Any time someone talks about “exciting research in Autism treatment and cures” this is where my mind goes.
While the eugenics movement was especially gruesome in the Third Reich, you don‘t have to go all the way back to the 1940s. Some states in the USA practiced systematic sterilization until the 1980s.
It’s always so much fun playing the game of “Torture or Eugenics?” on those articles /s 🙃
God forbid we do research into, say, improving design to increase accessibility and reduce the physical pain of sensory overload in public spaces - e.g., alternatives to fluorescent lighting, acoustics etc.
Or adjustments to nutritional and lifestyle recommendations for autistic people (if the research shows it), taking into account common comorbidities like digestive and connective tissue disorders.
Or broadening therapy standards beyond ABA or CBT. Or just fucking anything that improves the actual QoL for autistic people instead of making nazis more comfortable.
Side rant: CBT worsened my comorbidities as I already over-rationalize everything and it sent me down a spiral that nearly led to me being hospitalized. Telling me to “question my logic” or “focus on sensations” to get further into my own head was actively harmful.
Some Autistic parent: “How can I help my kid with Autism?”
My sarcasm that I know I can’t say out loud: “just take them to the vet have have them put down”
I make some really dark jokes from time to time.
Vet: “Soo… what do you want me to do?”
Mother: “Just put him down.”
Vet: *Puts him on the floor.
Mother: “Thanks!”
Mother: *Leaves with her child.
I’m glad autism doesn’t have a “cure”, because I’m sure it would’ve been used to eugenics autism out of existence.
I don’t need no cure. I like me.
A moonlit hike with something comfortable for the cold?
