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tw // ableism , sexual assault
let’s talk about this. (please rt and spread) #AutismAcceptanceMonth
(1/?)
let’s talk about this. (please rt and spread) #AutismAcceptanceMonth
(1/?)
in this video, mark rober talks about how is son is on the autism spectrum. this video has LOTS of issues and shows many harmful autistic stereotypes. (2/?)
first of all, one of the biggest issues to me is that 2 minutes in the video is that he talks about Carly Fleischmann, a known non-verbal autistic woman. she has accomplished lots despite being autistic, but fails to mention that she has been MISSING since early 2019, with (3/?)
strong evidence that her father has sexually assaulted her. using her name to talk about what autistics have done, without even mentioning that she’s been missing for OVER TWO YEARS. (4/?)
in 3:19, Mark refers to autistics as “people with autism” which sounds normal, right? well, most autistic people much prefer using “autistic people”. it may not sound like a big deal to non-autistics, but to us it is very important— our autism is apart of us, something you (5/?)
can not cure, or take away from us. it’s our identity— so using terms like “people with autism” can often lead people to think that autism is something that CAN BE CURED, which is simply not true. (6/?)
next, while talking about how autistic people tend to get sensory overload by many sounds at once, he fails to mention one of the most important parts— this overwhelmingness tends to lead to meltdowns, and negatively impacts our lives greatly. it isn’t just a small setback. (7/?)
something small i’ve also noticed, is how much he talks over his son. as an autistic person myself, i’d be more interested in seeing how autism affects his child from him, not his neurotypical father talking about his interests and quirks instead. everywhere, autistic people(8/?)
constantly get spoken over by allistics. hell, the main organization this man is supporting is not backed by a single autistic person, but we’ll get into that later. it once again shows a negative stereotype that autstics cannot speak for themselves, which is simply not true(9/?)
at 6:30,he says quote “people with special needs may not fit the traditional criteria of success, by benefitting GDP, or getting a phD to cure disease.” later on in 7:27, he also says “my son may not be a little league star, step foot into Mars, or find the cure to Cancer. (10/?)
this is instilling the idea that autistic people cannot be successful which is HIGHLY ableist and offensive. there is many autistic people that have accomplished tons in their lifetime. there’s many successful autistic people in the world, you just want to infantilize us. (11/?)
infact, neurodivergent people are known to be even MORE successful in certain fields that they have lots of interest in, and this stigma is so discouraging for so many reasons. (12/?)
through the entire video, he says how much his son lights up his life and everyone around him, which is wonderful, but he also insinuates it like our purpose is to make others around us happy. it feels dehumanizing— “sure we can’t be successful, but we make neurotypicals (13/?)
happy!” it’s rooted in so much ableism and made my head spin watching it for the first time.
it’s called “inspiration porn”— the idea that disabled people only exist to “inspire” neurotypical and well-bodied people. this video sums it up: (14/?)
it’s called “inspiration porn”— the idea that disabled people only exist to “inspire” neurotypical and well-bodied people. this video sums it up: (14/?)
all of these things, big or small, are very important to call out when addressing ableism and treating autistic people like actual humans. (15/?)
now, let’s get to the worst part. mark rober is funding the association “NEXT for Autism”. why is this bad? this organization is not only associated with autism speaks, but uses their money to try to “find a cure” to autism (newsflash: it doesn’t exist), and supports (16/?)
ABA therapy, which again, tries to cure their child of autism or make them more “normal”. having an autistic son, you should know how harmful this mindset is and know that many autistic organizations out there don’t care about actually helping autistics. currently, there’s (17/?)
over 870k raised for this organization, with the video itself having 14 million views. this outrages me as an autistic person who (along with others i know) have been very negatively affected by autism speaks. the amount of content creators who have also blindly supported (18/?)
this fundraiser without looking into it is appalling. these creators know how much influence they have, yet don’t look into these things. not only that, but so many people praised mark for his video, but so few talked about strong or how intelligent his son is. (19/?)
please just remember to listen to actual autistic people when it comes to things like this. here’s some important threads i used while writing this: (20/21)
https://twitter.com/natchan1/status/1383630410026942464?s=21
https://twitter.com/autsciperson/status/1383500749523456000?s=21 https://twitter.com/dave_thibault/status/1383916512927383552
https://twitter.com/natchan1/status/1383630410026942464?s=21
https://twitter.com/autsciperson/status/1383500749523456000?s=21 https://twitter.com/dave_thibault/status/1383916512927383552
here’s a good organization to support instead! it’s created by autistic people for autistic people <3 thank you for reading (21/21) https://autisticadvocacy.org
