Anyone else noticing the uptick in open hostility towards people with ASD?

[FFSakeDrinkSake]

As the title says. It feels like it's open season recently. In the last few weeks alone I've seen many threads questioning the validity of Asd, the credentials of those diagnosing the condition, the 'explosion' of diagnosis', the 'fact' that you qualify for extra benefits if you are autistic and/or have ADHD, the apparent drain on resources kids with ASD have on the educational sector depriving others and most recently the idea that someone (self diagnosed) can 'outgrow' autism. Most of which contain the worst misinformation about what we're trying to deal with on a daily basis and making it sound like we're just trying to .. i dont even know tbh.. scam our way through life?

Disclaimer NATAAT.

For me, even saying ‘I don’t make it my whole identity’ feels ableist, judgemental and dismissive.

I wonder if maybe in a decade or so whether/ hopefully the research into brain development and genetics will give a physical way to diagnose some of the presentations that currently come under the autism umbrella.

I think a large contributing factor of the pushback against people with autism is the people who say " I'm autistic, have a great life, job etc and autism is a superpower". Joe Bloggs sees or hears this then encounters someone who needs accommodations and doesn't understand why.... because they've just been told autism is a superpower.

I must admit we don't get questioned over whether ds needs accommodations because people can tell he has significant needs but it must be confusing when they read a Facebook post saying x child graduated from y University despite their autism.

I went to Cambridge. I still need a lot of accommodations and have a support worker in work through Access to Work.

My academic success isn’t despite my autism, it’s because of it. The positive things I do are also because I am autistic.

I don’t know any autistic people who like the ‘superpower’ phrase. But I agree with your post that it can be confusing. My autism is a disability, but it also isn’t a negative or something I would change. I wouldn’t change it for my dc, although I do wish life could be easier for them and for us as a family. Both things can be true at once, and I agree that is hard for people to grasp.

I agree wholeheartedly that understanding of neurodivergence is in its infancy

@WaitingForMojo I would imagine some of the brightest and smartest in history had what was aspergers. My phrasing wasn't the best.

I do see a lot of the autism is a superpower rubbish (ds1 school/ selective grammar) had an assembly on it. When he questioned what his brothers superpower was who has....... it didn't go down well.

Hopefully a physical cause will help to limit some of the bias.

Why? Its simply a statement about myself and my children. I don't make it my identity and i never made it theirs. I have never used it as an excuse. My dc have never been raised to see it as a disability, they have had the positive aspects of it encouraged and are now both in careers that make good use of the traits that autism has given them. My DB is physically disabled and my parents never raised him as such he was raised as a " normal" child and he is exactly the same he just gets on with it.

@lovelysunshine22
I don't doubt that. It's up to parents to do their research beforehand and then health authorities rejecting those that are not deemed to be rigorous enough.

Parents should ask:

• what are the qualifications of the clinicians
• do they follow NiCe guidelines
• will the report be ratified by the local NHS trust
• do they follow shared care guidelines (in case of medication etc)

Agreed. I do love seeing you on various threads, i always appreciate your comments.

I also hate the "superpower" term but i understand why they did start it, to remove the negative associations by using s overly positive word. But in reality, it's mostly just another way for others to dismiss those with ASD/ADHD/ND in general.

My ND is a massive part of my identity, we cannot deny that. If it wasn't i wouldn't be true to myself.

@lovelysunshine22 what would you do if your child had non of the positives of autism?

I don't make it my son's identity he has autism in the same way he has hypermobility in the same way he had covid but honestly there are no positives.

This, for me, is a very ableist position. Because the implication is that disabled people should ‘just get on with it’ and try to appear ‘normal’ and that accommodations are ‘using it as an excuse’.

I prefer to respect and accommodate difference.

ASD is not used as an excuse for bad behaviour. It can explain why certain situations cause certain outcomes. This is just like the rhetoric in the 90s that all the naughty kids have ADHD.

"just gets on with it" ok so i'm assuming he uses mobility aids? So in that case, he's not "just getting on with it" he's using the resources he has access to to navigate his life.

not to mention that for many, they cannot 'just get on with it' without accommodations.

I respect this completely.

And I’m hesitant to seem to argue in case I phrase this wrongly, as obviously i don’t k ow your child or your family, or your experiences.

I think what I want to ask is whether you consider that there is anything positive about your child, and if so, do you see that as separate from his autism? For me and my dc, I see all of who we are as a result of our neurodivergence. So anything positive I do, anything positive about me as a person, is as much a result of autism as the negatives.

I do appreciate that your experience/ opinion may be different and completely respect that.

Thank you so much, that’s a lovely thing to say. I have a love/hate relationship with mumsnet but autism acceptance is the hill I am prepared to die on.

@DrRuthGalloway
Reasons for this: partly because a lot of kids never really got back into school after COVID lockdowns, which exposed a tranche of kids who were "just" coping pre lockdown but who couldn't face returning. Many of these are undiagnosed neurodivergent children (but not all).

I firmly believe that without Covid DS would have continued masking in primary and things would have fallen apart in secondary. The time out of school just hastened the inevitable - and it's been a positive for us, it's meant diagnosis before secondary and a place at a specialist Autism base from September, with him much better at self-regulating now than he was two or three years ago. I got hurt often enough with his meltdowns at 8, if that had been delayed until 11 or 12, I think it would have been more than a broken finger and a head injury that needed checking out but didn't lead to concussion etc.

I do also - i didn't realise how toxic it was as a platform especially on certain issues like this one. Hope the comment made you smile despite this thread bringing out the awful rhetoric.

And i'll be there with you on that hill with my ADHD!

There are hundreds/thousands/ millions.... of positives about my ds. We celebrate, overly celebrate every milestone or accomplishment. Please don't think I only see the bad about him, I don't, I love him. I just despise his autism as it's that thst disables him. I also despise cancer that took my dad.

My son is beautiful, he makes everything happy and really does light up the room with his laughter. I do mourn the life and experiences he won't have.

I'm glad we're engaging quite respectfully as that doesn't always happen on these types of threads. Likewise I may not agree with your opinions but I respect your right to have them.

What would you do if there was non of the positives of autism for your children?

I should have included adhd there as an AuDHD person! I recognise both your usernames and it’s nice to see solidarity. I sometimes wonder whether I’m just causing myself unnecessary stress by reading and posting, but I like to counter some of the rampant ableism for the sake of others reading, even though it won’t change the minds of the people who originally posted!

@WaitingForMojo My academic success isn’t despite my autism, it’s because of it. The positive things I do are also because I am autistic. how did you reach this conclusion?

@WaitingForMojo to answer you fully yes I do see his positives as separate to his autism. They are him, his autism is his disability.

I wouldn't call my sons OCD ( one of his autistic traits) a positive attribute but he has made the best of what he has and got a career that uses this attention to detail and perfectionism as a positive! It otherwise would make his life extremely difficult!

It's not an assumption, we've seen and heard it. Not everyone is honest. DLA brings in £700 month, of course some people are going to try their luck.

Well lucky to be able to ‘get on with it’

Sadly I found that my son’s bowel incontinence from low muscle tone was not something he could just get on with.

Oh and those 2 years on a feeding tube and then being managed on carobel panicking when soemone at toddler group tried to give him a glass of water - I should have just got on with it. Oh and the fact that it was not identified by the consultant for a while and he ended up with fluid in his lungs. I should just got on with that.

All the day when he was 5 and he fitted for over an hour and then repeat fitted a further three times and we were in an out of A and E - we should just get on with that.

For some people ASD and linked disabilities sadly can take up huge amounts of your time and it’s not something you can just get on with.

There are endless meeting and soclal services assessments and care plans, agency care plans, PA training, Pa time sheets, Pa insurance docs, EHCP reviews, further college meetings. Yesterday I had a 3 way meeting about the provision for my son and college and whether it was prompt and scribe or him typing and that resulted in a further meeting being arranged. I’m just getting messages about a disability social group meeting and also am trying to sort out the group going out.

Everything my 20 year old son does is arranged by me. Every time he goes out, the social groups he mixes with, his PA and the care agency, which college he goes to and how often he stays overnight even down to the pants he wears.

In some ways I hate the ASD label as there is no comparison between someone with a kid at a university in a separate city with ASD issues and someone with a kid who has to be helped to shave and have his toe nails cut and told to wear shorts because it’s hot who might go to university but in his home town if and when he can cope.

Oh and now the social worker has just called!

@Alwaystired94 i didn't mean that my db requires no aids to live his life and have his career but i meant that he doesn't make his disability his whole identity! Not everything has to revolve around it!

I've seen you on other threads recently calling out the treatment
I'm the same, i wonder if the stress it gives me to counter some of the dangerous rhetoric i see on here but then i remind myself it needs to be called out, if it stops even one person from carrying on dangerous behaviour.