The following is a quote (used with permission) from a chat with Laura Tisoncik tonight (all the the following are her words, not mine, but they express something I’ve been trying to express for awhile):
I just wish people would stop treating the autistic community as some kind of ego trip and start treating it as self-defense. We don’t have the luxury of creating heroes and rockstars and ward bosses… that’s for people whose lives are not on the line.
At the same time I understand why it happens — for most autistics the autistic community is the first place they feel “important” and for a lot of them it goes to their head. Not to mention that the only role models many of them have had (of authority) are abusers. It’s understandable, but inexcusable.