Some days are glorious, but other days I feel like I'm being punished for existing.

#disability #socialmodelofdisability #actuallyautistic #art

@diligentcircle I think we’re very much on the same page (and I sympathise with you having lost a long post – that kind of thing is incredibly frustrating and can really throw me!) 🙀

Three quick(ish) comments:

1. Your understanding of the word *disabled* seems to align (mainly) with the medical model (as well as with most dictionary definitions of the word), but under the social model, it is society (and its conventions, infrastructure etc.) that disables people – I tend to prefer the latter framing

(Of course, any society’s conventions, infrastructure etc. will disable some people, perhaps in different situations)

2. Talking of a *deficiency* or *deficit* as a lack of something important doesn’t stop it being a relative term, because importance itself is subjective

I do consider my difficulty focusing (to the extent that I’d like) to be a deficit in relation to an ideal version of me, but that ideal version of me is something I’ve conceived of because other people around me seem to be able to focus much better – if everyone had ADHD, I probably wouldn’t think twice about it

3. Words like *disorder* and *deficit* may be considered to be almost value-neutral – though I think many, if not most, words end up having some sort of positive or negative association conferred upon them by a language community

Even if their value is only very slightly negative, I find it interesting that those terms (indicating lack of something) are used in the DSM (which is in turn positively valued by a lot of medical professionals and others)

The Autistic/ADHD ability to hyperfocus on something of interest, just to give one example, isn’t included (unsurprisingly, because it’s not a problem, and the DSM is all about problems that people have), but we get assigned the label that only deals with the (relatively) problematic part of our neurotype

I hope that makes some sense – as I say, I don’t think we’re talking completely at cross purposes here! 😊

#SocialModelOfDisability #values #ActuallyADHD #ActuallyAutistic

I was just having a discussion with @lauravivanco about aphantasia and SDAM: https://mastodon.scot/@lauravivanco/110729611947017752

I am aphantasic and have a very different kind of autobiographical memory from that of other people I’ve spoken to

But then this occurred to me:

Why should I accept Brian Levine’s 2015 (yes, 2015!) coining of the term ‘*severely deficient* autobiographical memory’ for this aspect of my neurotype?

Being Autistic, I’m pathologised by the medical model as having a ‘autism spectrum *disorder*’

And being an ADHDer, I apparently have an ‘attention *deficit* hyperactivity *disorder* (yeah, get two Ds in there, why not!)

Yet many Autistic and ADHD activists who subscribe to the social model of disability and the neurodiversity paradigm are making inroads into persuading at least some academics and clinicians to treat us as disabled, not disordered, not deficient – just a different kind of human, not humans that have gone wrong

My aphantasia/SDAM (I have a strong hunch they go together) may have strengths and weaknesses in comparison with the imaginative capacity attributed to the mythical ‘normal’ person

But because it’s out of the ordinary, it has to be called *severely deficient* by the gleeful (probably) neurotypical researcher, doesn’t it!

In 2015!

Still!

#aphantasia #SDAM #SeverelyDeficientAutobiographicalMemory #neurodiversity #SocialModelOfDisability #ActuallyAutistic #ActuallyADHD #NothingAboutUsWithoutUs

We need to stop dodging the question of disability. It's okay to be disabled and Autistic, trying to keep the two concept separate is in itself a form of ableism.

https://emergentdivergence.com/2023/07/03/is-autism-a-disability/

@actuallyautistic @autisticadvocacy #neurodiversity #neurodivergent #neurodivergence #disability #disabled #disabilitytheory #medicalmodel #socialmodel #medicalmodelofdisability #socialmodelofdisability #ableism

@PatternChaser Are you familiar with the #DoubleEmpathyProblem perspective on this? tldr: Neither side is absolutely right or wrong, but each uses a different communication style natural to their neurotype and incompatible with the other's. And the #SocialModelOfDisability explains how that can be disabling for us autistics, as we have to play by society's NT-default rules. Those are my two main concepts for framing this kind of discussion. So I agree but think there's a lot of nuance to keep in mind.

I'm trying to put together a short list of the basic concepts that are essential to understanding the #ActuallyAutistic experience of life. These can be helpful for explaining things to allistics/neurotypicals, but also for seeing ourselves from our own perspective instead of how we are failed NTs. I think it's just a few (albeit big) concepts. Here's my basic list:

- #DoubleEmpathyProblem
- #SocialModelOfDisability
- #Monotropism
- #VariableCompetency
- #CPTSD

#AskingAutistics Do you have your own short list of concepts for understanding or explaining #autism? What are the big ideas that shape your experience of #autistic life?

@indianewswatch

Great article, thanks.

"Being intersex is not an inherent disability, Chakravarthy says. “It is a biological variation that society has turned into a social disability, by discriminating against us and denying us education and jobs."

#Intersectional #IntersectionalFeminism #Disability #SocialModel #SocialModelOfDisability

Autism is a disability. Stop saying it isn’t!

https://ko-fi.com/post/Autism-is-a-disability-Stop-saying-it-isnt-J3J7JY3BY

#ActuallyAutistic #disabled #SocialModelOfDisability

A fabulous article on how social constructs exacerbate #Disability in #Schools. Read it especially if you are not familiar with the social model of disability #SocialModelOfDisability.
https://www.abc.net.au/education/socially-created-barriers-to-inclusion-are-what-disable-students/14104632

When #Autistic people spend their life being pathologised and treated like they are deficient, it affects their identity and sense of Self.

If you want to know why Autistic people are more prone to #addiction , start by looking at how you frame the #rhetoric and #language you use frames them.

#actuallyautistic #autism #neurodiversity #neurodivergent #pathologyparadigm #neurodiversityparadigm #differentnotdeficient #disability #socialmodelofdisability #medicalmodelofdisability

Just a few of my interests #design #innovation #TheOpenUniversity #TwitterMigration #disability #actuallyAutistic #AuDHD #adhd #neurodiverse #auditoryProcessingDisorder #SocialModelOfDisability #cats #catsOfMastodon #comedy #LiveStandUp #Movies #TVSeries #Musicals #Music #UKNews #WorldNews #Books #Art #digitalArtist #traditionalArtist #Watercolour #ResinArt #PaperCraft #Maker #Creator #3dPrinting #technology #invention

things I like so I can find them later

#shovelsofducks
#darkroom
#comedy
#pcGaming
#politics
#smashingthepatriarchy
#feminism
#disability
#equityoverequality
#socialmodelofdisability
#art
#crafts
and all sorts of other things