Published on 12, July, 2020
Myths are entertaining illusions. Autism myths are offensive to autistic people who are actually real. Autistic people are not on a par with dragons and sky fairies, nor are they lesser than neurotypical people. Myths are an excuse not to think, and by generalising autistic people, they dehumanise autistic individuals.
Thoughts?
The 'we're all on the spectrum' myth is incredibly invalidating. And I think, while some people say that, they also secretly think actually autistic people are somehow lesser than them.
Thank you. The Rain Man myth is unfortunately still widespread. I posted a YouTube video about autism myths yesterday, though the volume discrepancy towards the end of the video is bugging me, so I think I'll re-post the video (and challenge more myths).
People use stories to inform them about things they don't understand. If you're NT you can't have any idea what it's like to be autistic, and vice versa.
Unfortunately a lot of people have had a very limited range of stories on which to base their understanding of autism, such as Rain Man and the A Word - while both well done, they do not represent the majority of autistic adults.
There have been some documentaries on TV in recent years which have shown more how autism is for adults, there is this site, and there are lots of YouTube videos done by autistic adults now, so hopefully the stories will gradually change.
I thought a myth was a female moth?
Seriously though, I think there are a lot of myths and when you come into contact with "helping" agencies, they tend to tell you things that you will and won't like, like beige food, as an autistic person I'm not supposed to like brightly coloured and spicy food?
I don't like the 'we're all on the spectrum somewhere' conversations, they feel dismissive, whilst they might technically be true, it dosen't help when one's struggling to comunicate and have ones needs heard and taken seriously. Nor are we all angels or demons, we can lie and be manipulative, we can be honest in our speech and actions. We encompass the whole range of human emotions and experiences, just because our brains are wired up a bit differently, we are still human. But there does seem to be a bias against admitting to ones humanity, humanity does many horrible things, but it does many good ones too and most of us do a bit of both at times, ASC or NT. I'd like to see more focus on the things we share with our NT kin, not other them or be othered, we need to see ourselves and others as more than a diagnosis.