Autism and gender NAS conference

[FemaleAndLearning]

Interesting conference being held by the National Autistic Society. Speakers are pro trans I would say.
Facebook comments are interesting and NAS have issued a warning to block people!
m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10155901417116599&id=28389691598

Hmm tried clicking on link and "page not found" Very interested in this as dd is diagnosed autistic and gc.

Well that’s a funny thing.

I’ve been seeing adverts for this conference on Facebook almost every time I’ve looked at my newsfeed for the last week.

Except just now when I went looking for it after reading the OP.

Have they taken details of this conference off Facebook?

I saw this earlier. GC voices being shouted down for querying if there was a link between autism, vulnerability and trans ideology.
And the NAS shutting down that discussion :(
Shocking.

This is heartbreaking.

My daughter is autistic and it's very obvious why autistic girls think they are trans. I just don't think an autism charity should be pushing this.

learn.autism.org.uk/ehome/index.php?eventid=200187214&

Is this it? I'll have to check into those speakers.

This is all just playing into the well debunked myth about male brain = autism thing, isn't it? Bollocks, I say. I'm autistic and I'm definitely an adult human female. I'm worried for my younger autistic female compatriots; they shouldn't be pushed this way. They don't even know enough about autism and physical health of people who don't dick round with hormones and chop bits off.

One of the speakers in on Stonewall's board, another is a transman,one works at GIDS

learn.autism.org.uk/ehome/200187214/speakers

I'm interested in this link, but I don't know much about what the science says - though maybe there isn't much yet. But it seems to me that a cobination of discomfort with certain sensory things, and change, along with a very concrete way of thinking, would all contribute. Those are the things that seemed obvious to me when I first heard of the connection, and clearly not an indication that somehow autistic girls were actually a sort of boy-brain person. Am I way off?

Yes the male brain thing is outdated now thank goodness.

I am still horrified that ASD is now seen as a good reason TO trans a child not as a reason to think Hey, maybe this is a reason to wait and see because no autistic child would want to cling to a socially acceptable reason for why they felt so different, and to stop the terrifying change of puberty, would they? Apparently it’s trendier and even safer to be trans and fuck your body and fertility up for life, than admit to neurodiversity. :(

I liked the NAS when I first realised about my own ASD, I used their website a lot to formulate my request for assessment and have recommended them to other women struggling with the same, but I don’t think I can ever trust them again after all this.

I can't understand why the NAS is silencing autistic people with concerns about the trans issue.

I'm autistic, I'm definitely an adult human female.

BUT as a very confused, very socially isolated and miserable teen who never fitted into any kind of group/stereotype/gender rules I'd have been extremely vulnerable to suggestion.

I'm guessing there are many autistic girls who still are.

There aren't words for the rage I feel.

Think I'm becoming paranoid. This is another speaker. I'd be interested in why they were chosen. There are some trigger words in this description.
Childhood and Sexuality - Contemporary Issues and Debates | Allison Moore | Palgrave Macmillan
www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9781137524959

A big issue here is that many people with Autism hate inaccuracy, untruths, pseudoscience, lies and deceit.

I've just been watching Ben Boyce interview a trans woman who says she may be autistic but absolutely hates the gaslighting and untruths the tras push, despite needing to transition. Though listening to her childhood it's easy to see how she may have felt the need to do so.

Many people with autism on this forum have said this too.

Cross post intheheart. I fully understand your rage.

NeurotrashWarrior I agree with what you said about some autistic people really struggling with inaccuracies and lies.

I do. Profoundly. The changing of definitions is completely frying my brain.

I will use pronouns, be respectful, understand that for people with gender dysphoria life is very difficult and they have the right to express themselves in a way to make their own lives easier.

What I cannot and will not ever accept, is the silencing of women, of autistic women, and the demand that our rights be eroded in order to facilitate someone else's.

That is, and always has been, my issue with the trans rights movement.

But it seems to me that a cobination of discomfort with certain sensory things, and change, along with a very concrete way of thinking, would all contribute

Absolutely. I've taught children with asd for years and we have had gender questioning children. You can absolutely track it as well as "special interests" of a gender stereotype (usually most obvious if it's a boy loving stereotypically girl things.)

And the the NAS have someone saying you are not to think this is a part of it at all (I think Joe Butler, there's a page on it.) and yet it absolutely was for one child we taught, who was seen by the Tavistock and did not need to transition. They and everyone around them, (including teachers), just needed things explaining in terms of sex and gender. But this was over 10 years ago.

Read about Temple Grandin's child and teen hood and it absolutely describes this process, not a whiff of trans. Just rejection of irritating impractical clothes and games, a love of cattle ranches and a feeling of sensory peace while around animals, cattle and their squeeze boxes.

I cannot fathom how anyone working with children with asd cannot see this!

Intheheat

This is absolutely shocking. It is absolutely right that the NAS explore and examine issues and links. But it appears that they have made up their minds and are unwilling to listen to different viewpoints. I wonder why this is.

I cannot fathom how anyone working with children with asd cannot see this!

I genuinely believe that the trans rights movement (and other high profile organisations) have been groomed (I use that word deliberately) in order to further a nefarious purpose.

I've already been to DCs schools about the conflict between certain organisations and their agendas with child safeguarding procedures. Thankfully they took it on board (for once my fierce gobby mum reputation helped rather than hindered!)

So help me if anyone suggests this shit to my children they'd better hope they can run!

I have a feeling the Joe Butler person has a part of it as I've seen their writing on NAS website for a few years.

I must say I felt reasonably reassured by a more measured person in a video I found on the NAS a while ago but it sounds like they've completely drunk the Kool Aid.

You wonder your whole life why you don't fit in. Wonder what's wrong with you. You get a diagnosis of autism. But you still don't fit in. You desperately want to have a group of friends but it just never happens.

Then you find out that all the stuff you're into, your obsessions, the way you dress etc, well, they're not what girls like. That's what boys like! That's it. You're not a girl, you're a boy. You are trans.

You decide to tell people this. People flock to welcome to you into their special group. You have friends. You are part of a group. You belong. Just like you've always wanted. You are trans.

You never liked having autism. It made you stand out. You didn't belong. But now you belong. Maybe you didn't have autism? Maybe it's all a big mistake. You are trans.

And just like that you have transed away the autism from lots of teenage girls.

And just like that you have transed away the autism from lots of teenage girls.

That's chilling. Because it's true.

This worries me so much. The NAS should be protecting autistic children from mutilation. My autistic DS is only 6 but is already being told he's a girl because he has long hair and sometimes wears 'girl clothes'. He likes cats and pink and rainbows and sparkly things. Not many boys clothes appeal to him. Why can't he just be accepted as the awesome person he is?

It's easier to get access if you've taken away all the usual support networks.

Jesus why haven't I realised this before now?

Bollocks he sounds ace! He'd be welcome round my house any day of the week. My lot are who they are and don't particularly confirm to gender stereotypes. I give not one shit, they're finding their own way in the world and it's my job to give them the freedom and confidence to do it!