ickplantIt makes me shudder
SaraToninIs It just be that loathes the word “autist”? Gives me real “Oriental” or “the blacks” vibes
sp3ctr4lNo, I describe myself as an autist all the time.
I am an autistic. I am an autist.
Its a word that describes what I am.
If you get bad vibes from it, you have some insrcurities you need to handle.
Say it was Black instead. Can you not see how describing someone as “a black” could be dehumanising?
I am autistic. I am an autist.
I am schizophrenic. I am a schizoid.
I have Down’s Syndrome. I am a Down’s.
Or just disability in general.
I am blind. I am a blindist.
I am deaf. I am a deafist.
Or even just other self-describing words.
I am old. I am an oldist.
I am tall. I am a tallist.
I have zero insecurities about being autistic. I also dislike coy phrases like “on the spectrum”, which have the implication that there’s something wrong with saying that someone is autistic. Like it’s something to be ashamed of. It’s fine. I am autistic. You can say I’m autistic. That’s cool.
But that doesn’t mean that I should accept a term just because that’s what 4chan, WallStreetBets, and Gab popularised by using to put us down either by using it ironically or just by straight-up using it as an insult. You can make an argument for reclamation, perhaps, but I don’t think we’re there.
And, and perhaps this is just me, but isn’t it a horrible word? Phonetically?
As I’ve said, there seems to be no consensus in the autism community and one dividing line appears to be America vs. the UK
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen Autist used as an insult on Wallstreetbets, it’s usually people referring to themselves as autists.
Yes, that’s the irony. It’s allistic people calling themselves “autists” because they have a strong interest in something and act in stupid ways
To illustrate how it’s used there, you only need to look at the terms that it’s interchangable with: “idiots”, “smooth-brained”, and the r-word. This is not an example of positive representation
Exactly.
People assume its an insult, because they assume someone calling themself or another an autist… is deragatory.
Which only makes sense if you presume that it is bad to be autistic or an autist.
… Many autists do not see it this way.
They are offended by the idea that somebody would think it is an insult, though.