Adult Advocacy, was Re: Re: Carrots, Eggs and Coffee

[Guest guest]

> I like your examples of how " bankrupt " it looks for outsiders to

> speak for members of other groups (the Deaf, women) and how

> consistently the " autism community " freezes out autistic adults. (Of

> course, they don't listen to autistic children, either.) Since they

> *are* so focused on children, it probably is good to emphasize (over

> and over) that, if they really want their children to live into

> adulthood, they better be showing some concern for how autistic

> adults are treated by society. Putting your personal story in that

> context (very explicitly) might make it seem more relevant to them.

I think the real problem with autistic adult advocacy is that we don't

have a consistent voice in asking for what we need.

Before we can ask for what we need, we need to figure out among ourselves

*what* we truly need. Saying " Give me stuff and make my life easier "

isn't good enough.

We seem to lack the rally cry that other groups have had. Wheelchair

users fought and have somewhat won the " right to access " which means they

should be able to physically get into public spaces and participate in

public life without physical barriers. People labeled mentally retarded

have fought against the state institutions that used to house them and for

community living.

What are we fighting for? If we all went to our elected officials or

whoever and said, " Here's one thing you can do for autistic adults, " and

that thing was something concrete (not abstract like " give us help " , but

something someone could do if they wanted without gathering tons of

additional information), what would the first thing be? I think that's

what we are missing.

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