I've been thinking about Vector's little war with the autism class. I make no claim about being educated about autism; all I did was read the wikipedia page. Also, correct me if I'm wrong about anyone's intentions.
I'm posting here rather than using a PM because I'd like to hear more opinions than just Vector's, and it's probably a progressive issue anyway.
Specifically I've been thinking about pride in disability. Now, before anyone accuses me of otherwise, I've no problem with people with disabilities or accommodating them. Also, I've got no problem with differences in people that aren't impairments. I'm also no eugenics supporter. But I do feel a bit weirded out by the notion that impairments could be seen as something other than a problem to be fixed.
Some see autism as a disease (which the class Vector's aiming at destroying is doing). Others see it as simple difference (which I believe is Vector's opinion). I'm somewhere in the middle. The difference between autism and homosexuality (for example) is that homosexuality doesn't carry any impairments; nothing about it affects one's daily life or ability to perform tasks. Thus, homosexuality is not a problem to be fixed. Autism however is classified by difficulty in participating in social activities. Are we to celebrate this and not try to mitigate it?
A precedence of ignoring impairments and writing them off as "difference" doesn't sit well with me. Analogies to autism are difficult since there's nothing quite like it, but for general impairments: my grandfather has some significant hearing loss due to old age. He refuses to wear hearing aids because "I hear just fine." We tolerate it because it'd be easier to convince a mountain to move than change his mind, but I am not going to agree him that his hearing is fine. His hearing impairment IS a problem to be fixed, and while I'll continue to accommodate him, I'm not going to call his belief that his hearing is fine anything but a delusion, especially because it is fixable. Back to autism, the social impairments aren't easily fixed or mitigated, but I see no reason not to try and find treatments/etc to fix and mitigate them, or to label them as anything other than problems.
Another aspect of autism (repetitive behavior, odd mannerisms) I will concede isn't necessarily a problem to be fixed, with some caveats.
Tolerating mannerisms is a matter of courtesy, but mannerisms (autism derived or otherwise) can be distracting or annoying. I remember back in high school there was a kid who would sway his head back and forth whenever he spoke; he got a lot of grief from bullies about that. Now, I was totally on his side (and still am) that an odd mannerism is a stupid thing to get harassed about, but even the most open minded individual is going to notice it and get distracted. Should they tolerate it? Of course. Would it be beneficial to the kid if he could have control over his mannerism and be able to stop it? Of course.
Well that's just my random thoughts on the matter. Please inform me if I'm ignorant about anything.