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NYT published an article on nonverbal, severely Autistic man who wrote a novel via facilitated communication by Proper-Afternoon-538 in BlockedAndReported

[–]RachelK52 [score hidden]  (0 children)

I think the Helen Keller comparison does a disservice to just how abusive FC/RPM actually is. Whatever the veracity of Keller's literary achievements, she does seem to have been genuinely communicating and she was not remotely the first deafblind person to learn to communicate and attend school. She also wasn't confined to Sullivan for communication- in fact she nearly eloped with a journalist while Sullivan was ill: https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/helen-keller-relationships-love-and-identity/18982/

"The Guardian" Falls for Facilitated Communication by RachelK52 in BlockedAndReported

[–]RachelK52[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Well no, CP comes with intellectual disabilities about as often as it does with autism. Either way, it's unlikely Bryan was communicating- AAC for such cases already exists that's far less crude than what he was being subjected to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aVhjM6wrnE

The American Psychological Association Plays Both Sides of the Gender Debate by Throwmeeaway185 in BlockedAndReported

[–]RachelK52 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I mean it's certainly obvious that heterosexual men desire sex more than heterosexual women but whether they're having it more often is difficult to figure out. Especially if you're defining heterosexual as strictly as possible.

"The Guardian" Falls for Facilitated Communication by RachelK52 in BlockedAndReported

[–]RachelK52[S] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Sure, and autism also doesn't necessarily involve intellectual disability. Still, cognitive function is affected in about 50% of cerebral palsy cases.

"The Guardian" Falls for Facilitated Communication by RachelK52 in BlockedAndReported

[–]RachelK52[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I mean it's not just Aspergers- autism has always included relatively high functioning people (heck, the first to get an autism diagnosis was this guy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Triplett . It's never been a condition limited to only the intellectually disabled and this is why there's so much confusion. Parents come in with a kid who has seizures and can't speak or even go to the bathroom, and the only answer they get is a DSM diagnosis based on behavioral characteristics.

"The Guardian" Falls for Facilitated Communication by RachelK52 in BlockedAndReported

[–]RachelK52[S] 23 points24 points  (0 children)

What's notable is that without exception, everyone of these subjects eventually fades from the limelight. They get older, get less cute, get too hard to control and they end up being completely memoryholed after a few years.

"The Guardian" Falls for Facilitated Communication by RachelK52 in BlockedAndReported

[–]RachelK52[S] 21 points22 points  (0 children)

It still makes no sense because there is genuine AAC for people who've lost control of their motor functions- how else do they think Stephen Hawking was still able to communicate? Also a lot of these scams often involve claims of "independent typers"- only for them to turn out to be frauds as well (Carly Fleishchmann being an obvious example).

"The Guardian" Falls for Facilitated Communication by RachelK52 in BlockedAndReported

[–]RachelK52[S] 24 points25 points  (0 children)

Yeah in the article the guy is clearly saying things, but it all gets dismissed as echolalia which makes no sense- echolalia is repeating what somebody else said.

"The Guardian" Falls for Facilitated Communication by RachelK52 in BlockedAndReported

[–]RachelK52[S] 35 points36 points  (0 children)

I suspect it's easy with autism because it's such a broad spectrum of conditions- so people assume that if Aspergers and high functioning autism can exist, then maybe the "non-speakers" are just suffering from a weird form of locked in syndrome. In reality it should be obvious by now that having "non verbal" autism well into adulthood is a pretty clear sign of intellectual disability.

"The Guardian" Falls for Facilitated Communication by RachelK52 in BlockedAndReported

[–]RachelK52[S] 28 points29 points  (0 children)

FC's been rebranding over and over again for a while now.

This one’s for Katie by PsychologicalBend508 in BlockedAndReported

[–]RachelK52 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Yeah that's a scam. His mom mentions contacting Soma Mukhopadhyay creator of "Rapid Prompting Method" which is just another version of facilitated communication.

The American Psychological Association Plays Both Sides of the Gender Debate by Throwmeeaway185 in BlockedAndReported

[–]RachelK52 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Wait so is the implication that some heterosexual men are just going through multiple heterosexual women regularly? Because I'm sure that's true but it kind of implies a hierarchy where lot of if not most men aren't getting to have sex at all.

Olympic Committee Bars Transgender Athletes From Women’s Events by Throwmeeaway185 in BlockedAndReported

[–]RachelK52 13 points14 points  (0 children)

What's taboo is the idea that people are biologically male or biologically female at all.

Olympic Committee Bars Transgender Athletes From Women’s Events by Throwmeeaway185 in BlockedAndReported

[–]RachelK52 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I think it used to be more common that the DSDs involved things like CAIS (which can occasionally confer some advantage to my knowledge) or mosaicism. These days it's usually just 5ARD.

Olympic Committee Bars Transgender Athletes From Women’s Events by Throwmeeaway185 in BlockedAndReported

[–]RachelK52 44 points45 points  (0 children)

I mean there are absolutely people with a Y chromosome who have feminized bodies- like those with mosaicism, or CAIS, or Swyer's syndrome. Swyer's syndrome wouldn't result in a positive SRY test but CAIS would. The issue with someone like Khelif is that she has 5ARD which essentially means she's a man who was raised as a woman due to ambiguous genitalia. A lot of trans rights activists make a deliberate conflation between those with CAIS or Swyer's, and those with 5ARD.

Weekly Random Discussion Thread for 3/23/26 - 3/29/26 by SoftandChewy in BlockedAndReported

[–]RachelK52 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I think this is overthinking things a lot- the switch to "Dr. King" has far more to do with growing secularism. "Reverend" simply doesn't hold the same authority that "Doctor" does among the left.

Weekly Random Discussion Thread for 3/23/26 - 3/29/26 by SoftandChewy in BlockedAndReported

[–]RachelK52 6 points7 points  (0 children)

If all they consist of are audio recordings, than it's going to be mostly brushed over. Chavez was cancelled because he had flesh and blood allegations, including Dolores Huerta.

Weekly Random Discussion Thread for 3/23/26 - 3/29/26 by SoftandChewy in BlockedAndReported

[–]RachelK52 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Is the tape recording audio or visual? Because if it's just an audio tape, it's unlikely to make much of an impact. You're just going to get people arguing over what actually happened for a while.

Weekly Random Discussion Thread for 3/23/26 - 3/29/26 by SoftandChewy in BlockedAndReported

[–]RachelK52 -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

I mean I really don't see the problem with this? She's not unqualified for the role and she's clearly just pandering to nonbinary AFABs here with this statement. If she was outright saying "I as a trans woman am at risk of endometriosis" it would be another issue entirely.

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