“Why can’t parents talk about their experience with Autism?”
‘Because unless they’re Autistic parents,
The common response
they’re not talking about their “experience with autism”.
They are talking about their observations of their Autistic child,
filtered through their own non-Autistic perspective.’
Actually, it’s more complicated than that.
We know that most parents of Autistic kids are also Autistic (85%+).
Due to historical poor understanding of Autism, the parents of Autistic kids have often grown up thinking they are neurotypical, and to survive, they have tried to be as neurotypical as possible. This means being enculturated in the anti-Autistic
social stigma.
This skews their views on what they are actually advocating for – and unfortunately that is often regurgitating the societal dogma.
That isn’t what is best for their kids, and what is “good for Autism”, despite their best intent.