Autism in captivity – Discourse and the NDIS dumpster fire.

“I can’t imagine my legitimacy being brought up in headline in a newspaper” said NDIS Chair Kurt Fearnley on ABC Radio May 4, 2023.

If you can imagine it Kurt then why weigh into the the ongoing damaging discourse around autism and the NDIS.

“The need for a diagnosis of autism early in a child’s life to secure NDIS support may have “unforeseen consequences” as they face the long-term stigma of being labelled disabled, National Disability Insurance Agency chair Kurt Fearnley says.” (The Australian, May 1, 2023)

At least 2 times a week of late there has been commentary on autism and the National Disability Insurance Scheme. Much of the damaging discourse is akin to the scare tactics used to deny support to populations like refugees. Autistic people are being portrayed as a horde who will take tax payer money and sink ‘the only boat on the ocean’ for people with disability.

If you are an Autistic person or a family with an Autistic child you know exactly what its like to have your legitimacy brought up in a newspaper headline. Its traumatising, destabilising and dehumanising.

Autistic people are not unfamiliar with this discourse, it has been part of the public sphere for 20 years. The autism discourse has involved ‘the systematic deployment and manipulation of both cultural fears and cultural hopes’ (Broderick, 2021).

Public discourse on autism and the NDIS has unwittingly played into the global narrative of the Autism Industrial Complex (AIC). Both discursively and economically the Autistic people, their families, and the NDIS have been expertly trapped by the AIC and the media is fuelling and profiting from the resultant dumpster fire.

The Autism Industrial Complex positions autism as a ‘epidemic’, and ’emergency’ to create sufficient fear in order to deploy ‘hope’ in the form of treatment and intervention (Broderick, 2021). The horde waiting to take taxpayer money is manufactured by the AIC and tacitly supported by the NDIS.

At risking the the overuse of metaphors ‘if you build it they will come’. They have come, and I am not referring to Autistic people I am referring to organisations who deploy fear and hope to capture the economic profitability in the NDIS. Organisations who facilitate diagnosis, NDIS access and prescribe extensive intervention programs. This is capitalist machinery at its peak. For the AIC ‘the only boat in the ocean’ is a gleaming bucket of cash.

Back to legitimacy and stigma. Without a doubt there is a population of Australians, particularly young Australians, who have developmental support needs. Under the current system the way to have these needs met is to have a ‘diagnosed disability’. However, Kurt Fearnley’s argument for avoiding a diagnosis of autism should not be one of avoiding ‘the long term stigma of being labelled disabled’, as this comment plays into the cultural fears already being deployed.

Autistic people and their families are positioned as an economic product of the industry and their removal from the scheme as an economic solution. No-one is paying attention to the traumatising, destabilising and dehumanising effects of being captive of a public argument relating to the legitimacy of your need for support.

Before you start assuming that this is an argument to stop diagnosing autism, it is not. It is a plea to examine all that is play here, people’s lives and futures, a predatory industry, a poorly managed scheme, underfunded and exclusionary mainstream systems, and a society that does not value broad investment in the lives of children with developmental delays or adults with complex needs.

Autism is a word that does not sufficiently capture the complexity of living with the needs that come with a diagnosis. Autism is also a word that has been weaponised by an industry and by the media in pursuit of capital gain. Autism is cast as both a problem and a solution. What is left silent is the people.

Sources

ABC Radio Melbourne Mornings with Virginia Trioli (May 4, 2023, timestamp 1:04:30) Interview with Kurt Fearnley NDIA Chair. https://www.abc.net.au/melbourne/programs/mornings/mornings/102278108

Broderick, A. A., & Roscigno, R. (2021). Autism, Inc.: The Autism Industrial Complex. Journal of Disability Studies in Education, 2(1), 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1163/25888803-bja10008

The Australian Newspaper (May 1, 2023) NDIS diagnosis of autism may have ‘unforeseen consequences’, Kurt Fearnley warns https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/ndis-diagnosis-of-autism-may-have-unforeseen-consequences-kurt-fearnley-warns/news-story/816a97ad53cc5e2275e86189b7b74577

May 4, 2023 by Uncategorized 0

Neurodiversity Washing and Icing Cakes

Neurodiversity and Society

Neurodiversity is the biological essentialist claim that there is limitless neuro-cognitive diversity among human minds and consideration should be given to this diversity when structuring society and considering the future of the human race. The Neurodiversity Movement is responsible for prosecuting the idea that there is benefit in terms of human rights and social outcomes if we recognise and accommodate neurodiversity.

Neurodiversity meets Capitalism.

A common popular trope is that neurodivergent individuals are an untapped source of human capital. Whether factual or not this moves away from the original intent of the Movement.

Special initiatives that claim to ‘unlock the potential’ of neurodivergent individuals need critical viewing through a lens that examines capitalism. The ‘productive citizen’ is a capitalist measurement of worth in relation to the economic value of an individual.

When people are valued for their untapped potential in terms of productivity we lose site of the fact that human rights are about human being not human doing. Whether we function a certain way within an economy has no bearing on the rights we are due.

Movement of capital relies on corporatisation, marketisation and monetisation. Capitalism overtly employs popular tropes like unlocking the potential of neurodiversity to further its own means. In many cases this is akin to the Green Washing of the corporate world. Whether its Green Washing or Neurodiversity Washing each offering has to be examined for its intent. Additionally, the level of responsibility each corporate actor takes for changing their practices to support diversity must be interrogated.

Neurodiversity Celebration Week

What I have seen as a result of Neurodiversity Celebration Week 2023 is a lot of Neurodiversity Washing and corporate virtue signalling that lacks a fundamental understanding of neurodiversity and any substantive action on furthering human rights.

Many of these poorly thought out initiatives lack attention to human diversity as a whole. These campaigns are silent on race, gender, sexuality, class, and disability. Too often, the faces of Neurodiversity hiring strategies are white able bodied males who have already had the privilege of access to post secondary education.

Human Rights

Human endeavour and efforts such as social planning should attend to neurodiversity so that all neurotypes have equal access to human rights. A good measure of successful human rights implementation is access to education and employment, allowing for economic participation as a means to improve quality of life.
To understand human rights and oppression we need to understand the history of rights movements.

Please research:
The Civil Rights Movement
The Women’s Rights Movement
The Disability Rights Movement
The Gay Rights Movement
The Indigenous Rights Movement
The Autistic Rights Movement
The Self Advocacy Movement

The Neurodiversity Movement is a rights movement, therefore, is intrinsically linked to all rights movements and opposed to all forms of oppression.

Neurodiversity Washing and icing corporate cakes with neurodiversity symbols are facile and often misleading attempts to engage in what needs to be a more meaningful change in corporate social responsibility.

March 19, 2023 by Uncategorized 0

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