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Debate, Autistic Pride Day Symposium 2023
Neurodiversity got a better hearing from employers than autism, a panellist said
In short
At the 2023 Autistic Pride Day Symposium, autistic panellists said “everyone’s on the spectrum” protects the listener’s comfort, then weighed the use of the softer word neurodiversity to get a hearing from employers.
Read it instead, 4 minutesThe transcript
The story
Kyriakos Gold, who hosted the session, asked the panel what came to mind when parents or other people say that everyone is on the spectrum, or that everyone has a little bit of ADHD. The first answer was that it is frustrating, because “what it does is diminish our experience”. The panellist put the remark in the same family as the line many autistic people hear about not looking autistic. Both, they said, are said because they make the speaker feel better. The message underneath is that the autistic person is pretty normal and will be accepted, and it lets the speaker avoid feeling awkward about communicating with an autistic person or about learning that their own child is autistic.
From there the closing Q&A of the 2023 Autistic Pride Day Symposium in Melbourne moved from casual language to strategic language. Running underneath the exchange was a question of whose comfort the words protect, and whether that counts for much if the words open doors.
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Sources the story draws on
- Autism in Australia, 2022 (opens in a new tab), Australian Bureau of Statistics
- Facts at a glance (South Australian autism strategy) (opens in a new tab), Department of Human Services, South Australia (Inclusive SA)
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