Empire of Normality, comment video part 6

I understand exactly what you are saying

One of the things I find very frustrating when interacting with others is their focus on their relationships so they talk a great deal about their partner, children, social events, etc. These are the things that really interest them. I can't respond in kind and that means the interaction is pretty awkward. I'd rather talk about issues and interests but most people either find those things "boring" or too sensitive (e.g. politics) so I keep off those topics, all of which means there's very little material to work with. Very occasionally things do click with someone but it's rare. I've pretty much given up on interaction now and like you would find the reciprocity hard work, e.g. having to do things the other person wants to do but I don't. It just seems easier to be alone and leave the socialising to those who enjoy it.

I would really welcome a video from you on the whole neuroaffirmative approach. I actually don't know a lot about the concept, but I am very concerned about the idea of the NDM paradigm becoming the orthodoxy amongst therapists, and your experience of being told to go away and rethink your approach to your own autism - and the suggestion that you are somehow wrong to view it as a disability or something you'd rather not have - is bordering on gaslighting and is inappropriate in my opinion. The whole autism is only a difference not a deficit idea is a dogma disconnected from both observable reality and also the direct lived experience of many autistic people (especially those with moderate and higher support needs) and it isn't the business of therapists to try and get patients to believe in unreal things. I think it is great and vital that therapists be properly informed about autism and use that understanding to adapt their treatments to make them more effective in helping an autistic patient of theirs. Also I think it's great if they make adjustments to make the process of therapy easier for autistic people and so on, if that's what they mean by neuroaffirmative then ok, but if what they mean is that they are promoting the idea that autism is 'only a difference' and trying to get patients to think of their autism as something positive in their lives or as a gift when that individual experiences it as anything but, then I actually think that approach is harmful. If i were told by a therapist that my autism is a neutral or positive difference it would make me feel very down and inadequate actually, because then I would get really caught up worrying why I struggle so much - i.e if it isn't the autism it must be that I'm useless, and no amount of appealing to the argument that it is all society's fault would work for me, because I know from my direct experience that much of my difficulty is intrinsic to me and negatively impacts me irrespective of what society does or doesn't do. It's actually acknowledging that autism is inherently a disability that helps me accept and make peace with my difficulties and actually empowers me. The NDM paradigm is seemingly everywhere. I was watching a news item on France 24 yesterday about autism - it was about the possible environmental factors that contribute to causing rises in the incidence of autism - and of course the last segment was all about the NDM paradigm and how autism isn't a disability etc etc. The NDM is heading for total ideological capture!