Browsed by
Category: Language

(Neuro)Queering Medical Rhetoric: The Case Against Autism Functioning Labels

(Neuro)Queering Medical Rhetoric: The Case Against Autism Functioning Labels

Comments 1 comment

TL;DR appears post-script. First and fore-most, let me say that functioning labels are not formal medical or clinical terms with regard to autism. They are not formally recognized medical conditions them-selves, and the DSM (or what i ironize as “the clinician’s dictionary”) no longer recognizes “low- or high-functioning autism” as official classifications (note that they were actually never diagnoses). This distinction is necessary (in my opinion) when philosophizing about issues of “good and bad” (in this case, whether or not…

Read More Read More

A Movie Changed My Life

A Movie Changed My Life

Comments 2 comments

Content Warning: trauma, suicide, death, drug use, abandonment, spoilers I have a vivid memory of the first time i watched the 2009 Australian claymation film Mary and Max. I had recently turned 18, and one of my great friends had died suddenly earlier that year from health complications they were unaware of. Mary and Max played on a relatively old CRT-TV in the basement of the house of a friend (whom i didn’t care too much for). I sat watching…

Read More Read More

(Self) Diagnosis and the Paradox of Pathology

(Self) Diagnosis and the Paradox of Pathology

Comments 4 comments

I used to believe that if i couldn’t understand my-self, perhaps someone more familiar with my experiences could. I still do (to a degree), but now i put more belief in my ability to gain self-awareness and the power that that self-awareness has in helping me find the support i need. Although it may also come from a place of ignorance and/or misguidance, i believe the field of psychology wields diagnostic authority as a means of harnessing and maintaining control…

Read More Read More

The Case For and Against The Office (U.S.)

The Case For and Against The Office (U.S.)

Comments 1 comment

The internet is rife with blog- and forum-posts on the pathologization of characters in the U.S. TV series The Office, specifically regarding autism spectrum dis-order (ASD). From Michael to Angela to (the most common) Dwight, ASD stereotypes have been applied to the behaviors of these beloved characters (by autists and allists alike) to argue for or against their likeness to autists. Indeed, every character on the show has been pathologized by internet users in one way or another. One reason…

Read More Read More

ABA: Good Intentions Are Not Good Enough

ABA: Good Intentions Are Not Good Enough

Comments 2 comments

Content Warning: trauma, forced compliance, gaslighting When i graduated from university with my b.a. in psychology and human sexuality, i had been in school for 19 consecutive years. By that point, and in spite of my valiant effort to avoid burn-out (by taking my higher education slowly), my candle was burnt at both ends from the oppressive “color-within-the-lines” antiquities of the draconian U.S. public school system. (Clearly bitter; i attribute much of my suffering throughout my education to the [dangerous]…

Read More Read More

Why Starving Autist?

Why Starving Autist?

Comments 0 Comment

Content Warning: dis-ordered eating Why not The Starving Autist?I’m sure i’m not the only one. Why not A Starving Autist?Starving Autist looks and sounds better (to me). Why Starving?I’ve always hated food, and i’ve always been “under-weight” (a word i now give little weight). I have distinct memories (equally hilarious and troublesome) of both (1) hiding food around the house when no one was looking and (2) being the last one at the dinner-table, my plate still full and my…

Read More Read More

Myself. My-self. My Self.

Myself. My-self. My Self.

Comments 0 Comment

I’m an alien from inner space.– Jamila Woods Things stick with me. When i wash my hands, the line from the HBO series Westworld about the mechanicality (i also love making up words) of soap inevitably manifests in my mind. When my dog kisses me, i am inevitably (and immediately) reminded of Cat Stevens’ I Love My Dog, which begins to play inside my head. When i am given a play-by-play, i recall from the film 13 Going On 30 the (hilarious) line, Do whatever you…

Read More Read More