Individuality & Respect

 

This is cross posted at Turner & Kowalski

Individual people and individual thoughts are very important to recognize and respect in order that a civilization that still includes ethical boundaries is protected from corruption. No group can effectively fight for the civil rights of some at the expense of the civil rights of others. The number one concern of any civil rights group needs to be the encouragement of individuality. Otherwise their message will contradict itself.

The denial of civil rights is based on exclusive standards that empower some at the expense of others so in order to combat this it won't work to discourage individuality and individual expression. Individuality is validated when it is seen as diverse rather than being ranked by typical hierarchical standards.

A society that discourages regulations can allow power that does not need to be earned and the corruption that follows it to exclude and even destroy those who cannot or choose not to defend themselves by unethical means. This denies people their civil rights by encouraging people who have attained and established power by unfair means to continue in their oppressive ways.

Those who are considered disabled have often had their rights denied because others chose to (in a way they often call charitable) reinforce the standards by which disabled people were oppressed while at the same time claiming to be helping them. Doing this seems to suggest that somehow oppressive means are not systematic in nature and that what needs to be overcome is simple. It is also a way of validating the standards that exclude most disabled people by showing how their favored few are worthy of the elite's acceptance. This ultimately excludes more people than it includes.

Oppressed people are exploited and otherwise used to support a very few with their excessive consumption. The only way that this consumption is ever justified is by how people who would not otherwise be employed are given the opportunity to benefit by serving this insatiable apatite.The justification isn't valid because this servitude displays and promotes a class system that continues to oppress the majority. People are formally and subtly educated to believe in revering specific symbols of class status that are unattainable to them. They are not taught to be the best that they can be and to accept themselves as valuable. All they see are unattainable images that discourage their security and self-worth.

Once people understand and are educated in the way that they unknowingly promote standards that exclude and demean them, they will hopefully stop fighting against each other by either claiming they deserve assistance while someone else doesn't, or that they are further up the ladder of being someone that deserves respect due to status they have fairly achieved. Either way, this is reinforcing standards that exclude all of us.

In the US where commercialism is king, celebrities and the commercially advantaged are our royalty.The disability community has recognized that oppression is the result of a set of values and has attempted to assert themselves as who they are rather than attempting to present themselves in ways that compliment exclusionary standards. This unapologetic expression is done as a sign of unity and respect for each other.

Since autistic people have now been recognized for being able to assert themselves against their own oppression some seem to want support from the disability community while at the same time separating themselves as better than "those" people.

The disabling ways that society treats autistic people are now being fought in commercial and political arenas by a movement defined as (you guessed it) neurodiversity. It is an unfortunate trend among some within this movement who not only don't want to be associated with any type of disability, but they don't want to be associated with other autistics whose abilities are less respected.

They use words like Aspie, spectrumite, and spectrum people, which show (in ways they may not be fully aware of) how some autistics are more worthy of respect than others in a similar way that broader exclusive standards show admiration and respect for one group at the expense of another. Anyone without a valid societal classification is often seen by the majority as deserving of charity and sometimes even unethical treatments.How society interprets these terms is most important in how they are publicly used.

I can't imagine any other group defined by their classification of disability aligning themselves politically with groups that encourage a treatment that is as harmful and disrespectful to those within that classification as ABA is to the autistic population.

When such a group also demands absolute solidarity and will target and exploit any individual who is seen by how their questions and concerns may compromise the momentum of this group, they are hurting themselves and their cause. Individuals who are only seeking validity often have their valid concerns dismissed and/or attacked by those who are seeking power and who will only regard any dissent from their following as a threat to that power.

A civil rights group that goes by the name Neurodiversity and yet discourages individual expression along with only listening to people who have attained celebrity status (in their group or the broader public) is a bit of ironic to say the least.

Exclusion is no more advantageous for a civil rights group than it is for an exclusive broader public. Exclusion is not practical and the few that may be served originally will ultimately be hurt just as bad.

If people allow for and participate in unregulated and unethical methods of thinning the herd and promoting exclusive and elitist standards they need to be very careful to recognize, they too will ultimately be rejected by the set of values they have encouraged.

Comments

[Turner]

Yay! Thanks for writing that.

[Kent]

No group can effectively fight for the civil rights of some at the expense of the civil rights of others. The number one concern of any civil rights group needs to be the encouragement of individuality. Otherwise their message will contradict itself.

I agree 100% and this is why I supported the minority voice to be heard at Autreat and Autcom.

[Rose]

Very true. Individuality = Respect

[Stephanie]

Ed,

First, some assumption-checking: Does this post relate directly to what I didn't understand earlier? If so, then, I guess this is part of why I didn't understand it. I knew there were schisms in the neurodiversity community. I knew people were being cautious because of those schisms, saying things like "I don't want to be attacked, but...". I have no idea what those schisms were about, but I'm guessing some one (or lots of people) tried to scream down some one (or several people) with different opinions/priorities?

Am I get warm?

Neurodiversity shouldn't be an exclusive club. That defeats the purpose.

[Ed]

Yeah, kind of Stephine. I just write in a progressive way so I'm usually never only approaching one subject,referencing one event, or even following one train of thought even (as much as I wish I were able to do that). Sorry that's confusing sometimes. It's just sort of the way the dust settles in my attic :) (so to speak) It's not really subtlety and nuance though. It's generalities and principle based as opposed to personality based which I find very counter-productive. That really different than subtlety and nuance.

But yes, this is a continuance of what I wrote in the last several posts so I hope the overall points I made in those posts make more sense from what I wrote in this one.

and "Neurodiversity shouldn't be an exclusive club. That defeats the purpose."

Yes, very well said! thanks

[Stephanie]

Yes, what you've been writing is making more sense now. And there's no need to apologize for your writing style. I tend to be a global thinker. I work better if I understand the big picture. It makes it difficult to relate to others sometimes, because no matter how well you know someone, you never know them completely and wholly. And, of course, new people are a complete mystery. It's not a bad thing, but it does mean I might not understand them sometimes. Sometimes I fill in the missing pieces (make assumptions) without meaning to. Luckily I take correction well.

You make very important points in this post, and transfering the idea backwards, in the other posts as well. Individuality is precious and healthy communities foster independent expression, even when it goes against the grain of the group. You can't learn and grow if you don't take anything new in. And you can't build respect if you don't respect in return.

[Anonymous]

To quote ANI:

We do not expect you to “act normal” or to behave like a neurotypical person at Autreat. It is perfectly acceptable at Autreat to rock, stim, echo, perseverate, and engage in other “autistic” behaviors. The only behaviors that are not acceptable are actions that infringe on the rights of others: by violating their personal boundaries or their property boundaries, or by preventing them from participating in Autreat activities, or by causing undue distress through physical, verbal, or sensory assault. (Autreat orientation materials)

(Source)