He never gets enough credit

Mine has always been The Great Gonzo.

Hi friend with camera! Maybe one of the coolest things I’ve gotten to do so thanks

I’m queer and I’m married to a trans person. Obviously this stuff is important to me and my family. I’m also married to and have plenty of friends who have autism. This stuff is important

Benign UNTIL that lack of education and experience becomes the beacon they rally around and it is presented as equivalent to the information and understanding backed by education and real world experience.

Some people don’t have any experience or exposure to trans people and so they have very limited understanding.

Used to be categorized one way in the DSM 4. Categorized differently in the DSM 5 now that we know more. Most people use the knowledge and experience they have from specific examples they’ve been given or from growing up, but that don’t align with our modern understanding.

But changing subjects a bit…. Everything I said above applies EXACTLY, like one to one, with transgender people.

UNTIL they start parading that lack of effort and lack of work as some greater wisdom.

I have had to actively engage and spend time and effort to learn about some of the progress we’ve made because of how closely these things impact my life - I don’t expect that most folks do that work, especially when it has no relevance to their day to day. No hate no judgement on those folks

Our grade had one nonverbal student who wore the label “autistic” and so he was the referent for whenever that word was used, probably to this day for some folks.

It’s also possible, and maybe worth a think, that there are people who have a hard time with the idea of making progress in certain medical fields. I see some folks online try to make arguments like “that’s not what I learned in school” but they went to school back when I did or earlier.

Or any celebrity they look up to…

There are also very shitty people who want to make sure THEIR situation isn’t lumped in with people with AUTISM because OBVIOUSLY they aren’t “autistic.” I’m going to assume that’s not something anyone reading this would think or relate to within themselves or other people they know.

So when you hear a public figure referred to as having “Asbergers Syndrome” maybe raise an eyebrow. It’s possible this person is just behind on current mental health knowledge and understanding - a totally forgivable thing.

In the same way we don’t want to look in the DSM 2 and find a bunch of Freudian psychoanalysis, we’re not going to look at the DSM 4 and pretend the field hasn’t progressed since 1994.