-
Welcome to Smogon! Take a moment to read the Introduction to Smogon for a run-down on everything Smogon, and make sure you take some time to read the global rules.
-
Congrats to the winners of the 2023 Smog Awards!
Autism and the Internet
- Thread starter Taptricity
- Start date
It isn't so easy, we aren't talking just with robots in the internet, we have a relationship with real people, and the insults have the same damage at games like a real insult, this is cyberbullying, and a lot of people do suicide because of this. Depending of the people, It deals a lot of damage to the emotional of the person. I recommend to report these actions of bullying or cyberbullying to the moderators of the forums and sites in general, such as Pokémon Showdown and Smogon.
Last edited:
Funny to think the last person who called me autistic was a tactless person who talks about Yugioh cards in a pokemon discord
RODAN
Banned deucer.
this is the modern e. rodger manifesto
jrp
Banned deucer.
I feel like being on a pokemon discord makes us all autistic though
Someone got Ash Blossom'd on their Desires...
jrp
Banned deucer.
prolly got his left arm offering ash blossomed
I'm chummy with the type of high school guys who use insults like "Dr. F" and occasionally autistic on each other so I actually hear the insult more irl than on the internet. Teenagers, am I right?
I'm sure that fact reflects poorly on me but whatever
I'm sure that fact reflects poorly on me but whatever
Last edited by a moderator:
I'm autistic but usually, people call me "autistic fuck" or "you fuckin autist" (or any other terms that can be very annoying or just ignorance) here on PS or anywhere in the internet, as long as you don't let it affect you it's fine since we are all just people over the internet 
As to how it got started? Guess people just got bored of using the word "retarded" and wanted to use specific words to target someone.
As to how it got started? Guess people just got bored of using the word "retarded" and wanted to use specific words to target someone.
My partner is diagnosed with both OCD and high functioning autism, but the vast majority of people would have no idea that she has either condition if they were to meet her.
Unfortunately, both conditions are widely misrepresented, misunderstood, and misused in common parlance. The difference is that misuse of OCD tends to come from innocent ignorance, while the misuse of autism is more likely to come from hatred.
Unfortunately, both conditions are widely misrepresented, misunderstood, and misused in common parlance. The difference is that misuse of OCD tends to come from innocent ignorance, while the misuse of autism is more likely to come from hatred.
It's simply the newest thing to call someone when they're acting in a way that someone else considers tactless, awkward, obnoxious, etc. I don't think most of the people using the term "autist" in a pejorative manner are doing so because they're projecting some flaw onto someone else, that simply does not bear out unless you're making a ton of assumptions without any real justification. No one knows what's going on in an anon's life, really, and anyway just looking at how slang evolves and is adapted lends much more credence to your first and fourth theory.
I realize this is an old thread and this has been said dozens of times by now, but I do hope you'll try not to let it get to you too much. Irrespective of what a person thinks about the free speech meme, you have to acknowledge that humans are prone to be stubborn and insubordinate. Unless you're on a politically correct board, odds are telling someone not to say a certain thing is going to have the opposite effect. It may sound insensitive to you, but it may be best to just ignore such offenses.
I realize this is an old thread and this has been said dozens of times by now, but I do hope you'll try not to let it get to you too much. Irrespective of what a person thinks about the free speech meme, you have to acknowledge that humans are prone to be stubborn and insubordinate. Unless you're on a politically correct board, odds are telling someone not to say a certain thing is going to have the opposite effect. It may sound insensitive to you, but it may be best to just ignore such offenses.
If you met someone like this in real life, would you, face to face, accuse him/her/it of being painfully unimaginative and blindly following things?
Also are you guys really able to tell apart jokes and insults? I never figured out how to do it.
Last edited:
Largely this depends on who you are talking with. If you are with friends, it is pretty easy to tell when they are joking (for example, them calling you "bad" and etc. though no friend with their all would call you an autist even as a joke. Joke insults are generally light and not that serious.). Also it depends on whenever you're being told something directly or not. If you overhear someone saying "this dude is [insert some insult]", it's safe to assume this is an insult, cause there's no way for this to be a joke if he wasn't planning to say it in your face.
practice
it also helps if you have friends (who have functional social skills) who are happy to clarify things for you when you don't understand
While you shouldn't respond to trolls, you also shouldn't entirely ignore people who denigrate and trivialize your mental health condition, as words do have a real effect on people. You should reevaluate your membership in a community that tolerates epithets toward those with handicaps that you or a loved one may have. It's not a matter of being politically correct, it's a matter of general decency to other human beings, and you should be part of communities that values general respect toward people.
If a person does such a thing intentionally in a conversation you are having with them even after learning about your condition, sure, that's a horrible thing to do, but I'm speaking in the context of being in the YT comments section and someone uses the word as an insult in an argument that has nothing to do with you. In such instances, it's not only unrealistic to expect them to moderate their language for the sake of a passing stranger, it's also just not worth the time to worry about.
Ah, well, I don't consider YouTube comments to be "community". I do agree that you shouldn't engage in YouTube comments, just critically examine them, why they talk this way, feel pity for their ignorance and hatred, and move on. But in more involved communities, I expect standards to be higher.
Why would you post this immediately after saying stuff about general decency and how words have a real effect on people? Why do you think it's okay to say bad things about Youtube comments people but not about autism people?
?
because people can control their behavior towards others (ie you have a choice between being an asshole and not being an asshole) whereas autistic people (to the best of my knowledge) do not get to control whether or not they have autism
? is the right reaction to have. I really shouldn't have to explain why people with autism are different from people that post YouTube comments. Having an autism is an intellectual disability that humans should have the decency to respect, and not, like, punch down while they're already down and struggling to get back up. YouTube commenters are just... people who post comments on YouTube vidoes and don't share anything in common aside from having a reputation for saying nasty and inexcusable stuff. We're going on a tangent here.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/aug/26/autism-neurodiversity-severe
"Aside from changing diagnostic practices, the general shift in advocacy in the direction of the increasingly fashionable neurodiversity paradigm has led to what I and many others see as the trivialisation of autism. Neurodiversity posits that conditions such as autism, ADHD, dyslexia and dyspraxia are not so much conditions to be treated but differences to be embraced and even celebrated. Despite the noble intentions of many of its proponents, there are those who feel that neurodiversity excludes those for whom autism confers few if any real cognitive advantages. Despite its claim to be inclusive of all “neurotypes”, its ethos inevitably means that less verbally able autistic people are marginalised from the discussion. Rarely at a neurodiversity event, particularly one that aims to present autism as a competitive advantage in the marketplace, will you find an autistic person with an IQ of lower than 30 who is prone to lashing out and soiling themselves.
The increasing emphasis on autism as neurodiversity has also created a huge rift in the community, particularly between autistic self-advocates and parents. Self-advocates, many of whom possess an above-average intellectual ability as well as great insight into their own condition, celebrate their autism as a core feature of their identity and often promote their neurological difference as a strength. Many who self-identify on social media using the #ActuallyAutistic hashtag insist that autistic people must be at the forefront of all autism discourse and that only autistic people themselves can be considered to be true experts in the condition.
Such an attitude has led to the marginalisation of autistic people who, by virtue of their disability, are unable to speak and rely on others to do so on their behalf. It has also led to the legitimisation in self-advocacy circles of “self-diagnosis”, a practice that may in part account for the increased prevalence of autism and the watering down of the term itself. Many now self-identify as autistic as though autism were a fashion label rather than a debilitating disorder."
"Aside from changing diagnostic practices, the general shift in advocacy in the direction of the increasingly fashionable neurodiversity paradigm has led to what I and many others see as the trivialisation of autism. Neurodiversity posits that conditions such as autism, ADHD, dyslexia and dyspraxia are not so much conditions to be treated but differences to be embraced and even celebrated. Despite the noble intentions of many of its proponents, there are those who feel that neurodiversity excludes those for whom autism confers few if any real cognitive advantages. Despite its claim to be inclusive of all “neurotypes”, its ethos inevitably means that less verbally able autistic people are marginalised from the discussion. Rarely at a neurodiversity event, particularly one that aims to present autism as a competitive advantage in the marketplace, will you find an autistic person with an IQ of lower than 30 who is prone to lashing out and soiling themselves.
The increasing emphasis on autism as neurodiversity has also created a huge rift in the community, particularly between autistic self-advocates and parents. Self-advocates, many of whom possess an above-average intellectual ability as well as great insight into their own condition, celebrate their autism as a core feature of their identity and often promote their neurological difference as a strength. Many who self-identify on social media using the #ActuallyAutistic hashtag insist that autistic people must be at the forefront of all autism discourse and that only autistic people themselves can be considered to be true experts in the condition.
Such an attitude has led to the marginalisation of autistic people who, by virtue of their disability, are unable to speak and rely on others to do so on their behalf. It has also led to the legitimisation in self-advocacy circles of “self-diagnosis”, a practice that may in part account for the increased prevalence of autism and the watering down of the term itself. Many now self-identify as autistic as though autism were a fashion label rather than a debilitating disorder."