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This is going to be a free-form and loosely structured rant with a large personal angle. I am an extremely biased commentator and will not present myself otherwise. I will not be placing much emphasis on debunking common claims about autism as there are people far more qualified to do so that have put far more work, research, and thought into the topic in a scientific sense. To briefly summarize on the current bout of misinformation about medication and autism: there is a possible very small non-causal link between acetaminophen taken during presidency and a following diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder [ASD] in children. However, any studies on this are subject to heavy selection bias. Our current understanding of autism is that it is highly heritable with a large genetic component that is exacerbated by environmental factors that have yet to be identified. There is also no reason to believe that vaccines cause autism; this idea was popularized in the 1990s by Andrew Wakefield in his fraudulent study about the MMR vaccine. Wakefield's process and presentation have been disproved many times over, most notably by journalist Brian Deer, and there has been no concrete or widespread correlation between any other vaccine and ASD.
To get personal, I'm autistic. I was diagnosed at 14 after years of intense anxiety and social struggles. I performed very well academically up to that point, so I slipped through the cracks until my mother stumbled across blog posts and personal essays from autistic adults who were in a similar situation to me. For most of my childhood, the adults around me labelled me "gifted" and "advanced", but constantly made a point about the fact that I wouldn't listen to them conventionally and "never seemed to be in the real world" (a real quote from a note to my parents written by my 5th grade teacher). My teachers seemingly assumed that my problems socially were due to other kids being jealous of the fact that I skipped a grade, necessitated by my "disruptive" behaviors when intellectually understimulated. By high school, I was extremely burned out, had struggled for a few years with suicidal thoughts, and thought I was fundamentally broken due to the fact that I was incapable of maintaining friendships. I'm fully confident that my autism diagnosis saved my life. My autistic traits still make some aspects of my life very difficult, but having an awareness of the way my brain works has granted me so much more space to work with myself. I don't bring up any of these serious personal details for pity or to try to present myself from inspirational in any sense, but to provide background for my thoughts on the way our society views autism.
There is so much fearmongering about ASD in the world. The Trump administration has been relying on it heavily in the past few months, constantly emphasizing the rising number of diagnoses and presenting it as a crisis. This is a fundamentally flawed view, though I'm sure they're well aware of that and find it to be a useful grift regardless. The increase of ASD diagnoses is not due to more people suddenly becoming autistic, but rather our understanding of how it presents growing and more people getting help that they need. Autistic people have always existed, it didn't suddenly pop into existence in 1943. Our words for it have changed over time, as anything does. "Savant", "eccentric", "not all there", "special". Autism Spectrum Disorder is simply a neutral and straightforward way to refer to a group of traits that we have always known to exist in certain people, and an increase of diagnoses is not a bad thing. It doesn't take away from those already diagnosed or with higher support needs, it simply allows people to know more about themselves in a way that may be very beneficial.
It's painful and fucking frustrating to see autism constantly presented as a disease in need of a cure, as figures from the Autism Speaks organization (who ironically consist largely of non-autistic people) and United States Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. constantly portray it. This is beyond damaging, it's pseudo-scientific eugenicist rhetoric. The way in which ASD's most severe presentations are exploited and sensationalized to push this rhetoric is disgusting. Even at its most severe, autism is not a death sentence. With proper support, autistic people can and should live happy and fulfilled lives. This support should logically extend to the caretakers and family members of those with very high support needs. Instead, our society abandons us, stigmatizes us, and compares our fundamental brain structure to life-threatening diseases. All the while lionizing us when we are inspirational. I don't care about what great inventors or genius businessmen are autistic, I care about the quality of life of the average autistic person into adulthood. Further stigma on such an institutionalized scale just makes this worse.
While it isn't a death sentence as these figures portray it, it fucking sucks to live with oftentimes. I can't hold a conversation for very long without becoming distressed, I suffer complete shutdowns triggered by sensory problems several times a week, I struggle to hold down a job, and will probably be living with my parents for most of my adult life as they are my only support system. I am extremely grateful to have family members that are understanding and care, but there is very little social infrastructure to help autistic adults. It's extremely isolating. We are practically invisible to the world; almost all of the rhetoric around autism is either about children or about particularly "successful" (as socially defined) autistic adults. It doesn't have to be this way.
Autism isn't a life-ruining disease, nor is it a superpower. We don't need a cure or a preventative or superficial affirmations. We need support and understanding.
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OwlLipgloss
Double kudos. I grew up autistic and I'm so tired of the massive misinformation spreading around it. I've been treated less than human and felt like I've had to be so afraid of expressing myself, which worsened during the boom of cringe culture somewhere around 2016 (which heavily targeted neurodivergent people). There's instances in my life that have only done me more harm than what was supposed to be "good". There's so many frustrations that I don't know if I can properly put into words, so this blog is really a breath of fresh air.
that cringe culture boom was awful. I was a kid at the time and it was so harrowing to constantly feel like I had to watch what things I got excited about for fear of social punishments I didn't understand. there was a period around 2020 where the general mindset was "cringe culture is dead", and now there's such a strong pendulum swing back to it that makes me so sad. I've seen so many people talk about how cringe they were during and immediately following lockdown. I had friends that were happily experimenting with their self expression act like it's the worst thing to ever happen to them and it's so odd and sad.
by NuclearBlues; ; Report
Sadly true. I've noticed a revival in cringe compilations and the like. There's this channel that keeps being recommended to me that relies a lot on Deviantart cringe. Cringe culture never left and seeing words like "retroslop" being thrown around simply over people expressing themselves... in fact, a lot of self-expression being shown, really shows that.
by OwlLipgloss; ; Report
there's been a generally conservative cultural shift anyway but the return of the cringe culture stuff completely blows. it's insidious. it's just cultural punishment of anything that harmlessly deviates from the status quo and transparently targets autistic people and overtly queer people. people who perpetuate it have seemingly very little awareness of that component and it's just really sad to see.
by NuclearBlues; ; Report
Albacore
Reading this all I want to say is thank you! I'm so sick and tired of people trying to find something to blame autism on when what should be happening is more support and help towards people who are neurodivergent. Yes, living being neurodivergent can be difficult, but it can easier when people educate themselves and proper support systems are in place. I'm not diagnosed but I suspect I may be neurodivergent as I share the social and sensory struggles seen in autism. Regardless of what I truly am I stand in support of the community as many of my loved ones are on the spectrum themselves. Please stay safe out there!
realistically I think increased support for diagnosed neurodivergent people also benefits a lot of undiagnosed people. most of our struggles aren't unique to us, and being able to get a diagnosis anyway requires a very specific set of circumstances.
thanks for reading and I really appreciate your feedback :-]
by NuclearBlues; ; Report
Chronically Outdoors
This is such a raw and real post. I really resonated with this as someone who has ADHD but went most of my life untreated and undiagnosed. Being neurodivergent is really isolating and I am so sorry you have to go through all that. I am really happy to hear that you have a supportive family and I completely agree there needs to be better infrastructure for neurodivergent and disabled people in the US. I am so fed up with people painting autism as a terminal illness and for intentionally ignoring the facts. This bullshit needs to stop it's just not funny or acceptable in any manner. I hate eugenics and phrenology and all that hateful pseudoscientific bullshit!
glad it resonated for you, I wish it wasn't the lived experience of so many people though. I have a sibling that was diagnosed with ADHD at a young age and watching my parents try to navigate getting the underfunded school system to give her the support she needs has been so saddening. and then when people turn around and use language like "epidemic" and place so much emphasis on a cure.... it's awful!! and it just keeps repeatedly going through waves of this shit. it's such an easy scapegoat for no reason. like instead of viewing neurodivergency as a difference of brain type it's just so much easier to accept it as a deficit or moral failing. it's so fucking weird, especially when you consider the fact that institutionalization of anyone with autistic traits that wasn't rich enough is a recent historical fact. I have living relatives who remember someone they know getting sent to an institution for being "eccentric". and then you just repeatedly see the same eugenicist rhetoric over and over into the modern day, it's sickening.
by NuclearBlues; ; Report
OH MY GOD RIGHT!??! The amount of times I was demonized for struggling to keep up or fit in was insane! I am a super hard working person and yet people still call my fucking lazy and shit and act like I just don't give a shit about anything! It's just not true! having a hard time functioning in a world that isn't built for you is not a moral failure and people have to stop acting like it is!!!
by Chronically Outdoors; ; Report
YEAH it's so fucking weird! this doesn't just apply to neurodivergency but to any type of disability, especially invisible ones. anytime you mention that you struggle in a specific area because of a disability, people just automatically jump to calling it an excuse. it's so odd! like I'm explicitly communicating my boundaries to you, it's not an attempt to get out of work or whatever. but no amount of work is enough, you have to fit an incredibly niche and unattainable definition of success in order to be acceptable. you're either an inspiration story or not trying hard enough. it's exhausting and gross and just gets worse as disabilities are further marginalized/stigmatized.
by NuclearBlues; ; Report
What a great tie in! I absolutely hate the inspiration porn being constantly pushed on social media and in media in general. It's so fucking irritating!
by Chronically Outdoors; ; Report
it's constant. like I swear to god there's an in-between that the majority of disabled people fall into. it's not The Worst Sufferer To Ever Exist or The Most Impressive Success Story To Ever Exist. I have good days, I have bad days, but I'm just a guy yknow. we've all got aspirations and hobbies and things we enjoy, it's almost like an enforced dehumanization. the media constantly decenters us from our own stories and acts like we can't be pretty average or lead intrinsically fulfilled lives. it suuuucks.
by NuclearBlues; ; Report
No fr like let us live! we are just trying to survive!
by Chronically Outdoors; ; Report
Jon 🐇
*hugs* :3