Even for those who have already accepted that being their autistic selves is a good thing, autchat seems to be a place to find that peace of mind that we need to understand the world and ourselves better.

Open for Guests

One of the things autchat does is have guest moderators; if someone has a particular interest in leading a discussion on a topic, they can ask one of the lead moderators to be a guest mod for that topic, and have an autchat session assigned for them to host.  I took the liberty of asking the guest moderators some questions about their experience.  The first question I asked was “What Inspired you to guest mod a topic of Autchat?”  Stella responded, “Theoriesofminds asked if anyone was interested and I thought it would be a good experience to be behind the scenes. I picked a topic I was particularly interested in.”  

In my own experiences, when I moderated a topic on food, I did it because I had a history with eating difficulties, both with celiac and sensory aversion to lettuce and lily/nightshade fruits.  I wanted to corroborate with other people and both share my experiences and compare them to others.

When Stella first moderated her own topic, she didn’t have any expectations going in; when I asked her what she expected, she replied, “I wasn’t sure what to expect. I wanted to not just ask the questions but also try to respond to people and carry conversations. I was a bit panicked about forgetting to switch questions, and scared they wouldn’t elicit replies from people.”

I then asked her if it was any different than she expected, with her response being “It was much more fast-paced than I expected! Apart from that, everyone was absolutely lovely and encouraging.”

One thing I learned to do in my own moderation of revisited sessions is queue the questions in advance so that I can focus more on watching the session than worrying about when to post it; that way I can reply to questions or participate in topics as I need to; it’s a lot easier that way.

When I asked Stella what she wanted to tell people who might want to guest mod a topic yet but have not done so yet, she was quite enthusiastic:

“Do have a go! Everyone is nice and supportive, and you get to ask questions about a topic you are interested in. The templates are all ready to help you and the process is streamlined so you don’t have to worry too much.”

I would agree; I’d also add that you can easily use an app such as TweetDeck to schedule the question posts and intro/outro well in advance, so you can spend your actual time as an autchat mod viewing and contributing to the peoples’ posts themselves.

On Origins and Expectations 

Next, I interviewed theoriesofminds on the experience of being an originator of autchat; when asked on how the idea for autchat came about and what led to its creation, this was the response:

“Answering these both together since they start with the same answer: Lots of good conversations with autistic friends, and wanting to keep them from scrolling off our TLs and disappearing!

Here's where it started for me, when I asked if people would mind if we started tagging things and you and BKBTKR said you'd be up for it: https://twitter.com/theoriesofminds/status/563056827416723459 and https://twitter.com/theoriesofminds/status/563056896022945794

It was just after this conversation and some other ones the same day: https://twitter.com/theoriesofminds/status/563055571482714114

After I asked for thoughts on topics and tags you suggested you try making a list: https://twitter.com/theoriesofminds/status/563058395008487424 I think you made a general autism activist one first and an autchat participant one later.

Here's the first #autchat tag suggestion: https://twitter.com/theoriesofminds/status/563062765708148737

I drafted a google doc the next day and invited interested people and we did planning and scheduling and had our first chat on February 10th.

We didn't start the actual autchatmods account until the end of June and it has >100 followers already!”

In my own experiences, I was having a similar idea at the time; the conversation was growing too full of mentions to say anything meaningful, and I was thinking it would be a good idea to use a hashtag or similar shorthand for the group so that we could put more information on each tweet.  Of course, theoriesofminds had come up with the same idea and stated it first, so I simply added my enthusiastic agreement and volunteered to help in whatever means I could.  It was refreshing to know that the idea had not originated in my brain alone.

When I asked about the expectations for autchat at the start, once again I found that our thoughts on the matter were similar:

“I wanted to have a hashtag so we could record and find conversations better, and preserve some of the content that would otherwise disappear off our TLs. I don't think I thought about the future much. I'm really pleased it's still going strong, and that we've not only had an autchat every week but have expanded to having chats twice a week.”

My expectations were similar, to be a (relatively) small chat where we could talk about our own experiences.  I certainly did not expect it to be as big as it had been, but I’m pleasantly surprised.  The expansion to twice a week, for example, was due to the massive surge in popularity autchat had seen recently; I wanted to give even more people a chance to discuss things, and to revisit topics that they may have missed before.  We were both surprised to see the growth of autchat over the months, but it’s been good to see, as in the response to the question “How has autchat compared to these expectations in practice?:”

“I didn't think it would grow as much as it has, or get as much participation! I'm really happy that people have made friends through the tag...I checked analytics the autchatmods account, and we've averaged 208 views per tweet, for tweets that weren't aimed at specific people. That doesn't necessarily mean 208 people are reading the tag on average, since some of that is from retweets that people see on others' timelines...but still, we're getting a lot of exposure!”

The Importance of Mentors

The respondents in general seemed to unanimously agree that the autistic community is a better place for having autchat.   This is good; I imagine some people may disagree, as there is always a dissenting opinion in any endeavor, but to know that the massive majority of contributors think we’re better off for it is great.  Many have added their reasons for this belief as well.  @tuttleturtle42 notes,

“I think we need things like autistic mentors, and I think we don't have that yet. I think that things like #autchat take some of the places of what mentoring gets us, while also providing autistic socializing.

#autchat gives us the ability to discuss topics, sharing what we know, and learning from others. It gives us the opportunity to say "these are things about autism that I've learned about", and "these are things I want to know more about", while also listening to others sharing more coping skills that we can learn from, their experiences, that we can relate to, and more things that mean that we aren't alone. It's a way that we can learn and can recognize ourselves in others when we are feeling like we are ending up unable to relate to others because of how different they are time after time.

It's a place where people with more knowledge can give it to people who are just learning about autism, and those people with more knowledge will still be learning from others, not be limited to teaching. And it's done online, where we don't have to struggle with all this in-person stuff. We just need to struggle with 140 character counts, and twitter being far less accessible than it thinks it is.”

Autistic mentors are definitely a thing the autistic community needs; it’s a large part of why I came onto Twitter in the first place, because I started as a mentor locally.  All I had growing up was my own mother, and I wanted the next generation to have more people they can look to for advice.  I’m glad autchat can be that  for people.

Intersections and Diversity 

Of course, mentors are not the only reason autchat has been an improvement for the autistic community.  Intersections and the showing of diversity are ideas expressed in autchat as well.  As theoriesofminds states: “I think our trans and women/ppw chats were enlightening in particular; I wouldn't have expected as much overlap as trans/nb and autistic people that I now think there might be. I think all of our chats have contributed to helping individual people form a community, but I think those suggested interesting things about a possible high rate of trans/nb people that I had previously heard very little about. I hope someone will see it and decide they should do a population survey!”

Unconditional Acceptance and Support

The unconditional acceptance autchat tries to foster, especially of those who are either self-diagnosed or recognized by their community, seems to be another reason that people think that the group makes the community better, as @princesshannyx states:

“Autism can be very isolating as you want to interact with people and just can't figure the whole thing out. With the autchat community it brings us together as the autistic community without the worry of body language, eye contact, idioms and tone of voice (not to mention sensory overload). When I participate (or even if I just read) I feel a part of something that doesn't mind if I'm high functioning or having a meltdown or having a good or bad day. I'm accepted for who I am as me; not for what anyone else wants me to be. I can behave naturally; not in a socially acceptable way. And I learn so so much about myself and the condition. People have ideas that I would never have thought of that could help me enormously. I also like to think I can or have helped people with my own ideas and experiences.

Thank you for autchat. It really has changed my life. Suddenly I'm not alone any more.”

Safe Spaces in Public

Of course, as stated earlier, Twitter is a public forum; while the autistic community is the primary audience of autchat, the larger world is still able to see it.  In that vein, I asked people what they wanted the people outside of the autistic community to know about autchat.  The response was fairly unanimous: That autchat should be respected as a safe space for the autistic.  @Autistictic’s statement of such is quite clear:

“#autchat is for autistic people. I am worried about non-autistics taking the hashtag away from us like they take so many other things to be honest. I feel safe during autchat sessions and I really don't want non-autistic people there as that would mean I can't feel safe anymore. #autchat discusses very sensitive topics so be respectful.”

Stella expressed a similar sentiment as well, expressing a fear of invasion of the HT ny the non-autistic if it were advertised for them to watch:

“I’m torn about that question because I want #autchat to stay special, and I worry that those outside of the autistic community would suddenly try to invade it. It hasn’t been the case so far but it is a fear I have! But putting those fears aside, I would want them to know that we are here, and we support each other, and we are not just a list of traits and symptoms. We are human beings, all different, and #autchat shows that clearly.”

Closing Remarks

The diversity in something like autism, which most of the media perception seems to portray as these cookie-cutter stereotypes of either the geeky introverted engineer or the completely mute autist with little to no executive function is important to know, and which is why I, for one, am glad autchat has been around to show that diversity in our community.

The War on Autism is now a Crusade: Autism Speaks Doubles Down on Combative Language

 The idea of combative language is nothing new; I myself wrote a blog post three years ago decrying its use by most in the Autism Community (But not the Autistic Community. Big difference there.) In summary, I demonstrated that the use of those combative terms suggested that the people using thought that the autism was some external invader rather than a descriptor of what kind of person the autist actually is. But the war metaphor goes deeper than that.

When a person takes into account the major “combatant” in this war, Autism Speaks, and looks at their fund distribution, it really is apparent that they truly do seek to wage war on us. Most of their funds go to advertising. Propaganda at its finest.

They use divide et impera techniques by perpetrating the idea of functioning labels, trying to divide autists into two camps that they might fight each other rather than their true enemy. Using the innate desire for acceptance all humans have, they label the ones who can appear to not be autistic (regardless of what actual issues they face) as “high functioning” and place them on a pedestal, showing how these pillars of autism are almost human in their eyes. They may even employ a few in token positions to make it appear as if they want to help. They could never be a general or commander, though, that would be too much! They should just be happy to be a foot soldier fighting against their fellow autists, and that the gracious Autism Speaks even gave them a gun!

If anyone seeks to call them out on their war, however, they remove the pedestal from below us and use it as a cudgel instead, claiming that they're not really talking about that kind of autist, just the “low functioning” ones that “can't speak for themselves” (Though a great many autists incapable of vocalized speech do quite well using the written word.) However, this division is only made when an autist calls them out. Otherwise, their propaganda is quite happy to include us among the numbers of the growing autistic menace.

Their pieces are “calls to action,” reminding people of the burden we autistic people are to the world, and how much happier the place would be if only we were gone. “I am Autism” painted our neurotype as an enemy, in no uncertain terms declaring war on the way we are. Make no mistake, they want us gone. They just can't say it outright.

Even the fundraising walks themselves are oddly reminiscent of military marches; watching people walk along the streets, to both gain recruits and monetary funds for an organization that uses combative language against us scares me quite deeply.

Then there are the executive salaries. After all, you have to make sure your generals and commanders are well-fed, right? To them, funding the war effort is more important than helping autistic people, and it shows in their fund distributions. Only 4% of their funds go to actual autism services. This is a token effort, done only to create the facade of helping.

Then there is the research they fund, most if not all of which is funding ways for prenatal screening and early detection. They want to find us before we are born or at the very least when we're too young to be a viable threat to their rhetoric. Less soldiers that can join the opposition. And if they can brainwash a few of us to join their side, so much the better. And what better ways to brainwash than conversion therapies such as ABA and outright torture at the Judge Rotenberg Center, both of which the organization happily endorses.

But now, they have once again shown their battle fatigues in a recent “Heroes Among us” article from People Magazine featuring the founding members, Susanne and Bob Wright as the titular heroes. The cover title is “Crusading against Autism.” They're outright using combative language again. They've upgraded it from a simple war to a crusade, even! Now not only are they fighting us, they are showing that they believe their fight is righteous and holy and heroic! They have not backed down from combative language now, but have doubled down. Their actions and fund distribution are warlike. It's time to Boycott Autism Speaks.

I have drafted a petition to People Magazine asking them to publicly apologize for and retract the article. I hope you will sign it.

https://www.change.org/p/people-magazine-issue-a-public-apology-for-and-official-retraction-of-your-heroes-among-us-article-on-the-wrights-of-autism-speaks

Lindt Logic: How the Autistic Community United with Humor in the Face of Ignorance and Dismissal

On March 10, 2015 Lindt Chocolate posted a tweet from Autism Speaks (@autismspeaks) on their US Twitter account (@Lindt_Chocolate) that they would be hosting their 6^th annual Gold Bunny Celebrity auction in support of the organization. Autism Speaks has received criticism from primarily Autistic activists as well as some non-Autistic allies for its rhetoric regarding Autism and its allocation of its funds in the ten years of its existence.

(For more information on some of the reasons Autism Speaks is criticized, Boycott Autism Speaks has a list of reasons on their website: http://www.boycottautismspeaks.com/why-boycott-1.html )

For the most part, Autism Speaks has been silent towards its protesters, an irony when their motto proclaims that “It's time to listen.”

One method of protesting the organization is contacting corporations who sponsor it and informing them of the actions the organization has taken. Most sponsors have taken to ignoring the boycotts entirely, but Lindt decided to take an odd turn; they technically responded to some of the protesters, but showed that they clearly were not aware of the content of their messages.

@appleshoelace Thank you for your perspective. Please contact @autismspeaks with questions.
— Lindt Chocolate USA (@Lindt_Chocolate) March 10, 2015

@alaskkkaaa Thank you for your perspective. Please contact @autismspeaks with questions.
— Lindt Chocolate USA (@Lindt_Chocolate) March 10, 2015

Both messages are identical, aside from the Twitter handles of the persons involved: That Lindt Chocolate “(Thanks us) for (our) perspective” and that we should “contact Autism Speaks with questions.” This demonstrates a lack of attention to the protests in question, as the people who were contacting Lindt were not asking questions about Autism Speaks itself but were either asking why Lindt supports them or explaining that because Lindt supports them that they would no longer be purchasing their products. Contacting Autism Speaks would do nothing to resolve either of those points. I myself demonstrated the audacity of shifting the responsibility to the organization being sponsored in one of my responses:

So let me get this straight, @Lindt_Chocolate: You want @appleshoelace to ask @autismspeaks why -you- support -them-. Right.
— Cisco Buitron (@AskCisco) March 10, 2015

The fact that Lindt showed ignorance, willing or not, to the parties in question shows, to me at least, that they are not truly compassionate or attentive towards the autistic populace, and merely seek a mutually beneficial commercial relationship with Autism Speaks for a tax break and public relations purposes, as the organization still has a large public footprint as an organization related to autism.

This is a major problem with corporate sponsorship: Very rarely do corporations demonstrate any kind of ethical analysis when donating to charitable organizations. If the organization has a high profile and is tax-deductible, that is all that is needed for the corporation to donate to it, no matter where the money goes or the actual message the organization sends. And in the case of Autism Speaks, the organizations donating to it ignore the very voices of the people the organization claims to represent.

In reponse to Lindt's absurdity in their response to the autistic protests, I revived a tag called #LindtLogic and purposed it for humorful demonstrations of the meaning of Lindt's response.  After a while, another autistic commenter joined in.

I've got an idea, #ActuallyAutistic friends: #LindtLogic can be a HT where we demonstrate the logic Lindt just demonstrated today.
— Cisco Buitron (@AskCisco) March 10, 2015

Example: Someone asked me why I like cats so much. I told them to ask my cats. #LindtLogic
— Cisco Buitron (@AskCisco) March 10, 2015

@nappeapproves That's #LindtLogic for you. "This person is harming me." "Cool story bro, go talk to them."
— Cisco Buitron (@AskCisco) March 10, 2015

"You support a harmful organization." "Thank you for your perspective. Please contact the organization about it." #LindtLogic
— Cass (@nappeapproves) March 10, 2015

According to #LindtLogic, if I donate money to an organization, and someone tells me they are bad - I should tell my friend to contact them.
— Cass (@nappeapproves) March 10, 2015

Me: You give money to an organization that said I was cancer. Lindt: I'll just keep giving money then while you go talk to them. #LindtLogic
— Cass (@nappeapproves) March 10, 2015

@AskCisco Exactly. And meanwhile, I will just keep giving the organization money as usual. #LindtLogic
— Cass (@nappeapproves) March 10, 2015

"But that organization is really bad because-" "Then you should contact them, not me. I don't know or care where my money goes." #LindtLogic
— Cass (@nappeapproves) March 11, 2015

"Why are you paying for that person's gas? They're trying to run me over with their car!" "Talk to them about it." #LindtLogic
— Cisco Buitron (@AskCisco) March 11, 2015

The fact that the autistic community has rallied together in support of each other and against organizations that seek to speak for them rather than with them is an amazing phenomenon, and I hope to see it continue in the future.

When People Hurt With Carelessness

I have said many times in previous incarnations that I view autism primarily through the lens of a different aspect of humanity (for lack of better word, a culture) rather than a malady to be removed entirely. In that aspect, I view autistic rights as a facet of human rights. The goal of my advocacy is to promote autism as a valuable asset to the whole of humanity, and that if the collective gives accommodations to the autistic, the autistic will provide benefits to humanity in return.

It is for this reason that when I hear autism and its descriptors being thrown about as pejoratives I am offended; the idea that we are still the “other”, that we are to be shunned at best and eliminated at worst. This is why I was offended when Curtis posted his tweet regarding a fan looking autistic last year, and why I was offended by the lyrics of Jodeci Freestyle this year. However, I could not in good conscience hate the men themselves; they were ignorant of the hurt they were causing.

It is easy to demonize those who inflict harm, to automatically assume the slices from a sword are inflicted deliberately by a cruel oppressor, when the more likely scenario is that of a small child picking up the sword and swinging it carelessly. It is harder to step away from the child, calm down, and observe the situation objectively; harder still to then walk back to the child, grab the sword calmly and tell this person that they are harming people with it.

But that is what we in the human rights community must do if we are to move forward with our goals, and the autism community in particular. We advocates must be strong enough to take the slices without retaliating, explain that it hurts, why it hurts and calmly ask that they stop swinging. Very few people hurt deliberately; the majority hurt carelessly. And from my experience, J. Cole and Curtis Jackson hurt carelessly, not deliberately, and deserve the forgiveness asked by them.

Everybody Stims.

I hear a lot of talk in the autism community about self-stimulatory behavior, known colloquially and in shorthand as “Stims” or “Stimming.” For the most part, the self-advocates have convinced most people that stimming is good, it relieves stress/helps focus, and that autists should be allowed to stim. This is good, but I would like to go further than that and say that everyone stims.

Yes, that's right. I did, in fact, say everyone stims. Don't believe me? Think of a time to when someone was nervous or impatient. Did they rap their fingers? That's a stim. Did they tap their foot? Stim. Play with their hair? Yes, that's a stim too. Even things like whistling could be a stim. The point is, everyone does it to some extent; the only reason autistic stims seem so unusual is that our versions are different.

There is also of course the seemingly unusual sources and frequencies of the need to stim, but those are due to our hypersensitivity to sensory stimuli and changes. A lot of the non-autistic world is foreign to us, and therefore we have a higher level of anxiety when dealing with said world. I have a certain degree of confidence that were I to pluck a non-autist from their home country and put them in a foreign land, they would be stimming much more than they do at home.

“But Cisco, people look at my child strange when he stims!” Does the child notice? If the child does not notice, then perhaps a re-evaluation of exactly why this bothers you is in order. Likewise if the child notices but values the joy stimming brings over the strange looks they receive. Now, granted, extenuating circumstances do apply to this: If the kid is flailing their arms about in the knife section of a store or in a museum, there are practical concerns there. 

Still, if you must control a child's stimming for whatever reason, I would suggest evaluating the stims and channeling them into one or both of two paths: Either find a hobby or skill that utilizes this behavior and encourage them to pursue that, or find an “accepted” stim similar to what the child is actually doing and see if that relieves them in a similar manner.

Unity in the Autism Community

The entire controversy over Curtis Jackson's remarks seems to have brought an interesting facet to my understanding of the autism community: When faced with a common enemy and a common goal, they were able to set aside the differences they had with each other and unite to accomplish their intended goal. This posed the question to me: How, then, can we retain this unity and move forward to have common goals accomplished?

Having talked to a close friend of mine, we pondered the situation together and came up with a rule of thumb for a common goal: The common goal should not benefit one facet of the community, but the community as a whole. Extended, an ideal goal, for universal support, should have a way of benefiting all of humanity.

Therefore, this means that anything there is a massive divide over, no matter how important advocates of each party believe it is, should be shelved in favor of the common goal that benefits all. Ideally, if said partisan goal is a means to a universal end, there should be deliberation given towards how to approach that end universally as far as can be done before partisan debates are needed.

Clearly, the universal goal everyone involved with autism seeks is for the children to lead a better life. However, not all sides agree on how the better life is to be achieved. The neurodiversity advocates argue for autism to be seen as a differing mindset to be accommodated to by the community, and the biomedical advocates argue for autism to be seen as a disorder to be treated. However, I think, with a slight amount of compromise, there can be a common goal to be found.

I believe that common goal is to see autism as something to not be afraid of or feel hatred towards. It is something to be looked at and handled on the individual level. Some will choose to alter themselves or their children with drugs and other means, some will choose to keep their autism close to their heart and live with both its benefits and its drawbacks.

The compromise, however, is that the neurodiversity advocates must take a step back and allow the biomeds to do what they feel is needed to help their kids live a better life, and the biomeds must speak out when rhetoric of autism is fearmongering and combative. We cannot be using “war on autism” or call it a “emergency” or “national crisis” when the rates go up. We cannot see these children as an enemy to be fought, or the part of them that is autistic as something that needs to go away. If we're to fight for a better future for these kids, let's do it together, not as enemies. The world is tough enough on them as it is without people claiming to speak on their behalf fighting each other.

Celebrity, Autism, Oppression by the Oppressed and Public Opinion

Edit 7/8/2012: Curtis has finally posted an apology.  The wording is a little strange; after all, didn't he mean to offend the person he was replying to? "I realize my autism comments were insensitive, however it was not my intention to offend anyone and for this I apologize." (found at https://twitter.com/50cent/status/222033753386647554 ) 

Edit 7/5/2012: Curtis has deleted the tweets, but has still made no public acknowledgement of saying them or an apology for them.  More edits as the situation changes.

On the second of July, the rapper, producer and businessman Curtis Jackson, known to many as "50 Cent", posted two posts to his Twitter account that enraged the Autism community:

"yeah i just saw your picture fool you look autistic ‪#SMSaudio‬ RT @yung_raditz @50cent Release the album or get shot again" ( Previously found at https://twitter.com/50cent/status/219978810689470464)

and

"i dont want no special ed kids on my time line follow some body else ‪#SMSaudio" ( Previously found at https://twitter.com/50cent/status/219980077855809537) .

He followed up with an "apology" for the Special Ed. remark that seemed more like a jab at how the program worked than an actual retraction of his opinion:

"just kidding about da special ed kids man, i was in special ed day said i had anger issues lol" (Previously found at https://twitter.com/50cent/status/219983198527045633 ) .

As many people have already talked about the event itself, I would rather springboard this to a discussion on how celebrity status seems to affect public opinion. Why is it that a good many people take the advice of a celebrity in fields they have no knowledge about? From the posts, it is clear Curtis knows nothing of autism; there is no autistic "look", after all, and the idea of "looking autistic" being an insult is absurd when any of the world's greatest innovators were on the spectrum. Yet people will fight his opinion, myself included, because we know there are people who will hold it as gospel if unchallenged.

This provides a catch-22: a few bloggers have said that there are better things to do than fight one man's opinion, and they are right. It is, after all, the opinion of just one man. The issue, however, is that if we do not fight it, those that hold his opinion sacred will spread it. If we do fight it, the fight will spread the discussion to people who would otherwise not have heard it, and thus we spread it ourselves. Either way, an opinion that quite rightly should just die out spreads. I choose to speak out, however, because at least speaking out shows that this view is not universally held and has opposition. And that, hopefully, will discourage other people from actively expressing such views. I would wish people did not respect celebrity views just by virtue of their celebrity, but until people take positions based on actual merits, others must fight back in order to show those views are wrong.

One of the greatest ironies, however, is that the person this insult is coming from, Curtis Jackson, is a member of a race and culture that in his very lifetime experienced and experiences systematized discrimination. He knows what it is like to be insulted for an attribute he is born with (the color of his skin), yet chooses to propagate discrimination for another born trait (autism). If he does not know autism is a born trait, it makes him ignorant. If he does, it makes him a hypocrite, especially after promoting a book against bullying. Either way, I hope the community continues to push for an apology and retraction until it gets one.  Nobody deserves to be insulted for how they were born, be it sexuality, race or neurotype.