I am deaf and have attention deficit disorder and a couple of other conditions that affect, or may eventually affect, mobility. Because of these, I could be described as a “person with disabilities.” People often misunderstand the term “disability” to imply a horrible existence of utter helplessness and dependence on others. It does not. A disability is determined not only by our impairments (the conditions in our body or brains that affect our ability to function the way other people might function) but also by our environment: it is not my inability to hear well in and of itself that stops me from watching certain television programs. What does stop me from watching certain television programs is the failure of some TV channels to provide closed captioning that would otherwise give me access to the audio portion of their programming, including dialogue and a description of key sound effects. If I am “disabled” by being deaf, then the disability is not because I am “broken” (because of course I’m not) but because the environment was designed by and for people who do not share my particular needs.

If you understand disability as an interaction between an impairment and its environment and NOT as a commentary on a person’s capacity to think, to feel, to make choices, or to act as an autonomous being worthy of dignity and respect, then to be considered “a person with a disability” is not and simply cannot be considered an insult any more than it would be an insult to observe that person X has brown eyes or person Y is tall or short for her age.

If being considered as “a person with disabilities” cannot be an insult, then it also cannot be a compliment to claim that a person ISN’T disabled. On the contrary, when you state that a person isn’t disabled and clearly posit it as if it is meant to be a compliment, you imply (and no, I don’t think you meant to do this, I’m not offended, I’m only trying to gently point out what were probably unintended connotations in what you say) that there is something “wrong” or “bad” or “offensive” about having a disability.

I, too, don’t find it particularly productive or accurate to imply that any of us people with disabilities are in any way in a world apart from, or superior to, anyone else. We aren’t. We merely perceive certain things differently simply become we come from a different frame of reference or set of experiences. If our frame of reference or resulting perceptions seem somehow radical or novel, then this is not really because our perceptions are that dramatically original. It is really more a reflection of the fact that people with disabilities are rarely given space to express our differences and be listened to. On the rare occasions when we do have this space, it is mostly other people with disabilities who share the same space who actually pay attention. This means non-disabled people rarely hear the perceptions of people with disabilities and, thus, often through no particular fault of their own, have very little basis to judge what ideas or perceptions are actually as original as they might think.

I am autistic, and I consider autism to be a disability; I do not, however, consider disability to be a horrible, absolute, context-independent state that ought to be pitied, eradicated, or feared by people privileged enough to live in a society that easily accommodates their own existence.

I’m pretty sure that I live in the same ‘world’ as you, although I perceive it differently – I don’t think it’s very productive or accurate to claim that autistic people are off living in their own worlds (I think is implied by what you said; sorry if I am mistaken). I don’t think it’s very productive or accurate, as well, to think of autistic people as somehow existing on a separate plane (e.g. having to ‘step down’ to join others). I do not think that we are special creatures who exist for the purpose of educating or enlightening others, any more than you are.

I cannot thank you enough for FINALLY teaching those of us who don’t understand what is going on in your world…what really is.
It’s incredible to me that people think those with Autism have a “disability” or are not as intelligent as others!! WOW

The truth is you have to “step down” to join us!
amazing! Thanks so much for being able to share this with us so that we may learn.
I’m posting it all over FB as it’s my believe that everyone who has even a tiny crack of an open mind NEEDS to see it!

I hope you are both well.

*waves hello to Anna Baggs*

(Sorry about commenting so late!)

Andrea,I am glad you were able to go this year and thanks for your kind words. I really missed seeing all the people I met last year. I have had some health problems recently and travel just was not an option.I am glad things went well.

I hope you’re feeling better now and sorry you were unable to come to Autreat.

Amanda, your presentation that was sent in was awesome. Unfortunately Ivan(who was in attendance for that and all other presentations) cannot really remember details about it.

The internet really is a double-edged sword….on the one hand it’s a great tool for autistic people to find one another and do advocacy but on the other hand it’s also a platform for bullies to be extremely nasty and hide behind anonymity. So sad. Those bullies are really pathetic individuals who delude themselves with the idea that cutting others down makes them better. They think their shit don’t stink.

As for motivations. I never thought of jealousy (not knowing what I have to be jealous of) until other people mention it. Media attention is hardly a good thing. Some of them have problems with my views and rather than debate them honorably they take the easy way out and try to paint me as either fake, atypical, or too autistic to have a decent opinion. Some are bullies and/or sociopaths who have found each other and find my history too juicy to resist — some of them are in fact repeat bullies of many autistic people (one of whom organized most of the other bullies). The motivations of bullies I don’t understand, although I have read that sociopaths tend to pick targets who have a strong sense of ethics or justice. Some are fanatics and I am in the way of their cause. Some fear being considered stupid (a fear the bullies deliberately play on). Some lack an understanding of autism and are confused and get manipulated by bullies into enabling them. Others enable them because of a misguided attempt at fairness or because they believe every argument has two legitimate sides. Some are many of these things. Some may have motives I don’t understand and can’t guess.