Autistic Rights Criticisms



Before I start this article I'd like to acknowledge that this blog is written with some bias, I'm a clinically diagnosed autistic person and a firm believer in autistic rights. Whilst I do try to research and understand other people's points of view this is my personal blog so it has a bias by its very nature. That disclaimer should tell you that this blog entry might be slightly controversial in places and contain some sweeping statements!

That established I'd like to explain a little about what the autistic acceptance movement (also referred to as the autism rights movement) is before I address its criticisms. Some of the commonly held beliefs of the movement are;

  • We want "autism acceptance" not "autism awareness". In other words we don't want you to be aware of us, we want you to accept us as we are.
  • Autistic people should have a voice and be should heard, including those who are non-verbal.
  • There should be no discrimination based on an autistic diagnosis, see my previous blog on avoidable deaths in autism here.
  • Autism is not a disease or something that is wrong with us. It doesn't need, or indeed have, a cure so stop trying to find one and stop trying to cure us.
  • It's not a disorder or condition, it's not something that develops over time or goes away, we just mask more or less. 
  • Masking is done to fit into the neuro typical world. It's not a good thing and it's difficult to keep up.
  • We are born with autism and it is with us for life.
  • Trying to cure someone's autism is really just forcibly suppressing them from being who they are.
  • The focus should be on improving our quality of life rather than suppressing or masking autistic traits.
  • Autism is a natural expression of the human genome.

The above list is also definitely my view and if you are a reader of my blog possibly also how you feel. There are some critics of these opinions though. There are people who object to the rights movement and many of these objections are directly against the points I've listed above so I'm going to write some of these objections and add my personal opinion on why I think they are misguided. Some of these criticisms are also addressed in this article[1].

Members of the movement are not representative as they are all high functioning, they have Asperger's and are able to communicate. 
Whether or not you agree with the decision there's a reason why Asperger's was removed from the diagnosis and autism became a spectrum. High and low functioning labels are simply not valid or helpful in any way, my previous blog entry was on exactly this issue and you can read that here

The ability to communicate does not mean that a person has no issues or does not require any support. Why is that the sole trait that is focused on here. Many non-verbal autistic people later become verbal.

Those who are low functioning want or need different things to these autism advocates. 
There's that functioning label again! I strongly believe that we all want, and are entitled to, basic rights and respect from others. There is no cure for autism, it's not an illness, acceptance is key to providing a better environment for all autistic people.

Those without skills of basic care wouldn't want those who are capable of communication to speak on their behalf. 
I hope the person who wrote that realises the irony of the statement. Many of those who need care assistance can also communicate, they're not mutually exclusive traits. This is also another dichotomy issue here as the critic tries to lump everyone into convenient categories for their argument. Who are they suggesting should communicate on their behalf, the neuro typical?

Autism professionals are better equipped to understand the disorder than those who have autism.
Believe it or not some autistic people are very well educated, often we make autism one of our special interest topics and research it extensively. It's great that there are professionals to assist and make diagnosis easier etc. There is however the mantra of the disability rights movement to consider here; "nothing about us, without us".

The movement stops or hinders other approaches and could stop children receiving treatment such as ABA. 
I'm not sure how many times I've typed these words but "autism can't and shouldn't be cured", what is seen as improvement is often actually children acting "more normal" than they were. This is behavioural or medical suppression of their autistic traits to force them to fit into the world that has been designed for neuro typical children. Rather than this focus should be on adapting and embracing the needs of autistic children.

Autistic children often have more severe difficulties that are different to the adults in the movement.
You can't really compare adult's needs to that of children whether they are autistic or not. If we accept this criticism then are we also accepting that neuro typical adults can't understand the needs of their children. 

Many autistic adults had difficult childhoods and may have experienced the same problems as their children. Autistic children become autistic adults and both those children and adults need a world that accepts them.


The criticisms I've listed above are generally voiced by parents of autistic children who feel that proponents of the autistic rights movement is not consistent with their child's experiences. Adults mask better, they hide the issues they have and sometimes have no choice but to fit in for work, education, etc. That doesn't mean that those adults haven't struggled in the past, especially when they were children. Isn't it better that those adults work for a better world, a world where acceptance and understanding of autistic traits is the norm. Children will become adults and their autism will still be with them, we can do everything to prepare them for the world but we can also prepare the world for them.

I have acknowledged my bias in this blog but the critics of the movement often have an agenda and sometimes those outside simply want to suppress those within. Think about the criticisms they have made and I'll leave you with a thought by Jim Sinclair[2] in Autism network international: the development of a community and its culture.

"Any attempt by a group of disempowered people to challenge the status quo—to dispute the presumption of their incompetence, to redefine themselves as equals of the empowered class, to assert independence and self-determination—has been met by remarkably similar efforts to discredit them. (…) [they try] to deny that the persons mounting the challenge are really members of the group to which they claim membership. This tactic has been used against disability activists with learning disabilities and psychiatric disabilities as well as against autistic people."


[1] The Autism rights movement http://www.autism-help.org/points-autism-rights-movement.htm

[2] Autism network international: the development of a community and its culture, 2005 https://www.autismnetworkinternational.org/History_of_ANI.html

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