Being an autistic person with the lgbtq+ has never been easy but reverently within the past decade there has been an increase of anti-autism ableism within the community.
We are often not believed when we talk about our identities being infantilised or asked if we’re really sure and we’re not just confused.
Another issue that has increased within the community is us being blamed for our community’s loss of rights, watch any video of “why I’m ashamed to be lgbtq+” it is always targeted at people who show clear autistic symptoms.
The lgbtq+ cannot move forward with this recent attitude the core value of our movement has always been about being yourself and fighting for a better society something that seems to be forgotten by our community.
Recently I joined the Blackburn pride committee as the disability officer it is my job to make Blackburn pride accessible for disabled members of the LGBTQ+.
This is a much more important job than one might think and a big move for Blackburn’s pride.
Many disabled people are not able to go to pride events because they are not accessible and many in the LGBTQ+ they would much rather pretend we didn’t exist in these spaces look at any time rainbow crossings are criticised.
Neither the less we are here for example the connection between autism and trans and nonbinary, and we should be able to show pride as much as our able-bodied siblings.
The changes needed would be simple to implement for example having an area for wheelchair users and having more toilets available.
It is time we started allowing disabled members of the LGBTQ+ a chance to fly there rainbows and show pride.
Finding love is difficult when your autistic but when your queer it comes with different challenges from not being able to enjoy club life to the prevalence of hookup culture within the queer dating scene it can be increasingly difficult.
Within the queer community there has been a problem with ableism for a while having experienced it myself people have gone from treating me normally to treating me like a child when finding out I’m autistic.
For many autistic (not all) hookup culture is not something we normally want to partake in often wanting to make a connection with someone before getting into bed with them. Now of course this is not saying hookup culture is a bad thing people can enjoy and express there sexuality in anyway they wish this is purely mentioning the issues for queer autistics.
Another issue is that a lot of gay scenes revolve around clubbing or heavily crowded areas of course this can be fun but for some of us this can be over stimulating and cause some real issues and is one of the many reasons we need to campaign for more queer spaces that ain’t clubs or bars.
Now finally this is not intended as a tear down of queer culture more just a conversation about different people that exist within the queer community.
The automated age is fast approaching and to put it bluntly, the left is not ready and risks completely dying out.
An example of this is the current digital age the left and liberal sides cannot handle a good example of this was the Brexit bus. The bus itself wouldn’t have reached that many people but because every left-winger and liberal wanted to make their memes and debunk post the Brexit bus became a household name, it was handed free publicity on a silver platter.
Now how does this apply to automation simply really the left is making the same mistake with politicians like Andrew Yang calling for automation to be stopped, even in the UK we have parties like the northern Independence Party calling for a ban on face recognition technology.
The issue is these technicalities are very popular people will spend thousands on a phone that unlocks just by looking at your or your fingerprint.
Then there are arguments that automation will replace the working class this simply won’t happen replacing human staff with robots would be too expensive for most corporations to swallow.
Automation done correctly can massively benefit the working class we see this in Japan they have opened an automated restaurant where the robots are controlled by disabled people who are bedridden allowing them to socialize and not fall to loneliness.
If we don’t capitalize and implement automation measures the right will and they will not care who they hurt doing so.
Automation done correctly could be a breakthrough for humanity leading the way to make AI making missions to colonize other planets easier we just need to make sure we do it.
The UK is becoming a country that actively promotes eugenics not only in the government but the NHS itself.
The UK government is lifting all restrictions at the end of the month sacrificing millions of disabled people to save Boris Johnson’s career.
Currently in Lancaster, a mother is having to fight against the NHS because they refuse to give her son a kidney transplant to save his life because he’s autistic.
It’s increasingly obvious it is not safe to be disabled in the UK our lives don’t seem to matter.
If you care about disabled people now is the time to stand.
Ableism is alive and well in the UK and the pandemic has exposed how deeply rooted it is in our society.
From disabled people being yelled at on trains in supermarkets to even a 5-year-old autistic boy being yelled at by a grown adult for being unable to wear a mask.
I recently asked disabled people on Twitter and tumble about their experience with ableism and I was told stories of nightclubs using disabled toilets as storage, having to hide their disabilities to get a job, and even people taking pleasure in humiliating disabled people in public.
Ableist language has also taken over our political discord, how many times have you heard a politician be called a psychopathic or a sociopath, and in one case count binface saying Boris was insane and should be locked up in am an asylum.
And even our national health service isn’t safe from ableism with doctors often putting real problems down as just anxiety if the person has mental health problems and still using the outdated term Asperger’s.
The most extreme example of ableism though was when our government at the height of the pandemic forced DNR orders onto people with learning difficulties, they did this twice and only stopped cause they got caught.
So in summary ableism is deeply rooted in the UK and we must get rid of it.
So when you think of the gay experience for many it is big city gay clubs pride marches and festivals. And for the life of an urban gay that is their Life but for many of us we don’t have that life.
Being a rural gay if you want to go clubbing you have to travel far if you want to date you need a dating app and not a pride parade insight.
Depending on the nature of your area you can either be out loud and proud or you have to hide it for your safety.
For me, I’m privileged enough to live in Darwen which tends to be more chill we’ve got bisexual flags flying outside nightclubs, trans flags hanging out of windows, and most of the businesses here are queer-friendly.
However, for many a rural gay that isn’t always the case sometimes being seen with a pride flag in your window could lead to your window getting bricked or you being attacked.
Even in Darwen which is relatively progressive and safe homophobic language is used very casually especially the F slur.
The issue comes is unlike with urban areas in rural towns there’s rarely a safe space or lgbt+ support group around.
Internalize homophobia is also too common among rural gays I can’t count how many dating matches often talk about “acting straight” and “acting normal”
My MP Jake berry has a horrible rep when it comes to supporting lgbt+ rights which many rural gays have awful MPs because sadly a lot of rural areas go tory cause of second homeowners.
Recently I spoke to a friend of mine who is from an urban area and he said there’s a privilege to being “gay in the city.
So my endpoint of this ramble is that gay culture isn’t just city-based.
This may seem like an odd question as many people call themselves chavs, Well let me explain a different point of view.
The definition of chav is.
“a young person who wears fashionable sportswear or flashy jewelry but is regarded as badly behaved or as having lower-class taste”
The lower-class part is important for many in the middle and upper-class chav has become a way for them to insult the poorest people in our country.
“I don’t hate poor people but there’s no excuse for chav behavior” one gym in London openly uses the term “chav bashing” as a promotional tool.
This is extra problematic when you consider most chavs are people under 18.
This doesn’t help either both our major parties, Tories and Labour don’t seem to wanna tackle the issue.
Most chavs come from low-income areas and families where acting “hard” is more a survival method. And rather than helping these areas our government and opposition just want to punish young people.
In my own opinion yes chav should be considered a classist slur and we should push the government to help poor communities rather than vilify them.
For an interesting read, I would highly recommend chav by Owen Jones.
Lancashire lad politics 