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PaperclipPerfector  1d ago (text post)   1157 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for May 24, 2026

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I grew up going to school with some profoundly autistic kids. They’ll always be my barometer. I’m not terribly inclined to joke about it.

There’s something about the way “autistic” is used in red/gray circles that reminds me of stereotypical gender discourse.

Pop autism is the blanket socially awkward losers lacking brain cells to pretend they are sheldon cooper level geniuses skinsuit around themselves without having to test either autism or iq. Taxonomical categorization simultaneously resistant to actual falsifiability by narrative diktat despite objective measurability being available. Without the association of autism=genius there'd be nothing else awkward losers can use to comfort themselves so they evade endlessly.

Issue is whether someone uses autism as an excuse versus autism as a lexical shorthand. Thr latter is normally able to pivot away (probably most of us here) the former will double down and demand more accommodations.

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