Neurodivergent on Yik Yak | something i noticed as a woman with higher functioning autism is that cis white men with lower functioning autism are never taught right from wrong. it’s a disservice to them. whenever they should be corrected, they’re not because “oh he has autism!” (1)

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Neurodivergent 1d

something i noticed as a woman with higher functioning autism is that cis white men with lower functioning autism are never taught right from wrong. it’s a disservice to them. whenever they should be corrected, they’re not because “oh he has autism!” (1)

Anonymous 1d

they have the privilege to be autistic in public that i never got and it upsets me. it’s also ableist to assume that they won’t understand anything you teach them. like they learned how to talk and walk and eat, so of course they’ll learn right from wrong. if you teach someone not to harass people in public, they won’t. this train of thought was brought on because a guy with autism was verbally harassing me in a store today because i wanted to touch my hair.

Anonymous 17h

it’s not a matter of support need levels per se, it’s moreso that they’re white cishet men. any level of support needs for white cishet men, even autistic or not, are taught that certain behaviors are okay because of their privilege. we (nonmen/nonwhite/noncishet autistic, i’m a white transmasc myself) arent given the same grace as them in general, so our behaviors are more harshly punished. my brother, the same support levels as me, got help as a child when he struggled while i was ignored.

Anonymous 1d

I respectfully disagree. I don’t think it has anything to do with gender or race.

Anonymous 3h

my brother (a white cishet high support needs man) was always the favorite of my dad & got a decent amount of support (though still not enough). strangely enough, being my dad’s favorite meant he got more attention & was put to a more manicured standard that was both realistic & healthy. I have way less support needs for autism, but am still autistic & have very severe depression, and it feels like my dad (who is very similar to me, but with less-severe depression) takes less effort with me

Anonymous 2h

The autism boy mom epidemic is real

Anonymous 1d

i think it’s just the difference of higher vs lower functioning.

Anonymous

OP 1d

also i don’t know if the terms “high functioning” or “low functioning” are correct but that’s what my parents use.

Anonymous

OP 1d

i understand the guy’s perspective because i also feel like that if someone is wearing a shirt with my hyperfixation on it or something but if i did what he did to me, i’d be kicked out the store and yelled it, but all this guy’s mom did was tell me “oh be patient he has austim” like,,,,, so do i,,,,

Anonymous

OP 1d

i don’t know if this makes sense. i’m just angry and i can’t talk to anyone about it. i’ll delete this if it’s offensive

Anonymous

OP 1d

and (2) i forgot to add that sorry.

Anonymous

#1 1d

i never thought of it like that. still, somebody can be taught right from wrong no matter how they function

Anonymous

OP 1d

i typically use high support needs and low support needs as a replacement for high/low “functioning” so as to better describe their abilities and the required care/accommodations. my HSN cousin (maybe Level 2 ASD) was always forced to hug by my Grandma even when he didn’t want to. they’d use their fingers to stuff his tongue back in his mouth, even… he’s been fired from multiple jobs from lack of experience on inappropriate touch and even sexual deviancy… it makes me so angry he wasn’t taught.

Anonymous

#3 1d

This exactly. It’s foolish to simplify broad experiences to race or gender

-3

Anonymous

#3 1d

race definitely factors into it thats just the way our society is. there have been countless nd people of color that have been killed for showing symptoms

Anonymous

#5 1d

Yup

Anonymous

#2 23h

thank you for letting me know! i’ll tell my parents too. i’m sorry about your cousin. this is why the interaction i had made me so angry, because i’m sure the guy and your cousin could be fine if someone taught them what they can and can’t do in public. it probably didn’t help that your family taught him to hug people even when he clearly didn’t want to be touched.

Anonymous

#3 23h

maybe that’s your experience. mine is that the sympathy people show has a lot to do with the race and gender of the person. it could just be the area i’m from though.

Anonymous

#2 21h

Experiences like you listed did teach him—taught him that unwanted touch is okay

Anonymous

#8 17h

i also want to say that society just doesn’t like autistic people. the white cishet men are still put down by society for their autism, but are usually moreso babied while others are punished and looked down on outwardly

Anonymous

OP 11h

That is crazy and I’m really sorry.

Anonymous

OP 11h

It’s only excusable if he’s really low functioning and has some other issues as well like some intellectual disability

Anonymous

#8 5h

yes, this is exactly what i’m always noticing! i’m sorry you went through that experience growing up, and i hope you have the support you need now.

Anonymous

#7 5h

but shouldn’t he have been taught by the adults around him before he was fired from multiple jobs?

Anonymous

#9 5h

yes, i agree! i wouldn’t have been mad if that was the case. and when i say the situation made me mad, i’m not mad at him, i’m mad at his mom!

Anonymous

OP 5h

Ohhh that makes a lot of sense

Anonymous

OP 4h

I’ve noticed that TV shows and movies about autistic people represent us really badly. First of all, it’s always an asexual white male with not much variation in personality. The 2 movies I could really relate to were Temple Grandin (based off of a real person, a famous vet, and I actually met someone on here who met her), and My Name Is Khan. I haven’t watched Love on the Spectrum but I’ve heard it isn’t good.

Anonymous

#8 4h

I second this! A friend of mine who was really socially unaware and was so obviously autistic to me in high school didn’t get diagnosed until recently somehow. Also people were really mean to her in high school, but to me they weren’t. I’m an autistic guy and was diagnosed when I was 8.

Anonymous

#10 3h

I’m also a tfem nb (four years now) and my parents are accepting but not overly informed or making a super great effort of respecting my name (and not even bothering with pronouns). so im not sure how much of my symptoms they attribute to either pettiness (over lack of respect) or because of issues with gender (I haven’t had any for a while, but it’s not like they’ll 100% believe me on that)

Anonymous

#9 2h

LOTS is good. it’s all about perspective. don’t listen to people without watching it for yourself. use ratings as estimations… use your own judgement from your own findings.