Labour #ActuallyAutistic

[Potato25]

Just been shown this by a friend, it's a pinned tweet on the Labour Autistic Network.

Looks like Labour are encouraging people to ID as autistic as well as women. It shouldn't really be a 'do you identify as' question...

I clicked on the link to see this: 'This information sharing agreement has been drawn up under the umbrella of Labour Autistic Network, an organisation of members and supporters of the Labour Party who identify on the autistic spectrum or neurodivergent.

Self Id as Autistic! How completely disrespectful.

No. You just haven't understood autistic people identifying as autistic as opposed to the person with autism label.
If you looked up and read posts from the #actuallyautistic hashtag or read the article about identity-first as opposed to person-first language you would know this has fuck-all to do with trans.
autisticadvocacy.org/about-asan/identity-first-language/?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=socialnetwork
Further discussed here
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/3205493-identifying-as-autistic?pg=2

Wow, self identifying as autistic? Where in the name of fuck is this going to end? The ethics of this are out the window.
Quite how this will sit with the people who fight and fight and fight to have themselves or their children diagnosed (particularly women and girls) and recognised.

I’m starting to think Labour are deliberately self sabotaging themselves.

What's disrespectful is you using something that is a community hashtag crated by and for autistic people. And conflating it with Self Id of gender.

Yes I identify as actually autistic, cos er I am, just as I identify as Irish, red headed, and blue eyed.

I'm not a person with autism, it is a very much part of me, it's something I can't change nor do I wish too.

Quite how this will sit with the people who fight and fight and fight to have themselves or their children diagnosed (particularly women and girls) and recognised.
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Quite fine, because we identify as actually autistic, cos do you know what we actually are.

As one of those women fighting for a diagnosis for my son, I find it fucking disgusting you are using this to add to your anti self-id, anti-labour campaign without having had the decency to inform yourselves first as to what it was actually referring to.

x-post naught

Couldn't agree more yabasic

Hey look, I put my hand up, I’ve obviously misread what the hashtag is about. Apologies.

I’ve worked with a number of people who say they are a “a little bit autistic” or “a tad OCD” I have clearly misunderstood the OP and thought it to be along the same line.

circle no no it's almost the opisite of that, it's Us as community saying these are the voices of people with "lived experience" of autism. Not people who diagnose telling us what our lives should be or what we can expect them to be.

It also predates this tweet from the Labour Party, for instance it was used a lot when Chris packham did his documentary because it was someone who's #actallyautistic explaining and showing what life is like to be an autistic person.

Well at least you apologised - which is more than the OP did on this or the other thread. The posters on here are usually well-researched, well-informed intelligent women who want other MNetters to think critically, inform themselves and via the trans threads become educated on the issues/engaged with the self-id gender debate. Threads like these do you no favours at all.

Thanks for explaining it to me and sorry for jumping to 3am, drunken conclusions. I get it. I hope it helps and I’ll send my DS over to join in.

I’ve worked with a number of people who say they are a “a little bit autistic” or “a tad OCD” I have clearly misunderstood the OP and thought it to be along the same line.

I did also for an instant, until my thoughts cleared and I realised that’s not what it meant. But it took a while longer and re-reading one of the other posts to understand what it did mean.

@CircleSquareCircleSquare You're gold
I just PM you

Autism was not well known about a couple of decades ago so there are a lot of people wandering about who are autistic and do not have a diagnosis. Usually when one of their kids gets diagnosed they do a bit of research and go .... "oooohhh"

the wait for a diagnosis is long.

there is a genetic connection in some cases.

if someone has an autistic kid then they may not exactly have a lot of time to persue a diagnosis dor themselves.

people on the other hand who say I am a bit autistic as an excuse and are not really/really do not believe they are, are a bit shit.

though some people will be pissed off when prominent people use it as an excuse... maybe incorrectly and then they jump to the wrong conclusions.

just on this, Mr. Madigan has just come out as 'actually autistic', it's not really clear if he is, or has a diagnosis, it just seems like another weapon for him to use. (My DS does have a diagnosis, so I'm not keen on appropriation).

Well yes, LM is actually autistic in the same way he’s actually gay, actually a woman and actually schizophrenic.

It’s revolting appropriation.

I can see that’s not what the hashtag is meant to mean though.

self identifying as autistic?

That's been going on for years now. People self-diagnose all the time. It makes me furious.

People wouldn't self-diagnose cancer or diabetes or a broken leg, but think it's fine to self-diagnose autism. The reason they give is usually along the lines of "oh, it takes so long" or "it costs too much".

I jumped through all the hoops to get an assessment and a diagnosis.

I wonder if people talking about being ‘a little bit autistic’ are those who have been diagnosed with autistic traits?

Interesting to link diagnoses with identity politics. I think the term ‘coercively assigned’ actually works here, where people don’t agree with their diagnosis/label!

I never refer to people as ‘autistic’, ‘dyslexic’ etc. I say ‘has a diagnosis of’ or where I know they accept the label/diagnosis say ‘has x’.

Psychologically, the phrase ‘I am’ affects us in a different way to ‘I have’, and such linguistic changes are often used to bring therapeutic change.

I find it fascinating how we talk about conditions and diseases differently (and the psychological impact this can have’).

With diabetes, we have the word diabetic which allows people to define themselves as such. We only have the word ‘cancer’ to describe this disease/diagnosis, so people don’t have the option to define themselves according to it.

I might be autistic, but I'm not bloody well going to stick up an #ActuallyAutistic tag unless, you know, I've actually bothered to get a diagnosis.

Absolute nonsense.

Fuck off. Its massively difficult to get a diagnosis of autism as an adult, and many people do just know and come to realise they are autistic. They are not trying to overtake or remove any rights from neurotypical people, its about understanding themselves. Autism doesnt begin with a diagnosis. This is NOT the same as self ID for gender.

I have a child with autism (and other conditions). It took a decade to get a diagnosis which included many years on a waiting list. He's also been a CAMHS patient for the last 11 years.

I read the ASAN article and broadly agree about person centred language although I doubt my DS would care one jot about current professional language because to be honest it's the least of his problems really.

I can't help but feel any association or use of identity in relation to developmental disorders is going to cause issues down the line. Despite best intentions people will appropriate and abuse it.

I have autism and really struggle with the concept of "identifying". My understanding of identifying as a choice is limited to "I identify with the views of x political party" or "Oh I really identified with what Matt Baker has to say about that thing on the One Show.", in a sense of agreeing. I don't identify as autistic, I just am. Just like I "just am" British/Scottish (by virtue of parentage, birthplace, being raised here) - I really, really, struggle with why some people feel they need to perform the things they just are by accident of birth.