3 ms·

but autism is not in any way objectively suboptimal in itself For this to be true, autists would have to communicate and/or work with other autists as competen

by causi 4y ago

but autism is not in any way objectively suboptimal in itself For this to be true, autists would have to communicate and/or work with other autists as competently as neurotypicals mesh with each other. Strictly speaking, we should be able to work with other autists more easily than we work with neurotypicals who have a basic familiarity with autism, since we also have that advantage. In my experience we are not. Replacing your left hand with a sword also has measurable advantages but that doesn't make it not an overall impairment. Personally I find this cultural trend where "your deviation is your identity" to be illogical and offensive.

wpietri 4y ago
> would have to communicate and/or work with other autists as competently as neurotypicals mesh with each other Not at all. You're judging by the standards of neurotypicals. Suppose we discover a genotype that correlates with extremely high social competence, people who are just naturally much better at communicating and working with others. (This isn't much of a stretch; we know there are people like that; we just don't know if it's genetic.) If we document this new, higher level of social functioning, does that mean that neurotypicals are now also defective, diseased?
hnbad 4y ago
Arguably autistics are far better at communicating and/or working with other autistics AND allistics than allistics are at doing the same with any autistics because of the double empathy problem.
hnlmorg 4y ago
> Personally I find this cultural trend where "your deviation is your identity" to be illogical and offensive. Part of, not the whole I am who I am, in part, because of my quirks. Saying they are not part of me would be denying who I am. I don’t understand what’s offensive about people being happy with who they are.
- deleted 4y ago
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adolph 4y ago
> Personally I find this cultural trend where "your deviation is your identity" to be illogical and offensive. Question: isn’t identity that which makes one distinct from others, like name or government identity number?

by causi 4y ago

wpietri 4y ago

> would have to communicate and/or work with other autists as competently as neurotypicals mesh with each other Not at all. You're judging by the standards of neurotypicals. Suppose we discover a genotype that correlates with extremely high social competence, people who are just naturally much better at communicating and working with others. (This isn't much of a stretch; we know there are people like that; we just don't know if it's genetic.) If we document this new, higher level of social functioning, does that mean that neurotypicals are now also defective, diseased?

hnbad 4y ago

Arguably autistics are far better at communicating and/or working with other autistics AND allistics than allistics are at doing the same with any autistics because of the double empathy problem.

hnlmorg 4y ago

> Personally I find this cultural trend where "your deviation is your identity" to be illogical and offensive. Part of, not the whole I am who I am, in part, because of my quirks. Saying they are not part of me would be denying who I am. I don’t understand what’s offensive about people being happy with who they are.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

adolph 4y ago

> Personally I find this cultural trend where "your deviation is your identity" to be illogical and offensive. Question: isn’t identity that which makes one distinct from others, like name or government identity number?