 Good afternoon, Asperger's Legion. Welcome back to the Asperger's Growth YouTube channel with your host, Mr Thomas Henley, the Aspie next door. Hey. Terrible. Absolutely terrible. Today we are going to be talking about Autism Language. We're not talking about the general difficulties around language for many autistic people. That would be a separate video. So if you're thinking about that, maybe go check out a different video. The reason why I'm putting this list together, the reason why I'm doing this video is because I've received a lot of messages from people who are autistic, either like diagnosed or just getting into the social media realm that we have. And they go on to these places trying to do good work, trying to raise autism awareness, trying to share their experience. But they use some very outdated terms. They use some terms that people don't like. And for a lot of them, it can cause them to be the subjective hate of bullying online. Some of these things will be an absolute lifesaver for you. I'm going to be talking about ableism, functioning labels, Aspies. But we're also going to be talking about identity first language, stimming and neurodiversity. All these things are what I deem to be important things to understand, important concepts to know the background behind, important things to know if you're thinking of getting into the world of autism. This is the video for you and we're going to be talking about those key things. At its core definition, ableism is the discrimination of disabled people from able-bodied people. Now, this is a term that has generally stemmed from disability rights, things to do with physical disabilities. But it has in more modern terms been applied to autism. I've seen a lot more use of the word ableism lately. It's not something that I generally use, but it is something that I've seen more of. Ableism is rooted, rooted in the idea that disabled people need fixing, that a disability defines a person. These are two common examples or common ways of thinking about what ableism is beyond that core definition. Examples of ableism could be not complying to disability rights, not making events places accessible to disabled people. There are a lot of ways that ableism can be used as a term, segregating disabled people into different schools, and just outright mocking people for being disabled. These are all things that would come under the ableism category, and it is not a good thing. It's not like we need to promote ableism. It's very much the opposite. We don't want it. I guess one of the more suitable examples and possibly a little bit extreme example of ableism would be the past history of eugenics. Now, if you don't know, eugenics was basically a movement to rid the population of unfavorable genes. You're going to see these little bad boys out a few times because I cannot say them without them. They're also just quoted in a very unfriendly way to my channel. Eugenics really focused around ridding the world of disability. It's something that has been employed in history in a particular atrocity that I'm not going to talk about. As with any social-based term, it's always a little bit ambiguous. The lines are a bit blurred. Ableism can be expressed in many, many different ways as other autistic advocates have posted on, especially on Instagram, things that I've seen. I guess a more nuanced and known about example would be parading autistic people for tear-jerking content. I call it awe. It's awe content, something that people can go awe, that's so nice, that's so heartwarming and wholesome. It happens a lot, but the thing is autism is only really paraded like that, unless a celebrity is talking about it in some ways maybe positive, love ways probably negative. Functioning labels! Yes, everybody's favorite topic. There has been so many controversies online, so much hate and so much bullying and fighting and all sorts over these labels. Basically, functioning labels has come out of the medical realm, the psychological analytical realm. It's something that is rooted in science and it's generally thought that putting people into these categories allows people in social care and people who are doing like psychology and people like OTs and stuff like that, so that they can group people and figure out how much support a person would need. Which I guess for an outsider's perspective, what's the problem with that? The problem is, as you will hear in many of these points, there is a difficulty when science clashes with social progression. It turns out not many people like being called low functioning. It's a little bit degrading, you know? No one wants to be called low functioning and on the flip side of that coin, no one wants to be called high functioning because that person may be dealing with a lot, a lot of stuff. They may have a lot of the negative aspects of being autistic and so saying that they're high functioning, so it puts a label on them, it sort of minimizes their negative experiences and reduces people's urgency in supporting them, which is a really big problem. For me, personally, it has been a little bit of a difficult topic because not using functioning labels sort of excludes, sort of creates a bottleneck for people wanting to learn more about autism. It sounds very complex for an onlooker, you know, like if you're just getting into, I don't know, learning about EDS, you've got no idea what it is and someone comes at you and says you should not call this, this and that. So people have short attention spans these days, like if something's too complex, they might just click off it, maybe just look somewhere else for information on it and if it's still too complex, they may just give up altogether. And also, there has been a recent change in the diagnostic statistical manual, I believe it was around 2014, maybe 2015, they removed a lot of the subgroupings of an autism diagnosis. You may have heard of things like Asperger's syndrome, BDD Noss child with disintegrated disorder, classic autism, those are kind of terms that used to be used for people and generally distinguish different groups. If I was going to apply labels for anybody who doesn't understand what I'm talking about, I'm not doing it, but generally Asperger's would be, you know, sort of more high functioning classical autism would be sort of more low functioning requiring a lot of support and such. The difficulty around that is that, how do you subgroup people, like my experience of autism is very vastly different, someone who is in full-time care, who is non-verbal, who can't communicate their wants and needs to a very high degree, have poor motor functioning, have a lot of disruptive or aggressive behaviors. You know, there's a lot of differences between my experience and someone who would be considered to have maybe classic autism. And so there's a lot of tension around that. It's important not to talk about it, because if you talk about it in any way and you don't explain what your point and you don't eloquently explain it, then you are at risk of people getting upset at you and possibly harassing you for it. I am indeed putting myself at risk for hate for this, but I think it's important to sort of highlight where these things come from and why you shouldn't use these labels in modern-day society. Numero three, Mr Aspie. Aspie World. How are you doing, Dan? I hope you're watching this. Anyway, Aspie is at its very root. It is a shorthand bogdan. What's the right word? I can't even remember the right word for it. Aspie is a shortened word for a person who identifies as having Asperger's syndrome. See, I said having. I can never get it right. The word plays real. It's sometimes a struggle. A person who identifies as being of the Asperger's variety. Yes, that is an Aspie. It is a shortened word and it has been used for a long time, but very recently it has not been used. Partly that's because of the DSM. As I've said, it's no longer a thing that people diagnose, which is annoying. But if you have been diagnosed with Asperger's prior to this change, then you still keep that diagnosis. Just a little bit of an info tip for you there. Basically, the reason why this has been removed, the word Aspie is perhaps not the best term, is because people relate Asperger's syndrome to its creator. Hans Asperger, of course, the Nazi scientist. People don't like to have a word that's associated with him. They don't want it. Which is, I guess, on some levels understandable. But I like the word Aspie. I think in some ways we've reclaimed the Asperger's syndrome. We've reclaimed it as Aspie. I don't see it as a problem. To be honest, I do get people messaging me saying that either my documentary Asperger's in society or Asperger's growth is a little outdated and triggering, as some people have mentioned. But to be honest, I think this one is a lot to do with personal opinion. There's no 100% consensus on any of these things. But Aspie is kind of in the middle. If you're starting up a new advocacy profile or social media account or YouTube account or podcast, maybe don't use the word Aspie. Use Autie, something like that. But don't go out of your way to change anything. It's not a bad thing, really. Number four. Yeah, I didn't see that coming, did you? Identity first language. What does it mean? The best way to explain identity first language is to give you an example. A person likes to be called or likes to be referred to as an autistic person. Autistic being the label, person being the second thing. Terrible explanations here on the Asperger's growth channel, but at least I'm consistent with them. Identity first language is, as I've said with all these, I guess, more of a relatively new thing. The opposite of that, identity second language, a person with autism, is kind of rooted in a lot of outdated views on what autism is. Generally, you have two models, two general models. I mean, you could get into the specifics of it, but there are two general models. One being the medical model of disability, something that is not desirable and that causes people to have bad lives, something that causes them disability. On the other side, you have something called the social model of disability, which is about how a different person interacts with the environment. For example, the social structures that we have in place, in schools, in workplaces, in social norms, in any aspect of society, it's not built for autistic people. There's a lot of work to be done. There's a lot of understanding to be done, and until we have cracked down on that and got to work on it and improved things, we cannot fully say that autism is disabling. I mean, it's definitely not disabling full stop. You know, quite ironically, that is a black and white approach to it, because there are a lot of things that are good and negative about autism. So you can't really put it into one category like that and call it disability and say that it needs to be improved or cured. You're going to hate that word. If you tie something so dramatically to your personality, like autism, you know, it's a condition of the mind, a difference, something that impacts your brain's development, something that changes how you feel and changes how you interact with the world and experience the world. That is, in many ways, a very staple part of who someone is. I guess a good comparison point would be my podcast with Sarah Hope, who is physically disabled as well as being autistic. She talks about the differences in that sort of person-first language. She can imagine herself being an able-bodied person, someone who could walk, but she can't imagine herself not being autistic. You know, if you took a pill that erased every shred of autism in your genetic code and your being and all that other stuff, you would be a completely different person. You would not be the same person. To many outsiders looking at this, it can be viewed as a sort of a negative thing. Why are you associating this part of yourself with your disability or something bad? Don't put a label on yourself kind of thing. It's not about putting a label on yourself. It's about acknowledging that being autistic is part of you. I think a person's propensity to use this person-first language very much bases on their experience, their exposure to advocacy, their exposure to social media, the type of groups that they're in, the type of person that they are, whether they experience a lot of the more negative sides of autism or not. There are a lot of factors that go into this, and not every single autistic person wants to use that language. Some may want to be referred to as a person with autism. They don't tie it to their personality. They see it as a struggle and a barrier. It's not something that I do. I'm an autistic person. I like being autistic, but I know that some people don't, and I have friends who don't, and they're not into this social progression stuff. Number five. I'm lifting up your hand right now. You are moving towards the like button. You are pressing your finger on the like button. Oh crap. Skit gone wrong. Oh, god damn it. Number five. Stimming. We all love stimming. We all love talking about stimming, especially in the autistic community, and it's a brilliant thing. For anybody who doesn't know, stimming is, at its very basis, repetitive actions or words or noises that autistic people do to soothe themselves, to reduce anxiety, to reduce stress, for stimulation, anything along those lines. That's what stimming is for. Now, in the past, stimming has had a negative rap, especially among parents and scientists and organisations. Stimming is something that people don't want, but the reason why people don't want it is because it looks weird. Pretty much it's not socially acceptable behaviour to do these movements. Completely ignoring the fact that people who aren't autistic do these movements. They just do different socially acceptable movements like tapping your leg or picking your teeth or your neck by your nails, or chewing gum, or fidgeting, or anything along those lines, tapping your fingers. We all do things to soothe ourselves when we're feeling anxious and stressed, but due to our different sensory profiles, you know, we tend to be more hypo and hypersensitive in different areas, and so we respond better to stims that incorporate that. For example, when I was younger, I loved to spin around in a circle. I still love to go on fairground rides. I can't spin around in a circle on one leg now that I'm six foot three. It's very dangerous for me, and if I was to fall, I would definitely injure myself. You know, I love going in the car. I love that motion. It relaxes me, and stimming can be different things to different people. It's a very individual thing. From the general consensus in the autistic community, stimming is something that is promoted, and thank God it is, because in a lot of cases, stims in a large majority of cases are not harmful to the autistic person, and they are not harmful to other people. They may look a little bit strange to someone who's not seen them before, and they may be sort of a magnet for discrimination and bullying, but as a thing, as an action, as a behavior, the only thing wrong with it in most people's eyes is that it looks strange. And is that really something to sacrifice the ability to emotionally regulate yourself and to explore perhaps your dulled or highly sensitive senses? I don't think so. I think this whole movement of incorporating stimming as part of the and autistic existence, part of something that you talk about and something that you share, we tend to have a lot of social norms, things that are acceptable and things that are not so acceptable. And those sometimes have no sort of basis in logic. It's all created, and unless there is a logical reason for it, for example, I guess a social behavior like hurting someone, obviously not a great thing. So that's not good. We should disapprove of that. That's what that's the the call message of the Asperger of Travel, not hurting people. But stimming does not harm anyone. Lastly, let's talk about neurodiversity. Sorry, the imagining SpongeBob when he makes a rainbow of his hands, you know, like Giff. You know, you know what I'm talking about. If you watch Spongy, Spongy Bob, neurodiversity is something that is thought to be relatively new, you know, a recent social progression, but actually it does have a small amount of history to it, particularly Hans Asperger was one of the first people to talk about neurodiversity and in some ways bring the public awareness to this. Many of the kids that he worked with had a lot of redeeming qualities, a lot of positives that quite often balance themselves with some of the negatives, but it's I guess it's been more popularized in recent times as a concept, as a form of diversity. Neurodiversity is the viewpoint that deficits in the human brain are actually not deficits, they are just a natural part of human diversity, diversity among the brains. It covers everything from dyspraxia to dyscalculia to autism, ADHD, Tourette's. I mean, I've got a little bit of a thing laid out here. These are some of the common things, you know, you've got bipolar up there. I don't know if bipolar should be up there actually. Probably not. I don't know. I'll have to recheck on that. But generally, autism and ADHD seem to be the core parts of neurodiversity, at least from what I've seen on social media and what I've read about. Neurodiversity is a good thing, and it wholesomely accepts the view that many, many autistic people have about autism, that they like it, that it comes, it's a very grey approach to it. You know, it comes with a lot of negatives. It comes with a lot of positives, and it's just about adjusting your existence to an autistic existence, to have a fruitful, good life. And that's what neurodiversity is about. It's about encouraging people to work with people of different brains. It's about incorporating them into social circles, about improving things, about making adjustments, about learning more about how the human experience can differ from person to person. One of the things that Professor Baron Cohen talked about was we have this concept of biodiversity, you know, the diversity among plants and animals. You know, we don't expect all plants to behave the same, nor do we need them to behave the same. In many cases, it's an asset, it's an adding to the gene pool, they bring their own good qualities, you know, some of them growing good weather. I mean, it's a very, it's very tedious, not tedious, very tenuous link. People who are diverse, neurodiverse, for example, autistic people could call themselves neurodivergent. Now, I understand where the word comes from, but it just makes me think of that divergent film, you know, with those angsty teens, you know, getting lovey-dovey with each other and finding themselves and fitting into society. I don't like the word, so I don't use it, but I know a lot of people do. The opposite of that, someone who wouldn't be considered to be autistic or have ADHD or etc, would be called neurotypical. And that's a word that I do use, because there is no real word other than non-autistic, so it's nice to have that extra little word there. In some ways, it is a positive consequence of adopting that social model of disability, rather than the general medical model of disability that has been applied to autism. More often in the past, neurodiversity is a movement, it's a statement, it's something to be encouraged, it's something to be spread. And it is an important thing to learn about. In society, we place a high value these days on promoting diversity. We promoted it in many different areas, but one thing that hasn't really received the same treatment, hasn't really seen the same exposure is neurodiversity. As I said, with the quality of life and bullying and isolation and suicide and depression and mental health statistics that surround autism, it is really important to tackle down on this, and neurodiversity is the heading. If you want a list of everything that's included in neurodiversity, I'm sure you could find, you know, a quick Google search. But yeah, I hope that clears it up. Okay, so that is the long list of terms of language that you may want to get acquainted with. If you are thinking of understanding autism, you are thinking of doing any work to do with autism or advocacy work, maybe you're late diagnosed yourself and you haven't quite got to grips with the modern lingo. It's important to get these things, to know these things, because some people can be very hateful. And as I've said, there have been cases of bullying on accounts of using the wrong words, and that is something that has become more prominent in our society, you know, people, I guess, looking at the surface language rather than the intention and the meaning behind things. So I hope that that clears things up for you. Please feel free to get in contact, to message me on Instagram, put a comment down below, any place like that, send me an email, aspergiscreferjuml.com. I will try and reply as quickly as possible. You need any more help on it, and a lot of people have the same issues about certain topics. I shall make a video on it, and try and explain them. I just don't want bad things to happen to good people, and the current state of social media and the social progression is sometimes very harsh on people. I need to round these things up. Thank you very much for watching. Let's hit the boom again. I have many videos on autism and mental health, but I also have a podcast that has recently been gaining a lot of traction. It's called the Forty Autie Podcast, and you can find it on Spotify, Apple, or Google Podcasts. You can always follow my social medias, at Aspergisc Growth, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. And as I said, if you want any more information, get in contact to my email. Stay cool, stay fresh, remember to shower, remember to hydrate yourself. All important things to a person's life, to a person's reputation, to their health, do them. And I'm going to stare crazy because of these ring lights. Okay, I'm finished now. I'm finished now, though. I'm finished.