Notices by K.J. Elphinstone (katyelphinstone@mas.to), page 2

The implication here – sometimes unspoken, & sometimes not so unspoken – is that autism is something to be reduced, corrected, or even eventually eradicated.

So my questions are:

1/ Whose problem is autism being treated as?
2/ And whose interests are served by that?

4/11

That idea – that there’s a separable ‘pure self’ – is basically not one that's shared by us.

But it's very popular elsewhere!

Many millions are poured into #autism research every year, in the areas of treatment, intervention, prevention, and the hunt for biomarkers.

💰💰💰

3/11

For us, autism doesn't feel like some detachable defect.

Take it away – and you don’t leave me, just improved. You change who I am.

This feeling isn’t limited to one ‘type’ of autistic person. Across support needs, most autistic people say the same (refs at the end).

2/11

A still-quite-popular belief about autistic people is that we lack empathy.

But perhaps what we mostly lack is socially approved ways of expressing fellow-feeling. And this then gets construed as lacking empathy.

#AutisticEmpathy #ActuallyAutistic

For years, authorities and others in positions of power have made it very clear that autistic people’s experiences wouldn’t be taken seriously without a diagnosis.

And now, in some quarters at least, we're the ones being blamed for overloading the system 🤷♀️

#ClinicalPsychology #ActuallyAutistic #LateDiagnosed #Diagnosis #Autism #UtaFrith

Anyone still wanting a reason to not do shitty things?

😂

#AuDHD #ActuallyAutistic #adhd #Neurodivergent

Most autistic people, despite everything, actually like being autistic.

Not all, of course. But most of us.
And I don’t just mean ‘making peace with it’.

I mean: it's bound up with who we are.

A thread 🧵

1/11

(refs at the end)
#Autism #ActuallyAutistic #Neurodivergent

Empathy is usually believed to be a personal virtue, that some people have and others don’t.

I don't think that's the whole story.

It’s also shaped by power. By conditioning. By rewards and punishments. By who’s allowed to have needs, and who's trained to attend to them.

8/10

https://www.neurofabulous.org.uk/autistic-empathy.html

So perhaps autistic people aren’t empathy-impaired at all.

Just misaligned with a social order that expects empathy to be smooth, selective, strategic, performative, and status-aware.

And maybe that's really what gets pathologized.

End of 🧵

Full article, with refs, in the link below.

Autistic people often don't fit that mold.

We get called rigid, naive, inappropriate. But I think it might be a lot more to do with ethical consistency.

If we’re told honesty matters, we tell the truth. If we’re taught kindness matters, we try to direct it where it seems most needed.

9/10

When I was young I'd feel awful about myself if certain people expressed sympathy for me, but I hated it.

I thought there was something wrong with me!

Now, I think I was reacting to incongruence... my skin prickling.

4/10

Now I know that a lot of what gets called "empathy" isn't quite that simple.

It can be about showing deference, or superiority. Or virtue signaling.

Pleasing the right people, in the right ways, at the right times. Making yourself look like a good person.

5/10

#PowerDynamics #Hierarchy

Now we're onto the topic of power dynamics 😁

I've noticed autistic empathy can be rather unorthodox. 💟

That could mean feeling compassion for animals, plants, trees, octopuses, sharks, avatars, our plushies… or even inanimate objects.

🧸

6/10

So perhaps it's about direction of travel?

Service and deference, in society, are meant to flow upwards.

Yet we autistics, it seems, are more likely to feel for the excluded person, the animal or child… the spider in the bath, or the earthworm on a sunny road.

7/10

#Autistic

Is empathy political?
A thread on autistic empathy.

A still-quite-popular belief about autistic people is that we lack empathy.

I think this is faulty logic.
Here's why:

A thread 🧵

1/10

#ActuallyAutistic #Neurodivergent
#DoubleEmpathy #TheoryOfMind

Maybe our empathy just looks different?

I think autistic empathy can be quite practical (if we're not feeling overwhelmed or under pressure).

And genuine - if not always very smoothly expressed.

3/10

It's true we may lack socially approved ways of expressing fellow-feeling.

Ones that are aware of status and social positioning, and the importance of social performance.

Which could, in a lot of contexts, get read as not caring 🤷♀️

But…

2/10

Subject: Autistic ‘black and white’ thinking.

It's framed as a deficit often seen in autism, but... is it that simple? :shrug2:

Autistic people are traditionally criticized for our inflexibility, or cognitive rigidity.

But I think this isn’t the whole picture.

To start with what we know, here are ten things we autistic people generally have in common (refs at the end of the thread):

⬇️

#Autism #Neurodivergent #ActuallyAutistic #AuDHD #Neurodiversity

@hellomiakoda

💟🙏

I'm the same.

This thread is actually a byproduct out of an article I'm writing on autistic empathy. I'm nearly done but these are the kinds of things that will go into it.

(And when finished I'll be asking for people's thoughts / feedback!)