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Agreed. I've already put in a move request
, citing this thread and the other.
I don't know if there has been enough consensus for the change, with that few replies to the proposal? Admittedly I don't know if there are many people who are fine with calling it high or low functioning (there's guess who and myself, and she is not considered the best source on how autistics are while I don't really use high functioning to describe myself, more like are okay with others using it). Consider this to be another vote for a move, but also a potential worry that it was requested too early.
Edited by Piterpicher Currently mostly inactive. An incremental game I tested: https://galaxy.click/play/176 (Gods Of Incremental)
The scope of the page is autism in general, not just "high-functioning autism", so I figured there was no reason to think that that move might be contested.
Edited by Twiddler
Yeah, it's pretty weird. As another person on the spectrum (Asperger's), I've never really had a personal issue with these terms, but I also have no issue with changing the page title to actually fit the topic of the page. It's a common sense thing, even if the term is "okay".
Currently Working On: Incorruptible Pure Pureness
I did the change, because of the scope question.
I think the issue with the autism-related terms is that there is a lot of disagreement even within autism communities about whether this or that terminology is offensive or not. Also, medical terminology moves slowly and has other priorities. One can easily end up pushing a viewpoint that is not widely accepted.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
For some reason, the Useful Notes page on autism is called High-Functioning Autism.
This is weird, because the page is about the whole spectrum, not high-functioning autism in particular.
Additionally, many autistic people disagree with the use of the terms "high-functioning" and "low-functioning", because it carries Unfortunate Implications. For example, calling someone "high-functioning" implies that they should be able to adapt to society and act "normally" (read: like a neurotypical/non-autistic person), and that if they have difficulties due to their autism, it's a failing on their part (imagine someone saying "You should be able to handle this, you're high-functioning!). It also dehumanizes low-functioning people and suggests that they're "lesser" compared to the higher-functioning ones.
The preferred terminology is "support needs" (e.g. "low support needs" instead of "high-functioning) since it acknowledges that even people with milder autism may occasionally require support and accommodations, while not belittling those who do have more needs.
Here's an image that kinda explains it
◊, and here's a somewhat more in-depth article
.
So, how about swapping the current title and the redirect, Autism? And maybe add a section explaining why functioning labels are bad (I'd do it myself, but a. the page is locked, and b. it feels weird adding that when the page's title uses functioning labels).
Edited by Zuxtron