Well, the Onion has gotten its smelly hands on the autism retraction

[conuly]

I know that first one is quoting a real somebody, but I can't remember who.

Comments

[hopefulnebula]

Michael Savage?

[conuly]

Oooh, maybe.

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

ROFL, I don't remember who either, but I've surely heard that one before.

Telling your autistic kid to smarten up and get her head out of her ass will not prevent or cure autism. I know this because I was told that constantly as an autistic child, and I grew up to be an autistic adult just the same.

However, it was essentially good advice, even though poorly delivered, and so I've attempted to raise my own autistic child by the same precepts. I'm proud to say that she is now a very smart autistic adult whose head is on very straight about what is or is not to her strategic advantage in life: specifically, minimizing her autistic deficits while maximizing her autistic super-powers.

When autistic people smarten up and get their heads out of their asses, they're no longer called 'autistic'. They move up in the labeling hierarchy, being known as 'geeks', 'brilliant eccentrics' or even 'geniuses'.

Ever consider, we could cure autism right this minute by simply abandoning the label? Of course, then people would probably go back to calling us dorks and under-achievers. Maybe we need a categorical pseudo-medical label for people who get off on calling people names.