Do they walk around in public being constantly afraid that someone is going to violently lash out at them with no warning?
Uhhhh, yeah? Like, yooooo, you do realize that that's a legit fear for many women, minorities and lgbt folk, don't you?
And yet the autists of the world, a definite minority, feel no such fear.
Sure, they don't...
A 14 year old with the mental capacity of a seven year old, a boy who walked out onto train tracks, and an intellectually disabled individual. In the first 2 cases, they got themselves into trouble and the situation was escalated by misunderstanding police. The third case wouldn't have gone any differently if he had been straight up retarded instead of autistic. Come to think of it, the second case probably wouldn't have gone any better if he had been neurotypical, what with his headphones and his seizure. As I see it, the first and most likely the third case are never going to be fully functional individuals and it would be for the best if they spent their lives in a....gee, asylum has too many negative connotations, what do I want to say instead? I'm picturing a place with lush green meadows, a couple trees, maybe some flowers too. Well trained, understanding staff. Lots of soft, comfortable furniture and art programs galore. Let's go with....sanctuary. The second case was a teenager doing something stupid (as teenagers are wont to do) and getting a bit more shit for it than he deserved because of circumstances beyond the control of any involved party. Nothing there is making me feel afraid.
I'm a white neurotypical(outside of depression, I 'spose) dude, buckaroo. Not talking about my own demographic.
It's far from paranoid tho. Annnnnd far from negligible.
Let's see.....the first link doesn't even mention anything relevant to the discussion, and the second outright says that people with mental illness suffer more violence because their mental illness tends to get them into situations where violence is common. Yeah, no, I'm not exactly terrified.
EDIT: And you'll note that two of those stories I linked in my previous post involved police as the people assaulting the victim. Imagine not even being able to trust the police to defend you.
Would you like to hear about the polite, respectful and non-violent interaction I had with a police officer yesterday? He was friendly, he asked a few questions, I answered and cooperated fully. Within a minute he had discerned that I was not the individual he was looking for and we parted ways. At no point in the interaction did I feel any fear of the officer, and why would I? Other than jaywalking, breaking the speed limite every now and then and occasionally pirating a pdf, I haven't done anything remotely illegal for years. Worst case scenario, he asks me to come to the station, I cooperate, I answer a few more questions and then they let me go because I'm not the guy I'm looking for. Honestly, what actually scared me yesterday was seeing an ambulance 10 seconds later and realizing "holy shit, earlier today a violent crime occurred not that far from my home!"
Im a little more interested in why they dont ask for a clubroom for a 'african culture club' or any manner of things.
A space that officially encourages only one race is ridiculous, and its great to see descan's outrage only extends one way
...I mean, I agree with Descan here. You wouldn't deny the LGBT-etcetera community an LGBT-etcetera-only space would you? It's just a place that they can get away from the mainstream racist bullshit and still have a place to hang out or study.
Wouldn't that just be a club of the kind pisskop suggested? What's worrying about the ideas behind demands like this is that they focus on exclusion instead of focusing on community. It's not about getting black folks together to discuss issues like racism and just generally hang around with people who share some core experiences with you - it's about keeping out the white folks. That's disturbing, and not at all justifiable by some sort of safe space argument: Three white dudes mixed in with a hundred black folks are hardly gonna make a difference, even if they're the biggest racists since the Civil War.
I completely agree with you, except for the second part of that last sentence and even then only on a technicality. I think you've forgotten exactly what kind of racism we saw from a certain German with a toothbrush mustache and all his associates.