2:16am October 11, 2013

➸ The Architecture of Autism

bittergrapes:

Sweetwater Spectrum, a California residence for autistic adults, hopes to become a model for like-minded experiments across the country.

This is really interesting … how do you all (the autistic community here) feel about it?

Oh crap, my parents tried to get me involved in the planning of this place when I was about 16. (I refused.)

The article says that everyone chooses to live here. The website specifies that everyone there has chosen it for themselves, unless they’re under guardianship. Then their guardian can choose it. This may mean that *most* of the residents don’t want to be there.

There’s a therapy pool. Of course there’s a therapy pool. It’s not like autistic people just go swimming because they want to, or because they want to exercise, or because it’s hot out.

The 1.25-acre organic garden and orchard function as an urban homestead where residents can grow fruits and vegetables. In addition, an energy-efficient, production greenhouse provides indoor space to encourage year-round activity. The farm area is a natural link to the town of Sonoma and its residents through sales at a farm stand and direct arrangements with local restaurants.

Do the residents want to farm? There’s no indication that the people running this care what the answer to that question is. There’s a heavy emphasis on giving the residents ~purpose~,but absolutely no indication that the non-autistics who designed this place give a damn what the residents find meaningful. This was all put in in advance, based on what parents wanted for their kids. It’s a bunch of expensive infrastructure foisted on adults for their own good, and I don’t believe for a second that the choice whether to participate in the farm labor won’t be coerced. There’s been too much money put into it.

Not to mention the whole “let’s turn this into a social experiment and use the results to issue sweeping declarations about whether autism precludes a sense of community!” aspect pervading the website. Sticking a bunch of random maybe-consenting adults united only by a diagnostic code into a small area and then artificially constraining the activities they engage in does not a community make!