Why do people think it's okay to make fun of autism?

[Geara_Doga_Flakes]

Autism is a very serious issue, and yet, people think it's okay to look down on autistic people. Why?

[EggOverEasy]

Probably the same reason Hitler looked down on the Jews or the West looked down on dark-skinned people. Some people see those people, in this case those with mental dissabilities, as inferior.

[† Jack † Jesus Saves †]

I don't know a lot about it, but from my experience it's been turned into a meme, because every other sheltered/coddled kid that overshares on the troll sites (like 4chan, and areas of reddit) identifies himself as autism spectrum. So they will do outrageous stuff and then point to their psychiatric label as an excuse. if you google autism meme and dig deeper you'll find some older and very notable examples where this started becoming a part of the internet meme culture.

I liken it to throwing around the term schizo, when schizophrenia is an actual catchall diagnosis to loosely describe a wide variety of symptoms, some of which are very serious.

I wouldn't let it bother me man, if you or a close relative has such a diagnosis, it's just a meme, could even be that it's a meme because people with fullblown autism aren't really able to lay on the internet all day and yell at their mommy when she gets the chicken tendies order wrong, so in my limited experience I think a part of the meme is that the noteworthy self-proclaimed "autists" appear to be using it as an excuse for bad behavior.

I've only had limited exposure to this selection of memes, and /pol/ people, hope this sheds some light.

[Geara_Doga_Flakes]

Originally posted by Col. Jack O'Neill SG-1:

I don't know a lot about it, but from my experience it's been turned into a meme, because every other sheltered/coddled kid that overshares on the troll sites (like 4chan, and areas of reddit) identifies himself as autism spectrum. So they will do outrageous stuff and then point to their psychiatric label as an excuse. if you google autism meme and dig deeper you'll find some older and very notable examples where this started becoming a part of the internet meme culture.

I liken it to throwing around the term schizo, when schizophrenia is an actual catchall diagnosis to loosely describe a wide variety of symptoms, some of which are very serious.

I wouldn't let it bother me man, if you or a close relative has such a diagnosis, it's just a meme, could even be that it's a meme because people with fullblown autism aren't really able to lay on the internet all day and yell at their mommy when she gets the chicken tendies order wrong, so in my limited experience I think a part of the meme is that the noteworthy self-proclaimed "autists" appear to be using it as an excuse for bad behavior.

I've only had limited exposure to this selection of memes, and /pol/ people, hope this sheds some light.

I doubt you understand. Me and my brother have autism. How is it a meme if me and my brother have to deal with autism every day of our lives?
It's much more than an excuse for bad behavior. The really sad part is that people with autism are very intelligent (I know this firsthand), but a lot of them can't speak at all because they're experiencing sensory overload every day of their lives.

[Geara_Doga_Flakes]

Originally posted by DiscipleofYahweh:

Originally posted by Tykylo:

I doubt you understand. Me and my brother have autism. How is it a meme if me and my brother have to deal with autism every day of our lives?
It's much more than an excuse for bad behavior. The really sad part is that people with autism are very intelligent (I know this firsthand), but a lot of them can't speak at all because they're experiencing sensory overload every day of their lives.

People dont' understand that though, and people love making memes because LOL OMG THAT'S HILARIOUS...

People don't stop to see how others feel, what it does, how it hurts, etc. They just want a "good time" and if it hurts someone "oh well get over it lololololol"....and it infuriates me to no end, but honestly....the only thing you can do is to do as Christ said.

Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who spitefully use you. Forgive them and move on.

I can't imagine what you go through, nor will I try to say "I understand" because since I'm not Autistic I can't understand that pain or humiliation of someone making fun of you. All I know to say is that it is NOT okay for others to make fun of you and I love you brother.

Thank you for the kind words.

[† Jack † Jesus Saves †]

Originally posted by Tykylo:

Originally posted by Col. Jack O'Neill SG-1:

I don't know a lot about it, but from my experience it's been turned into a meme, because every other sheltered/coddled kid that overshares on the troll sites (like 4chan, and areas of reddit) identifies himself as autism spectrum. So they will do outrageous stuff and then point to their psychiatric label as an excuse. if you google autism meme and dig deeper you'll find some older and very notable examples where this started becoming a part of the internet meme culture.

I liken it to throwing around the term schizo, when schizophrenia is an actual catchall diagnosis to loosely describe a wide variety of symptoms, some of which are very serious.

I wouldn't let it bother me man, if you or a close relative has such a diagnosis, it's just a meme, could even be that it's a meme because people with fullblown autism aren't really able to lay on the internet all day and yell at their mommy when she gets the chicken tendies order wrong, so in my limited experience I think a part of the meme is that the noteworthy self-proclaimed "autists" appear to be using it as an excuse for bad behavior.

I've only had limited exposure to this selection of memes, and /pol/ people, hope this sheds some light.

I doubt you understand. Me and my brother have autism. How is it a meme if me and my brother have to deal with autism every day of our lives?
It's much more than an excuse for bad behavior. The really sad part is that people with autism are very intelligent (I know this firsthand), but a lot of them can't speak at all because they're experiencing sensory overload every day of their lives.

Let's back up a minute.

Obviously there is a lot of evil in this dark world, people setting kittens on fire and beating old homeless people to death for sport... are there people that genuinely hate people just because they are autistic? Probably so.

Now as for the meme, I showed you the example of throwing around the word schizo, and people throw around this word without considering the plight of people who genuinely exhibit schizophrenia symptoms.

It is a meme, I understand if you feel that this is unfair, or cold, but you seemed to be wondering why so many people hate autistic people, well I have the happy news that they do not really hate autistic people. They are merely repeating a set of memes, without considering the consequences to the people who have that genuine diagnosis. To a lesser degree it's like ADD/ADHD, this diagnosis is also kind of memey now, even to the point that it's popular for people to self-diagnose on the spot.

Some memes are kind of inappropriate, I would call this site PG-13 minimum just to be safe, but I did scan over this particular entry and it doesn't seem to be lewd etc:
http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/autism

If you are only looking for sympathy? Hey, I sympathize and will also gladly pray for you and your house, but it appeared to me that you wanted to know why this was so prevalent on the internet, now you know. That link is only the bottom tier entry, there are probably hundreds of memes related to it.

[[CG]Chaplain Bradley]

Originally posted by Tykylo:

Why?

Sin.

[Mr_C_]

Originally posted by Col. Jack O'Neill SG-1:

It is a meme, I understand if you feel that this is unfair, or cold, but you seemed to be wondering why so many people hate autistic people, well I have the happy news that they do not really hate autistic people. They are merely repeating a set of memes, without considering the consequences to the people who have that genuine diagnosis. To a lesser degree it's like ADD/ADHD, this diagnosis is also kind of memey now, even to the point that it's popular for people to self-diagnose on the spot.

Reminds me of some encounters I've experienced in the real world as an autistic adult.

The most recent was around 3 years ago. I met an attractive woman and asked her out to lunch. We went to a Subway sandwich shop. During the conversation, we flirted, and she made some comment about being sorry for being so ADD or something. I said, "That's ok; I'm autistic." I think she took offense.

Even further back than that, I was a floor supervisor at a 411 call center. I was standing behind an operator while she was seated at a computer terminal taking calls. My mind started to wander, and when that happens I tend to start swaying back and forth - I generally control myself in public to keep from doing stuff like that. She looked up at me and asked, "What are you doing?" I said, "Oh, I was just having an autistic moment." She got offended and said, "That's not funny! You can't say things like that!" I replied, "Why not? I AM autistic, and I was having a moment. It's ok."

The thing is, I KNOW who I am, and for a long long time I was confused, depressed, and suicidal because I didn't know or understand why people are the way they are. When the possibility of being autistic came up, it explained so much (my son had been diagnosed not long before) and I "got woke," as the SJWs like to say. As a Christian, I know that God made me this way for a purpose; I don't have to understand what the purpose is, but I know it's out there. Maybe my purpose is to pick apart the details of a thing, since I seem to do that a lot.

I don't make a big deal about it, and I think this is the first time I've mentioned it in this group, because it's not society's job to adapt to me; it's my job to adapt to society. The reason why people get offended when I claim (truthfully) to be autistic is because I do such a good job of blending in with society that I must be joking about it and making fun of the REAL autistic people. The fact is, I've studied autism and can generally pick out who has a high probability of being autistic based on common characteristics and how to best help them cope and learn. Oddly, people who are "addicted" (alcohol, drugs, sex, etc.) appear to artificially induce autism through their obsession with dopamine, because they share characteristics common to the autism spectrum.

Don't worry about what others think of you, and if you can't help but worry, then try to find a different set of people to hang out with. The Christian who made jokes at others' expense just hasn't realized that we are ALL made in God's image, even us autistic ones. Just keep your eyes on Him and you will make it.

[† Jack † Jesus Saves †]

@chyatt
The irony, she(the operator) thought you were memeing :)

[Mr_C_]

Originally posted by Col. Jack O'Neill SG-1:

@chyatt
The irony, she(the operator) thought you were memeing :)

LOL yeah . . . and I didn't keep it a secret at work, either. I just never talked about it much outside of my supervisor peers.

From my viewpoint, the only reason one could be ashamed of for having a cognitive disorder, is using it as an excuse for antisocial behavior. (ANTIsocial, not Asocial; people tend to confuse the two.) If you're acting bad and get called on it, change your behavior. If you don't think you can, become asocial and remove yourself from society until you figure it out.

Easier said than done, though. Society usually does the weeding for us; statistics show that over 50% of incarcerated people have mental health issues, and I knew a few guys in prison who fit the characteristics for being autistic.

[Corv]

Some people just don't like autists, others may make fun of autists not knowing they actually have autism, others (most people on the internet) are not talking seriously and just do black humour, and others call other people "autists" to call them dumb, but not to make fun of autism.

[Gray Matter Guerrilla]

Some people are a-holes - that simple. Hurting others - emotionally or physically - makes them feel better.

You can take these negative experiences and turn them into a positive though. When I was a kid, I was short and skinny. Easy target for bullies. Thankfully I had terrific parents that told me to defend myself when needed. This was before the hyper-sensitive "anti-bullying" politically correct crap today (which is itself a form of bullying), so I had it a little easier than kids today.

Regardless, I could have gone down the negative path of depression, feeling sorry for myself, etc., but instead I chose to learn and benefit from it. I stood up for myself b/c when the crap hits the fan, there really is only you (and God) there to help you. Sometimes loved ones arent around to help; sometimes loved ones won't help. I thank God for my bad days as a kid b/c it made me mentally tough (and most likely physically tough too). Now, at 6'2 and 190 lbs, there are few people today who believe they can "bully" me now and it's not just b/c of my stature.

Learn from the bad experiences and gain an edge in life. ;)

[Kaiyal]

There is a man named Garrett Russell of Silent Planet who talks about the corruptness of society and gives a clear indication of what we should be like to people with disabilities or diseases, there new album everything was sound, every song is a bout a different disability like ptsd or the plague of religion and he explains how we should fix that by love through Jesus Christ I would recommend looking up his song analysis's :)

[Mr_C_]

Originally posted by Chalk Silhouette Society:

Some people are a-holes - that simple. Hurting others - emotionally or physically - makes them feel better.

I have found, in all my experiences, that it is generally human (sin) nature to want to find someone who is lesser than oneself to make oneself feel better about one's place/situation/etc. in life.

As a good corollary to that, though, is the idea that no matter how bad you think you have it, someone else has it worse. That helps to put things into perspective.

Back to the phone operator days . . . We had an operator who was in a wheelchair. She had had one leg amputated at the knee from cancer and suffered from fibromyalgia. Some days I saw her at a terminal taking calls with tears streaming down her face from the pain. I asked her once if she took something for it, and she said the only thing that helped was oxycontin, and she couldn't take that and still be able to perform her job, so she refused to take it, choosing to work through her shift in intense pain instead.

As I said, there's ALWAYS someone out there who has it worse than you. Find those people and cultivate those relationships and learn from them - and love them through it, too, or learn how to.

[Mr_C_]

Originally posted by ϟϟ-DoktorKrieger CL:

Some people just don't like autists, others may make fun of autists not knowing they actually have autism, others (most people on the internet) are not talking seriously and just do black humour, and others call other people "autists" to call them dumb, but not to make fun of autism.

Yeah, the irony is that I'll come back and say, "Sure, I'm autistic. What's YOUR excuse for acting like a jerk?"

But seriously, I tend to avoid people like that anyway. Life is too short to have to deal with that. I choose to comfort and help people instead.

[Bru-hah]

You guys are overanalyzing it.

That is autistic.

But I don't hate you for it.

I'm just kind enough to point that out.