ASD, Gender Dysphoria & Mermaids

[Illogicalmadness]

Hello I've nc'd for this as it's outing and sensitive.

My local Autism support group has recently aligned itself to Mermaids, their logos are everywhere. I was surprised to see that the support group is now taking advice from Mermaids. There are families on their books who have very vulnerable teens with ASD & Gender Dysphoria. I'm uncomfortable that this v vulnerable group will now be pushed down an ideological & surgical path.

How do I get the group to reconsider their allegiance? Any links to articles, info and stats will be most welcome. I remember another group being recommended as a balance against Mermaids but I can't remember their name. I have to be v careful how I word my email to get my points across & not cause offence. Thanks.

Ugh that's awful I'm sorry.

The Bayswater group could help, also Gender, a wider lens, being run by Stella OMalley and others.

Transgender trend although they may get smeared for transphobia.

There was a good piece on asd recently actually.

Safe school alliance U.K. have all the schools guidance and there will be stuff on mermaids there.

www.transgendertrend.com/autism-gender-dysphoria/

www.transgendertrend.com/tag/autism/

www.transgendertrend.com/autistic-girls-gender-silent-frontier/

www.transgendertrend.com/our-sons-a-mothers-correspondence-about-her-trans-identified-autistic-son/

There's a few others there around send and assessment etc.

Sorry formatting fail; there's 4 links above

First template letter here is re Mermaids:

safeschoolsallianceuk.net/resources-2/letter-templates/

Thank you so much. It is Safe school alliance I was thinking of but couldn't remember their name.

Any tips on putting my tips coherently will be appreciated. I know that I'll be flamed for raising an objection but I'm so sorry for these families. They've already suffered so much because of their child's ASD & dysphoria. I know that Mermaids doesn't really agree that gender dysphoria is a part of autism as it doesn't suit their agenda.

The other idea is sharing some information about the experiences of detransitioners. There's a good leaflet they've recently produced.

Parents often don't seem to consider or be aware of the "other side."

Thank you. It just seems like now that other people are aware of Mermaids agenda, they've turned their attention to a very vulnerable group to groom them. Some of these parents have SEND themselves & some aren't aware of the controversy surrounding mermaids. These parents will regard mermaids as having the magic key to 'cyre' their child. It's actually very dangerous and a safeguarding concern.

Cure not cyre

Didn’t mermaids once claim that transitioning cured autism or some such nonsense in one of their training sessions? Perhaps that might persuade this group that they are not people to engage with?

Something like that. I’m sure I even read somewhere of ingesting some kind of bleach (watered down I assume) was also a ‘cure’.

Desperate parents = easy target.

The second TT link talks about comparisons to Autism cures etc iirc

"Autism cures" that should be

This one, comparisons to ABA

www.transgendertrend.com/neurodiversity-movement-toxic-relationship-trans-rights-activism/

Essentially, some young people with autism like to dress and be a way that's not gender stereotypical, but their unique personal reasons are very linked to how they experience the world and how they experience autism.

They really should be allowed to be and express themselves as they are (eg wearing pink and long hair if a boy) rather than change their bodies and have life long medical intervention.

It's particularly more damaging for girls; hormones plunge them into early menopause, risking bone density issues, osteoporosis etc and the effects are much less reversible than for boys.

Unless boys have a full surgical transition obviously.

Puberty blockers also affect fertility and affect bones.

Bone issues are especially problematic for some children with asd as many also have hypermobility and dislike physical activity, may spend more time indoors and online and also have the potential for vit d issues. (Some)

It's an issue we see among a particular cohort of children at school.

Susie Green's ted talk

Thank you so much. I'm booking marking all the links so I can read them after work.

The key thing that makes Mermaids inappropriate is that they understand identity wholly through the lens of minority rights. With children, and autistic children especially, it ought chiefly to be understood within a frame of child development. Thus, with Mermaids, difficult feelings become something to address through campaigning for rights (effectively, the right to repudiate your body or parts of it) rather than through a neutral therapeutic exploration.

Autistic young people have a lifelong sense of 'otherness' and have a much slower and less predictable development in adolescence than the neurotypicals. They seek acceptance and of course they are non-conforming in ways that don't truly fit the models of difference that society offers them.

You could refer this group to Dr Tony Attwood, a well known autism speaker and author, who has covered gender dysphoria a couple of times in his 'As Dr Tony' segment on youtube:

(in 2017) (in 2019)

In both cases he says sensible things - basically, it's not a simple matter of 'being trans', there's a lot of complexity to unpick.

Or Professor Christopher Gillberg, a v big figure in autism studies:
www.thetimes.co.uk/article/autistic-girls-seeking-answers-are-seizing-on-sex-change-3r82850gw
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9130157/The-physicians-testimony-led-High-Court-judge-ban-child-puberty-blocker-drugs.html

I would recommend this group offers the Bayswater Support Group to parents as an alternative to Mermaids. The website is www.bayswatersupport.org.uk . Both Bayswater and Mermaids are listed by the Good Schools Guide as two options for parents which come from different places.

It is really difficult. The National Autistic Society are captured and I really struggle in parent groups for autistic children because i get labelled transphobic if I mention watchful waiting. One of the admins in one group deleted a very detailed reply I wrote to a parent who was asking for help as they thought it was transphobic, surely that was for the patent asking the question to decide. I am beginning to think many of the parents are collecting conditions and disorders for their kids and the more they have the more special they feel as parents.

Do you remember the brony craze? That attracted autistic teens but I think it's declining now - the bronies have simply grown out of it.

I have always likened the need for individual gender identities to cutie marks in My Little Pony.

I'm glad that you mentioned the NAS has been captured. I looked at the website and wasn't sure whether to call them for advice. I won't now but I'll read and watch the resources linked above. Thank you.

I'm not sure how 'captured' this ASD support group is so I'm going in blind. The more counterarguments that I have, the more confident I'll feel.

Fabulous links and explanation Archery, thank you.

Hadn't realised Atwood had discussed it.

How do they see support for autistic children being improved by this 'alignment'?

@Tibtom thank you. This is a very good question to ask at the group's meeting tomorrow. It seems they think that gender dysphoria = transgender immediately & that's not always the case. Especially if the child has ASD as they will express discomfort with their environment in many ways. They may not express their gender ID in the traditional way but it doesn't mean they want to change gender.