Kids born during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic appear to have no higher risk of autism, even if they were exposed to COVID in the womb, a new study finds.
I think I understand your argument as being “in a vacuum, being autistic isn’t bad”, which i agree with in a way; being neurodivergent in any sense technically isn’t a bad thing, just a different thing. However, especially with people who are very autistic to the point of struggling to take care of themselves, autism and other neurodivergence can definitely present huge challenges and difficulties for the person themselves and the people around them. We do not live in a vacuum and society as it stands and has stood for hundreds of years is simply not built to be neurodivergent-friendly. At all. I have ADHD which many would think is “not as bad” as autism, yet I have struggled and gone through so mich pain and difficulties simply because of it. It has been an overall net negative. I suspect I may be a bit autistic too, but don’t use the label as I haven’t gone out of my way to seek a formal diagnosis. In any case, saying that autism isn’t “a bad thing” can be touchy because it ignores a lot of real challenges and pain autistic people have gone through and is fairly close to the (frankly patronizing IMO) “autism/ADHD is a superpower” stuff. It doesn’t feel like a superpower when you’re suffering because of it.
Sorry for the ramble, it’s a bit of a difficult and nuanced topic.
I think I understand your argument as being “in a vacuum, being autistic isn’t bad”, which i agree with in a way; being neurodivergent in any sense technically isn’t a bad thing, just a different thing. However, especially with people who are very autistic to the point of struggling to take care of themselves, autism and other neurodivergence can definitely present huge challenges and difficulties for the person themselves and the people around them. We do not live in a vacuum and society as it stands and has stood for hundreds of years is simply not built to be neurodivergent-friendly. At all. I have ADHD which many would think is “not as bad” as autism, yet I have struggled and gone through so mich pain and difficulties simply because of it. It has been an overall net negative. I suspect I may be a bit autistic too, but don’t use the label as I haven’t gone out of my way to seek a formal diagnosis. In any case, saying that autism isn’t “a bad thing” can be touchy because it ignores a lot of real challenges and pain autistic people have gone through and is fairly close to the (frankly patronizing IMO) “autism/ADHD is a superpower” stuff. It doesn’t feel like a superpower when you’re suffering because of it.
Sorry for the ramble, it’s a bit of a difficult and nuanced topic.