Reply #17: I wouldn't say autism doesn't exist. [View All]

[MonteLukast]

But I do think that a lot of smart, quirky kids who don't fit in, are called Asperger's or autistic when they're not.

Being labeled on the autism spectrum can have serious implications for your ability to get an education or a job years later. Having a reputation for poor people skills-- deserved or undeserved-- can be an employment death sentence; even low-wage retail jobs are potentially closed off for these people. Even if you're not actually ASD! -- if you simply resemble one, you'll be tossed in the boneyard too: for educators are too stressed and under too much time and parental pressure to exercise normal human judgment in many cases.

I think, in fact, that this rash of ASD diagnoses are in fact conscious attempts to create a new economic underclass. The whole point of having an underclass is to have a guaranteed pool of downtrodden, marginalized people from which you can make do the worst jobs for the worst pay. And the beauty of the autism spectrum is, no matter how much education you do get, employers won't care. Emotional intelligence-- or the appearance of it-- trumps IQ for more and more people in charge: it's a handy-dandy excuse for not honoring somebody's hard work and educational investment.

*donning my asbestos suit*
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