Rose Ⓐ 🏳️⚧️ (it/its)"autism" is not a disease, it does not have symptoms, it is not "treatable". No more than you can "treat" being gay. Being autistic is good and cool actually. Fuck anyone that would dare use that terminology against us.
simon gray@RosethornRangerTTV @actuallyautistic @gillianography Similarly ADHD - it's not ADHD, it's ADH, and continuing to add the D on to the end smacks of ableism
Tania MelnyczukI have a diagnosis of ADHD.
I used to have hyperfocus and hyperactivity. It was nice.
Now I am 57. I don't have hyperfocus or hyperactivity anymore. I have deficit and disorder and I don't have attention.
I don't like it. I don't want to be like this. What is the right name for what I have now?
@RosethornRangerTTV @actuallyautistic @tania @gillianography Personally, I’d say the right name for it is whatever *you* consider to be the right name for *your* (emphasis for personalisation not for pokiness) personal circumstances; I’m a strong advocate of the principle that nobody gets to be the unelected spokesperson on behalf of their entire identity group, they speak only for themself. [1/4]
@RosethornRangerTTV @actuallyautistic @tania @gillianography But my point here is that since people with ‘disorders’ are stigmatised by ‘society’, then the steps to reducing that stigma is to change the perception of what a disorder actually means. The Social Model of disability holds that for the most part people are not disabled by their conditions, is the structure of society which makes their conditions disabling. [2/4]
@RosethornRangerTTV @actuallyautistic @tania @gillianography Thus whilst there is value in providing medical assistance where appropriate (eg hearing aids, glasses, operations), we should also focus on restructuring society to make society less disabling (eg replace steps with ramps, make websites work with assistive technology, etc). [3/4]
@RosethornRangerTTV @actuallyautistic @tania @gillianography So if we persuade society that it needs to adapt to neurodiversity rather than tell society that neurodiverse people are ‘disordered’, then surely that is the better strategic approach? [4/4]