The Problem With Talking About Autistic Superpowers
Instead let’s acknowledge everyone’s strengths and challenges and the right to be ordinary
“What is your superpower?”
They probably thought they were generating positive vibes by posting the question in the women’s autistic Facebook group.
Light-hearted banter about how we shine at completing jigsaw puzzles in record time, constructing flat pack furniture without the manual, and remembering song lyrics or movie quotes is a reliable source of autistic bonding and camaraderie.
And what could be wrong with celebrating our strengths in a world that still defaults to defining autistic people by their deficits?
It soon became clear that many in the group were uncomfortable with describing their autistic-inflected strengths as “superpowers”.
While it’s not problematic in isolation, the idea that autistic people have some kind of innate super-human ability sits within a narrative that is based on misconceptions and stereotypes. Drawing on the mythology of the savant, it’s straight out of Rain Man.
Surely it’s time we got past that.
The autistic superpower trope is infantilising, demeaning and othering and embarrassingly…
