Some Non-PC Thoughts About Autism

This is a WIDELY reported clinical phenomenon that people who don't have this symptom seem to just forget what it doesn't suit their interests. It's hard to be confused over why anyone might ever want a cure for autism when you realize that some literally feel compelled to injure themselves. It's pretty understandable that those people might not exactly be thrilled that they feel like they have to hurt themselves.

1. A study looking at mentally disabled individuals found that 11.1% had "challenging behaviors."(16) In this study, challenging behaviors was defined to include two subtypes:
-behavior that causes major bodily injury to the person or other persons which prevents daily activities and requires 2+ staff members in an institutional setting to physically control the behavior
-attacking others, self-injurious behavior, or destruction which does not not meet the requirements for the more severe subtype
This last category also included some forms of socially unacceptable behavior like random screaming, but they did break down their results by behavior. I'm most interested in the aggressive and self-injurious behaviors, since "destruction" or unacceptable behaviors could easily be a nonverbal person's response to something they don't like. For example, if the sound of a radio was too loud and hurt a nonverbal person's ears, he/she might scream to drown out the sound or throw the object. Of the 11.1% of people, this study found that 6.4% engaged in attacking others and 4.4% engaged in harming themselves.
This is simply mental disability, but 35.8% of those exhibiting challenging behaviors had an autism diagnosis, which is significantly higher than the percentage of the overall population studied.

2. Rispersidone, an antipsychotic used to treat schizophrenia, has now been approved for treatment of ASD. This is the result of many studies like (17) that showed that rispersidone drastically reduced irritability, self-injurious behaviors, and aggressive behaviors in individuals with ASD. HOWEVER, don't take this to mean I'm a huge fan of rispersidone. I'm not: it causes tartative dyskinesia (random, uncontrollable, jerky movements of the limbs), weight gain where your metabolism often doesn't settle at a higher weight, among a host of other side effects. But if we keep insisting that self-injurious behaviors don't exist for people with autism, or discourage research on the matter, we don't give people the medications they might want to treat themselves. Discouraging research encourages limited options for people with ASD.

3. 74% of pediatric ASD patients across 6 psychiatric wards were reported to have self-injurious behaviors (often the reason kids are brought to the hospital). 25% displayed those behaviors on a daily basis during hospitalization.(18)

4. A self-report study (take with a grain of salt) found that 50% of autistic individuals surveyed self-reported non-suicidal self-injury.(19) Their sample size is small here, but the study was clearly peer-reviewed, and I trust the journal. (It's published in Autism.) They found that this rate was higher than the rate in college students, adult community samples, and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder. That said, take this with an additional grain of salt because of that small sample size.

5. While self-injurious behaviors are more common among individuals with autism + cognitive impairment (particularly language impairment), it's still prevalent among individuals without cognitive impairment.(20)

What Are People Saying?

I said at the beginning of this post that I'm discouraged by the behavior of many people in the ASD community or disability activists listening to those individuals in the ASD community. Oftentimes, the symptoms I just discussed are ignored (though this occurs less often in the case of self-injurious behaviors). And once those are ignored, they strawman those people who would like a cure by saying that seizures cause issues in very few ASD people, completely disregarding 1. the THIRTY PERCENT of epileptic seizures among people with ASD and 2. the other reasons someone might want a cure.(21)

But what are they saying? Everyday Feminism is obviously a bit of low-hanging fruit, but the article, "We Don't Need a Cure For Autism-- And Pushing One Is Really Messed Up," is bad even for them.(22) It even blatantly states a few lines down that, "many" people don't want a cure. But of course, that means that some people do, or that some of us at least want research and treatment (like me).

And then it links to a Guardian piece by someone who's entirely against research altogether because she thinks it will automatically lead to eugenics. Why not encourage the research and encourage a pro-life approach to people with disabilities at the same time? I don't see why some people being immoral, shitty humans should therefore mean that autistic people looking for research are morally wrong. I actually love the possibility of prenatal testing, unlike the author of "I don't want to be 'cured' of autism, thanks."(23)

It's easier to learn when you're younger. So, parents who know their child has autism from before day 1 can figure out what kinds of resources their child might need to succeed before those resources are even necessary. In my own case, learning social cues is like learning a foreign language (think: learning sign language). I can do it, but I needed to be taught social cues. I benefited HEAVILY from parents who noticed that I wasn't quite getting there on my own and who taught me all the social cues I was missing manually. Did they ever make me feel bad morally? No, not at all. (My parents are some of the best people in the world, if not THE best people in the world.) The thing is, I'm a huge extrovert, and I always have been. But because I couldn't get the social cues right, I had a really hard time making friends until college. The fact that my parents were so diligent in helping me develop all the skills I needed is the reason I have the friends I've always wanted today.

This movement REALLY underestimates or ignores the symptoms many want to get rid of. Here's a great example:

These tweets are in the references at (24), but I'm also going to include the original article.(25) I disagree with the original author on a couple of things. Her points on Asperger's for one, and her points on racial dynamics and autism for another. I think the author hasn't met enough white individuals with severe autism, and I hope someone provides her with more examples so that she doesn't feel like POC are inherently more disabled. That's a horrible thing to think, and it's certainly supported by the medical literature. Those points aside, this author makes several rather salient points about the neurodiversity movement, and she's worth checking out on that score. 

Now these people seem to think that the only reason people wouldn't want to be friends with an autistic person is because they're ableist. That's bullshit. If you don't want to be friends with someone because they flap their hands or stim in other ways, then you're ableist. But the truth is, some people just don't like being insulted, and CONTRARY TO THE POPULAR BELIEF HELD BY THESE WACKOS, some of us actually do act a bit like Sheldon Cooper. I insulted my own dad to his face ON HIS BIRTHDAY because I thought what I said was a compliment. If I had done that to someone who didn't know me well they wouldn't want to stick around to hear me apologize. And that's not because they're ableist; it's because sometimes a lack of understanding in social cues leads us to offend people.

People have the right to choose to keep company who don't insult them all the time. Learning the social cues necessary for meaningful relationships (like actually delivering a compliment when you mean to deliver a compliment) are what allow people with ASD to have friends. Now if you as someone with ASD think that's a lot of work and you don't want friends, then that's fine. But parents are supposed to be giving you the skills for life, and they would probably want to teach their kid how to make friends, if they want them. This is what makes articles like, "Children With Autism Shouldn't Be Forced To Socialism," so disgusting.(26) I agree that parents of kids with autism shouldn't make their children feel bad if they choose not to marry or socialize much as adults (though to be fair, I don't think parents should shame any child for making different life choices so long as those choices are not immoral). HOWEVER, parenting involves teaching your child SKILLS. Those skills will vary from person to person, but just like some parents get their kids a tutor to help them through school, so to do autistic kids need a little extra nudge to get us to learn relationship skills. And it does us a disservice if you suggest that we shouldn't be parented with skills in mind, like other kids. This article literally recommends a lower standard of care for autistic people, and I'm tired of it.

Again, if you as someone with ASD don't want to use those skills in the future and don't want to socialize, then don't! I don't think there is any sort of moral hierarchy of extroverts over introverts over super-introverts. But parents should still be teaching you the skills to do so, just like teachers have math classes for kids who aren't going into (and might be really bad at) mathematics.

Furthermore, it's not self-hatred to want to overcome your own symptoms. I want friends, so I choose to learn the social cues I'm missing to help people feel honored and respected in conversations, because that's what I actually want to do. And it's ridiculous to assume that people should just have to take insults, constant monologuing, or obvious displays of aggressive/annoyed body language. (These are my own issues, no shade.) Nobody deserves to be treated poorly, and whether we mean to or not, a mis-replicated social behavior can come across that way. I think that people should give me a chance to apologize, and my friends do which is wonderful, but if I don't try to improve and be a better friend then they shouldn't keep me as one out of pity. (It also creates a weird sort of complex when you wonder if the only reason you have friends is because they're too scared or feel too sorry for you to ditch you.)

Everyone, neurotypical or not, compromises a bit in their relationships, since everyone getting their own way would literally mean that there are no friendships since two people do not agree in every instance. Saying that a diagnosis absolves us of needing to compromise is ridiculous because it makes us seem like we aren't capable of non-abusive relationships, and it's impractical because nobody would like us if we acted like jerks all the time.

The end of this reads like a bit of a rant upon editing, but I'm keeping it. This mindset is extraordinarily frustrating, and I think certain progressive disability activists are really setting us back. Hopefully this might change some minds, even if it reads a bit disordered.