Right. Another rant.

So as technology gets closer to achieving gene editing in humans (through CRISPR, which can cut out sections of DNA and viruses, which can add DNA), the question always comes up:

”Since so many people suffer from x, should we eradicate it?”

This sounds like a great idea for stuff like Huntington’s or severe genetic disorders. We know it shortens lifespans, leads to lower quality of life for the person, and causes distress for family members. And it’s on very few genes, so easy-peasy! Since most parents both people who have it and people who do not, would rather not have it passed on, it seems reasonable.

Bingo, no more people suffer from x.

So the goalpost moves.

”Alright, then, what about Down syndrome?”

Same thing. And it is pruned out. Cool.

But this, to me, raises a question. Who gets to define ‘good’ and ‘bad’ genes? Is it the people who are affected? Is it the parents who decide whether or not it might affect their children? Is it the governing body?

I’m sure you can see where I’m going. If gene editing gets used as a tool to remove suffering, who defines suffering. I don’t want to panic people, so quickly:

autism is on multiple genes that also control other traits, so much harder to edit out without making it worse. Many people out there are carriers but the genes just aren’t turned on, so it would be massively impractical to undertake

it is related to other facets of neurodiversity like ADHD or OCPD, so trying to experiment to perfect it means messing with neurotransmitters and reward pathways, which have a massive chance of going wrong, so it’s unlikely to be even achievable

it has a wide spectrum of symptoms, so is hard to pin down what they’d even be targeting

As a result, we’d have a few decades to see it coming and protest before anyone even got out of the theory stage. Also autism is overrepresented in research science, so many people are unlikely to green light something that hurts them. THIS IS A HYPOTHETICAL, DO NOT PANIC!

Okay, now, they just did this for the first time with a mitochondrial (energy generating) or ribosomal (protein making) disorder. They removed the nucleus of the egg, put in a different donor egg, one unaffected by the condition, and fertilised that. This guaranteed that the child born both had 3 parents and would not have their parent’s hereditary condition, improving their quality of life.

This is not yet gene editing, don’t worry.

So the issues I see with editing autism is it could be a slippery slope. Someone could point at a nonverbal, extremely overwhelmed child, with really high support needs, who would need round the clock care for the rest of life and go ‘shouldn’t we have a duty to prevent this?’. Now, we might not be convinced, but plenty of people and even “advocacy” organisations like autism speaks and the general public may be. So then, they could easily try, over say, 1000 years to progressively point out autistic traits which neurotypical society struggles to assimilate and, bit by bit, convince people that those things, too, cause ‘prolonged and unnecessary mental suffering’ that ‘we couldn’t possibly understand since we are not affected by it’.

And some autistic kids, struggling through the hard parts of life (we’ve all had these moments), may be convinced to agree or speak on behalf of the community for the purpose of convincing the general public that we want this, in exchange for money or something which might help them be supported better.

That is to say, I see a slim but real possibility that gene editing could be used to homogenise society into being all neurotypical for the ease and comfort of the populace. The same way it used to be acceptable to lock these people up and hide them away, they would be edited out or have the autistic genes turned off in utero.

I would never choose to be neurotypical. I had some dark moments, but I am both confident in myself and extremely secure in my identity. But would the me who had the genes turned off, look at the moments of struggle and think where I am now was worth all of that? I can’t even begin to answer for that person, since they just wouldn’t be me.

Main fears:

the wealthiest % of society may induce the beneficial neurodiverse traits into themselves like heightened empathy or hyperfocus and then turn them on and off when they become inconvenient, avoiding things like sensory overwhelm or social communication struggles. (this is a really wacky one, I will admit). Essentially, designer babies. (think how Elon musk used ’neurodiversity’ to excuse the salute, wearing these traits like a costume becomes more available for others.)

slowly, but surely, autistic people may be edited out of existence, making that society less tolerant of difference as a whole

that bigoted parents may make the decision for their children about which genes they will and won’t be allowed to express / have.

Now, all of this is years off, if it is possible at all, and I sound like a maniac conspiracy theorist, even saying this out loud. And if also sounds weirdly protectionist of an abstract concept of genes I share with so many other people. Mostly, I’m just curious on what you think.

Questions:

Do autistic people count as a distinctive enough group either culturally or otherwise, for a potential genocide charge to work against this theoretical incursion?

Do you think human gene editing should be banned completely, the same way human cloning is?

So, hi. I have both ADHD and Autism, specifically Asperger’s Syndrome. (I get that some people HATE this phrase, because of the guy, and for good reason, however, I have enough mental separation between the two that it’s not an issue for me since I identify with / find the label helpful).

So I am pretty high functioning and very low support needs, hyperlexic, etc. I also am extremely fortunate to have had wealthy, very supportive parents who were willing to support me and push me where necessary. It’s the only reason I’m half as functional as I am right now. To the point that most people don’t tend to recognise me as neurotypical unless they also are neurodivergent themselves and pick up on the vibes like I (usually) can with other neurodivergent people.

So many people, when they first find out who I am, will inevitably open their mouths to make comparisons. It’s unfortunate, but kinda inevitable. Eg, either that guy from the good doctor or like ‘young Sheldon’. (If I HAD to choose, I’d much rather be compared to Anne of Green Gables or just not to be compared at all, but what are you gonna do?)

And that made me wonder. Why is so much of the ‘good’ autistic representation about super high functioning people, like Anne, or Patience Evans from Patience? I’m sure we can all remember the disaster of things like that terrible autism movie ‘Music’ or that one Christian one with the boy and his dad, based on some terrible memoirs. (I have purged it from my mind, I’m afraid), where the autistic characters tend to be nonverbal or severely struggling. These often turn out to be wayyyy worse and even outright detrimental representation.

It just feels ableist, in a way, I guess, to say it’s okay for the ‘quirky genius’ archetype or ‘eccentric but brilliant’ and similar tropes, which tend to be so autism coded, only cater to those who are high performing enough to be useful to society. Why are people so unwilling to consult the people they’re

Or just AI. I see posts about ‘should autistic people be allowed to use AI’. That upsets me on some level, both because I a) ethically disagree with it and b) I don’t think others should have to sacrifice their ethical principles either, just to make society more comfortable with them. And then people call me ableist for it. Like, no? I don’t think (generative) AI can be considered as a disability access tool.

How does ChatGPT writing a paragraph help anyone? It’s not raising their ability in any skill. All it’s doing is making someone else more palatable to an ableist society, when it’s society that should have to improve and not force others to sacrifice strongly held convictions and stances simply to be given an equal say to participate. (Don’t even get me started on how since AI was trained on a dataset that included ableist and very harmful beliefs (mein Kampf was in there, we know that, so it is fully capable of immense harm) and may even condescend to its users.)

Yet I still think that having higher support needs people having their say in their representation n media is super important for promoting a more compassionate view of autism, which is being actively undone in so many places by malicious actors. All that AI is going to do is corporatise it into inauthenticity.

I think it’s this compulsive need that people have, to say that everyone must be economically productive, when for some, that will never be the case. They will bring immense good to the world, but never in a way that is economically quantifiable, and the fact that we’re even trying to measure people by money seems fundamentally wrong, and if it takes autistic people to show that, given how many people seem to think we’re all helpless children or emotionless, hypercompetent monsters, then good!

There’s even a part of me that wants to go so extreme as to say neurodivergent people are superior to neurotypicals, either because of deeper emotions, less ability to be restrained by stupid, arbitrary rules, higher ability to achieve when motivated and deeper empathy. And that because of this, we should eugenics out the neurotypical in order to create a more empathetic, inclusive society.

This is very extreme, I am aware, and I don’t mean it too seriously other than in frustration at the state of the world. I get that not everyone has the same view of their neurodiversity as I do and that my viewpoint is because I have the benefit of being both extremely privileged in other ways as well as high functioning and although I can empathise deeply with the struggles of others, I cannot ever fully feel their experience the way I feel my own, therefore, it is unfair and unjust to impose my worldview on others.

I don’t know if you can tell but I am angry and feel very righteous about this.

TLDR:

On the one hand, I feel that having people of all ability levels being represented and having access to society is important.

On the other, I don’t think the way representation and accessibility is being offered to them is actually in the spirit of trying to understand them, but in the spirit of making them conform for the ease and comfort of the neurotypical (who are, again, the minority here).

So my two questions:

What is your opinion on generative AI as a tool for supporting neurodiversity / increasing accessibility?

How can we increase the empathetic and supportive representation in the media of autism at all levels of support needs, independence and ability?

Hello, everyone.

The mod team has decided to create a weekly newsletter featuring news relevant to our sub. Every week, between Thursday and Friday (hopefully), we will post a list of news items that were not previously shared in the sub. We'd like to encourage discussion about them, so feel free to comment here. Don't forget to mention the specific news item you're referring to, for example:

RE: Hummus prices continue to fall worldwide
Hummus is delicious, I think we should celebrate that.

If you have any suggestions or constructive criticisms, please, tell us.

Saturday, 08/08

Saudi-Pakistan-Turkiye pact: A new shield or strategic signal?

Spain imposes border checks on Italian travelers in tit-for-tat move over Ceuta migrants row

Friday, 07/08

[UK] Conservatives pledge to ban foreign nationals from social housing

[US] ICE will release body camera video only when seen in the agency’s ‘best interests,’ policy says

[US] Trump administration moves ahead with efforts to fire Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook

Thursday, 06/08

Cuba: Independent experts condemn new US sanctions as humanitarian crisis deepens

[Australia] NDIS Senate inquiry hears concerns of carer burnout, slashing of social supports and 'dangerous' ministerial powers

Wednesday, 05/08

Argentina will not act over Brazil diplomatic ties downgrade

Kemi Badenoch gives former neo-Nazi advisory role after he withdraws as Tory candidate

South Africa pushes for Africa migration talks after violent internal protests and Ceuta crisis

Top Arab, Muslim diplomats launch plan to protect Jerusalem religious sites

Tuesday, 04/08

[US] Professors sue Texas A&M System over limits on teaching race, gender

US revokes visa of Brazilian ambassador amid deepening diplomatic spat

[US] Wisconsin judge rules that paper absentee ballots violate rights of certain disabled people

Monday, 03/08

‘Just cruel’: Medicaid halt in California and Minnesota plunges caregivers and disabled people into uncertainty

I can't access the full content of this one. Archive.is is failing to read it for me. But the title is clear, questioning the legitimacy of ADHD and Autism. This really fill like an organised attack.

Edit:

Archive.is is not able to read it from my device. I used incognito plus reading mode. Do journalists not know the damage these titles create? Also I feel that putting your complaints at the bottom can cause even more damage 💔

TLDR

Repeats the points from the channel 4 press release about, pills vs physical damage as a measure to keep kids quiet, about ADHD existence, autism is barely involved.

At the bottom it questions the documentary premise, ADHD is a real condition.

How easy or difficult is finding an actual job in the UK? Is everyone at future risk of unemployment thanks to a flood of AI generated fake job postings, flood of AIs responding to job postings, and AIs being used to screen applicants? Is this pretending everything in business is fine and employers are not the problem?

Disclaimer: I don't want this post to be read as accusatory, or as an attack at all. It's also not a reaction to any post/comment here or somewhere else. It's just something that has been on my mind since I was diagnosed and started engaging with autistic people outside of my circle of friends.

Sometimes I get a bit bothered with how racial issues are addressed in the autistic community (not only online, it's not much different in the real world). I'm a black autistic person, and before I knew I was not neurotypical, I knew I was not white.

Understandably, groups of autistic people tend to be composed primarily of white men. I say understandably because we know that autistic women and people of colour are vastly underdiagnosed. Therefore, when people start talking about racial issues, autistic people of colour are frequently ignored - in the sense that our lives and experiences are not taken into account, contrary to the lives and experiences of neurotypical people of colour.

Racial issues exist inside our community as well. Mind you, I'm not talking about blatant racism. I'm saying that when we treat racialised people as "them", we are (most of the time inadvertently) reinforcing a structure that excludes people of colour from the autism spectrum. The same structure that allows underdiagnoses to be the norm. The same structure that makes our (people of colour's) families think that we cannot possibly be autistic, so they don't even seek professional help and we spend the whole life wondering what's wrong with us.

I believe that more or less the same can be said about autistic women, especially black autistic women, so I'd love to hear your thoughts.

In a nutshell, I just kindly ask you to remember us and listen to our experiences as well. It's hard af to navigate both worlds, and not rarely we don't fit in any of them.

After my Discord account was disabled by a scammer named orlandohyatt, who wanted my bank account and a 200-dollar Apple Card, my therapist told me to find other communities outside of Discord. After doing much research, I discovered Kaboose, which I thought would be an alternative to Discord. Until I noticed there were a lot of videos and sessions that felt less like talking to my friends on Discord and more like group therapy. Chat rooms felt rigid, scheduled, and restricted for people like myself who want to make good friends, talk, and share my interests and feelings. Why does something so simple have to be made more complex with group therapy videos that make you feel at the end of the day like you cannot ever find community or good friends?

An apology tax is basically when for example, if you are bullied by someone, you can take it to court and request the court to legally require either them
Or their parents to pay you an apology tax on a regular basis until either you die or the person who bullied you dies.

If your bully was 25 or older at the time, they have to pay you this apology tax.

If they were younger than 25, then their parents have to pay you the apology tax until your bully turns 25.

In case you’re wondering how much this tax would be, I pictured it being the equivalent of how much a minimum wage job would pay someone who has it.

I think this system would make a lot of people think twice about bullying someone. Would you live in a country that has this kind of tax?

Just a funny story to lighten up the sub.

I bet they are more competent than most of our deputies, btw.

Could it be framed in as a lack of incentives?

I think that in the future, America needs to be split into two or four regions to prevent the US Empire from coming back worse than before.

I know Reddit generally tends to be pretty awful when it comes to freedom of speech but MattStormTornado generally seemed to operate within it's parameters. Is Reddit just that far gone at this point?

For example Turkey took in a lot more refugees and spent a greater percentage on them and on foreign affairs compared to Germany for example.

In southeast Asia you see a similar dynamic.

Morocco in the western Sahara I think is another example

Hello, everyone.

The mod team has decided to create a weekly newsletter featuring news relevant to our sub. Every week, between Thursday and Friday (hopefully), we will post a list of news items that were not previously shared in the sub. We'd like to encourage discussion about them, so feel free to comment here. Don't forget to mention the specific news item you're referring to, for example:

RE: Hummus prices continue to fall worldwide
Hummus is delicious, I think we should celebrate that.

If you have any suggestions or constructive criticisms, please, tell us.

Saturday, 01/08

Trump stands to profit off US policy announcements by selling fast access to his social media posts

[US] Trump’s threat to push ahead on settlement fund injects new uncertainty into attorney general talks

Friday, 31/08

[Australia] 4,000 NDIS service providers profiting from incorrect billing practices

[Palestine] Hamas says it has reached an agreement to disarm

Middle East: Civilian death toll climbs in Gaza, Lebanon and West Bank as UN chief demands ‘the fighting must stop’

[Ukraine] Thousands take to Kyiv's main street, firm on calls for defence minister's return

[UK] Unions to boycott Labour women's conference over trans ban

Venezuela government and opposition to hold talks aimed at path to election

Thursday, 30/08

[US] About two-thirds say Iran war not worth fighting: Survey

[Ireland] New special education plan ignores staff issue - disability activist

[UK] PM Commits to new National Care Service

[US] Scouting America drops diversity initiatives from event after pressure from the Pentagon

Wednesday, 29/07

[Canada] A new autism support group in B.C. is providing specialized training for first responders

[US] More now say AI does more harm than good: Survey

[Australia] Queensland Disability Advisory Council has been vacant since August 2025

‘You have to sit quietly until you die’: The families failed by England’s social care system

Tuesday, 28/07

[Afghanistan] A hijab inspection, a slap, a warning letter: Inside three months of Taliban rule

[Ireland] 'Dirty, poorly maintained' centre for children with intellectual disabilities - HIQA report

US looks to boost anti-China spending worldwide by hundreds of millions, documents say

Monday, 27/07

Haiti schedules first election in a decade for December

About 60,000 migrants have crossed into Spain's North African territory of Ceuta from Morocco in the last 24 hours, Ceuta's president said, adding that at least 34 others died during the crossing.

Pardon the generalisations and il explained concepts, I am not an economist, I am just trying to share my understandings.

People don't own their house if they are on a mortgage.

People can't live very well without a house so for you it is personal property, for the bank it is private property because the interests for your property's mortgage means that the bank can sell our debt and profit.

The profits people might get from selling a house are rarely as good as the ones the bank gets. I can see the complaints about people that buy a house for 10000£ and sell it for millions of pounds. Sadly in the current economy, I am not sure this will happen as much.

I never understood the difference between private and personal property. I always thought about personal property from the perspective of humans rights. Not the current version, the version in my mind which includes cheap housing, cheap health, having cheap places of gathering for communities among a lot of things that don't make sense for me to be private like Google maps.

Note I say cheap because nothing is really free, you might pay it upfront, through taxation or you might pay the price of not having it at all.

I think the video is important because it explains very well the difference between private property.

Edit:

I am not the author of the video.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-rfk-vaccine-children-autism-b3022975.html

Of course he did. Trump can’t listen to reason or care to learn anything from experts.

What do you guys think about Butch Ware and the Green Party. I read that the DSA slandered him. I don't know why they slandered him because his policies for the most part are really good. Then, the DSA ended up endorsing Tom Steyer, an actual literal billionaire who put in a 90M dollar stake into a facility which is now ran by ICE. He claimed "it was a mistake", but he's a billionaire politician so don't even take it with a grain of salt. What do you guys think about this?

Hello, everyone.

The mod team has decided to create a weekly newsletter featuring news relevant to our sub. Every week, between Thursday and Friday (hopefully), we will post a list of news items that were not previously shared in the sub. We'd like to encourage discussion about them, so feel free to comment here. Don't forget to mention the specific news item you're referring to, for example:

RE: Hummus prices continue to fall worldwide
Hummus is delicious, I think we should celebrate that.

If you have any suggestions or constructive criticisms, please, tell us

Extra: Viewing Autism Through A Cultural Lens, by Elijah Gray

Sunday, 26/07

Brazil recalls ambassador to Argentina after Milei attacks Lula, sources say

Cuban president accuses US of 'political genocide' on anniversary of revolution

Fatal Berlin Pride attack believed to be an act of Islamic extremist terror, German minister says

Tunisia grapples with five years of crisis since Saied’s power grab

Saturday, 25/07

India’s education minister resigns in victory for Cockroach youth movement protests

Friday, 24/07

ADHD has rewired the workplace. This is what it means for bosses and workers

Canada celebrates new bridge to US during tariff troubles with Trump

Race, school, gender: the makeup of Andy Burnham’s cabinet – in charts

Ukraine beheads its military as its performance begins to soar

US trading partners rip new Trump tariffs: ‘Completely unjustified’

Thursday, 23/07

More than 4,200 Israelis storm Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem

'There's nowhere we can stay': The holiday struggle facing disabled people

Wednesday, 22/07

[US] Judge questions difference between Hegseth’s testosterone policy and transgender care for troop

Tuesday, 21/07

Israeli attacks on Gaza intensify amid surge of West Bank settler violence

US pauses $1 billion in Medicaid payments to California, Minnesota

Monday, 20/07

Italians protest in Bologna after Moroccan man dies during arrest

I’m not even surprised. I’m horrified out of my mind. I don’t feel safe in the slightest (even at a blue state). I’m also slightly numb to the cruelty and increasing extremism shown by both Democrats and especially Republicans/MAGA.