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.

It's words and you choose to be offended or not.

Like when people use the word anxiety for feeling temporarily nervous or depression for feeling sad for a while.

@Welshiefluff, agreed.

@Rosewaterblossom also agreed. Maybe this is why people roll their eyes at threads like this.

Thanks. I'm going to be seriously offended by it from now on.

@yourestandingonmyneck

I'm surprised by so many posters on here claiming meltdown as purely relating to autism.

Firstly, it just isn't. It's been around since before autism was recognised.

Secondly, it's not really a very good word. It's quite flippant.

I can see that you need a word to differentiate between a tantrum and an episode caused by autism. But I really wouldn't have thought meltdown was the best option.

What is the best option then?

@Gingerkittykat how about "austistic meltdown"?

I never knew that meltdown was associated with autism. I remember being told a few years ago to not use the term "brainstorm". So I'll try to remember this

@ChargingBuck

What a delightful sentiment, & not in the least ableist. I'm on the website now, searching desperately for a jolly jumper that proudly announces "I'm having an epileptic fit". While it's in the wash, I'll proudly sport the "my catheter is leaking" cardigan, maybe over that nice "I'm having a panic attack" t shirt.

This comment is so far off the mark it’s actually just stupid. Having a catheter in is for a medical purpose, as are your other irrelevant comparisons.

Never mind the words on the jumper.what is much more outrages,its another cheap tatty product,most likely made by child labour.£12 for a jumper..??WTF is it with people who buy this shit!!

@PinkyU

The issue is that the language has been appropriated by the NT community to mean a tantrum, and so now, the neurodiverse community have no language that expresses the biological phenomena that they actually experience during a “meltdown”.

And worse, when a ND person does experience a “meltdown” it’s conflated with tantrum and the ND person is not only not offered the correct support they are often judged and treated appallingly for “misbehaving”.

I think this is such an eloquent post and an important point. But… as a woman in my 50s, and a child of the 70s/80s “meltdown” had long been established in the nuclear sense. I had long known it used to described tantrums (actual tantrums) before hearing it used around autism - and I have a lot of close relatives with autism diagnoses. So I think it’s simply not correct to say that the NT community appropriated it, if anything - it was the other way round.

I need one

@NigellaSeed

I never knew that meltdown was associated with autism. I remember being told a few years ago to not use the term "brainstorm". So I'll try to remember this

May I recommend 'brain blizzard' as a replacement?

@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.

Believe me, plenty of neuroatypical people think this is completely inoffensive.

Calling a totally normal use of a non medical term ableist, as many PP have, is actually quite insulting to victims of genuine ableism.

I'm autistic and have fairly frequent meltdowns and they're truely awful, I've still got scratches and bruises on my forehead from the last one. I still find it a cute jumper, it's a snowman melting, it's funny. If people don't like it they can not buy it obviously.

''Meltdown'' when I was at university in 1990 had nothing to do with autism and was never used in that context. It meant having a crying session, usually over splitting up with a boyfriend or failing an exam. It referred to women and was a word only used by women to describe this behaviour. " I had a bit of a meltdown''.

I’m more offended by the fact you said ‘I seen’ rather than ‘I saw’! No I wouldn’t take offence… it’s light hearted!

@Mandarinsatsuma

I agree with you. A proper meltdown is incredibly upsetting. People are just a bit ignorant, like how it would previously be seen as acceptable to have a tshirt saying "I'm mental."

They'd probably appreciate the feedback tbh.

Too right it is upsetting. A proper meltdown means thousands of deaths, hundreds of thousands of people being evicted from their homes at a moments notice and thousands of square miles of Eastern Europe being uninhabitable for hundreds of years.

It is a term that has been appropriated by ignorant people

People! your neurotypical child is having a tantrum most commonly because they are little and cannot either/both, communicate/emotionally regulate as efficiently as adults, leading them to be overwhelmed and tantrumning.

When they learn how to handle emotion/communication tantrums become lesser... Obviously

Huge 100% difference between that and a meltdown

Please please kindly educate yourself

Honestly the ableism on this site is weird.

@RockNRollMartian

People have been using the tern "meltdown" long before it was ever associated with autism. Sorry if it offends someone, but that's just life!

This is true.

I think the use of meltdown in relation to autism is useful to describe the difference from a NT child having a tantrum, however it is not a word I ever remember being used until fairly recently. When my son was diagnosed in the mid 1990s it wasn't a term anyone used to describe his behaviours.

Well, considering that the word 'meltdown' isn't a medical term, I can't get too worked up about its appearance on a comedy jumper.

I do understand, though, when people get upset at the use of expressions such as 'totally OCD' to describe someone who, say, likes their books in alphabetical order, as Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is a recognised medical condition. Using this expression minimises the seriousness of OCD. But 'meltdown' is simply a description. Nobody owns it.

Please please kindly educate yourself
Oh, stop it

@HonestwithHope1

People! your neurotypical child is having a tantrum most commonly because they are little and cannot either/both, communicate/emotionally regulate as efficiently as adults, leading them to be overwhelmed and tantrumning.

When they learn how to handle emotion/communication tantrums become lesser... Obviously

Huge 100% difference between that and a meltdown

Please please kindly educate yourself

Honestly the ableism on this site is weird.

Person!

You are the one in need of education. The origin of the usage has been explained several times.

You may not like the truth but you're stuck with it. Meltdowns have been used to describe behaviour for a lot longer than autism has been recognised.

That's just the way it is.

My daughter has ASD.

I find the jumper quite funny.

Clearly the jumper isn't referring to an autistic person it is using a word to make a funny pun on a Christmas jumper.

Why take offense when none is meant? I don't have the time or energy to be so easily and unnecessarily upset.

@HonestwithHope1 agree with you. A tantrum is an uncontrolled outburst of anger and frustration, typically in a young child.

A meldown is an accident in a nuclear reactor in which the fuel overheats and melts the reactor core or shielding. This can result in thousands of deaths and a large area becoming uninhabitable. This word being used in any other context is massively offensive.

I remember being told a few years ago to not use the term "brainstorm".
Seriously? That term has been in use in a business / creative sense since forever. Why is it suddenly verboten?

All this policing of language and claiming offence at words that have been in common usage for aeons gets right on my tits.