Unsolicited rant: I understand the impulse parents have to make it visually obvious to strangers that their kid isn’t acting typically because they’re neurodivergent, not because their spoiled or whatever random shit rude people will say to parents of ND kids. But it also seems unfair to a kid to not give them the option of privacy, and it feels like approval-seeking to me, which should never be a guiding concern in parenting any kid. Doubly so for ND kids.
Yeah, it gives me the “performative allyship / treating autism like an inconvenient disease” ick when it’s applied to kids. If an adult wants to wear an explainer that’s their prerogative. Putting it on a kid just feels mean and othering, especially if it’s in a general public context where it can invite unwanted pity, or condescension, or outright cruelty. Being an autistic kid is already hard enough.
Unsolicited rant: I understand the impulse parents have to make it visually obvious to strangers that their kid isn’t acting typically because they’re neurodivergent, not because their spoiled or whatever random shit rude people will say to parents of ND kids. But it also seems unfair to a kid to not give them the option of privacy, and it feels like approval-seeking to me, which should never be a guiding concern in parenting any kid. Doubly so for ND kids.
Yeah, it gives me the “performative allyship / treating autism like an inconvenient disease” ick when it’s applied to kids. If an adult wants to wear an explainer that’s their prerogative. Putting it on a kid just feels mean and othering, especially if it’s in a general public context where it can invite unwanted pity, or condescension, or outright cruelty. Being an autistic kid is already hard enough.
It definitely makes an easy target for bullies.