Friday, May 25, 2007

Autistic visibility: Shirts and stuff

I found out yesterday that a National Autism Association's Road to Recovery Walk will be held here this summer. Just a few miles from home. It has been suggested that I show up there in a "polite" neurodiversity t-shirt to offer an alternate perspective to the clueless. Guess what? I don't feel like being polite. I feel like pulling the most blatant in-your-face anti-cure shirt from my drawer, deciding it's not quite enough, and buying or making something a little more to the point. Something containing a level of profanity I don't use in this blog.

As I pointed out to my (very supportive and wise) NT friend, I wouldn't feel very safe in this crowd no matter how sedate the message on the shirt. I suggested a counter-rally to be held the night before the walk at a slightly less hostile location as an attempt to draw a little public attention to the fact that autism is not a disease and not really something to be crying about all the time or a reason to flush your hard earned money down the curebie toilet.
Sure, showing up at the Main Event would be purposeful and direct. But a subtle message would defeat the purpose and a more truthful representation of what I believe would most likely result in my being removed forcibly from the area. I know a couple of anti-cure parents here, and maybe one other autistic person who might be persuaded to join me. Still, I'm thinking I might have more success attracting people to a counter rally, where they could feel more hopeful of not being verbally or physically attacked.
Either way, this is not a time and place for being overly polite. I'm pretty sure Rosa Parks would not have been invited to take the front seat if only she'd smiled a bit more or said "please".
Totally Flaming Autistic shirt available from Winged Turtle Creations here.

3 comments:

  1. Good idea. A counter-rally the day before the event might get an article in the local newspaper (if you can persuade a reporter to cover it) before the cure rally begins, and that would give people a different perspective on the issue.

    Aspies for Freedom has a sub-forum for posting announcements of anti-cure protests and similar activities. You may want to post your counter-rally information there and see if you can attract a few more participants.

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  2. I'm working on finding a local coffee house or independent restaurant to host this event. So far, none has returned my e-mail, causing me to think I might have to haul my autistic rear down there and talk to them in person.
    Ugh! It's those initial encounters I dread...

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  3. Were you successful?

    Hopefully.

    Right now the neurotypical voices drown out the autistic voices.

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