Wednesday, March 18, 2009

I am sick and tired

of people using the word "autistic" as an insult.

Latest occurrence: tonight on the evening news in France. Various French politicians were denouncing the Pope's statement refusing to recognize condom use as a valid method of HIV/AIDS prevention. And in criticizing this stance, Alain Juppé (the former Prime Minister) said that the Pope "vit dans une situation d'autisme total" ("is living a completely autistic life").

And it's not just French politicians using autism as an insult... I've seen the same sort of thing printed and spoken in the American media, too.

Life with autism is hard. It means having to fight much harder for acceptance than the average person, and getting rejected much more often. It means not being able to partake of many of the joys in life that others take for granted. For many people, it means not ever being able to function independently. But it doesn't mean that a person has diminished worth.

Why is that so hard for people to understand?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

L'expression de la part de Juppé m'avait également choqué.