Autism inequality- is it taken seriously enough?

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There is an issue with this for all people who deviate from the social norm, and that varies greatly depending on the nature of the work that is being done, or living in general wherever the norms of culture change.

AS far as this being an issue specific to a diagnostic label, no, as there are not very many so-called lower functioning autistic folks out there doing jobs in the wild that are not part of a program for the disabled who are not protected from this type of discriminatory behavior.

And as far as higher functioning Autistic folks of the Asperger's variety, people in general do not even understand what the hell that is, overall, STILL, per specific diagnostic criteria FROM THE PAST, per DSMIV criteria, AND THEY NEVER WILL KNOW NOW, AS THAT CATEGORY IS GONE FROM DSM5 DIAGNOSTIC CRITERIA NOW.

AND even IF a very intelligent well versed diagnostic criteria person on the street or medical professional attempts to explain it to them PER OLDER DIAGNOSTIC CRITERIA THAT delineates the DIFFERENCES BETTER THAN THE LOOSELY described diagnostic criteria now, by the TIME THEY LEAVE WITH ALL THE FACTS ABOUT EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE, which is gibberish to folks who already have it LOCKED IN INNATELY, THEY SOON FORGET, if they ever understand it in the first place, AS IT MATTERS NOT TO THEM, unless a close friend or family member is DIRECTLY impacted, overall.

Again overall, as there are exceptions, but for most people the higher functioning Autism thingy is equivalent to a nerd, and that is a common cultural meme for almost a century now.

And yes nerds AND so called HIGHER FUNCTIONING Autistic folks AND ANYONE ELSE who is substantially different from the perceived social-norm have trouble not GETTING DISCRIMINATED AGAINST BY THE 'COOL KIDS' WHETHER IT IS AT SCHOOL OR CONTINUING ACROSS THE LIFESPAN AT WORK AND PLAY TOO.

Humans discriminate against what they perceive as innately or culturally different per the social norm.

This is human nature, and although laws attempt to regulate this behavior, MOTHER and human nature does still rule, behind closed doors WITH the crowd that IS IN CONTROL.

THE REALITY OF LIFE, is adapt and survive or the other thingy in all its difficult degrees of reality as well.

And yes it is so dam sad and unfortunate but it is Human Nature and Mother Nature True.

Nice to complain about it for support but LITERALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO CHANGE IN TRUTH IN REALITY IN ANY OTHER WAY, BUT ADAPTING TO WHAT IS.

THE CATEGORY of Asperger's is gone, and government looks at all Autism now, overall, as a severely disabling disease, as sad as that may be, and it IS relegated to the realm of DISABILITY AND RESTRICTED WORK PROGRAMS FOR THE DISABLED.

AND YES, THIS IS DIFFERENT IN SOME OTHER COUNTRIES, BUT THE United States is a quick CURE WAY OF LIFE, EITHER BY PILL OR 'SHORT BUS' WAY.

And as a note, I do not know why the formatting of my posts has that big space at the end, as on the editing screen it does not exist. So sorry about that and if anyone has a remedy for it, I will correct it in the future. :)

I actually find it pretty offensive when those on here compare my condition and me to blacks and other minorities during the 1950s. I hate the "minority" label so much.

One of the primary problems with discrimination on ASD is that it calls out a variance between us and society at large which exists in society's blindspot. What saddens me, for the cognition we have to come up with present technologies and the like that's still the work of a very small minority of the public - understanding autism takes the broader public getting it and, as someone with autism, I still don't fully get it or understand what my limitations really are or aren't. Really that even seems to flex and bend every year and every five years or so I do an inventory and find out that I've dodged some additional bullets even though I still have restrictive conditions in my living on one level or another - in a sense I really don't always know what my limits are, when my nervous system and my adaptions around my wiring shorts will hold fast or buckle under excess load. If I have this hard a time gauging what I can or can't do or what the confines of my disabilities are I can't fathom an NT getting it. When I talk to an employer whose going to test my medal it's always a gamble - the job could be within my scope of capacity and the training can be something I can handle and in that case I'm a great employee for as long as I'm there, or, I could be fired within a month because my coping mechanisms are overpowered/overwhelmed by a "You're an adult - you'll figure it out" training philosophy. Seems like the only thing that may weigh in my favor here is that as I gain experience there'll be less knowledge that people can keep from me either by politics or sloth.

I think for as hard as most NT's even have to struggle in the workforce to get by, even after they've 'done all the right things' sympathy wanes for an increasing load of people who they have to consider. Society in general seems like it's strapped - we're trying to keep a structure running under such complex rules that the average person doesn't have the brainpower to keep up with it. With as much stress as there is out there we're asking them, particularly with hidden and very high functioning ASD, to really dive off on understanding disabilities that are truly in the 'abstract intangibles' zone. It's unfortunate but this is the human condition as God gave it to us.

I think our society really needs more than anything a restocking and retooling on just what on earth the meaning of life is, the value of human life (for the better if possible and beyond our scope as a capital instrument), and instead of focusing purely on corporate evolution and how to do more with fewer people to make HR costs obsolete (and dry up what has been incidentally for a few centuries - I'll use the word - our wellfare system) we could figure out how to do more with less stress and higher quality of life, with a given that we find such answers in the scope of a plan that won't cause federal level bankrupcies in the respective countries implemented. Having a utopia crumble into a shell state and then a dictatorship/thugocracy is worthless - the thing has to be sustainable.

For us to really push our issues we'd need to offer just as many sensible solutions.

Yes, society is an experiment and humans are the guinea pigs, unwittingly so for most human beings.

And yes, in some cases folks on the spectrum are the canaries in the coalmine.

And yes, after 47 years of being poisoned in the mine, I almost died, but after 5 years, I finally lived again.

And the main lesson I learned is I am only human and not a machine, but truly that is the way I treated my self as a machine with little to no empathy for self, with all EMPATHY directed to helping others instead.

I learned my lesson well, and that IS TO SAY NO, AS NO LONGER A PEOPLE PLEASER, overall, PER WHAT FOLKS THINK I SHOULD DO.

BUT OBVIOUSLY, BEING financiAlly independent at age 54 in almost miraculous fashion as I only had 1K in the bank in the year 2000, is a privilege that most people DO NOT have at this age, and particularly folks on the spectrum who ARE STILL living at home with parents.

And without great fortune in landing in a niche of work that lasted over two decades in the same general government field of civil service work, I might still be living at home too, if my mother still had one, but she doesn't living in old folks housing so I TRULY MIGHT BE ON THE STREET.

AND ANYONE on the spectrum who SAYS THERE IS NO WAY they'll ever burn out like this and hates government programs that help folks, is truly shooting themselves in the foot, as I was referred to as SUPER MAN at work for brain associated accomplishments, but it didn't matter as I still wore out, as humans beings truly are not machines and will BREAK IN THE COAL MINES OF LIFE, PARTICULARLY ON THE SPECTRUM FOR FOLKS THAT GO FULL BORE ALL THE TIME IN LASER FOCUS.

I don't know. But discrimination is not good for aspies like us.