Published on 12, July, 2020
My council had autism on the application form and didn't specify it had to be a certain level in order to be registered disabled with them.
This site refers to autism as a developmental disability:
www.autism.org.uk/.../what-is-autism
This link regarding discrimination throws autism being classed generally (ie unqualified) as a disability into doubt.
I find this rather confusing:
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/law-and-courts/discrimination/check-if-youre-protected-from-discrimination/what-counts-as-disability/
'The definition is set out in section 6 of the Equality Act 2010. It says you’re disabled if:
Is it a variable thing then according to what you are trying use the disability definition to achieve?
Is this because we are on a spectrum with varying degrees of functionality?
Honestly, once you link disability status to legal protections or benefits, it's inevitably going to get political and people are going to define autism to achieve their own ends.
In terms of the Equality Act, it probably doesn't make much difference whether we're applying a medical model of disability (a person deviates from a supposed "norm" of humanity) or a social model of disability (a person is "disabled" by a society that fails to adjust to include their needs). Many disability rights campaigners would prefer the latter. What matters is protections that help us function in society.
In terms of my own lived experience, I would like to say that I experience autism as a "difference" and that my troubles are purely imposed by society, but I feel some of my issues e.g. with alexithymia and executive function are inherent without any social causes. I therefore feel myself to be medically disabled, on some level, not just socially disabled. I know this isn't always a popular opinion.
Luftmentsch said:and that my troubles are purely imposed by society, but I feel some of my issues e.g. with alexithymia and executive function are inherent without any social causes. I therefore feel myself to be medically disabled, on some level, not just socially disabled. I know this isn't always a popular opinion.
I’ve read this multiple times and it’s not going in (sorry I don’t known why, just some things I can’t grasp). So alexithymia is something I also struggle with - but that word won’t stay put in my head, and executive function too. But I struggle to see the difference between medically disabled and socially disabled. Do you mean something like anxiety is only socially disabled, what about depression? And why do you say at the end it isn’t always a popular opinion? I feel like I’m being really thick - sorry.