Published on 12, July, 2020
I've always been a bit of a rebel, I don't think it's just about being autistic, but it helps, I was brought up in quite a political family, not party political, but just interested, social injustice infuriates me. I've been involved with so many causes over the years, the womens movement, anti-nukes, animal rights, anti apartied. Now I find that every cause is on social media which I can't do, nor can I go out on the streets protesting like I used too.
I still have the urge to be involved there are so many things worth fighting for, the planet being the biggest one, is anyone else involved in activism?
I would love to at some point get involved in advocacy for our autistic community, but maybe it’s just me who thinks that activism is different in that it is political?
AA, I think it's hard to be an activist for anything without it being political and advocating for people who are unable to advocate for themselves will become political. By political I mean political with a small P, not big P parties and demonstrations etc. As an advocate you will be banging your head against entrenched institutional biases, many oif which will need to be challenged through the courts and/or legislation.
I'm not just a political rebel though, I seem to be a rebel in so many area's, rebellion comes naturally to me even when I'm not trying. When I was at school I led my class and then it spread to several others on strike, it was interesting as the teachers had recently been on strike themselves and didn't have a moral leg to stand on and they knew it.
Being a person who asks questions seem to make me be seen as rebellious, like asking why if someones in an army prison and about to be dishonourable discharged they follow all the rules nad the punnishing regime? My response would to being told to get up at 5:30 for a run would be a No with a few more Ffs in it. When I asked some of my friends about this they said 'because they make you', I asked how, what could they do to me?
TheCatWoman said:AA, I think it's hard to be an activist for anything without it being political and advocating for people who are unable to advocate for themselves will become political. By political I mean political with a small P, not big P parties and demonstrations etc. As an advocate you will be banging your head against entrenched institutional biases, many oif which will need to be challenged through the courts and/or legislation.
Yes I understand that as the main focus of advocacy is speaking up about the rights and experiences of (in this case) our community, this is partly what attracts to the advocacy field and also at the same time why I am hesitant to get more involved in such work. I would feel huge responsibility for my fellow neurokin and also at times it could feel quite hopeless and distressing when trying to educate institutions such as the education system who won’t listen or change practices.
At least initially I think I want to support my fellow neurokin understand their autistic profile, learn to self advocate and develop pride in their autistic identity, so more like lived experience peer support.
TheCatWoman said:I'm not just a political rebel though, I seem to be a rebel in so many area's, rebellion comes naturally to me even when I'm not trying. When I was at school I led my class and then it spread to several others on strike, it was interesting as the teachers had recently been on strike themselves and didn't have a moral leg to stand on and they knew it.
That’s great that’s a huge achievement! I know that going against expectations and standing up for what you believe in is not usually encouraged by neuro normative society, but us autistics are very good at it and that’s what eventually leads to change. It’s so important to question everything! After all, many advances in evolution and human life generally are a result of thinking differently.
TheCatWoman said:Being a person who asks questions seem to make me be seen as rebellious, like asking why if someones in an army prison and about to be dishonourable discharged they follow all the rules nad the punnishing regime? My response would to being told to get up at 5:30 for a run would be a No with a few more Ffs in it. When I asked some of my friends about this they said 'because they make you', I asked how, what could they do to me?
Yes I get how people might see you as rebellious but I think just asking questions often provides more clarity for conversation and often a much deeper exploration of topics that wouldn’t have otherwise been achieved. In regards to your army example, we are not likely to accept or make sense of hierarchy for the sake of it!
I've just had a look at the NHS website about digital inclusion, theres a lot of information about what it means, but they admit that 11% of people are digitally excluded and that for some it's lack of affordability and access and that the most excluded groups are the elderly and those with poor mental health. One of the things they failed to mention is that there are quite large pockets where there's little or no reception at all. If there is, you get 'ping, welcome to Ireland', how's that going to help anyone?
TheCatWoman said:don't forget that its not just us ND's who are often economically inactive, there's a whole raft of elderly, poor and people with other health conditions being effected by this.
We are becoming the problem (those who consume the resources and don't contribute much) so it is not unsurprising that we are being seen as parasites in the governments eyes.
With everythin being controled by the balance sheets these days I think this will only become more evident.
Look for:
Pushing the state retirement age later and later so more people die while contributing to the pension fund rather than taking from it.
Requirements for more and more private healthcare for elective surgeries (eg gender reassignment).
Lower quality healthcare offered to the elderly to encourage them into private schemes
Where healthcare is supplied to the elderly, expect means testing to become ever more restrictive (ie they need to pay out of their savings or property equity).
Outsourcing of more mental health related issues (eg autism diagnosis) and the requirement for package deals (eg you only get an assessment if you book & pay for x hours of therapy with the company).
Those who are consuming the resources will be slowly squeezed out and I doubt we will be able to do anything about it.
Stubborn is my middle name, along with intransigent, what if you can't afford a passport? The website specifically asks for either a full UK driving licence or passport, so another form of ID won't get accepted.
Why should we passivelly sit back and allow things like this to happen with no consultation or consideration? As I said it's mainly the elderly who are being effected by this and they're often the ones least able to advocate for themselves, often because they dont' know where to go or who to approach, if receptionsists at GP's surgerys are unhelpful or can't help what are people to do?
You say that we're being moved to wards a private health system, but don't forget that its not just us ND's who are often economically inactive, there's a whole raft of elderly, poor and people with other health conditions being effected by this. It's time we all got up on our hind legs and said NO instead of accepting what seems inevitable because some bunch of bureaucrats have decided stuff.
TheCatWoman said:What if being elderly you no longer drive or have never driven, and you no longer travel or have never had a passport?
For the simple case of having a photo ID then applying for one of these seems a very logical solution to me. You don't need to pass tests and they have a longish lifespan.
For those who can't get driving license renewals then a passport is the logical solution and comes with a 10 year lifespan.
Should you need to do it? No. Is it easy to do and not very expensive? Yes.
I don't get why it is such an issue when it is so easy to resolve. If it is down to the principe then you are making life a whole lot more hassle for your stubborness.
TheCatWoman said:It's making me wonder if the government is trying to kill off the elderly and probably expensive patients by denying them meds, of course it will back fire as those without their meds will end up in A&E.
All they need to do is make the waiting times in A&E very long and the weak will end up dying off which kinds of fits the agenda you talked about.
For the government it is good business sense - let the weak (who cost them lots to keep alive) die off and they can reduce their overheads.
This won't be changed by incoming governments as they have the same lack of cash and overheads as the current lot and will prefer to spend on their personal vanity projects instead.
Expect a long term shift away from the NHS to private medical insurance as this is the only way the essential NHS services can be preserved. How this will work for the neurodiverse who typically are not economically active does not bare thinking about.
My Dad was great, except when he was being a drunken psychotic bully.
Demo's can be really scary and many people have been caught out or caught up in things they never expected, most demo's are quite peaceful, some go bad because of agent provocators, others because the police decide to break them up, using mounted charges into groups of peacefully protesting people, this is when it's really scary. Very few people know who the agent provocators are, they often don't seem to be part of the main protest, many suspect they're actually police who have been sent out to disrupt and give protestors a bad name and give other police an excuse to beat people up, arrest them and generally terrify them. It also gives the government an excuse to further shut down our rights of assembly, to protest and of free speach.
My current coming rebellion will be against the health service trying to insist that everyone use apps to order repeat prescriptions. Of course like many of these things it dosen't seem to work properly, many older people don't have the tech or the skill to do it and theres no help, to register you have to photograph one form of photo ID, either a driving licence or a passport and send it to them. What if being elderly you no longer drive or have never driven, and you no longer travel or have never had a passport? When I was at the chemist the other day, it was full of people trying to get prescriptions, that were ordered under the old system, some of those who had successfully registered or thought they had had no meds because of the amount of time it takes to process it when you jumped through all the hoops. I'm lucky my GP's have refused to stop issuing paper repeat prescriptions, so I'm safe for now, but my Mum's surgery have gone fully over to this method, luckily she is very fit and healthy and unusually at 90 needs no long term meds, but if she did, she would be unable to get them as she has no clue how to use tech at all, has never driven and so has never had a driving licence and hasn't travelled abroad for years and her passport has expired.
I know there are lots of people on here who like to do everything online and find it easy, but not everybody does especially the elderly. I'm thinking that as well as writing to the usual useless MP and Senedd members that I will write to the newspapers and probably a program like Newsnight and start a campaign.
It's making me wonder if the government is trying to kill off the elderly and probably expensive patients by denying them meds, of course it will back fire as those without their meds will end up in A&E.
TheCatWoman said:I think there are ways of avoiding confrontation when advocating or protesting, most of it is about recognising when you're being deliberately provoked and not responsing to it.
Yes definitely and I find confrontation very uncomfortable anyway.
TheCatWoman said:I think the police have always been aggressive and violent with protesters, or thats been my experience anyway. It made me laugh like a drain when the police asked protesters at resent demo's to stop going floppy because it made them harder to pick up and move. This is why people go floppy, if you go to any classes on civil disbedience it's one of the first things you're taught. What is really scary is a mounted charge, police use the same training and tactics as medieval knights did, only without the sharp edged weapons, police horses are huge and have feet like manhole covers, not the sort of thing you waving around your ears.
Yes I find such protests quite scary and when I discuss advocacy I don’t mean in this form, more as in educating non autistic people about our autistic experiences and more generally to accept and celebrate differences.
TheCatWoman said:My Dad taught me to ask questions and to challenge anyone who wanted me to do anything that I was unsure of. Of course the first person I challenged was him and that caused massive problems, it wasn't until shoetly before he died that those were resolved. He also taught me to never sign a document before reading and understanding it, something that got me in trouble at one work place when I was told I didn't need to read an employment contract.
Your dad sounds like he must have been great, it’s really important to be surrounded by or at least have one person who teaches you to challenge things and question beliefs.
I think there are ways of avoiding confrontation when advocating or protesting, most of it is about recognising when you're being deliberately provoked and not responsing to it.
I think the police have always been aggressive and violent with protesters, or thats been my experience anyway. It made me laugh like a drain when the police asked protesters at resent demo's to stop going floppy because it made them harder to pick up and move. This is why people go floppy, if you go to any classes on civil disbedience it's one of the first things you're taught. What is really scary is a mounted charge, police use the same training and tactics as medieval knights did, only without the sharp edged weapons, police horses are huge and have feet like manhole covers, not the sort of thing you waving around your ears.
My Dad taught me to ask questions and to challenge anyone who wanted me to do anything that I was unsure of. Of course the first person I challenged was him and that caused massive problems, it wasn't until shoetly before he died that those were resolved. He also taught me to never sign a document before reading and understanding it, something that got me in trouble at one work place when I was told I didn't need to read an employment contract.
Because of various difficulties and DV I ended up with the attitude that I may as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb and then realised how little power people like teachers and schools actually had over me, it was all noise.