The Inviting Trap Of Aspie Supremacy

‘Non-autistic people rarely think about the results of their actions on others…It’s almost as if we (Autistics) have a much higher propensity for self examination’

I came across this in a LinkedIn post recently. I generally ignore posts that don’t resonate with me but are otherwise harmless, and try to call in where a post aligns with isms and reinforces systems of harm, provided the poster has more access to whiteness than myself. The latter was applicable here, so I shared my thoughts. I didn’t receive a reply from the poster. I am not writing this piece to single them out, nor to invite any ill will towards them or those who share these kinds of views. It is, however, something that needs discussion. This way of thinking is present in many posts, many events, in some ways the whole approach to Neurodivergent advocacy and activism, and the response from the community is generally positive and normalising. There is a prevalent narrative among Autistics that we are in some ways ‘better’ than non-autistics, and though sometimes this inference is subtle, once you are on a journey of healing from the underlying ableism at play here, you can’t un-see it. In writing this piece, I hope to help others to begin to heal.

Aspie supremacy is a term that refers to the ways in which some low support needs Autistics believe themselves to be superior to high support needs Autistics, and to non-autistics. They emphasise the savant narrative, focus only on Autistics who are ‘gifted’ and tend to refer to themselves as ‘high functioning’. The ‘Aspie’ part refers to Aspergers - a name sometimes used for low support needs Autism, now referred to as ‘level 1 Autism’ in the DSM-5. Hans Asperger, the Austrian pediatrician for whom it is named, is a controversial figure, with seemingly contradictory accounts of him. In his favour, there is evidence that he believed that Autism was something that could not be separated from a person, nor was it an affliction, but that it formed a natural and integral part of one’s personality. He also saw children with a range of support needs, rather than only ‘high functioning’ Autistic children, as is commonly cited. Working against him, he was affiliated with the Nazi party, but so too was Oskar Schindler, so we know this information on its own is not enough to condemn someone. Some accounts of him describe a person who used his power and position to save the lives of many children - arguing that Disabled children had gifts that meant they could be productive and useful, contrary to Nazi beliefs around Disability. points out that even this charitable view of Asperger is problematic, because it seems he only saved children based on their value in a capitalist system, and this kind of ableism is deadly for disabled people with higher support needs. The least sympathetic view of Asperger describes someone who experimented on vulnerable children and allowed the deaths of many while supporting a genocidal regime. Whether you see him as a villain, a hero, or a complex human being, there is no getting away from the fact that his name was used to coin a term only for ‘high functioning’ Autistics, and the ableism in this is reason enough for me to be glad that ‘Aspergers’ is falling out of use.

While the term may be losing popularity, supremacy culture is harder to shake. In a reality where neurodivergent folx are bombarded with messaging from an early age about how we think, behave and exist being ‘wrong’, it is easy to understand the desire to prove that these ways of being are actually ‘right’. But for any of us to be ‘right’, someone else has to be ‘wrong’. Narratives around us being smarter, gifted, or more considerate than non-autistics, reinforce binaries of right and wrong, good and bad, and place virtue on these characteristics without interrogating the framework in which we have been told they are important. Furthermore, the idea that Autistics are more considerate, empathetic, more prone to self examination, falls down sharply when the subject of racism is tabled.

Supremacy culture of all kinds is rooted in white supremacy. Ableism is itself an extension of racism, as Autistic attorney and Disability justice advocate Lydia X. Z. Brown tells us: ‘To be defined as fully non-Disabled requires being white… White Disabled people’s disabilities detract from their whiteness, and Disabled people of color’s disabilities accentuate our supposed inferiority and in-humanity due to race.’ I often refer to the construct of normal and how it includes being racialised as white, this understanding is foundational to being able to engage in discourse around Neurodiversity while being able to spot, disrupt and heal from racist takes. If Autistics in general were more considerate and self-examining than non-autistics, the Neurodiversity movement would not be fronted by predominantly white, cis, male, level 1 Autistics, at the exclusion of many others (including those with the myriad neurodivergences other than Autism). White Autistics would be considering the experiences, the needs of Black and Global Majority Neurodivergent folx as central to dismantling ableism. They would be more open to being called in around reinforcing supremacy culture. They would be able to recognise that intersectionality means ‘Black and…’ before it means anything else.

All this being said, there does seem to be a huge number of Autistic folx in activist spaces across the board, not just within Neurodivergent advocacy. So why is this? At a neurological level, Autistics are often taking in and processing a great deal more information from our surroundings than non-autistics, this essentially makes us incredibly sensitive beings. One path this sensitivity could take, is leading to a great level of awareness to the violence and injustice of our colonial reality. If one is racialised as white, and also happens to be Autistic, then maybe this sensitivity could lead to being more aware of one’s impact on others than the non-autistic white folx around them. And if you mainly (or only) socialise, work with, consume content from other white people, then you might come to the conclusion that Autism is the key difference, instead of recognising that white supremacy, not neurotypicality, is the stealer of empathy. You just happen to have a vehicle that may help you reclaim more of it than those around you. This isn’t to say that only white folx reinforce Aspie supremacy, some Black and brown folx do this too. This is why it’s so important to be able to hold that white supremacy is a system that can be upheld by anyone, and that those who are doing so are trying to benefit from whiteness, even if it is only offering them scraps.

To escape the trap of supremacy culture, we have to engage deeply with unlearning our own racism and anti-Blackness, this must be foundational to any activism/advocacy we do. Anti-ableism without these components misses the depth and breadth of these systems of harm and how they interconnect to oppress us all, while also ensuring we continue to cause harm to those with less access to whiteness than ourselves. We don’t need to be better than non-autistics, we need to be better than the systems of harm that raised us. And if you do find yourself feeling as though you are more considerate than those around you, smarter, wiser, ‘gifted’ even, then this is the ideal moment to decide to turn that self-reflection, awareness and intellect towards dismantling white supremacy.

— AJ

Today’s Neuro-Embodiment Prompts:

Suggestions and questions to help you engage with mindbody decolonisation:

• Do you find yourself thinking about the ways in which you are ‘better’ than non-Autistics? Or non ADHDers? Non-Disabled folx? How can you interrupt these patterns in thinking? Conversely, do you think you are better than Neurodivergent folx? Disabled folx? What can you do to disrupt this? What reframings could support these shifts?

• How can you show up to interrupt Aspie Supremacy and other forms of hierarchical ableism when you encounter it in those around you, in the systems that we exist within? What approaches might you use to encourage reflection and healing? How will you centre and support those being harmed?

• What learning do you want to do around the intersection of ableism and racism? Where will you find your teachers? Are you compensating them?

• How are you ensuring Black and Global Majority folx are being platformed, compensated and protected in activist spaces? What actions to de-centre yourself might be needed?