8:52am July 2, 2014

It bothers me…

…that generally when I run across anyone loudly and vocally saying they don’t like ASAN or something they’re doing, then the person turns out to be some kind of concern troll, stalker, or otherwise an asshole.

Because… I work with a lot of people at ASAN. I like a lot of what ASAN does. But I also have serious misgivings about ASAN, just as I did with ANI before it.

But I rarely talk about that, because the main people who might agree with me are these creepers who try to ‘infiltrate’ them and basically talk shit for their own sake. So the only time I have conversations about my misgivings are in private. Or I’ll allude to them, but not really discuss them openly. Much as I’m doing now.

I’ve weighed, though, whether to become more involved with ASAN. Whether to seek out local chapters, do some volunteering, etc. I’m already part of an organization where I swear almost everyone but me is an ASAN member, and we seem to get along fine. I just… sometimes I don’t feel like a joiner, no matter how amazing everyone else says something is. (In fact, the more amazing people find it, the more cautious I get.)

Anyway, I kind of wish there were more options for 'independents’ like me, floating around out here. It’s not that I think ASAN is evil (or I certainly wouldn’t be warning you guys against truly evil-seeming people who have it in for you for all the wrong reasons), it’s just that I’m very, extremely cautious about organizations of this type, for some reason.

I wish, also, that I had a chance to go to the events, meet the people, take part in things, etc., without joining or having to commit to anything, just to see what things are about. Because however little I like joining organizations, I’ve always been willing to work alongside organizations. Even organizations I like a lot less than I like ASAN. And I’d love to know more without having to join anything or hear everything third-hand.

But seriously why do things have to be so damn polarized? Because it seems like in parts of the autistic community, you’re either 100% for ASAN or you’re some asshole trying to take them down just because they can. And I’m sure there’s lots of people like me who aren't on a side, here, but you’d never know it.

It does seem to me like, in America, ASAN is the main autistic self-advocacy group that actually gets anything done on a large scale. And that’s why it’s of interest to me, despite my misgivings about parts of it. (Misgivings I’m unwilling to discuss, so don’t put things in my ask box. Just because I don’t think an organization is perfect doesn’t mean I have a desire to blab all about it everywhere I go, especially given that a lot of the people I meet with a desire to hear such things a creepers.)

Notes: