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@autistic-voices
The most common form of autism:
There is none.
Some people are noticeably autistic, some are not, some sometimes are but can hide it.
Statistics may give you an idea of what seems to occur with high frequency, but autism is a full mix and match.
If you know one Autistic, you know ONE Autistic.
And this why it's important to advocate for the full spectrum of us. All needs, all abilities, all communication styles.
Thanks tumblr but I think I'd rather have the Pikachu man ad
Heck I'd even take the Manscaped ads over this garbage
Also people act like autistic people would have been, like, left in the woods to die or something as kids for most of history, but as i said i’m researching islamic saints and in both islam and christianity there’s an awful lot of just, like, “Yeah that guy decided to go live in a cave by himself and wore one (1) article of clothing and sometimes he would walk around and scream randomly, it meant he was closer to god than everybody else”
I’d have to research this, but I kinda feel that, what with how much the eugenics movement pervaded everything for a huge chunk of recent history, our narrative of how disability was for much of history has gotten a little warped.
I feel like I always heard “yeah they assumed people were possessed by demons Back Then” but actually researching religious history? I’ve found a lot more of people seeing a person showing signs of (what we would call) neurodivergence or mental illness and being like “hm. yea that’s god.”
It’s also definitely like…in the US anyway fundamentalism has absolutely decimated a lot of AWARENESS of what Christianity specifically can look like.
american evangelicalism is based a lot on Belief in your religion as axiomatic Fact and at the same time a very buddy-buddy view of god where Jesus is like, your cool dad. Both of which are not very good for allowing the numinous and divine “mystery” to exist
So I think we assume people throughout history would default to “things I don’t understand are of the devil.” when very often they would instead be “things I don’t understand are of God.”
and they would see someone speak in strange sounds or move his body strangely or respond differently to the world and see something divine in it, and there are instances of this across many religions
@invisibleoctopus There’s this fascinating book about the cultural aspects of how mental illness presents called Crazy Like Us by Ethan Watters that is not without its flaws, but that (among other things) discusses how schizophrenic people do significantly better in cultures where there’s a precedent/religious or spiritual explanation for people ‘hearing voices’ and such, because for one thing, they’re not treated as social outcasts for it. Those environments are better equipped to help and accommodate those people on the basis of being able to keep them integrated into a community. At least according to the Ethan Watters guy.
The thing about imagining that autistic children would have been left to die for most of history is just… it’s so lazy. And it betrays a huge failure to understand what autism looks like for autistic people and what daily life looked like in history at the same time. It’s very frustrating.
There’s this weird idea that autistics only develop special interests in this very narrow stereotypical STEM-field domain of life, also, which is total nonsense. Of course religion autistics are a thing. Judaism, too, has a lot of room for autistics: you develop very deep spheres of knowledge, about which you argue constantly, and prayer is sung and you get to move back and forth during it rhythmically.
The other thing that gets me is that it’s not just that there’s historical room to interpret weird behavior as Godly, it’s that autistic people are relatively likely to come up with unusual ideas about people and how people do and should work. If you’re talking about any theological tradition that involves contextual study and argument, you often find a very autistic sort of perspective writing the theology.
Also, just as a general data point: my stepdad, who is in his mid-70s, grew up in a rural farming community, and was never diagnosed with anything, is Obviously Autistic to anyone who knows what autism is.
He can only tolerate about 2 different fabrics against his skin.
And can only eat about 5 foods for obvious food texture reasons.
He hums softly and continually.
He never looks at people.
He has a bunch of other people-related sensitivities, like the inability to tolerate a lot of sounds and nearly all perfume smells.
He has about 3 topics of conversation, which are a) tractors, b) agriculture, and c) Rottweilers.
And you know what? He has had a nice long life of being a Rural Farmer and gets along great with other old farmer dudes who want to talk dogs-tractors-farming with him.
I mean, it’s generally understood that he is Weird, but also that he knows Really A Fucking Lot About Tractors. Which counts for everything in a rural farming community.
It goes beyond lazy into a type of downright cruelty. No matter how autistic people did or did not fit into their communities in the past, chances are someone loved them. When they were little, someone found the clothes they could tolerate and food they would eat and something they could do that matched their interests and abilities. And people married some of them and had children with them. Maybe not all of them, but some of them at least were loved.
We know this because archeology shows over and over again a great level of care and because these traits are still present - they had to get passed on somehow. And we know it because we too feel love for others, despite them constantly failing to live up to any ideal whatsoever.
Anyone who approaches other people with this attitude is only seeking to perpetuate an excuse to be cruel to them. It has nothing to do with what happened in the past and everything to do with what they hope they can get away with in the future. They discount the love that must have existed because it can’t be used against us.
OP how does it feel to be completely right? Have a flower 🌹 as a reward.
My dad was one of 8 kids raised rural in the Rocky Mountains. I remember my grandma telling me stories about him growing up, fond and still just mildly perplexed over memories of her strange little boy–the way she had to bake him a separate miniature pizza from his older siblings just so she could put the cheese on afterwards because he refused to eat melted cheese; the way he wouldn’t take anything but peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to school for lunch his entire life even long after they had the money to eat better and his friends all grew up into more complex tastes; the way he was so dedicated to his after-school schedule that one day when his big sister was late to pick him up, this 6-year-old kid simply forged straight up the side of the mountain back to their home because it was The Time For Going Home and everyone thought he was lost for two frantic hours until he walked in the front door and quietly asked about dinner with no idea anything was off.
After I realised I was autistic and started exploring what that really meant, I thought back on my life growing up with my dad, understanding him in ways nobody else understood us–even my mom–and about stories like that from his youth, and realised how obviously autistic he is, too. But my grandma loved him and put in the extra care, on top of seven other kids to keep track of, to know what he liked and accommodate his needs.
His family just made room for him. His friends just made room for him. So he could still fit. They didn’t know about autism but there was just a little my-dad-shaped space in a bunch of people’s lives and that was fine.
And I think about how many people are just like that, and always have been when small communities are left to their own devices. Not all of them, not ever all when it comes to people, but so many. Whether it’s someone with thoughts too big for their age who must have been gifted by the divine, or someone so impressively good at one thing that they become a local community resource, or just someone who is extremely serious about unmelted cheese. They still belonged.
We were a little strange or a lot strange, but we were still someone’s. And as such we have so often been beloved. Humans, on the whole, take care of what’s theirs, or at least try their best; if what’s theirs is a bit different then they figure out how to accommodate that in practical ways. It’s just not that hard. Whether they ever cared about what autism was or not, or why we are the way we are, we have been loved. That isn’t a new concept, and the proposal that it is is horrifying and telling.
The only good reason for an autistic kid to get lost in the woods is because they are very committed to dinnertime. And everyone who loves them panics until they come home safe. Anyone who did otherwise would have been considered inhuman long before the modern day.
"masking is a privilege not afforded to people with high support needs" and "masking is a source of trauma for many autistic individuals" can and should co exist .
Not telling your autistic child that they are autistic because you don't want to "label" them is just wrong.
We already have been labelled by our peers: freak, retard, weirdo, spaz... And much much worse, usually before we even reach high school.
Autism isn't a label. It's our goddamn answer.
Me @ a lot of Christian theologians/ bloggers:
I just keep thinking about something that happened at Christmas last year and how lucky I am that I grew up with the family that I have.
My husband told a joke. I got it because he's my husband and I'm just used to his sense of humor. But my sister didn't. Without even thinking about it, she turned to me (who was laughing) and said, "I don't get it." And without even thinking, I just explained it to her. Then she got it and laughed and we all laughed and it wasn't at her expense it was just solidly at the dumb joke my husband had cracked.
And it's made me realize something: that there's a part of the community, a lot of posts, that I can't identify with because my family was and is honestly so great. I was never accepted by my peers, but I was always accepted by my family, and so many autistics don't have that.
And I am so sorry.
My experience shouldn't be the exception.
There has been a lot of research about autistics over the years, but this one really took the cake!
This is what happened when researchers attempted to compare the moral compass of autistic and non-autistic people…
The tone of the ask about your Matthew post is kind of antisemitic, tbh. Like, I saw your original post about Matthew, and I thought it was fine, but the ask saying that "the Jews" hated Matthew because he was just too good at taking their money makes me really uncomfortable.
The reblog suggesting that handling money was viewed as "ritually impure" also isn't really accurate, as far as I know. There were money boxes in the temple for donations and there were currency exchanges for travellers as an important part of Jerusalem. Handling or changing money wasn't looked down upon. There are certain modern-day suggestions to avoid handling money on Shabbat (the Sabbath) because it could be considered work, but I don't know if those applied at the time.
While your point about Matthew working for the Romans (a hostile occupying force) and therefore being viewed as traitorous is probably fair, a lot of the other stuff going on around the post is, not great. I don't mean for this to be, like a call-out or anything. I just wanted to bring it to your attention because some of the historic rhetoric around Jews in the NT is harmful.
Anyways, I really like your content about autism, and despite not being a Christian myself, I find your discussions of theology and representation to be really interesting! Great blog
Hiya! Thanks for checking it out!
I'm just gonna be honest and say I had no idea what this was about at first since the ask in question is almost a year old, lol. Also, this is take two of answering this because I wanted to be funny about that point and add a gif of Gandalf saying "I have no memory of this place" but when it took too long and I closed the gif finder, tumblr ate everything that was under this. Makes me want to beat my head against the wall a lil bit. I'm probably going to forget half of what was in the original. Anyway. Moving on.
I'm so sorry that ask made you uncomfortable! And I didn't address the reblog at the time because I try not to talk about things I don't know, and at the time, the very logic you put to it didn't occur to me. I would agree with your assessment: they would have handled money frequently, so I doubt that doing so would have made Matthew (or anyone) ritually impure.
The New Testament is pretty clear about what people in general thought about tax collectors. There are several instances where the phrase "sinners and tax collectors" appears. This distinction is notable because it places tax collectors in a separate category of sin, so to speak. They were viewed as so much worse than everyone else that they were mentioned apart from everyone else. The reason for this is because quite often tax collectors took more than Rome demanded and took the excess for themselves. Roman taxes were already bleeding them dry, and tax collectors "legally" stealing from them to furnish a lavish lifestyle was only making it worse.
Additionally, they viewed working for Rome as siding with Rome, and with all the atrocities of Rome against the Jewish people, their hatred was absolutely justified. (Herod did, after all, order the murder of all children under the age of two years because he was a afraid the Messiah would "steal" his throne.) They (again, reasonably) considered Rome the enemy and thus anyone working for instead of fighting against their enemy was a traitor.
Whether or not Matthew was good (or even "the best" as that ask said) would not have made much of a difference in how he was viewed.
Anyway, there's a lot of history here, but yeah, you are right so thank you for pointing those things out!
im gonna say something possibly ~controversial~ but i think that at least some of those cishet men with the very intense, (stereo)typically masculine interests such as football/baseball/etc are Also autistic and its time we think about that.
Saw a post a while back while doom-scrolling a random blog (as you do) and it has just bothered me ever since. The post was promoting the Message translation of the Bible as a "good" version for autistics because it simplified things and made it easier to understand. So I am here to say
Please do not do that.
The Message is a joke "translation" that should not be taken seriously. And it should NOT be used for serious study by anyone -- autistic or not.
There are a plethora of better, more modern versions to choose from that are actually still good.
My sister got me onto the ESV train about ten years ago and I've never looked back. Modern English while still being one of the more literal translations available. If you struggle with metaphors, etc., then get yourself a good study Bible and maybe a couple of good commentaries (you don't even have to buy them! Just use studylight.org! They have a ton available for free!).
If you think a literal translation will still be/is too difficult to understand, you're not alone! I used the NLT for a very long time before switching to ESV. The NLT is one of many good paraphrases available that are still accurate versions of the Word of God.
Please. I beg you, from one autistic to another: just about any version/translation is better than the Message.
Sometimes I remember all the public speaking in school my teachers forced me to do, and I get angry all over again. I never got better at it, and it never made me any less anxious. I would have anxiety that lasted the entire day, to the point I had classmates trying to calm me down because they saw how frazzled I was. And teachers kept saying I would get better with practice. The only thing that I learned how to get better at was masking.
Public speaking when you’re autistic is just learning how to mask in hard-core mode. I didn’t actually learn how to speak to a group, or present my ideas in a better way, or how to engage with the audience more. I didn’t learn anything useful. What I did learn was how to suppress all my own needs. I learned how to ignore my fight-or-flight instincts, I learned how to ignore the warning signs for meltdowns, I learned how ignore my own body for a grade. I learned how to shove everything down for the sake of my teacher’s approval. I learned to be in the middle of a meltdown and smile through it all, while explaining concepts in an upbeat manner that absolutely nobody cared about.
To this day, almost two years after graduating college, I still don’t understand why teachers made public speaking out to be some wonderful life skill. I don’t understand why it was made out to be so beneficial to our success. I still can’t wrap my head around it being anything other than ableist.
Lately I’ve seen posts with a somewhat negative sentiment towards criticism of autism stereotypes portrayed in media.
I think what’s important to understand is that people who display stereotypically autistic traits aren’t personally the target of such criticism. Autism stereotypes are generalized, widely held beliefs of how autistic people are supposed to look and act, thereby attributing certain traits to all autistic people. It does not mean the stereotype is inaccurate or never applies (e.g. obviously there are autistic people who like trains or whatever), it means it’s an unrealistic oversimplification of autism as a whole. A caricature rather than a nuanced complex depiction of autistic diversity. And it leads to invalidation of autistic people who do not fit that imagie and a range of other negative consequences affecting all autistic people.
On a different note, how good is the representation really if it’s accompanied by an ableist mindset? The point is not that autistic traits shouldn’t be depicted if they fit the stereotype because they definitely should, just not exclusively or from the “I am neurotypical and this is peak autism” POV. This is harmful to the whole autistic community, regardless of whether you fit certain stereotypes. Diverse representation will always be key.
The phrase "everyone's a little autistic" annoys me so much because it's not only wrong, it's so easily disproven. If everyone was a little autistic then why are autistics so othered?
Sometimes we will read about autistic experiences that are the exact opposite of ours. That’s okay. Our experiences are diverse. It doesn’t mean that we’re faking. And our autistic experiences are just as valid.
Here's to the disabled people who aren't inspirations. Who aren't "overcoming their diagnosis" and achieving incredible things "despite their disability." Here's to the people struggling in school. Here's to the people on sick leave. Here's to the dropouts. The unemployed. The ones on welfare and disability. The ones who are economically dependent on others. The ones in the hospitals and the group homes. Here's to the ones whose struggles aren't lessened by extraordinary abilities and achievements. Here's to the ones struggling - and failing - to be average. I see you, and I hope you know that you are just as worthy of respect, support and compassion as anybody else - cause you are! Not being able to do certain things doesn't make you less of a person.
imperfect neurodivergent people are allowed to exist. they don’t need to be gifted to exist and not be “fixed”. neurotypicals can have flaws and no one says they need a eugenic cure.
