I mean ..... based on what I was seeing from some of your followers and people defending you on here, it sounds like they don’t understand the problematic nature of it.... because they are not apart of the group of people you’re talking about...?
Conversation
Replying to
This is sort of central? I can feel myself getting frustrated at Twitter cause the things I properly want to explain will take up a lot of space. But I think your point is highlighting part of why I'm standing by what I'm doing.
1
Replying to
Wait which point? do you mean it’s central that your followers are majority abled and that’s part of why you’re posting things likethis? I don’t get how that makes it ok to torment others who aren’t your followers tho?
1
1
Replying to
But see there's this concept of 'torment' that I'm really careful to agree is happening. My understanding of an accusation like this is that it's a complicated minefield and historically has often been used in ways I strongly disagree with.
1
As in, I came out of a very religious community who used similar concepts about 'causing pain' and 'hurting us' when the thing I was doing was just expressing my ideas. And like... they weren't wrong, but I learned that I need to have boundaries around that.
2
1
That just because someone tells me I'm hurting them doesn't mean I'm... actually hurting them? Or, I am, but in the same way I hurt my old religious community, which is something that's an unfortunate side effect but I'm not going to change my behavior to appease them.
2
1
So when I hear people on twitter saying "stop you're hurting us", how am I supposed to tell this apart from the arguments the religious people made to try to control me?
1
1
Replying to
At the very base of this - Please don’t think those of us offering criticisms are trying to control you - we aren’t - we are hoping you’ll hear us and consider what we are saying. Ultimately religious identity is a choice, and being autistic or having a genetic condition is not.
1
Replying to
Right, but my point here is not whether or not it's a choice, my point is that people are telling me that harm is being done, but I consider that harm to be a necessary aspect of my self expression.
I've gone public in other spheres about my leaving the faith and similarly got-
2
1
-a huge amount of emails from christians trying to tell me that I was wrong, that I needed to listen to them, that I needed to stop saying these things.
And like... no. I believe what I believe and I'm going to keep expressing my ideas on the world and my experiences of it.
1
1
Much as I'm not *actually* hurting the religous people; I'm not punching them, removing their rights, burning their houses down, I'm also not *actually* hurting the autistic people. The pain they feel, while real and valid, comes out of *their* perspective on the world.
In this sense, the people who are hurt are hurt because they believe they should be hurt, not because I am actually doing anything hurtful.
So... I know they're telling me to stop, and that they're hurt. But I'm not going to stop. I think they should update their worldview.
2
2
Much as religious people would probably experience greater freedom and less pain if they left their religion, I also think autistic people would experience greater freedom and less pain if they left their framework that leads to them getting hurt by me expressing myself.
1
Show replies
Replying to
I would disagree with this/ I think this type of pain is just as problematic as physical violence. If you recognize that it’s painful, why not take that into perspective while sharing your own?