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RFK Jr is wrong – there's a rich history of autistic poets

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Re: RFK Jr is wrong – there's a rich history of autistic poets

#31
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like there is a group of people that *deeply* want the autism rates to continue at the rate they are at due to some strange ideation. It's hard to describe what I mean, but the closest thing I can think of is a social contagion or a society wide Munchausen syndrome by proxy. Does that make sense?

No. We don't have a cure for autism. We don't have a prevention for autism. We don't have a clear cause for autism beyond recognizing that genetics play a role. We don't even have a clear picture of the scope; one reason rates appear to be increasing is simply that we've gotten better at recognizing symptoms in previously ignored populations. But... We are probably still ignoring symptoms in some significant populati…

This is what I'm talking about... Not knowing how to fix the problem should not exclude attempts to fix the problem. The logic is strange to me.

Re: RFK Jr is wrong – there's a rich history of autistic poets

#32
post #8

RFK never said or implied that all people with autism are non-functional in important areas. It's true that a significant number are, and it's really strange and perhaps cruel to see people trying to erase that. And it doesn't make it less of an issue to address even if some of those people write poetry.

I feel like there is a group of people that *deeply* want the autism rates to continue at the rate they are at due to some strange ideation. It's hard to describe what I mean, but the closest thing I can think of is a social contagion or a society wide Munchausen syndrome by proxy. Does that make sense?

[deleted]

Re: RFK Jr is wrong – there's a rich history of autistic poets

#33
post #8

RFK never said or implied that all people with autism are non-functional in important areas. It's true that a significant number are, and it's really strange and perhaps cruel to see people trying to erase that. And it doesn't make it less of an issue to address even if some of those people write poetry.

The infamous speech fragment is really close to the likes of Nazi propaganda. An example was giving children homework to calculate how much a disabled person costs society. THAT is extremely cruel, and so was RFK's speech, because there definitely was this undertone present.

Sure, you can edit or misquote many speeches to make them sound like Nazi propaganda, or simply assert they are similar to propaganda, but that itself is also propaganda.

Re: RFK Jr is wrong – there's a rich history of autistic poets

#34
post #8

RFK never said or implied that all people with autism are non-functional in important areas. It's true that a significant number are, and it's really strange and perhaps cruel to see people trying to erase that. And it doesn't make it less of an issue to address even if some of those people write poetry.

I feel like there is a group of people that *deeply* want the autism rates to continue at the rate they are at due to some strange ideation. It's hard to describe what I mean, but the closest thing I can think of is a social contagion or a society wide Munchausen syndrome by proxy. Does that make sense?

In some circles, there is social capital to being part of some marginalized identity. The autism spectrum is so wide that it's pretty easy for many highly functional people to slot themselves onto it somehow. Then many of these people make this a core part of their identity and feel a need to "advocate" for other autistic people and autism in general. Once your identity is wrapped up in something, this isn't so different than advocating for gay rights or against racism or something. Of course advocating for what is a debilitating disease for many makes no sense and can actually be cruel.

Re: RFK Jr is wrong – there's a rich history of autistic poets

#35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The infamous speech fragment is really close to the likes of Nazi propaganda. An example was giving children homework to calculate how much a disabled person costs society. THAT is extremely cruel, and so was RFK's speech, because there definitely was this undertone present.

Sure, you can edit or misquote many speeches to make them sound like Nazi propaganda, or simply assert they are similar to propaganda, but that itself is also propaganda.

You people are a living meme https://youtu.be/LunM00vtcow?si=CH65ajpcUWwFsved

Re: RFK Jr is wrong – there's a rich history of autistic poets

#36
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Most cases now are severe. Wasn’t this always the case?

I'm pretty sure it's the opposite, and the rise in autism diagnoses is almost entirely people who overall function well in society and wouldn't have been diagnosed in the past. So to me it would be very surprising if the ratio wasn't shifting away from serious cases of autism. If that wasn't the case, and cases of actally disabling autism were on the rise, I'd think actual scientists would be trying to find the cause…

That’s what I meant - the early autism diagnosis were exclusively “severe”

Only as more symptoms were discovered did the milder forms get recognized

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