Autism

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A community for respectful discussion and memes related to autism acceptance. All neurotypes are welcome.

We have created our own instance! Visit Autism Place the following community for more info.

Community:

Values

Acceptance
Openness
Understanding
Equality
Reciprocity
Mutuality
Love

Rules

No abusive, derogatory, or offensive post/comments e.g: racism, sexism, religious hatred, homophobia, gatekeeping, trolling.
Posts must be related to autism, off-topic discussions happen in the matrix chat.
Your posts must include a text body. It doesn't have to be long, it just needs to be descriptive.
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Be respectful in discussions.
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Mark NSFW content accordingly.
Do not promote Autism Speaks.
General Lemmy World rules.

Encouraged

Open acceptance of all autism levels as a respectable neurotype.
Funny memes.
Respectful venting.
Describe posts of pictures/memes using text in the body for our visually impaired users.
Welcoming and accepting attitudes.
Questions regarding autism.
Questions on confusing situations.
Seeking and sharing support.
Engagement in our community's values.
Expressing a difference of opinion without directly insulting another user.
Please report questionable posts and let the mods deal with it. Chat Room

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founded 1 year ago

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BackOnMyBS@lemmy.world

I would appreciate a diagnosis or classification of autism that isn't described as a disorder (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by BackOnMyBS@lemmy.world to c/autism@lemmy.world

65 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Using a social perspective to autism, I would appreciate if there were a way to classify someone as autistic without calling it a disorder. Yes, we have difficulties, but from a social perspective, a lot of them come from society being structured to meet the needs of allistics. They get guidance, acceptance, and ultimately privilege of a world that is designed for them, while we have to try to meet their expectations. From this perspective, we're not disordered, but oppressed/marginalized. How does that make us disordered?

I agree that there are different levels of functioning, and that some individuals might meet criteria for a disorder due to autism spectrum characteristics, so that would be valid. However, many individuals would function quite well in a setting that was designed to raise, educate, and accommodate autistic brains.

Anyone have any insight or ideas on this?

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[–] superkret@feddit.de 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

One of the most important aspects of diagnosing any disorder today is whether it causes psychological stress.
This takes your social surroundings and society into account.
In a perfect world that accommodates autistic people, their condition wouldn't cause them any psychological strain so they wouldn't be diagnosed (because there is no need for a treatment).

Sadly in the world we live in, being autistic does make life more difficult and stressful, therefore a diagnosis is needed to give the affected the help they need to cope with their issues in society.

Generally, the thought experiment "if society was different..." is rarely helpful in my opinion. People have to deal with their life within the society we have, it's not going to change overnight.

[–] Penguinblue@kbin.social 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I respectfully disagree. If no one ever questioned society there would be no progress. Society is constituted by people and people can change their minds, that's how progress happens. It's why gay marriage is legal in so many countries and women and black people have equal rights (at least in law).