Intersectionality

DepictDave

DepictDave

Active member
With everything going on at the moment with the Black Lives Matter movement, I thought now would be a good time to start discussing autism intersectionality. So basically what that means is being a member of multiple minority groups such as being autistic and black for example, or autistic and queer and so on. My autism isn't intersectional with anything else, which is why I'd love to hear other people's thoughts and experiences on it from a first person point of view. Let's hear your stories, everyone!
 
Disclaimer: This is a rant with potentially terrible grammar. I am sorry about both those things.

Being a female, queer, physically disabled, autistic makes things very uncomfortable at times. It is awkward enough coming out and attempting to avoid fetishization/general homophobia some humans insist on practicing without having that additional layer of ableism and sexism. Since I don’t like male-presenting humans sexually, I just need one to forcefully show me ‘what a real man can do’. I’ve experienced threats of rape, groping and sexual harassment. Because I’m autistic I can’t be queer because autistics don’t have sex/relationships. On top of the general insistences most female autistics get that they’re not really autistic because you don’t do ‘insert stereotypical and heavily male leaning presentation of ASD (if said insistence is even an actual thing)’. My personal favorite was when a male classmate tried to explain to me how the far left was manipulating me into being queer and that I was really just an abused, heterosexual little girl incapable of making my own decisions. I wish I was joking.

The LGBTQ+ community does make an effort to be intersectional, from the portion I’ve seen, but no one I can find/engage with regularly ever talks about queerness and disability. Everything from informational resources to grass-roots advocacy work is never designed with the idea disabled people, especially ND people, would be involved. Perhaps it’s an extension of the desexualization of disabled people, especially women, but it is difficult to feel welcome when there is no information that is accessible to me, all of the humans I meet in real life can’t meet me halfway on sensory issues/eye contact, every bit of informational resources I can find assume I am able-bodied and NT and most advocates never discuss the intersection of disability and being LGBTQ+. Disability and queerness is a niche issue for too many LGBTQ+ advocacy groups.
 
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That's awful that you've had those threats and experiences. :( I guess in that sense I'm lucky to be a cishet man. But we do need to open our minds as a society and accommodate for those of us who need it, even if it's just teaching tolerance to the rest of the world.

ProfessorWorm said:
...most advocates never discuss the intersection of disability and being LGBTQ+. Disability and queerness is a niche issue for too many LGBTQ+ advocacy groups.
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Maybe it's time to change that. Have you thought about starting a blog or a YouTube channel or something like that?
 
Some of it’s to do with my geography, I’m based in the Bible Belt, even if it is a more progressive section, and nonsense like that runs deep in its culture.
I have so few spoons most days, otherwise I would definitely do it. I’ve been looking for an established blog/org to write for voluntarily, but can’t find anything that both needs volunteer essayists and isn’t run by Autism Moms and all the ableist nonsense that comes with those types of orgs.
 
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Sorry if I'm being ignorant, but what/where is the Bible Belt?

Maybe a good place to start could be The Mighty if you haven't joined up already? You can write blogs/articles on there I think, and they feature some of them as well from what I gather. I joined ages ago but if I'm honest I don't use it as much as I probably should.
 
That’s good to know. The Bible Belt is a region in america that runs though most of the southern US. It’s named that because it is populated with Christians and tons of churches. Some of these Christians are great, and a lot of them are hate-mongering bigots and fundamentalists and the Bible Belt seems to attract more and more of the latter kind.