Cold Open (into silence)
You love Dune? Like me?
Frank Herbert is dead... wrong.
Fear is NOT the mind-killer. Denial is.
[Music ]
Intro
You're listening to AutisticAF Out Loud. One voice. Raw. Real. Fiercely Neurodivergent. Since 1953.
Season 5, Episode 5. Attacks on neurodivergence, facing our fears, finding our strength. Today we're talking threats, resistance, and the power of a hundred million voices. Just one autistic elder's truth. I'm Johnny Profane.
Content Note: political violence, eugenics, genocide, institutionalized discrimination, systemic oppression + experiences & opinions of one autistic voice... in my 70s.
[Music]
You love Dune? Like me?
Frank Herbert is dead... wrong.
Fear is NOT the mind-killer. Denial is.
I must honor my fear.
Fear is my guardian. My junkyard dog. My screaming siren.
Fear is the warning of annihilation. It must be heeded.
I will embrace my fear. Then share its wisdom.
I will let it flow through me. Become purpose & strength.
And when we have acted? I will remember… its lessons.
Where the Beast of Fear once stood, we will now stand.
We will abide. Stronger for having feared… then acted… Together.
Trust me. I know a lot about fear. I’m autistic. ADHD, too. In my 70s.
Living in dangerous times in America. And we got a lot more to fear… than fear itself.
[Music]
Hey... you know how this works. If this resonates, now might be a good time to like, share… maybe text a link to a friend. Really helps get the word out.
Trump administration identifies Autism & ADHD as "dire threats to the American people."
Some folks called this headline hyperbole. Click-bait exaggeration. To my face. With hostility. Calling out what they see as “fear-mongering.”
One fellow autist on LinkedIn really tore me a new one along those lines. Tried to anyways. I got a bit strong on her ass… So she blocked me. Exercising her denial.
But this is how it starts.
The White House labeled us a "dire threat." Not as evil actors, but based on our condition… our existence itself. Autism as a "dire threat." Not a difference.
Then throwing out a gratuitous observation... “77% of young adults do not qualify for the military based in larger part on their health scores.” (Full Whitehouse.gov post.)
As if that is how America now measures the value of our lives. As cannon fodder. As if there aren’t now… and haven’t been throughout history… Neurodivergent warriors.
Demonizing all the disabled. All the Different. As if we are the ones destroying America.
I'm struggling. I'm terrified...
Even knowing that cruel terror is their purpose. Didn't help watching Man in the High Castle lately. The scene where ashes are falling because they're cremating the old and defective...
I'm toast.
About 1:43 in the YouTube linked in text.
{video clip in text}
This terror? Not just my personal problem. We neurodivergents ain’t a small marginalized group. The numbers tell a bigger story:
About 30 million Americans have direct family ties to an autistic person
Roughly another 30 million have cousins or close relatives who are autistic
60 million. That's 1 in 6 Americans with close autistic connections
But we're just getting started. Add in ADHD, even accounting for overlap between conditions, the numbers become staggering:
69 million Americans have immediate family members affected
75 million have extended family affected
Nearly 1 in 4 American families impacted
Without considering the millions of families affected by other disabilities.
All these figures are back of the envelope. Conservative estimates from current prevalence rates. No formal research exists yet on these numbers. But the truth is clear…
We're talking 1 in 4 American families?
Let that sink in.
When do we stop seeing these numbers as statistics? And start seeing the faces of neighbors. Your friends. Your loved ones?
When are we ready to stand together?
Even if they don't round us all up right away…
They’re already killing education programs. For Autism, ADHD, intellectual disability, speech, hearing, vision, physical disabilities…
Personally I’m secretly pleased to see torturous ABA-based programs unfunded. Applied Behavioral Analysis forces change on helpless autistic children. Screw that noise.
But caring parents across the nation? They want support for their kids. They’re showing up at Town Halls. Getting loud about these recent cuts. Expressing fear and anger. Hurting kids cuts deep. And wide.
Worse yet? Over 80% of us autistics are unemployed or underemployed. Think about it. That means killing our Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, Food Stamps, Housing, etc.
That’s institutionalized Economic violence. A soft means of killing us off. And Soft Genocide is the deadliest kind. It goes unnoticed. Unmourned.
But, hey, it's not only lost benefits I'm worried about.
Underlying many of Trump's policies?
Turn over a rock on most? You’ll find the sinister grin of “Eugenics” staring up at you. That debunked, unscientific program to improve human “breeding stock.” By terminating the reproduction of “Undesirables.”
By any means necessary. Isolation, deportation, starvation, illness, violence, death. Just like Nazi Germany, against all disabilities. Libertarian Survival of the Fittest. At its finest.
Ayn Rand would be so proud. “Meritocracy” my ass…
Denial begins with dismissal. Violence begins with hate speech.
Notice the subtle, insidious damage done here. Labeling neurodivergence and other differences as "dire threats." That may be the most dangerous aspect of this White House publication.
Like they weaponized Disability, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) through propaganda.
It’s how it starts. The slow slide to genocide. We've seen this before. The marginalization of minorities.
"Do you want a BLIND person at the FAA?
“Would you trust a PARALYZED person holding your life in their hands?"
"Do you see a WOMAN on the front lines… defending you? A transgender?”
"How about an IMMIGRANT raping your daughter?”
Mockery becomes hate speech.
Becomes mass hatred.
Becomes normalized violence.
It's right there in the authoritarian… even Fascist… playbook. Now? It’s The American Way.
First, we're other.
Then, we're less than human.
A burden.
A danger.
Finally…
A target
For violence.
And hate crimes against Americans with disabilities have risen 29.5% over the last five years. As American political discourse has darkened.
See what I mean?
Can we turn our horror into action?
The very point of these propaganda tactics is terror.
Threatening humans’ income, medical care, housing… lives? That’s terrorism.
How can we possibly fight our fear becoming terror?
This may encourage you. The sheer number of American families. Who are seeing their loved ones threatened.
A 100 million... or more... affected American disabled families? I believe we can raise a decent reaction. If we act together.
I’ve proven over and over again in my life I’m no leader. Executive functioning? Hell, I struggle to find topic sentences. Decisions over local action, political organization, resistance demonstrations? Beyond me.
So I’m not about to create some Neurodivergent Justice League or anything.
But one thing that someone like me can do? That is positive? Put a human face on suffering. Without spinning toxic positivity.
You may disagree. I understand. Nevertheless?
I have value. And this warning has merit. It can gather a crowd. Maybe more capable folks who can run with it.
YET… There are 4 things we can do right now to effect change:
Share this warning. With friends. With government representatives. Make it visible. Make it heard.
Join the conversation below in comments. Your story matters. Your voice counts.
Connect with organizations already fighting this fight. They need our numbers. And maybe most important…
Create a mutual support network. Might be neighbors who check in with each other. Or more… shared travel, shopping together, mutual defense. A small community of choice.
Fear is not the enemy…
Fear is the Dance of Shiva, baby. When that Hindu god becomes the “Destroyer of Worlds" in the famous Oppenheimer quote. His flashing feet destroying the illusion of denial.
Invoking a new creation.
Feel your fear.
Ride it.
DO something
With its strength.
Together, maybe… just may be...
We can destroy ignorance. Make something… new.
We must honor our fear.
Then act. Together.
Outro
In coming weeks, we'll challenge the medical model of autism, with an episode called, "CBT...? Never Worked for Autistic Me." Why? Part of a series on how neurodivergent individuals can build sustainable, authentic lives - with or without professional intervention.
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