Autistic Advocates: Was it developed in consultation with Autistic people? Can Autistic people use this service? Are Autistic opinions featured in this documentary/piece of writing?
NTs with Big Ideas: No, we chose to focus on
Autistic Advocates: Why on earth would you exclude Autistic people from this thing which is about autism?
NTs with Big Ideas: Well, we had limited resources, so we could only focus on one stakeholder group. And we chose to focus on
because parents and professionals have the biggest lobbies
because if we consulted Autistic people, they would want us to provide a different kind of service than the kind we want to provide
because if we consulted Autistic people, they would want us to take out this ableist rhetoric which we want to use
because it never even occurred to us to ask Autistic people about this thing
… because we did.
Fuck. Yes. This is why I love you. Perfectly illustrated a major problem that they refuse to address in a short but awesomely satirical fashion.
ReplyDeleteThey always choose the non-autistic voices over ours and they always have some other excuse. The real reason is that they don't care what our opinion is, unless we agree with them and maybe they'll add our comments as a footnote but it'll get buried in a mound of supportive messages from warrior mommies.
Thank you so much, Kathryn! Reading your comment made me super happy.
ReplyDeleteWhen I think about it logically, it boggles my mind that we end up as an afterthought, or a footnote, in any autism-related project. Then I remember what most people's perceptions about autism are and I think about how much work we have ahead of us if we want to change this stuff.
Love. thAutcasted.
ReplyDeleteIn a world where victory is given to the most aggressive voice rather than the most deserving, I am glad to see you're still writing articles like this. Thank you for continuing this blog. It gives me confidence to write my own.
ReplyDeleteI love you. This kind of writing makes me really happy.
ReplyDeleteAs a parent, I'm glad you're saying these things. Because the way I've experienced it, it is often the last, "it didn't occur to us" problem (although I'm sure sometimes it is much more intentional). But for parents who just haven't thought about it? (The obvious next question of course is Why not?) Hearing this as often and as loud as possible is so important.
ReplyDeleteThis is awesome. YOU are awesome. :-)
ReplyDeleteI love this so much.
ReplyDeleteWonderfully put.
ReplyDeleteI am a parent and I fight for my sons input everyday!! They are part of everything we do for them! I also help parents and their children and I try to help them listen and understand their children for who they are!! Please be patient with us though we are learning too! Ari I love what you do!!!
ReplyDeleteFunny, and sad, and funny. well done!
ReplyDelete