To my way of thinking, “the system” isn’t good or evil, it’s mostly a ragtag accretion of history, with some amount of moral progress in there. And the way forward has to be more moral progress, slow and grinding though that may be.

I’m looking forward to your writing this up at some point. Arguments are always easier to understand in detail.

Oops – I did realize the checklist was autism. I just got “Asperger” stuck in my head from the title of the website and typed that instead without thinking.

I was just curious how someone who knew little or nothing about autism would react to the items.

I actually know slightly more than “little or nothing” about autism. It was speculated that I might have it to some degree when I was younger. Then the Asperger diagnosis came along and that was speculated on, too – naturally, I read up on all of this for myself. I don’t meet the diagnostic criteria for any form of autism, though I do share some of the traits to a significant degree, and therefore could relate to some of the items on the checklist better than I suspect someone who knew “little or nothing” would.

I can tell you my initial, unconscious reaction was to relate the list items to my own experience so I could lessen their impact. One example ran something like this on the internal monologue: “Well, I’ve had doctors dismiss my every complaint as having to do with my PCOS, as if that explains everything. In fact, I think if you have any outstanding diagnosis, doctors tend to want to link everything back to it.” Which is a valid enough point, but as I consciously considered it, I realized it was an unconscious attempt to avoid the point, which is that autistic people are having a particular experience that I will never have to worry about.

The autism checklist (I had to double check and see if Bev used the term Aspergers – I don’t think she did) is going to cause a lot of argument amongst ourselves, as does the whole issue around disability or difference, to diagnose or not diagnose, etc? It also depends on where you live, since the penalties (being denied medical insurance) are higher in the US than in other developed countries if you have a diagnosis.

Most of us who get the diagnosis as adults do so in order to access services we need. Usually, we experience it as a disability, not just a difference, but other people get hung up on the differences, not the disability. (They try to get us to change our personalities to avoid having to accommodate the disability.)

I was just curious how someone who knew little or nothing about autism would react to the items. Bev said that some people who weren’t autistic were made uncomfortable by some of the items.

I think we have mentioned the privilege of not being disabled around here, but I have never written an article on it because it’s a privilege I have and I’m still sorting out thoughts on the topic. Fellow writer Anna has been instrumental in this process for me.

The Asperger checklist is very eye-opening. It’s interesting how much of it actually has to do with the diagnosis/label, rather than just having the syndrome. I.E., if you were undiagnosed, a doctor couldn’t possibly dismiss medical symptoms as part of the syndrome. So, you know, you’d think getting a diagnosis like autism would be helpful, and instead it could be the opposite.

Although I’m not sure why autism needs to be a “diagnosis” rather than being thought of as a personality type or set of personality traits. I came across someone arguing that point years ago, and it’s stuck with me.

Actually, I wanted to point you to this, only I got distracted:

http://aspergersquare8.blogspot.com/2009/08/checklist-of-neurotypical-privilege-new.html

I see you don’t have anything listed under fully abled privilege (vs disability). Maybe it’s buried under another name?

Someone said something at the last meeting, that if the world lived life by the Twelve Steps, there’d be no need for religion. They’re basically about taking responsibility for your actions and their consequences and making amends where you can.