Another prominent T claiming to be a little bit autistic

[Autisticappropriation]

I know this is my sole topic of conversation but it’s so bloody important that biological women are not erased from the autistic spectrum by biological men claiming to be autistic. It’s hard enough to get diagnosed if you’re female without having diagnostic criteria appropriated and dictated by males. It took decades for the male brain aspect of autism to be binned.

A prolific twitter transperson is now claiming to be “a bit autistic”. The fact this person is an absolute walloper doesn’t really help and it’s entirely wrong to claim you’re a bit autistic - you either are or you aren’t. Just like sex you don’t get to pick and choose which bits of autism you get to experience. It forms your entire experience of the world. You cannot be a little bit autistic just like
You cannot be female with a penis.

I can’t talk about this on autistic twitter as so many have been brainwashed? Manipulated? I’m not sure what, but a certain contingent of trans & autistic advocates get very aggressive and persistent if you disagree with them and I can’t face the onslaught of trans and autistic hate that would ensue.

Just needed to rant about this.

Who is it?

I didn’t want to name names in case it broke rules - LM is the person in question

I think it's outrageous. Especially as you've said, OP, that it is incredibly hard to be diagnosed if you're a woman. It's a slap in the face to all the autistic women who've been misdiagnosed and written off over the years.

At least they've now taken off 'schizo'.

TerfingHell, or, as we like to call it in the real world; a straight, white, middle class man.

The phrasing "a little bit autistic" is infuriating isn't it? I think LM put it on LM's bio after being told to take schizo off.

It does show that LM really doesn't understand, well, anything, but particularly not binaries. There are some things you either are, or aren't with no middle ground.

Apparently he wasn't so sure on Tuesday...

I agree hesterton but I do also think it's part of the issue. Especially when Jennifer James and Venice Allen are facing forensic cross-examination for things they've said online. Exposing the standards of flawless honesty, decency and accountability expected of women challenging self-id and setting them against specific examples of what TRAs are getting away with seems relevant.

I think it's important to hold public figures up to scrutiny. Is an individual claiming to be autistic really autistic or not? It is not ok to appropriate a condition if you don't actually have it just to get sympathy or shut down debate when people question your politics / public statements. To me the phrase "a little bit autistic" does suggest someone who has very little knowledge about autism.

Being sympathetic to the needs of people with autism means calling out anyone using autism for selfish reasons when not actually autistic too.

In the usual way I wouldn't dream of challenging anyone's statement of their own diagnosis, and in the past I have been very supportive of people in political life - and especially of people in political life - who have been open about their own struggles with mental health issues.

I think this is different - it is, as someone pointed out earlier, the badge-collecting approach, designed to add a layer of political teflon to the person declaring it, so that any questioning of someone's political activities can be turned aside with "but I'm [insert oppressed identity here]. It is incredibly offensive to people who do have a diagnosis, and it makes an absolute mockery of the principle of honesty in public life.

And of course, the person mentioned here isn't the only one doing it. It also helps with the patreon and paypal online begging of these "activists", too.

I do not believe a word that comes out of LM’s mouth.

I honestly believe that if being deaf or blind suddenly became fashionable, LM would claim to be a ‘little’ bit deaf/blind…

People with mental illness and people, particularly women with autism have enough shit trying to get recognised/support with out attention seekers…

Saying all that I do think that LM must be a damaged person; has a real issue with women in particular their Mother.

There's no way someone can be 'a bit autistic'. My daughter has high functioning autism and it impacts every second of her waking life (which is too much as she struggles to sleep). Saying 'a bit' suggests LM either doesn't have autism or is ashamed of it. That makes a bit sad and angry.

It's also a way of pre-installing a built-in excuse for bad behaviour. I remember well when stavvers (for those who don't know her, imagine Rik from the Young Ones, except online and not quite as clever) was all "no platform for TERFs! Don't share a platform with the fash!" And then she got a gig (paying, I believe, although I'm not sure) with the BBC, sharing a platform with Julie Bindel. But her "mental health was poor at the time" so it would be mean and disablist to point out what a screaming hypocrite she is.

But if you have PTSD or other trauma which means you don't want to undress in front of a man, well, you are still a bigot and your mental and physical health is no excuse at all....

makes me

Does LM really have schizophrenia? That’s a very difficult and debilitating condition to live with. I am not saying I disbelieve LM, I am just really surprised that this has not been mentioned before. If it’s true, it shows even more that young people who feel that they don’t belong in their bodies above all need psychological support. Not hormones or people agreeing with them that black isn’t white.

I think LM is using "schizo" and "a little bit autistic" as Get Out of Jail Free cards in case anyone challenges h* on h* tweets.

There is always the response "Oh, I was suffering from mental illness at the time so I couldn't be responsible for what I was saying".

As someone with autism (diagnosed after jumping through all the assessment and diagnostic hoops) this is incredibly offensive. Life is hard enough when you're autistic without having some attention-seeker claiming to share the condition.

Is LM suffering with schizophrenia?! That's an awful thing to have to live with. Surely being in her position with everything that twitter brings is not going to be helpful?!

According to the tweet in the screenshot above, LM admitted in a DM that they are schizotypal, which is a distinct and less extreme condition from schizophrenia, though related.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizotypal_personality_disorder