autistic traits don't always mean asexuality

So… does anyone remember when some assholes tried to start an “autistic selfie day” that just happened to fall on Blackout?

And how it turned out, after much detective work, to be a bunch of allistic trolls trying to use us as a weapon for their racism?

It’s happening again: People are claiming that “a-spec” was stolen from us by asexual and aromantic people.

THIS IS NOT TRUE.

“asexual/aromantic spectrum” has a history going back at least four years now, and “a-spec” at least two. Meanwhile, if you look around… where exactly in our community are those terms being used?

Further: A lot of auties are asexual or aromantic. Like… waaaay more than the general population. Last time I did an informal straw poll, the number was eight times higher than expected. This throws them under the bus, forcing them to pick one side of themselves to fight with the other.

like they love to talk about patterns of behavior and whatnot, here’s a pretty clear one.

Look ma! I made a tag yourself/alignment chart meme! sapphic girl stereotypes edition, inspired by that old thing..

My anxiety and my PTSD are just as crippling as my broken spine, my chronic pain, my celiac, and my chronic fatigue, and I’m totally fine with someone with depression talking about how crippling it is. I’m less okay with people trying to monitor which disabilities they think are crippling enough. 

I’d rather we stood together instead of telling each other ‘yeah, cripple/crippling means “causes severe and insuperable damage to” but your mental illness doesn’t stop you from walking and therefore you can’t use this word.’

like the reason “monosexual” is not an ok term but “cis” is an ok and very useful term is because the word “monosexual” groups gay and straight people together with the implication that they have power over mga people, on the axis of sexuality. people who are oppressed for their sexuality (lesbians and gay people in this case) cannot oppress others (mga people) for their sexuality.

cis doesn’t do this because sure it also groups some gay and straight people together, but the word cisgender discusses the axis of gender. people who are oppressed for their sexuality CAN oppress others for their gender.

in other words, terms that try to group oppressed people w their oppressors and imply that people oppressed for a certain trait can oppress OTHERS based on that same trait are not ok.

words that discuss one axis of oppression and happen to group oppressed people with their oppressors on DIFFERENT axes are fine.

so it’s not that all terms that group people with their oppressors are bad, it’s that terms that attribute power and oppressor status to groups who are already oppressed for that same trait are bad.

its the fact that lauren zuke literally created a deleted scene where peridot was in a fucking high chair and being taught how to eat like a fucking baby, infantilizing her and just being really fucking creepy about her character. its the fact that everything that peridot would consider a comfort object - her limb enhancers, her tablet, etc. - has been taken away from her and her whole development on that is “it doesnt matter if it makes you comfortable you’re better off without them!!” basically giving autistic people who need comfort objects a hearty slap in the face

its just the fact that peridots character has been rendered into this yell-y baby when she was nothing like that on first appearance - like all zuke and the writers want to do w/ her now that a lot of autistic people like her is “well lets make her into the biggest and loudest baby ever!! thats good representation right!!”

@synpathiclapis u said this so well and i completely and full heartedly agree, especially with that last part: so many of peridots behavior is excused in the show and by the fandom because she “doesnt know any better” like

w/ human things? this excuse is fine. she doesnt know a lot about earth and its costumes so her using her hands against steven when she was unbubbled makes sense - she was just tapping his face bc she realized it was going to bother him/get him away

but her completely disregarding lapis’ space, insulting amethyst - she should know better. as the new crystal gems put it - peridot is thousands of years old. shes not….a fucking baby. she should know how to give characters personal space and should understand what shes doing wrong, shes not a child and i hate