Why has Eileen received so much harassment from the #actuallyautistic community? What is it like be an autistic mother? Are functioning labels harmful for autistic people? 

In this episode of the Thoughty Auti Podcast, Thomas Henley talks to Eileen Lamb from @TheAutismCafe - Author of 'All Across The Spectrum', professional photographer, Autistic mother, and online autism advocate. 

They start by discussing Eileen's book, going deep into the message behind it and her creative decision to include her photography. She explains how she got her son Charlie diagnosed, the difficulties along the way, and how she ended up getting diagnosed herself!

Functioning labels and well... labels of all sorts have always been controversial and difficult topics to discuss; Eileen makes us aware that the general consensus of 'acceptable' pronouns/terms is not agreed with by all members of the autistic community. Thomas highlights that with the new ASD levelling system in place, it's difficult to distinguish between the differences in independence without referring to functioning ability, or by performing verbal gymnastics. 

Eileen goes into her experiences with being bullied and harassed by the autistic community on her social media pages... especially Instagram. They both try to tease out the reason for the intense hatred within the community, suggesting reasons for this verbal abuse. Eileen remarks on her disappointment with the community, telling us about the isolating experience of being bullied mercilessly by her own people after a lifetime of being bullied by neurotypical individuals. 

Lastly, they cover possible avenues for getting over the autism parent and autistic adult divide, looking for practical and productive ways of getting autistic voices heard. Thomas believes that this circle of hatred does more to inflame the situation... with the cooperation of both parties it's possible that the issues that exist for autistic people could be seen more, and more good could be done for society. 

Should we not be focussing on the main issues at hand, rather than the superficial terms and fighting for social justice? Let's talk. 

If you have an exciting or interesting story and want to appear on the next podcast, please contact me at: [email protected]

Eileen's Links:-

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/theautismcafe/

Website - https://theautismcafe.com/

Twitter - https://twitter.com/theautismcafe  [https://twitter.com/theautismcafe]

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Music - ♫ Track: [Chill Music] Ikson - Reverie [No Copyright Music]