April ain't even here, and I am already over it.
Thoughts on the need for Autism Awareness, how Acceptance doesn't exist apart from Awareness, and why we need to do better.
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Acceptance is reality. And society resists the beauty of our person because they aren’t fully aware of the whole of our person.
Let’s spread the word about…spreading the word. Sounds weird, right? It is. And yet, that is what our Awareness looks like.
My feelings on Autism Awareness Month are complicated, as are my feelings on all awareness days/months are complicated.
Autism awareness campaigns suck for me because awareness in general sucks. Proper awareness includes informing the world of Autism, presenting some issues you find to be challenging to the lives of those diagnosed with Autism (this could be in the form of personal anecdotes, stories, experiences, statistics, signs, symptoms, anything science related or medical, etc.), POLICY CHANGES that can improve the lives of those within this community, and point the public in the right direction for how they can ACT. You tell your community what you need them to do. You give them direction to help you in your cause. That’s awareness.
Y’all just wanna talk about red flags, how much Autism Speaks sucks, how we’re “past awareness” (we are not), share your children’s traumas as your own, marketing it as awareness, and argue over identifiers…
Is awareness bad? No. It’s badly done.
Awareness campaigns almost always look to build the community up by directly addressing the community members, filling them with love and hope and inspiration…and then the idea is to branch outward. Ain't nothing wrong with this. However, I think we can spend so much time talking to the community (specifically the online community) that already knows the gist of what goes on in their lives that there’s hardly any energy left for something substantive for those outside of the community to latch onto.
You’re still educating everyone on what your diagnosis is, what it looks like, some stats, and *maybe* what someone can do. That’s all I see all April: facts; spreadsheets; red flags; definitions; do and don't lists…over and over and over. This isn’t just reserved for the Autism community.
Over and over again, every year, we inundate the public with the same facts, spreadsheets, red flags, etc. and very little else. And last I checked, just being educated didn’t automatically make things better for us. Knowledge is a step in the process. But it isn’t the end.
Too many treat acceptance as a solution and that’s not a solution either, though it’s something I practice every single day of my life.
If done properly, can awareness be a good thing? Yes. One of the biggest things that makes little sense to me is the declaration that many won’t be “celebrating Autism Awareness” and instead will be choosing to amplify Autistic voices and organizations. That is fine and all but you sitting in my space while I run my mouth via these fingers is you being made aware of whatever it is I am speaking on. You are learning what it is that I need, how I need it, and what you can do about it. And I am going to tell you what policy changes are necessary in moving us towards liberation.
This is awareness. And it doesn’t exist apart from acceptance. Acceptance doesn’t exist apart from awareness. They don’t ride separate lanes, quit trying to tear them apart. Awareness, when done properly can be a step in the right direction towards meaningful, impactful policies that improve the quality of life for Autistic people as well as those with Autism (we use both identifiers around here).
We make so much in this community a damn battle.
A big ass versus.
Us. Them. This. That.
Y’all not tired?
I am.
Awareness. Acceptance.
Awareness vs. Acceptance.
I am disappointed in the overwhelming number of ppl who think we have outgrown the need for educating the world of our needs, supports, accommodations, and rights. Hella disappointed that so many don’t understand that to amplify my voice is awareness. Disappointed that so many think we have moved past informing the world of policy changes that are needed to make our lives better. This requires proper awareness campaigns.
I am tired of April and it ain’t even here.
Are Awareness months problematic? Yes, but not in the way that many in this community would think. Honestly, I don’t know if many are even thinking about specifically why they find these months to be bad.
Awareness days/months are a problem that disguises themselves as solutions. Thought is not the same as action. Present awareness campaigns promote thought as an acceptable means of action. Like okay, you got these people thinking about you...now what?
We are already seeing the same posts. The same stats. The same anger. The same “screw Autism Speaks.” The same “majority prefers…” The same everything. And if I am seeing the same thing over and over again with no real substance or calls to action, those who need to receive these messages the most are as well.
The general public, which for some reason, many people within this community seem to think we don’t actually need (just odd, wrong, and loud with it), is pumped so full of the same things every April that they feel good enough with just whiffing the material and doing little else. They have seen it all before and they feel they know enough at this point.
They conflate listening with action and we are more than willing to be okay with them feeling as such. They don’t do much because much isn’t required of them. They’ll share a post, maybe a few words, talk about their “little cousin who has Autism,” toss a few dollars at an organization, but won’t move much beyond that.
Narcotizing Dysfunction is the theory that the public is pumped with so much information on the same issue that they become apathetic to it. They consume more than they act. They’ll equate being knowledgeable about an issue with taking action to address it.
Never thought I would say this, but I think y'all spending so much time listening and reading that y'all ain't got no time for action. Or, y'all don't know what the hell to do. All this information about something and not a thing to do about it. Or rather, not a thing you're willing to do about it because you think being made aware of an issue is the same as doing something about it. Oh, y'all might discuss some courses of action, might even plan something, but ultimately do nothing (or very little because very little is required of you) because you are perfectly content with holding the knowledge of an issue and not channeling it into purposeful decisions about getting actively involved. And then...y'know, getting actively involved.
And for the most part, y’all cool with that.
And y’all ain’t supposed to be.
I fully support acceptance. Always. But to treat it as an endgame is something I am not ready to do. Too many think of awareness and acceptance as two competing mindsets that can never work together, that can never inform one another, that can never fuel one another. And then too many treat acceptance as something that once we obtain all will be right with the world.
Acceptance will most definitely work hand in hand with awareness. They don’t need to compete with one another. Advocacy is a process. It’s hard enough. Why are we making it harder?
Acceptance is reality. And society resists the beauty of our person because they aren’t fully aware of the whole of our person.
And we'll sit within the same pocket each and every single April. Focusing on one part of who we are and then hyper-focusing on the same things within that one part. The same posts. The same shares. The same...everything.
Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
For a whole month.
You don’t demand tangible, substantive, and meaningful change, you will continue to not receive tangible, substantive, meaningful change. You don’t move beyond social media, you will continue to not receive tangible, substantive, meaningful change.
All these causes in the world and the public are hit with all of them, at once. It’s like the Resources Hunger Games out here. All these communities are fighting for the attention of the public and their resources to advance their mission, to promote change, and for progress towards liberation.
This is why I tell stories. This is why I share our faces. This is why I say our names. This is why I share our smiles. This is why I work offline. This is why I focus on systemic change. Policy change. Mindsets change. This is why I focus on NUANCE. Speaking only for myself, of course.
I can’t just share facts…or definitions. No symptoms, red flags, statistics. No lists of what majorities prefer that leave out so many. None of that. They have seen all of that. A million times over. I wanted to share differently. I wanted to inspire people to want to act, but I wanted them to know what I needed.
You have to tell them what you need and how to work to get it. You have to tell them why it matters. And why it should matter to them. There are only 12 months in a year, and to repeat myself, far more causes that are fighting for the attention and resources of the general public.
If I am being honest, y’all need to do the work offline a lot more. I know writing about that, and even creating an e-book about that caught me hell in the past, but I don’t care, we don’t live on social media. Change happens in the world that exists beyond your screens. Just cause your local politicians have Twitter accounts doesn’t mean that they are doing their work from there. Social media should be an arm of your work, not the heart of it.
These months fail because disability is treated as an individual issue that requires only a few to solve it. Or just one. Disability is an issue for us all and influenced by a variety of factors. Treat it as such. We wouldn’t need these months if there weren’t such a great systemic failure in the care and treatment of disabled bodies.
Our awareness campaigns need to be mindful of this.