Good day, it's important about how we talk about autism because of stigma. The main reason there is stigma is because people percieve others to be different. It's common for neuro-typicals to emotionally distance themselves from such individuals and lose their sense of compassion.
Recently I came across an insulting, dangerous piece (clip) of "news" by the BBC: www.bbc.co.uk/.../health-27645718
I don't see it hard for neuro-typicals to watch this and think autistic people are incredibly different, "crazy" or insane. But the main reocurring problem I notice is that they always use words such as 'suffer' or 'risk'. These words have an incredibly negative connotation because it aligns autism with mental illness and there is a huge stigma around that already due to our pathetic government. The way this BBC made this clip, showing a child in a f**king suit and saying they harm themselves is the most callous piece around autism which I've EVER seen. I am disguted. It's basically telling the public to look at autistic people like they're mentally ill without giving the viewers any indiciation around the situation or mentioning mental illness whatsoever, only AUTISM. They could of mentioned perhaps the childs issues weren't part of their autism but something which is completely different which any human may suffer from.
Good night.
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