this post was submitted on 30 Nov 2024
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me_irl
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Neurodivergence is not mental illness. The rest of us were talking about mental illness which is an entirely different topic.
You have to be very careful with this. Neurodivergence is a spectrum and while some of the symptomatic behaviors are definitely mild things that society should probably just learn to accept and accommodate-- other cause real damage and make it impossible for the patient to live a satisfying life.
This is especially true with ASD, where the "highest" functioning patients might just be harmlessly quirky, but other patients with the same diagnosis on paper (important for insurance and legislation) aren't able to express themselves and might not even be potty trained, or able to dress themselves.
Saying that we "shouldn't try to change people with Autism, society should just adapt" provides cover for politicians and health insurance companies to cut the very expensive therapies that help mold young children and enable them to achieve what they want out of life.
The fact is that we all have to change a little to accommodate society. Humans don't spring from the womb talking, wearing clothes, and using the toilet. Society isn't going to adapt to allowing my wife's patient who likes to rip off all of their clothes and masturbate at the grocery store to do so. And now, because of the online discourse of "Neurodivergence isn't a mental illness", politicians are trying to cut my wife's funding. After all, why would you spend tens of thousands of euros per child if their illness isn't even real?
Noted :( i wasn’t aware that language was currently being legislated around and i have always been very pro- both social and medical models of disability
all i meant to do was indicate how far acrid falcon had drifted from the conversation. the post and most discussion was consistently referring to i.e. depression and anxiety, so it was confusing for someone to come in and talk about an entirely different context of mental health
No worries, I've also become super sensitive to this ever since the discourse started spilling out into actual healthcare legislation here. Before it was easy to give people the benefit of the doubt, or to shrug it off as strangers online who don't know what they're talking about, but now I feel obligated to speak up just in case. Thanks for your understanding and for having a calm discussion about it.
Fiddles said it much more nuanced, and smarter than I could have. Neurodivergence is mental illness to some people... And I don't like those people
ok gross bye
What! Why??