how would an anarchist society handle autistic people etc?

Question

as we know, most people on the autistic spectrum have difficulties to be an integral and contributing part of society, how would they be integrated? would they be free loaders in effect? also and further more, parents of autistic children usually cannot manage to handle their own child's well being and to take care of them selves as well and in equal grade, how could parents of autistic children survive in a anarchist conditioned society?

this question can basically be translated to actually any form of severe born disability.

Comments

http://anarchy101.org/5369/how-would-an-anarchist-society-deal-with-healthcare

http://anarchy101.org/2463/anarchist-stance-on-universal-health-care#a2465

http://anarchy101.org/4558/are-anarchists-more-likely-to-be-depressed#a4900

if those don't answer your question, perhaps you could specify why not?

oops. edited to delete repeated link.

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Your use of the terms "contributing part" and "freeloader" in the context of a hypothetical anarchist society is loaded with capitalist morality, which means that you have one or two assumptions about what YOUR hypothetical society should look like. That is, not very anarchist.

If you're writing this (and possibly that other question) to challenge anarchists, you might want to look at the long list of questions already asked by folks that could be relevant to what you're looking for. You should thank dot for doing most of the work for you (and one could be tempted to point out the irony of you being the freeloader here).

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I think y'all are being a smidge unfair. None of the tags for those questions linked above would seem intuitive for a non-veteran user of this site to search when looking up autism, disabilities, mental health, or anything like that.

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if i wanted them to just look up other answers i just wouldn't have responded at all.
i understand that the tags are hit or miss here.

Answer 1

This society values people by their 'contribution' to 'society,' meaning their ability to work or provide social cohesion. Individuals who do not easily conform to having roles like these due to 'disabilities' are often though of as 'free loaders,' but with a type of pity that allows social welfare/charity/tolerance/etc. to be given to them.

You're making the assumption that these people have nothing to 'contribute,' that their perspectives, attitudes, and overall character would not be something others could appreciate or find value in. (ugh, fuck the english language, I hate using words like 'value' in this way, but you know what I mean.)

Kelly Rose Pflug-Back wrote a very interesting piece addressing this same issue in an issue of Fifth Estate that came out a few years ago. While it primarily dealt with individuals with 'physical' disabilities, I believe it applies to this question in addressing the perceived 'lack of value' that society frames the way we look at people with these types of conditions: http://www.fifthestate.org/archive/387-summer-2012/survival-fittest/

About the actual practice of supporting people who may need it: I wouldn't see an 'anarchist' society as being one with closed-off nuclear families that privately deal with situations like this. The reason humans group themselves in this institution today is primarily due to the demands of the economy, where a stable family unit provides shelter for workers as well as begins the process of discipline for children to prepare them for the capitalist world. I don't want to make assumptions about what an anarchist society would look like, if we could even get to that point, but I'd guess that a healthy way to raise a child with we now call 'autism' would involve other family, friends, and people that, for their own interest and the interest of those they care about, help each other out. (dare I say it?!...COMMUNITY) It wouldn't have to be a private affair. Nor would it be a burden: I would also guess that the subjectivity that the autistic person experiences the world through would probably be of value and interest to said people as well.

Comments

this is a much more optimistic answer than I would've written, but it captures everything I would /hope/ would be the case. I actually really appreciate that.

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*no longer anon, am the op

thank you all for the answers.
I would like to clear some things up- this question popped up my head when I was discussing about politics with my asperger friend. I do admit I might have been a bit to specific about the hypothetical society I was imagining, but in a very general form, if that makes any sense. though I believe there is no need for an elitistic attitude such as that.

dot- thank you for all the links, they are very interesting but do not fulfill my need for an answer. the questions there are pretty general, and I am speaking of a very specific form of disability- one which from birth prohibits you the mere possibility of being a contributor to the society by any form. I can compare the being of an autistic person in a society to the one of a very weak ans small person with birtlle bones in the UFC heavy weight league.

flip- the article attached is simply great, it gives me a lot of new points of thought about this subject. thank you! also, your answer is pretty much what I thought could be a solution to this problem, though I still think there are gaps in it.


by the way, this question for me is an objection to anarchism from a point of view of a person who advocates and lives an anarcho- Affected life. this question is a big problem for me since I believe it can be a real impediment from a fully anarchy bustling world.

p.s. my English is mediocre, so please forgive my some what vague writing.

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i also agree with flip's answer. but part of what i was hoping for you, winnerdog, from the links that i gave, was the idea that a) there is not a single answer for how an anarchist-influenced society will work, b) the question you ask makes assumptions (as lawrence raised - like what people "deserve", which flip addressed in a more gentle way) that are antithetical to how i imagine anarchy working, c) that you might get something out of reading more of the site generally, since the concept you raise is common. and the specifics you are attached to in your question don't require special answers as far as i'm concerned.  
there will always be people who contribute in different ways. sometimes, for example, the way people contribute is by encouraging everyone else to go slower. consider the role of the fool or the indian clown...

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I see, I think I agree with you, thank you for the answer.
and as you can see I am new to the site and hope to learn as much as possible, I just need my time :)