Five Steps Toward Autism Acceptance

​Nick Walker's original Neurocosmopolitanism article on autism acceptance caught my attention because of its logic, rationality, and courage to speak the truth about something that seems to scare a lot of people, on either end of any spectrum, into being irrational. That article is gone, now, but has been replaced by his thoughts on What Is Autism?

Autism aside, his five steps are easily made into Universal steps that can be applied whenever Nature gives us something we don't understand. Nature is always coming up with new species and new diversities within species, and humans are a part of Nature, too. Perhaps more importantly, if you were born different, would you want to be told you shouldn't exist, or that you shouldn't want to exist? I hope for your sake that the answer to that question is a resounding, "No."

When we accept the diversity that Nature gives us and choose to learn from whatever new life develops, the autistic or otherwise affected person usually feels not only a profound sense of relief, but now also has the opportunity that the rest of us supposedly have in the USA: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. 

If we were wise, we would insist on a constitutional amendment that forever outlaws discrimination against what Nature produces on its own, so that we can stop spinning our wheels fighting discrimination into infinity, every time Nature gives us something new and different. Here's a more diverse version of the five steps toward accepting that which is new to us:

5 Steps Toward Diversity Acceptance

1. De-pathologize the new diversification.
2. De-pathologize the language used in regards to the new diversification.
3. Expand the definition of social "normal" to include the new diversification.
4. Give equal protection under the law as a matter of course for all new diversifications.
5. Provide those with handicaps or disabilities automatic qualification for services for as long as required.