Celebrate Autism!: Why "Awareness" Has Got to Go

Let me state right now that I am not against awareness. Quite the opposite, in fact. I'm a big fan of cultivating self-awareness...which is why this month is so utterly baffling.

In case you weren't "aware" (couldn't help myself), April is Autism Acceptance Month! Many Autistics prefer this over Autism Awareness Month, the original name for this advocacy period. Using "Awareness" for autism advocacy has actually done more harm than it has helped. This term has caused a medieval thought process to prevail over research, policy, and society in regards to Autism. So, instead, many (dare I say most) Autistics prefer to call it "Autism Acceptance Month."

You might be wondering how I know this.

...an important and valuable characteristic...

"Asperger's syndrome has probably been an important and valuable characteristic of our species throughout evolution."

~Tony Attwood

What do you think?

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...measuring the success of our societies...

“To measure the success of our societies, we should examine how well those with different abilities, including persons with autism, are integrated as full and valued members."

~ Ban Ki-Moon, Former United Nations Secretary-General

...the movement of rivers and stars...

“We contain the shapes of trees and the movement of rivers and stars within us."

~ Patrick Jasper Lee

...travelers from the distant past...

“Although people with autism look like other people physically, we are in fact very different…We are more like travelers from the distant, distant past. And if, by our being here, we could help the people of the world remember what truly matters for the Earth, that might give us quiet pleasure."

~ Naoki Higashida, The Reason I Jump

...embracing value...

“Until we create a nation that regularly wants to employ a person with autism, assure for a quality education for each person with autism, and eliminates the far too many unnecessary obstacles placed in the way of success for a person with autism, we really won’t be as successful as we must. We need to get all in our nation to embrace the belief that each person with autism is valued, respected and held to the highest level of dignity and must be provided every opportunity for the highest quality of life each and every day.”

~ ASA President Scott Badesch

...diversity of the human gene pool...

“Autism is here to stay and may be considered a part of the diversity of the human gene pool."

~ Dr. Stephen Shore

...a bright thread...

“I see people with Asperger’s syndrome as a bright thread in the rich tapestry of life.”

~ Tony Attwood

...differences in cognitive functioning...

“The concept of neurodiversity provides a paradigm shift in how we think about mental functioning. Instead of regarding large portions of the American public as suffering from deficit, disease, or dysfunction in their mental processing, neurodiversity suggests that we instead speak about differences in cognitive functioning."

~ Dr. Thomas Armstrong

...the first stone spears...

"Who do you think made the first stone spears? The Asperger guy. If you were to get rid of all the autism genetics, there would be no more Silicon Valley."

~ Temple Grandin

Autism Acceptance Month: 'Smile' - Autism & Feminism

I've been an autistic feminist since birth. Sounds a bit hyperbolic, doesn't it? After all, one can't make decisions about their philosophical ideologies as an infant, and you'd be right to be skeptical of anything said by anyone who really believed they had. No, what I mean is that I was part of a feminist household. My mother is a feminist, and she raised me with the ethics and philosophies of feminism. Long before I knew what philosophy was, or that feminism had a political presence, I believed that everyone is, and should be perceived as, equal, despite any differences, real or imagined. Today, I proudly state myself to be a feminist.

Likewise, while I didn't know growing up that I am autistic, I was already expressing myself as an autistic person. I tended to be tomboyish, not in a sports way, but in a climbing trees and collecting rocks kind of way. I generally disliked wearing skirts and dresses, preferring comfortable pants and overalls which had pockets to put random weird shit into that I found on the ground. I was fascinated by science, especially astronomy. I had numerous special interests. I had food sensitivities that sometimes resulted in dramatic scenes (I recall an incident with a macaroni and bean salad). I had a lisp, which I viciously corrected on my own. I became so stressed in middle school, that I got ulcers, and generally suffered from other stomach issues. I was rather solitary. I didn't have a lot of friends. And I had the distinct sense that I was different. The list goes on. But I had no idea that some of the things I experienced could turn out to be a link between autism and feminism.

...we are not puzzle pieces...

“…autistic people are people: they’re not puzzle pieces or baffling enigmas or medical mysteries to be solved or ‘normal’ people ‘trapped’ in the bodies of autistics or any of that crap that infects so many portrayals of autistic people in both the clinical literature and the popular media. At the same time, I think it’s equally important to celebrate the differences between autistic people and typical people, and to recognize the need for accommodating autism as a significant disability…”

~ Steve Silberman, an Interview with Steve Silberman author of Neurotribes.

...a difference to be worked with...

“Autism is really more of a difference to be worked with rather than a monolithic enemy that needs to be slain or destroyed.”

~ Stephen Shore, PhD

...what is abundant...

“Think of it: a disability is usually defined in terms of what is missing. … But autism … is as much about what is abundant as what is missing, an over-expression of the very traits that make our species unique.”

~ Paul Collins, Not Even Wrong: Adventures in Autism

Autism Acceptance Month: My Story: How Autism Is Making Me Brave

I've slowly been coming out of the autistic "closet" for some months now. This is a real thing, if you didn't know, and it highlights one of the major issues of being autistic, particularly, as it turns out, for women.

Talking about my diagnosis has been difficult, due to various amounts of backlash in my life. But I passed my 5-year anniversary last year, and, while I didn't think I'd put a time limit on getting loud and proud (if that's what you can call it) about my Autism, the timing just feels right.

Maybe that's part of the problem, you know? Because I've been able to "pass" for so long, to hide under a guise of quirky neurotypicality, and many of my fellow Autistics haven't. I get to choose when the world "knows" about me, at a time when Autistics are speaking out for themselves louder than ever. I get to ride on that tide of "we're not going to take this shit anymore" activism, without necessarily having put in the hardcore work they have. And I feel guilty about that.

I feel guilty about a lot of things. It's kinda my go-to. Guilt has become my holy war. But that's a post for another time.