MN and their approach to autism

[HypocrisyHere]

I have attached two screenshots. One showing the two threads I’m watching, the other the deletion message from the first watched thread which was deleted.

The subjects of the two threads are

(1) Any ‘positive’ autism stories?
(2) Married to someone with Asperger’s: support thread 5

My confusion is that the first was deleted because “the title was not in spirit of the site” Yet thread 2 - which has (IMO) a deeply offensive as it implies all people with Asperger’s are a problem in a relationship (leaving aside the ghastly ableism within the thread) is absolutely fine?

Thread 1 was from a concerned parent who may have used clunky wording but was looking for support - yet she has been deleted. Thread 2 is for concerned partners who can blame every poor behaviour of their partners on autism and that’s all fine?

As an autistic person this makes no sense to me at all and highlights not only ableism within MNHQ but also a deeply inconsistent approach to moderation?

(Have name changed as I’m a coward)

Got to say, all the people saying that armchair diagnoses are worthless - when you have to wait 18 months - 3 years or more for even the most basic diagnosis in the UK, how you approach the armchair diagnosis of the parent then?

The fact that the system is heavily broken is relevant, no?

I really wish I had the ability to read this thread! it’s just one big wave of information overload.

From what I've seen of that support thread it seems like the people on it are in a lot of pain about their situations more than anything. I dont know but to me it would seem really cruel to shut down their only space to explore the situation with others having a similar experience. People whatever their neurological make up can't help but have emotional and relationship needs and suffer when these aren't met.

@WhatNoRaisins no one is saying to shut it down. Just moderate it so that ableism isn't allowed. The stereotypes about autism and the myths that are perpetuated through those threads are harmful and lead to misunderstanding and frustration and leads to people trying to cure autism through bleach enemas and other dangerous things.

All I've seen is people trying to understand their own situations, not telling others what to do or think.

There's plenty of ableism on thise threads from "my husband shows no empathy towards me, he must have aspergers" (aspergers isn't in use anymore for 1, and 2 it's a myth that we don't feel empathy"
To
My partner is downright abusive but I put up with it because his autism makes him do it.
Thats bullshit. I'd he was so affected by his autism that he lashed out, you wouldn't have got into a relationship with him in the first place. He can clearly control himself if he controlled it long enough to get into a long term relationship and it's only started in the last few months. It's abusive, but nothing to do with being autistic.

@BessieFinknottle fair enough, I'm quite happy to take your word for it. It was only the web md link, which I've found to be occasionally a bit superficial/ vague in the past on other conditions that made me question the validity.
Re the genetics, I meant how specifically. Eg womb environment is never going to change eg genetic brown eyes to blue, but eg could result in a none genetic disability. Interesting in a rabbit hole manner which I could really do with avoiding

Thanks to everyone who stood by me re: the other autism bashing thread (that’s just been deleted).

It was offensive and anti autism & I took offence. Mumsnet said they didn’t understand why… but whatever.

Thanks again

I’m going to post this on a couple of relevant threads so lukewarm apologies for the repetition but I wanted to flag up an interesting podcast episode that covers a lot of relevant ground.

I originally skipped this episode because it’s titled as though it’s purely about anti-vaccination but it turns out it covers a LOT of autism related content, including the history of autism, the controversy around Aspergers, the history of diagnosis, the MMR/Wakefield debacle and more.

Most importantly the guest contributor is autistic himself and very knowledgeable.

It’s good and it’s very accessible.

It’s an episode of “You’re wrong about” from February 2021.
Available on lots of platforms or here;

www.podchaser.com/podcasts/youre-wrong-about-1216514/episodes/the-anti-vaccine-movement-83531933

@MNHQ IF AT LEAST ONE OF YOU COULD SPARE 45 MINUTES TO LISTEN TO THIS, THAT WOULD BE GREAT 👍🏻 😊