If there’s one thing that pisses me off in the autism awareness circles (aside from the whole “curing” debacle), it’s when people who are not themselves on the autism spectrum purport to be experts and authorities on the subject ….such experts that they know even more about the topic than autistics do.

(Yes, I am aware that it’s un-PC to call ourselves autistics, but I simply don’t care. I am not going to fucking write “persons with autism” each and every time. We’re autistic and we’re blunt and to the point and as long as some person doesn’t point to me and say, “Oh look, an autistic!” it really does not matter to me, particularly when the topic is being discussed in an impersonal way. After all, I call you “normal” people Normals and just so you know, it isn’t entirely complimentary. Now, back to your regular program of aspie contrariness.)

Look, folks: I don’t care who you are, unless you are autistic yourself, you will never, ever really comprehend it. It’s sort of like how I will never really understand what it is like to be male, or black, or to have cerebral palsy, or to be president, because it is impossible for me to be these things. It wouldn’t matter if I studied maleness for my entire life and gave speeches until I was blue in the face…..I could not really be an expert on being male. For me to suggest otherwise would just be preposterous.

Similarly, I, as an aspie, cannot claim to know what it is like to be (I hate this term) “Low Functioning” autistic (and from now on, I will be using the standard AS, LFA, and HFA to designate these categories. I would like to clarify right here that there I don’t like the labels and that I personally do not consider any of these types of autism to be “better” than another type. If you can’t understand that, then please go read Amanda Bagg’s blog). Also, a person with LFA or HFA cannot know what it is like for me to be aspie. (We might commiserate and compare notes and discuss our various challenges, but still…....

And see, this is something which the so-called experts do not, as a rule, do. They do not come to us and pick our brains and ask for our input and insight. Oh, hell no. They tell us about how and why we think what we do, which I think is pretty fucked up! That sort of thing has a label: hubris. I mean, if an “expert” wants to go and have a mental pissing match with another so-called expert, that’s their business, I guess. Normal people seem to get off on trying to act impressive and self-important….so whatever, fine…go for it. But to get so arrogant as to write books and papers and have speaking engagements on how we think…..to dictate and announce to the world that you know how we think….I guess it makes money and all, but seriously, you folks are imposters.

We are not a species of flora or fauna which cannot speak for itself. Many of us can speak and more of us can write or type. If you really want to know what an autistic thinks, how they perceive things, don’t read a book written by a normal….especially that nasty female normal who writes about aspies and love…she’s a bitch with a vendetta along with being a poseur….ask an autistic person. Most of us don’t bite. I can’t really claim to be one of them, but I promise that I only bite those whom I know and love…and that I don’t bite hard anyway! ;-) We don’t have a disease, we are not contagious, nor are we ignorant of our own thought processes, because the majority of us are highly introspective folk.

And this is why…I’m not sure that I can support this “autism awareness” thing any longer. It’s too much like Autism Speaks, an organization which will not allow any autistics within its ranks, nor are we allowed to give any kind of input on how we feel about their fantasies of “curing autism”. I think we autistics should have a group and call it “Neurotypicalism Speaks”. We can express our disappointment with the shallowness, deceit, cruelty, materialism, etc. exhibited by Normals and talk about how this is a disease which has to be cured because it is killing society and worse, the environment. No normal should be allowed to protest or to be any part of the organization. We should lobby Congress to cure Neurotypicals and point out that most crimes are committed by nasty neuros, and how hard it is to raise these kids, etc…because we, as children and parents and siblings of normal people, know how damaging these folks can be to people such as ourselves. See how stupid that sounds?

Oh, wait. I strayed from one pet peeve to another. :-/
So, I’m just going to come right out and say it. When you find a person who claims to be an expert on autism, to know how we think, and they are not autistic, THEY ARE A FRAUD. They want your money and your respect. Don’t give them either.