To be a bit wtf at this home bargains christmas jumper?

[Effinell]

I seen this when I was in store today and it just didn't sit right with me. I do have a neurodiverse DD so that might be colouring my view slightly.

I use it to mean loss of emotional and/or behavioural control, in any person. It's not specific to autism.

A nuclear meltdown is what it should say in the 2nd paragraph.

An autistic meltdown is different to a tantrum.
But a meltdown is now common parlance for anyone losing their shit over whatever.

I’m autistic it doesn’t offend me.

All three of my sons and I have autism, it doesn't exactly make me laugh but neither does it offend me. It's a snowman melting down to the ground, so an accurate description.

This made me laugh.

I'm not overly offended but it is bad taste. People use the term 'meltdown' way too lightly.. for instance using the word meltdown for a normal toddler tantrum. Or when people are feeling a bit stressed and they are having a 'meltdown' over it all. They have no idea. It's just ignorance.

@Effinell

I associate meltdown with autism but happy to accept that that's just me

I also associate meltdown with autism and cringed when I saw this jumper.

@RussianSpy101

I agree *@Effinell* I don’t see anything funny about it.

NT people don’t have meltdowns. They have tantrums.

See. That’s just not true, NT people can have meltdowns and breakdowns and emotions so big they can’t control them, it’s not a thing solely reserved for autistic people. It makes no sense to gate keep losing control of yourself as if it’s a state of mind only ND have.

@Effinell

I associate meltdown with autism but happy to accept that that's just me

Just because you associate it with autism, doesn’t mean it belongs to that community. I have BPD and have many psychiatric letters referring to my meltdowns, meltdowns don’t exclusively belong to autistic people.

I don’t find the jumper offensive.

I rarely get offended about things like this but for some reason I think this jumper is awful.
I have an autistic DD too and having a meltdown is about as far away from funny as you can get.
People will say it's funny and to lighten up but they have never dealt with an autistic child having a true meltdown.

Oh FFS piss off with the ‘ableist’ comments. My husband has a disability. It IS a funny jumper. Like it or not, meltdown is used in every day sentences not specifically related to autism. Stop being a snowflake and getting offended by bloody everything. It’s a wonder retailers sell anything when people are literally just waiting to pick apart their stock.

Gosh it's just like there isn't this whole news story about racism in cricket being dismissed as banter for so long. Much the same happening here. NT people claiming it's just a joke just like white people dismiss racism.

@Megan2018

My toddler has a meltdown once every 30 seconds. It would feel highly appropriate to me. Hers are hilarious. I don’t think the ND community can own meltdowns.

Yeah. Your toddler is having tantrums. Meltdowns aren’t hilarious at all. Trust me.

@BlackeyedSusan

Gosh it's just like there isn't this whole news story about racism in cricket being dismissed as banter for so long. Much the same happening here. NT people claiming it's just a joke just like white people dismiss racism.

How do you know it wasn't an autistic person who designed it. I'm autistic and my 3 sons are autistic, we are not less because of it, and I find your comment condescending.

Doesn’t offend me.

My ds is autistic. To be honest if I bought him this I wouldn’t take it off. He’s having that many of the bloody things lately!

Will people stop gatekeeping autistic people and words they use ffs, we are not a separate class of people!

It’s perhaps mildly humorous until you’ve somehow lived through the fear and panic of a meltdown, of emotions out of control. Having seen this in someone I know, I can’t find it funny now

I should add, I wouldn’t be offended but just wouldn’t want that sort of humour personally

@Marmelace

Will people stop gatekeeping autistic people and words they use ffs, we are not a separate class of people!

The irony is the gatekeeping of a word that has no origins in the use its being used for. No one is saying it shouldn't be used or trying to claim it isn't used for that, but that because it wasn't created for that it's used by lots of people for lots of other things, and it's ridiculous to get offended by it.

So, doing some online research Meltdown has been used as a tantrum or fit of anger/despair since at least 1998. More recently it has been used to specifically correspond to something associated with ND people. If it has been used as a non specific word for longer and then used by a group of people can they then take ownership of that word.
No hate - my husband is ND, more a question of etymology and ownership.

There should be a question mark at the end of my first paragraph.

My children and I have lived through meltdowns, still on occasion, I'm 50 and I have to use tactics to negotiate each day I live. I have better things to do than give a damn about a bloody Christmas jumper and the perpetually offended!

But if you are offended I'm sorry, I do not mean to dismiss how you feel. I tend to go on one sometimes and not show empathy.

DS2 is severely autistic, and now I'm actually considering getting him that! I won't, he's just inherited two Christmas jumpers from his older brother and I hate buying new Christmas tat 'just because', plus I think he'd prefer his snowmen unmelted. But y'know, gallows humour and all that. Us SEN parents have fairly bleak jokes from time to time.

The term (if it's even a term, it's hardly medical usage) 'meltdown' is not exclusively owned or used by autists and the autistic community. I think that ringfencing stuff off helps nobody.

not quite seeing how this would be offensive in any way . how odd anyone would think so