Sharing: The #autistic medical model makes me sick

Laina Eartharcher, ,

I just had to share this!  It’s too good not to.  I agree 100%!  This is my perspective, too.  Excellent post, by an excellent writer!  ❤

Autistic Ultra

iceberg floating in water There’s more to my autistic self and experience than the medical model can conceptualize

Note: This piece is about me — and only me — it’s my deeply considered opinion, based on my own personal experience of inhabiting this planet for over half a century. You’re free to believe whatever you like about the true nature of autism. But this is my stance (right now). If you disagree, write a better blog post and tell me about it. 🙂

Lately, I’ve come across a number of bloggers talking about how autism is more than just a “difference” for them. It’s a genuine disability. They suffer from it. They have family members who appear to suffer intensely from it. Autism is the source of tremendous pain and struggle for them and their loved-ones, and there is no way they’re ever going to sanction autism as a “difference”. It’s too disruptive a…

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Published by Laina Eartharcher

Feet on the ground, eyes toward the sky.

8 Comments

    1. Amen! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼. My theory is that the medical model makes these statements, and then (here’s where I get incredibly theoretical and possibly incorrect) some of the (well-meaning) community members whose lives might feel unsatisfactory to them kind of grab on and embrace the disability aspect of the Asperger’s/autism spectrum. My own experience (which is all I can really talk about with certainty) is that yes, on some days I do feel disabled, and that is colored/flavored by my Asperger’s/autism, but it’s not *because* of it (at least, not that I can tell); it’s more often triggered by lack of sleep, excess stress, low blood sugar, a grieving process, etc. My Asperger’s/autism spectrum might delay my grief processing, or make my ability to tell if I’m sleep-deprived or hungry a little tougher, but I would say that it’s not the Asperger’s/autism that is my problem; it just alters how I might otherwise experience the ups and downs of life. Since I do handle these ups and downs differently, because I’m on the spectrum, I might need different accommodations or a different understanding than non-Autistic people might, but meh, I usually see my Asperger’s/autism as more of an asset in my job and even sometimes in my relationships than it is a disability. I think that at worst, the disability-centered movement might only inadvertently play right into the hands of the medical model, and against the concept of neurodiversity, for neurodiversity says, by definition, that there’s no right way to be, and that there’s nothing wrong with us just because we’re different 😊. In other words, I totally agree with you 😉😁👍🏼👍🏼💞💜

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      1. I would totally agree with all of that. Also all these diagonoses come from people not living with the condition and that’s why they are so limited and very ignorant to my mind. They leave out so many diverse factors that go to make up precious human beings all with our unique characters, colours and spectrums. Big love to you ❤

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        1. A-freaking-men to this!! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼. Limited and ignorant indeed! I think things would be very different–and probably much better–if the clinicians just listened to us instead of making suppositions 💜💙. Big love to you too! 😘😘🌺💖

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