Asperger syndrome and the disability rights movement

[Praetor]

Ive recently been getting quite heavily interested in the disability rights movement. Expanding my knowledge base and all that. Some AS types and people who buy the neurodiversity argument tend to associate themselves with the wider disability rights movement. I mean don't get me wrong I can see alot of contrast between myself and people like Professor Mike Oliver of Greenwich university and his fight, and I can draw parrelllels but is this really something aspergers needs to be a part off. I for one dont see myself as having a "hidden" disability as the professionals like to refer to it.

What are peoples personal feelings on this subject. Ive purposefully posted this here because it helps to have an international perspective on things. Also im seeing an icelandic professor on disability rights tomorrow talking about the nordic countries approach to disability and autism so this is a precursor to my mind preparing for the day.

Your thoughts and opinions welcome. Im deliberatly letting this discussion be as open as possible lets see were it goes

[Postperson]

Disability rights? there aren't many when your disability is (largely) invisible. People can stick the boot in with a clear conscience because your not 'really' disabled.

[Praetor]

Heh well you get some disability rights people who do recognise aspergers some who don't. Were abit of an enigma really.

[Happeh]

Heh well you get some disability rights people who do recognise aspergers some who don't. Were abit of an enigma really.

Getting labeled as having a disability is the first step to victimhood. Then the rest of your life, everything that happens to you is "because you are disabled".

Did you ever notice how having a disease is becoming a status symbol? Dyslexia, Aspergers, blah blah?

Doctors make this stuff up to make people happy so they give the doctors money. How much money have you given to a doctor for your "disability"? Which in the old days used to be considered a normal part of growing up.

Being socially inept was a staple of movies for decades. You ever see Pretty In Pink? The guy was a teenager learning how to socialize. Not a person with a disease that needed medicine and doctors.

Normality is being "disease-ified" for monetary reasons.

[Postperson]

People are less tolerant of any oddness, employers especially. It has been said that asperger's is more suited to the old fashioned world, less noise, less choice, same job all your life, same spouse all your life, less 'multiskilling' etc. so in my opinion, it's been forced out into the open as an impairment because of the demands and stresses of modern life, particularly working life.

[Lucifer]

there's new legislation in the UK about addressing disabilites, and all institutions are jumping to try and sort out their shit pdq.

at the university i work at, there's a new group been set up, to address these issues, and one of the things i'm making sure is highlighted (along with some others) is the issue of "invisible" disabilities, including depression and AS, etc.  so, when they're bagining on about access, and wheelchair ramps, i talk about sensory issues and physical environment, etc., and have already offered training and my own expertise for both the academic and the pastoral side of things.

i agree with happeh that the meidcal profession is rather trigger happy with diagnoses, certainly in the US, and even more so with prescription drugs (and it's creeping in over here), but there's a difference between diagnosing Breathing In and Out Syndrome, and actually highlighting something which is causing major grief in someone's life.  i'm quite happy to be diagnosed/labelled if it means my life is made easier, having suffered 40 odd years of not being either.

i also think that AS seems more prevalent because social mores and interaction have become less limited - when i was a kid, if you met someone, you said "how do you do", and they replied saying the same.  no worries about what to say - the rules were far clearer.  i'm not saying that we should go back to the "in your place" state of serfdom, etc., but having those very formal, very clear social interactions made life a lot easier, as far as i can see.  "here's a set of social rules: learn 'em, and get on with it".  much easier than trying to work out what the fuck to say when.

urgh - have to go t work soon, so curtailed version of what i could say...   

[duncvis]

Aspergers is a status symbol? 

For me, acceptance of the label and what it means has enabled me to empower myself. I have no interest in being a professional victim, ta all the same. There are real issues associated with it, and all the sensory stuff that many of us have complicates the picture. Have you ever heard of the social model of disability happeh? I am intelligent, skilled in several areas, and a grafter. But I cannot hold down a full time job to save my life, which IS due to issues arising from being on the autistic spectrum. This is a problem which I had no explanation for before I realised I was autistic, so the label has been of help to me. My self belief has improved and I'm willing to fight for myself and stick up for others like me.

Writing it off as not real or a normal part of growing up makes it clear that you have no idea at all of what Aspergers actually is. You just sound fucking ignorant.

[Happeh]

i agree with happeh .............

Holy Moly!

[Happeh]

You just sound fucking ignorant.

That's a new opinion. Or is it? I have this weird feeling of Deja Vu.

[duncvis]

You just sound fucking ignorant.

That's a new opinion. Or is it? I have this weird feeling of Deja Vu.

Thats the problem with making ill-informed, sweeping generalisations Happeh. Of course you're going to sound fucking ignorant, because unless you actually know what you are talking about you ARE ignorant. If you were as keen on listening to what people say and doing some research on stuff [oh noes, empirical evidence and personal accounts... that would never do] as you are on spouting bullshit conspiracies and untested 'theory' featuring causality without evidence, you may actually become less ignorant. And may even lose the 'fountain of knowledge' complex you seem to have. 

[CuriousPrimate]

And may even lose the 'fountain of knowledge' complex you seem to have.

The 'fountain of knowledge' led my murky ol' mind to instantly wonder if this is all the result of mental masturbation, leading to 'spurts' of conspiracy theory and a warm-fuzzyness over producing facts.

Does such cognative self-abuse produce the same kind of physical attributes, I wonder?

[Happeh]

You just sound fucking ignorant.

That's a new opinion. Or is it? I have this weird feeling of Deja Vu.

Thats the problem with making ill-informed, sweeping generalisations Happeh. Of course you're going to sound fucking ignorant,

Sounds like someone is unhappy?

because unless you actually know what you are talking about you ARE ignorant. If you were as keen on listening to what people say and doing some research on stuff [oh noes, empirical evidence and personal accounts... that would never do] as you are on spouting bullshit conspiracies and untested 'theory' featuring causality without evidence, you may actually become less ignorant. And may even lose the 'fountain of knowledge' complex you seem to have.?

If you would stop cursing, and listen and think, all those things you do not understand would become clear.

[Happeh]

For anyone who cares, women work on what is basically "brainwashing".

They insist something is this or that until they get their way. If they don't get their way, they cry, the blackmail you, no sex or affection, they become emotional and crazy.

You can put a solid irrefutable fact in front of a woman, and they will still try all the brainwashing stuff. They are basically 5 year old children who have tantrums until they get what they want.

I have tried in good faith to speak to dunc. I have scored many points such as the x ray picture with labeling being a picture she would describe as scribbling, only because she is not trained as an x ray tech.

Instead of admitting that she is wrong, she gets angrier and more abusive. At some point, according to her experience, I am supposed to break down and give the child what she wants.

Sorry. I don't do that. I don't really like children that much because they behave like duncvis. They have tantrums and speak irrationally because they have not yet developed into an adult. I have no sympathy for children and I give them no special treatment.

You are out of luck dunc. You will not get your way with me thru tantrums, cursing or holding your breath. If you want to deal with me, I will force to think like a rational adult human being.

[Lucifer]

you're not very good at determining gender, are you?

 

[CuriousPrimate]

Too much wash cycle, not enough rinse?