Hi friends. So, today I was supposed to film
an episode of Ask an Autistic, and it was
going pretty well. I was battling executive
dysfunction, which kind of explains what bad
thing happened. But it was going okay and
I did my makeup and I was like, alright, let's
do this, I got my notes. And then I was like
three minutes in and the battery died. And
now it's charging, but I won't be able to
film an episode today, so I wanted to make
use of my makeup and my words that I have
and make a little vlog. I don't know how to
vlog. I've never done this before. Um, I'm
in my kitchen. You can see all my carbonated
water over there. I drink a lot of carbonated
water. A lot. And you can see my cat calendar
over there. It's pretty cool. It's all black
cats. One for every month of the year. So
onto the vlog. Something I've wanted to address
in the a/Autistic community is the "throwing
under the bus" of intellectually and cognitively
disabled people. Now, I know what you're thinking.
"Amythest, no one's intending to hurt anybody
else's feelings." And I'm like, I know. But
lateral violence in the disability community
happens. And so here's what I see happening
a lot. There is autistic people, and they
are talking about Autism and their neurotype,
and they go to defend themselves by saying things
like, "Well, autistic people aren't stupid".
Or, they even use the r word. Or, "Autistic
people are actually really smart." And in
defense of non-speaking autistic people, it's
like, "Well you know, just because they look
outwardly unintelligent doesn't mean that's
true. They could have a really high IQ". Which,
by the way, IQ is totally not a thing. It's
super racist and ableist in its origins, and
it's just terrible, and not even that accurate.
And super biased, towards white men. So, if
you want to read about that, you know, video
description. Anyway. They're like, "Oh, they
have a high IQ, they are actually really intelligent,
so that's why they deserve respect". But the
thing is that intelligence [scoffs] is this
super racist, ableist, sexist concept. And
yet, it's like, how a/Autistic people defend
ourselves. And in the process we hurt our
intellectually disabled and cognitively disabled
disabled cousins. And the thing is, there
are a/Autistic people with intellectual disabilities
as well. Or cognitive disabilities. And there
is this valuing of traditional abled ideals
of intelligence that is hurting the community.
When it all comes down to it, human beings
deserve respect, and autonomy, and inclusion,
and accommodation because they are human beings.
Not because they're smart in the ways that
our society perceives as being the most important
or valid. All ways of being are valid. Intellectually
disabled people are awesome. The concept of
intelligence, and giving people value based
on their intelligence, is super not-awesome.
So all together, I think we as the a/Autistic
community can do better for intellectually
and cognitively disabled cousins and fellow
a/Autistics. This has been my first ever blog,
I hope it went okay, here's Kitty. Bye friends.
