Right. It’s a bit later in the day, so I’ll try to explain why this is bullshit using my own experiences. This might get long, and I’ll be chipping away at it in bits and pieces.
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So, like James Damore, I was diagnosed with high-functioning autism. In addition to a handful of impairments (trouble with crowds/loud noises, writing by hand is tough, relied on calculators for math), learning social interactions was like taking a unique class in school.
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That meant, during my childhood, even up to certain moments in high school and college, I fucked up big time. I said some remarkably hurtful things without comprehending their nature. I still think about those moments and grimace.
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But I learned, and I grew, and I eventually understood. Because you have to. Because people who cared about me taught me wrong and right. I was a ball of empathy with no direction, but they gave me that direction.
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The thing is, James Damore’s memo isn’t just a one time mistake. After being called out, he took on the handle “Fired4Truth.” He defended the KKK. He’s continuously spouted hateful, ignorant shit without pause.
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That goes further than a misunderstanding brought on by an unfamiliarity with social interactions. That’s bigotry. And autism doesn’t cause bigotry, yet here he is, blaming it all on the world’s favorite cognitive boogeyman.
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The worst part is, I just know plenty of people will read that Guardian article and nod their heads in agreement. So few people understand us, so we’ve become both a punching bag and an excuse for dangerous, harmful bullshit.
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Anti-vaxxers like Robert De Niro and Jenny McCarthy spin wild conspiracy theories about the “real” causes of autism, so parents skip out on life-saving vaccinations.
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Popular media made about us use our conditions to either write quirky comic relief (oh, the woman in The Bridge has no boundaries when it comes to sex, how wacky!) or weak sauce Hallmark dramas that treat us like unfixable, tragic figures.
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Even organizations that are supposed to represent us, Autism Speaks, spend most of their time teaching parents how they can life their lives while minimizing our impact as a burden. We’re not a disease: we’re people.
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Do you know how dehumanizing it is to hear about folks talk about how you have no soul behind your eyes? How eager they are to either cast you as a class clown or a tragic victim of circumstance?
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And now, James Damore is eager to cast autism as something that magically turns you into a racist, sexist bigot, all so he can skirt responsibility. I won’t let that happen. I’m not letting this privileged Silicon Valley dipshit tarnish our lives further.
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We’ve already had folks in tech put together PowerPoint slides about how we’re “ideal hires” because our tendencies for obsession give them room to exploit us. I’m tired of tech bros dehumanizing us.
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I just want an organization that will support us. Studios that will hire us to write stories about us. A large rocket to launch anti-vaxxers who use us as scapegoats into the sun. I just want to be treated as a goddamn human being.
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