“If autism isn’t caused by environmental factors and is natural why didn’t we ever see it in the past?”
We did, except it wasn’t called autism it was called “Little Jonathan is a r*tarded halfwit who bangs his head on things and can’t speak so we’re taking him into the middle of the cold dark forest and leaving him there to die.”
Or “little Jonathan doesn’t talk but does a good job herding the sheep, contributes to the community in his own way, and is, all around, a decent guy.” That happened a lot, too, especially before the 19th century.
Or, backing up FURTHER
and lots of people think this very likely,
“Oh little Sionnat has obviously been taken by the fairies and they’ve left us a Changeling Child who knows too much, and asks strange questions, and uses words she shouldn’t know, and watches everything with her big dark eyes, clearly a Fairy Child and not a Human Like Us.”
The Myth of the Changeling child, a human baby apparently replaced at a young age by a toddler who “suddenly” acts “strange and fey” is an almost textbook depiction of autistic children.
To this day, “autism warrior mommies” talk about autism “stealing” their “sweet normal child” and have this idea of “getting their real baby back” which (in the face of modern science) indicates how the human psyche actually does deal with finding out their kid acts unlike what they expected.
Given this evidence, and how common we now know autism actually is, the Changeling myth is almost definitely the result of people’s confusion at the development of autistic children.
Weirdly enough, that legend is now comforting to me.
I think it’s worth noting that many like me, who are diagnosed with ASD now, would probably have been seen as just a bit odd in centuries past. I’m only a little bit autistic; I can pass for neurotypical for short periods if I work really hard at it. I have a lack of talent in social situations, and I’m prone to sensory overload or you might notice me stimming.
But here’s the thing: life is louder, brighter and more intense and confusing than it has ever been. I live on the edge of London and I rarely go into the centre of town because it’s too overwhelming. If I went back in time and lived on a farm somewhere, would anyone even notice there was anything odd about me? No police sirens, no crowded streets that go on for miles and miles, no flickery electric lights. Working on a farm has a clear routine. I’d be a badass at spinning cloth or churning butter because I find endless repetition soothing rather than boring.
I’m not trying to romanticise the past because I know it was hard, dirty work with a constant risk of premature death. I don’t actually want to be a 16th century farmer! What I’m saying is that disability exists in the context of the environment. Our environment isn’t making people autistic in the sense of some chemical causing brain damage. But we have created a modern environment which is hostile to autistic people in many ways, which effectively makes us more disabled. When you make people more disabled, you start to see more people struggling, failing at school because they’re overwhelmed, freaking out at the sound of electric hand dryers and so on. And suddenly it looks like there’s millions more autistic people than existed before.
“…disability exists in the context of the environment.”
Reblog for disability commentary.
That last paragraph is absolutely important.
“How come nobody ever heard of ‘dyslexia’ until widespread literacy became a thing?”
if i was a shapeshifter, half of my time would be spent making myself look androgynous and trimming up the things about my shape I’m not happy with, and half of my time would be spent making my teeth look just a little bit sharper than is normal, changing my eye-color subtly between slightly unsettling shades, and giving myself an intricate “tattoo” that just barely moves every couple of hours, until it’s in a whole new shape next time you look at me.
Hey, do you know that feeling of hitching up a long skirt so you don’t fall on your face when walking upstairs, and then you immediately become a wretched yet resolute Jane Austen character? It’s a universal thing, right?
It’s like resting a laundry basket against your hip and suddenly you’re a long-suffering peasant woman, wondering if you’ll survive the winter.
a shawl wrapped around the shoulders and you’re wandering the moors in a Brönte novel, feeling melancholic
Looking out the window at the rain and you’re a love-stricken newlywed wondering when your husband will return from the war.
Long skirt billowing behind you while to go down the stairs, you’re a proper Lady in a flowing ball gown being introduced at a fancy social function.
Hair blowing in the wind and suddenly you’re hovering on a cliff by the sea, staring out into the waves and praying your merchant husband will return from his voyage across the ocean
Hood up against the rain and wind and you’re a medieval abbess defying the weather and travelling on foot with your people to find a place to establish a new community.
READ!! THIS IS MY LAST CHANCE!!!! (This is all I have!!)
My health is actually failing. I’m not being dramatic when I say I could die If I don’t get the medical help I need.
I suffer from chronic illnesses (a rare version of MTHFR HOMOZYGOUS, HIT, DEEP VEIN THROMBOSIS, AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE + more) and I am disabled and trans. I am jobless due to my illnesses and I am currently without any necessary resources to survive, be healthy, stable, or safe..
I have a rare blood clotting disease that causes me to be at the HIGHEST RISK possible to have a heart attack, aneurysm, or stroke. This disease has also resulted in multiple major surgeries, and countless other major procedures that have left me with debilitating chronic pain and other disabilities (limited use of my dominate arm, and even tasks like sweeping leave my arms in immense pain). I have two stints in my chest keeping my main vein open to my right arm so the blood can flow to it. And it still has trouble flowing back which causes swelling and excruciating pain in my arm. The main vein in my chest has been patched and dissected from a vein from my thigh because the veins in my right arm and chest are so damaged they weren’t able to save much. I had to get a rib removed because it was pinching my vein and causing clotting during which damaged a lot of muscles in my chest and shoulder causing even more chronic pain. They also wired my chest shut.
So I NEED to have access to good health care. I’m chronically ill with horrible and scary diseases. I’ve already almost died three times, and have been on my death bed twice.. I’m in and out of hospitals constantly, they don’t have the resources to help. I NEED HELP. I NEED TO LEAVE AND MOVE IN ORDER TO SURVIVE!!! Please fucking help me!! Boost my links, donate whatever! I’m grateful for anything !!
I DON’T WANT TO DIE I’ve been fighting for my life since I was 16. I’m taking my health seriously and using the little bit of energy that I have to get shit done.
I’m honestly only asking for the bare minimum of what I need to move, and for rent…
I’m trying to move to Colorado to escape (my abuser and stalker that I have a really traumatic history with. Violence and including assaults) I’m stuck in my hometown right now in northern MN. Where I’m at right now IS NOT safe for me and I NEED to leave..
My friend in Colorado has a place that I can move into ASAP, I just need first and last months rent. I have to move this month or she has to find a different roommate because of her own financial situation, so this is my ONE and only lucky chance!! I NEED to move to Colorado for access to better health care (to keep me alive), and for my own safety.. This is VITAL for my health (mentally and physically).
PLEASE DONATE OR BOOST MY LINKS!!!
NOW IS THE TIME TO SHOW YOUR SUPPORT AND BE AN ALLY !! ALSO PLEASE READ AND SHARE MY STORY/LINKS!! REPOST, & REBLOG!! Copy and paste my links & story & share on ALL your social media’s (twitter, Facebook, tumblr and Instagram!!!!) it helps me so much !
If you donate, message me so I can thank you personally !!! Thank you ♥️
Please help this person get the safety they deserve.
Please help this human get the help he needs.
I STILL NEED HELP!! I only have days left!!!
Signal boost!
Please help Yves! If you can’t donate, please reblog. This is literally life or death.
IM RUNNING OUT OF TIME AND IM SO STRESSED! PLEASE, PLEASE, donate ANYTHING, and BOOST!!
This is ALL I HAVE AND IM LITERALLY JUST TRYING TO SURVIVE!!!
signal boost
everyone who encounters this
STOP SCROLLING
reblog
I only have like 36 hours left!!!!!!!please help me !!! Please !!
I only have one day left !!!! Please help me!!!
I NEED TO SURVIVE. I NEED TO MOVE. I NEED TO BE SAFE
//Instead of donating to my ko-fi (which a lot of you have been doing and I’m so grateful and can actually get the medication I need this month, so I’m good), please please donate to Yves. Living with chronic disease in an unsafe environment is terrifying. There’s a way out for him.
please help him. he deserves to live. everyone deserves to live and he’s got the roughest end of things. if anyone wants to donate, ill do a drawing or tarot/pendulum reading for you. please help him.
PLEASE HELP ME !! I NEED YOUR HELP!
IM AO STRESSED PLEASE, ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING COUNTS!! ♥️
He has LESS THAN 24 HOURS LEFT AS OF TODAY 12/11 SO PLEASE SIGNAL BOOST AND DONATE WHATEVER YOU CAN!!!
If you see this, stop, and re blog. If you have even a few dollars you can spare, please help him!
