Published on 12, July, 2020
Discussing elsewhere the “spectrum” word in ASD. Wondering how others feel about the word before the D word (disorder).
Sorry but I don’t identify as being part of some ego mad Drs interesting “spectrum concept” in a position on a range to be plotted on the chart and fawned over. There she sits right about there I am autistic, it’s who I am imagine being on the black spectrum or the gay or depressed spectrum on the Bi Polar spectrum or the Lesbian Spectrum No
The word spectrum in my view helps the average people grasp that not all Autistic people are exactly the same. Why is that so hard to grasp that we need a fancy word. Are all black people the same shade of black? Are they a spectrum of black I guess they are (my kids are black and this is not a racially motivated comment). Yet we do not highlight this range of skin colour - black people are just referred to as black.
it just seems ridiculous that Autism being a range needs a special word because it’s so difficult to comprehend.
what do people think?
Don’t even get me started on the third part the “disorder”
Xanadu said:The word spectrum in my view helps the average people grasp that not all Autistic people are exactly the same. Why is that so hard to grasp that we need a fancy word.
Because the word helps them grasp it. You answered that yourself! If it helps people be aware of that so be it. I consider everyone who is Autistic to be Autistic.
Xanadu said:black people are just referred to as black
Hmmm. Not really. I've heard enough terms like "blacka", "browning", "yellowman", and "redbone" said by black people to say some consider it a "spectrum". It can get quite nasty. Try telling some Dominicans or Panamanians that they are black, they will say they are Latino. Try telling some West Africans that they are the same as Afro-Carribeans. I've seen a few arguments over it over the years, and physical fights. Girls especially get nasty over the skin tone thing. It's all a thing, if you are around those communities enough you will hear it from time to time.
In the.days.of.apartheid in South Africa, there were.three classes of race. Black, white and coloured,coloured.being a mixed race.South African (Basil Dolivera being one such).
The story went, which may.be apochryphal, that Chinese were classed.as.'Black' but as there was a lot of trade.with Japan, the Japanese were classed.as 'Honorary Whites' !
Trainspotter said:
Yeah, from what I see it pretty much is still the same in SA. "Cape coloureds" (that's what they are referred to by the Bantu majority and most of SA) are a group that have been marginalised considerably since the end of Apartheid. The Bantu aren't particularly fond of their mixed heritage.
The Japanese were isolatonalist to the extreme, so I don't imagine they really gave much mind to whether they were honorary anything!