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We live in an incredibly capitalistic
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society where for every single one of
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us, our worth and our value is heavily
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dependent on what we do, what we
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achieve, what we make, and what we
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Autistic people who are unable to be a
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productive cog in this capitalistic
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machine are seen as less than and given
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the label of low functioning.
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An autistic person's level of
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functioning is going to fluctuate
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throughout their day, throughout their
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week, throughout their life because of
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an abundance of circumstances. For those
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who don't know about functioning labels,
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functioning labels have historically
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stereotypically been used in order to
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associate one group of autistic people
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over here as being less autistic, as
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having less support needs, as therefore
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being high functioning, and another
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group of autistic people over here on
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the spectrum as being more autistic, as
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having higher support needs, as being
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We need to see functioning labels for
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what they really are. How capable is
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this person of blending in with the rest
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of us normal people? And in turn, how
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capable is this person of producing
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capitalistic value? Because this is the
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real reason why we use functioning
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labels to determine a person's economic
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worth. The autism spectrum is not a
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linear spectrum in which one end is a
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little bit autistic and the other end is
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a lot autistic. It is more so a color
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wheel. A color spectrum of autism. Your
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hex code of autism represents your
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strengths, your struggles, your likes
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and dislikes, your habitat, where you
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are in your life at the moment, and how
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society perceives you amongst a million
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Just as no color is more or less than
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another color, no autism is more or less
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So, how do we start to unlearn what we
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know and relearn what we need to know?
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In 2022, I made history as becoming
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Australia's first ever openly autistic
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My character Quinny in Heartbreak High
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made history in her own right as being
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one of the first ever autistic
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characters to actually be played by an
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autistic person. We need to see autistic
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people behind the cameras. We need to
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see them as directors in writer rooms,
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as teachers, as doctors, as politicians
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in positions of power because autistic
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people are good as hell at doing that.
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We need to make sure that we are seeing
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bipok autistic people. We need to make
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sure that we are seeing high support
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needs autistic people. We need to make
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sure that we are seeing non-speaking
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autistic people and every other minority
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group of the hex codes of autism that
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are not currently being represented in
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all of these positions too so that it
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isn't just Sheldon Cooper and Manic
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Pixie Dreamirl autism that we grow
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comfortable with. If you are autistic
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and you are in this room today, I need
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you to know that you hold so much worth
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and so much value exactly as you are.
