February 22, 2016 - 16:29
"A second issue has been the problem of community: a group of people who have problems with communication and social relatedness may find it difficult to forge a social group, and may thus be difficult to constitute as a self-aware community within a social model of disability" (Straus 462).
"We only know that ToM is a 'fundamental aspect of human relationships' because autistic people are said not to have a 'fully functioning theory of mind'" (Barnbaum qtd. in Yergeau).
Reading Straus's piece alongside Yergeau's personal accounts of identifying as autistic, and coupled with the series of Youtube videos and short articles, I found myself immediately put off by his implication that people with autism are in some way personally responsible for a lack of community among themselves--their "inability to connect" (a result of their "problems") makes it impossible to to even feel any desire to join together. Straus's assertion not only demonstrates a narrow understanding of what seeking community can look like and in what forms communication can exist--but it also seems to ignore the impact of the strives already made in the way of autistic community. Though the kind of connections made through the use of online media sites like Youtube may seem impersonal, as they are available for the world to view, these technologies can be employed (and clearly have been) in ways that join neurodivergent people together, even if remotely. I'd like to learn more about the impact of technologies on forming these relationships, as I know we've mentioned in class that the internet has made a huge difference in the ways neurodivergent people can access the world and each other.
It seems we are quick as a society to write off the significance of the internet--it seems either dangerous, frivolous, or both, and those who use it a lot are often embarrassed to let other people know that they spend their time in that way. And yet, coming out as queer during high school (even living in a very liberal city), the very foundation of my identity construction in the way of community was a result of my access to online communication with other queers--whether this meant simply reading an article on Autostraddle, or directly conversing in a forum about the best queer-friendly hair salons in Boston. Simply put, I knew I was not alone--and the need for this kind of community is all the more important in parts of the country and world where being queer is not so automatically accepted by family members or friends.
I'm also very interested in the ways that various communities, like individuals, can be written off by dominant identity groups as illegitimate or invalid based off of the identities of those who are a part of them. So many queer community groups I have known of or worked with have been doubted in the eyes of straight outsiders, who reduce the interactions to sexual gatherings--not understanding that people might want to gather to share stories about their experiences with non-normative sexual identities, not simply to express those identities freely or indiscriminantly. Straus's words imply that because people with autism lack capacity for understanding the perspectives/feelings of others, any methods of connection cannot be "real."