Published on 12, July, 2020
sayings like , "autism is a superpower" or "autism isn't a disability, it is a different ability" worry me sometimesI feel like this invalidates people who aren't quite comfortable with being Autistic or Autistic people who feel as though their ASD has more negative than positive impacts or those who feel as though their diagnosis has an equal amount of positive and negative effects. I understand these sayings have positive intentions and are meant to empower Autistic people, but it just kinda comes off as inspirational stuff to me. Again this is good.
But two thirds of autistic people are in the mid and severe ends of the spectrum and so will probably never/rarely be in this forum or have their voice/opinions heard.
I am lucky to be the way I am. But there are days I wish I could swallow a pill and my autism would be gone.
I am equal amounts of positive and negative with shrinking negatives.
But I always think about those who are really suffering on the spectrum.
Do you feel Autism is a real downer for you ? how bad is it ? and most importantly ,,,,,,,,,What can be done to help or change things for you?
Let's not forget that it wasn't too long ago that the accepted term for people with a disability was an 'invalid'. There are people who find being labelled as 'dis-abled' just as victimising as being labelled as 'in-valid'.
www.gov.uk/.../inclusive-language-words-to-use-and-avoid-when-writing-about-disability
Official NewSpeak - cannot call a spade a spade any more. All about keeping the rules changing to trip people up and keep the woke mob in business. The next stage is the Scottish-type hate-speech bill where anyone who says anything that can be perceived as slightly negative about anyone or anything is automatically a criminal and will be jailed when outed.
Peter said:Maybe not but defence against 'crimes against the person', I mean any crime, mugging, being threatened by a belligerent drunk, etc, probably should be taught. The practical things one can do to fight back and to give the police the best chance to prosecute.
What? just accept casual crime all around you? Are you from California?
I totally understand what you're saying - I'm very sorry it happened to you - but in a way it's like suggesting mugging acceptance training or making sure people are prepared to be murdered. It's still a nasty crime perpetrated against you - and you shouldn't have to accept it.
Maybe not but defence against 'crimes against the person', I mean any crime, mugging, being threatened by a belligerent drunk, etc, probably should be taught. The practical things one can do to fight back and to give the police the best chance to prosecute.
Erm - ok. I feel like it probably would have helped me but I'm not going to push the point too hard.
I mean respectfully that's not realistic. Children need to learn biology. You can't really be suggesting that the mechanics, chemistry and biology of sexual reproduction be deferred until puberty.
To be honest the more you make sexuality and sex taboo the more you are likely to attract the interest of intellectually precocious prepubescent children. All curious young minds want to learn 'secret adult knowledge' until its actually explained to them matter of factly and it often becomes quite dull.
Abuse is a criminal act - you really should not *need* to be prepared for it - it's got nothing to do with sex education - it's a crime against you..
Consent education would have been very useful for me. I got abused at 18 and it totally took me by surprise. I wasn't prepared for that being a likelihood in my life.
I think it is. Children should know nothing about sex period until they start to become aware of it themselves in puberty and need to know about it when near consent age to protect them.
I'm not saying anything about not teaching sex education - but you know very well - as a social worker - that forcing sexual thoughts onto very young children is classed as grooming.
Is that what you both approve of - as long as in a school environment?
Teaching children about different kinds of sexuality isn't sexualising them. It is acknowledging that there are more than just the typical male/female couple.
Sex education for girls is generally pretty poor and narrow in focus so I'd have welcomed being taught ANYTHING extra really to basic biology and heterosexuality. I went to a Catholic school so protection wasn't even on the curriculum.
Do you have children, Plastic?
Personal attacks at me? Typical. I'm so disappointed - it's such a low class attack - but very, very typical.
Here, here, Hookaduck! Sadly, so many heterosexuals have enjoyed so much legal and cultural privilege for so long that they actually feel completely justified in trying to pass their homophobia off as "common sense" or as simply trying to "protect children". I'm quite sure Mr Plastic has no objection to all children reading Janet & John books in which only heterosexual characters appear. But for goodness sake, can we stop these perverts from trying to advance their bisexual/homosexual agenda into our education system!
I've never said that any sexuality is wrong - I'm just saying that kids need to be kids - not some fetishised target for people wanting to sexualise them over the nursery rhymes to deliberately confuse them into making poor choices..
I'm actually concerned that you don't seem to realise just how nasty the world really is and the true motivations for a lot of people in the pressure groups driving all this.
I'm bisexual and really don't appreciate my sexuality being implied as being useless or wrong either.
Who have I ever hurt by loving who I've loved?
Nobody. It is nobody else's business but mine.
I'm disappointed, Plastic, that you feel able to pass judgement. As for teaching children about sexuality, my children aren't sheltered from love either. There are far worse things to be exposed to in this world.
I'm obliged to call out homophobia whenever it raises its ugly little head. Even if it's just casual remarks by a heterosexual trying to pass off their comments as innocent. I'm quite prepared to be gaslit too by people who feel able to get away with these comments, or to be described as "triggered" by them for taking them to task.
Ye moves Chi......
Michael said "blaa blaa blaa"
Plastic said "blaa blaa blaa"
meanwhile the river still flows and wind still blows.
The mountains are still mountains.
Then a butterfly flies past and changes the world
thats Zen
Plastic said:there's a woman on Youtube - Posie Parker - ex-ultra-left wing evangelist
Insanity and unconsciousness is shared equally by evangelicals on both the ultra-left and ultra-right wing of politics. But I defend their right to spout their insanity - even the most egregious of opinions and beliefs. The last thing I want is for anyone to be told what to believe, what to think and what is correct to say or do. A lived education and lived experience are the best teachers for anyone with twisted ideologies and exposure to these people is the only way to develop immunity to their unconsciousness.
somehow doubt that the wearing of coloured bandanas by cowboys will feature in the sex education curriculum.
You should start to look at exactly what is taught to very young children now - there's a woman on Youtube - Posie Parker - ex-ultra-left wing evangelist who now, as a mother, is trying to tell everyone what is really going on in our schools - it's horrifying. Infants being told to choose their sexuality based on a rainbow of GI Joe to one side to a pretty fairy on the other. At that age, most kids want to be a fire engine or a horse - not a non-binary asexual.
I'm sorry you had to go through that.
I went to private christian school where we got the video on girls & the boys got to watch both the girls/boys videos. WTF.
The problem is to be more specific, I'd had to write War & Peace to dot every T and cross every I or have people nit-picking the minute details to try to attack anything I'd missed out - and then it expands exponentially with every reply.
Plastic said:Some people on this site are too psychologically fragile for me to be very, very specific. If I did, it would satisfy some but offend others - it's a no-win situation.
There are always ways to express yourself. You choose how.
Plastic said:If people are happy to bury their heads in the sand and claim 'conspiracy' while ignoring everything around them, then there's nothing I can say..
Again, start your own threads on this as most people need to see empirical evidence or clear facts before they will readily believe you based on every Tom-*** & Harry on the internet. Even the most trusted journalists are held accountable to their peers.
Some people on this site are too psychologically fragile for me to be very, very specific. If I did, it would satisfy some but offend others - it's a no-win situation.
If people are happy to bury their heads in the sand and claim 'conspiracy' while ignoring everything around them, then there's nothing I can say..
But I agree, this thread has become a tangled mess. .
Plastic said:You should start to look at exactly what is taught to very young children now - there's a woman on Youtube - Posie Parker - ex-ultra-left wing evangelist who now, as a mother, is trying to tell everyone what is really going on in our schools - it's horrifying. Infants being told to choose their sexuality based on a rainbow of GI Joe to one side to a pretty fairy on the other. At that age, most kids want to be a fire engine or a horse - not a non-binary asexual.
I think it is sweeping & baseless comments and statements like these that throw the threads way off topic. I'm all for public debate but when random opinions are thrown in and passed-off as ' facts ' and ' horrifying ' and ' dangerous ' based on some nut-job or wing-nut on Youtibe, Daily Mail or any other hate-provoking propaganda machine you happen to be perpetually scaring the living daylights out of yourself with at any given time, then you are going to be challenged on it. Maybe that is what you want, to provoke or seek attention, I don't know.
I just think that's a shame on a national website such as this where people come to seek help and advice and the last thing they need is confusion. No one is perfect and we all have our problems and faults but we really should stick to the facts or in the spirit of the thread where we can.
There is ample opportunity to start your own discussions on the site that could provide some with genuine debate of concerning or relevant issues or for that matter, any subject you choose. It is a very free and open place generally. I don't see the need to turn every thread into a confusing and hard to navigate patchwork quilt of 50 different sub-threads. The site is hard to navigate as it is.
It would be a much more fulfilling experience for anyone who wishes to contribute, debate or initiate threads to do so in the spirit of genuine enquiry.
When conspiracy theories, baseless or sweeping comments are made and presented as debate or facts, then every thread is going to go downhill. I have no problem with these but I just wish you would start your own thread on these subjects, rather than diverting genuine threads others may find useful in the archive.
M said:Have you never watched Carrie
Most young children barely understand 'friend' relationships so forcing every possible alternate sexual relationship permutation and combination down their throat at an early age is unnecessary.- and kinda creepy. .
Across the world, our LGBT+ siblings face persecution and murder, with it being illegal still to be LGBT+ in many countries.
If you care to remember, you are the one who equates autism and homosexuality and keep banging on about it..
Your original comments are the reason for this discussion. Anyone can go back and read them. No matter how much you try to gaslight me or attempt to play the "victim", your comments are still there to be read. You may have broadened your argument now to include all sexuality, but your original remarks focussed entirely on homosexuality (including making references to gay culture in the 1970's).
Let me remind you that LGBT+ people are still having to face discrimination and prejudice on a daily basis and are fighting for the right not to be subjected to conversion therapy.Just like people with autism. There may be subtle differences in approach, but the drive to marginalise autistic people is driven by the same underlying prejudice of what genetic characteristics are perceived as 'pure' or desirable.
In countries around the world LGBT+ people are still treated as second class citizens with no or limited rights and banned from certain areas (like the LGBT+ free zones in Poland).
Again, just like people with autism or any other disability have to fight for equality and basic human rights. There may be subtle differences in how discrimination is enacted upon autistic people, but the drive to marginalise them is driven by the same underlying prejudice of what genetic characteristics are perceived as 'pure' or desirable by those in positions of power and privilege.Across the world, our LGBT+ siblings face persecution and murder, with it being illegal still to be LGBT+ in many countries.
Remember the holocaust? That was how one group of puritan fanatics dealt with people who they thought had deviated from the 'norm'. They murdered them. Autistic people were sent alongside homosexuals to concentration camps.People like you who dress up their prejudices and bigotry in the clothing of public morality have been around for centuries. People who have suffered at their hands can recognise you very quickly. What is sad is that you can never be an effective advocate for one group of marginalised people and at the same time demonise another group of marginalised people using the same insidious style of bigotry.
Are you trolling me now?
Sex education is imperative for children of pre-pubescent age so they understand what is going on with their own body. Have you never watched Carrie and seen how she reacted when she had her first period as a teenager because her mother sheltered her from it? Knowing what is right and wrong when it comes to sexual relationships and consent is so important to PREVENT grooming and sexual abuse. Sheltered children are often the TARGET of abuse because they don't know any better and when a predator behaves sexually towards them they don't know what to do. Unfortunately the world is a pretty horrible place and whilst it would be lovely to protect children entirely from reality for as long as possible, it really doesn't last long.
My 7yr old asked me if I knew what monkey dust was the other day because she is interested in programmes about paramedics. I said yes and answered her question accurately but in a child-friendly way. My parenting is based on openness and honesty, and coincidentally my husband teaches 9 and 10 year olds so he is tasked every year with teaching sex education. It isn't about explicit pornographic sex, it is about healthy loving and respectful relationships.
I was more thinking of this https://youtu.be/0UyC1X8bcpg
I like how the thread has nicely descended/ascended into Robocop territory
It's fine. I forgave in my heart a fair old time ago. I've made peace with that side of things.
I'm sorry to hear that. It must leave a whole load of messed up thoughts about him that now can't be directly resolved.
Peter said:hmm ... replace all police men with cyborgs and robots? They don't have moral to loose lol
ED-209. "You have 10 seconds to comply......"
My abuser guy died last year as it happened. I felt quite sorry for him in life because he had his social struggles. Ah well.
hmm ... replace all police men with cyborgs and robots? They don't have moral to loose lol
Peter said:One of the most effective ways to stop violent crime is to make sure violent criminals get caught. Since generally its a small number of them doing it often.
Yeah - but if you talk to the police, they are totally demoralised knowing the courts will just let them go with, at most, a slap on the wrist - revolving door courts.
I wasn't arguing for acceptance. I'm talking about defence. Knowing where the nearest populated area is if you need to make a run for it and ask for help. Knowing where the vulnerable points on a body are if your back is against the wall and all you have to stab with is a pair of keys. Knowing to get the police to come out quickly and take the forensic evidence.
One of the most effective ways to stop violent crime is to make sure violent criminals get caught. Since generally its a small number of them doing it often.
Sorry, acceptance isn't the context I mean - more 'preparation'? I can't think of the right way of saying it.