Autism Acceptance is a Socialist Issue: How Capitalism Harms the Autistic Community
April is Autism Acceptance Month, a time to bring attention to the struggles and triumphs of a community that has exploded in recent years. Autism Spectrum Disorder, according to the fifth edition of the American Psychiatric Association’s “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual” (DSM-5), is a developmental disorder characterized by deficits in social communication and interaction, as well as restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior, interests or activities. It is called a “spectrum” not because it represents a linear progression from “mild” to “severe,” but because presentation can vary widely among individuals. Autistic people in the same family, because autism is largely genetic, can have such diverse needs that they often conflict with one another. One person may be sensitive to loud noises while another might feel comforted by verbal stimming (a word for the self-stimulating behaviors many autistic individuals engage in). This diversity within the autistic community makes it difficult to apply the one-size-fits-all solutions imposed by capitalism. When we consider the requirements of capital and profit that drive the capitalist mode of production, it becomes clear why so many in the autistic community feel abandoned.
Autistic individuals struggle under the capitalist mode of production for many reasons. Unemployment is high due to difficulties with sensory overstimulation, social communication and emotional regulation. According to recent studies, autistic unemployment was estimated to be as high as 85% in 2021, contributing to high rates of social isolation. Reasons for this high percentage include difficulty participating in the interview process and the unconscious biases of those responsible for recruitment and hiring. An autistic person may answer an interview question literally and miss crucial social cues and shifts in body language that signal when an answer is not being well received. If they do not disclose their disability during the interview process, as is their right, then their autistic traits may be misinterpreted in a negative light by the interviewer. If they do disclose then they may have to contend with stereotypes and misinformation about autism. A potential solution could be improved training for people involved in the hiring process, but the fact remains that the requirement to work in order to survive is particularly detrimental to autistic people.
Those who are employed struggle with job retention and burnout at higher rates than their nondisabled peers. In a long term longitudinal study of autistic young adults, it was found that young autistic adults held an average of three different jobs in their early 20’s, with 26 months being the average length of employment. Masking, a strategy some autistic people use to hide their autistic traits, contributes to high levels of fatigue and burnout. Sarah, a healthcare worker local to Cincinnati, shared their experience:
There are many challenges in the workplace as an autistic person, from communication issues to overstimulation. By far the hardest part for me is spending so much time in a dysregulating environment. Even with accommodations, I'm outside my safe zone for 8+ hours and expected to be "on" the whole time for patients and their families, as well as socializing with my coworkers. It takes a lot out of me, and I need a lot of time to recover.
Burnout for an autistic person can be debilitating and take weeks, months or even years to recover from. This puts many autistic workers in a constant state of distress, which has myriad negative effects on both physical and mental wellbeing.
Wages are often much lower for autistic workers. Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) allows businesses to pay disabled workers less than minimum wage. The rates are determined by the disabled person’s output compared to their nondisabled peers. Approximately 12,000 disabled workers are employed under 14(c) certificates in the US, and half of them report making less than $3.50 per hour. While it is not known how many disabled people working under 14(c) are autistic, it can be reasonably assumed that at least some autistic workers, especially those with higher support needs, receive a subminimum wage. The capitalist obsession with increasing output and soaring profits creates an environment in which a disabled person’s labor is deemed less valuable, and therefore their capacity to attain the means of subsistence is diminished.
The alienation imposed by capitalism profoundly affects autistic people and their families. The isolation of the nuclear family leaves many families with autistic children without an adequate community support system. They must seek support from for-profit agencies, which comes at a cost that is often much too high for struggling families. Add to that the years-long waitlists for Medicaid waivers, private insurance copays, refusal of coverage and the high cost of childcare and respite services, most families are left to fend for themselves.
The lack of accessible third places adds to this sense of alienation and loneliness. Though there are emerging a variety of “sensory friendly” spaces and events, it still costs money to access them, which can be cost-prohibitive for families with multiple children. Families have resorted to crowdfunding to meet the needs of their autistic children. One of our own members was compelled to set up a GoFundMe to raise the $1,500 copay required by their insurance for their nonverbal autistic son to have access to an Augmented Alternative Communication (AAC) device. For families without employer-sponsored insurance or who have to rely on state-funded Medicaid these services can become completely inaccessible. Paired with the lack of low-cost or free third places, the result is often a high degree of isolation that is detrimental to both the autistic person and their caregivers.
Autistic identity often intersects with multiple marginalized identities, leading to discrimination not only on the basis of disability but also that of race, gender and sexual orientation. Individuals with marginalized identities, including black, indigenous, other people of color, women, girls and AFAB, tend to be diagnosed later in life or never receive a diagnosis due to the historically white male focus of autism research. This leads to feelings of inadequacy, alienation and the belief that they are “broken.” The high cost of an autism diagnosis and the hoops that they often have to jump through to get it leave marginalized autistic people without access to important supports and services.
In response to this medical gatekeeping, many individuals have resorted to self-identifying as autistic in the absence of an official diagnosis. Such self-diagnoses are generally accepted by the community at large, and many mental health professionals also attest to their validity. While it cannot provide access to services, a self-diagnosis can offer greater self-understanding and the support of a global autistic community. Self-diagnosis can also serve to protect marginalized people from further discrimination by omitting it from official records. Autistic individuals are more likely to identify as LGBTQIA+ than the general population, and a recent study also found that people who are transgender are three to six times as likely to be autistic than those who are cisgender. These statistics have been used in multiple states to deny transgender youth the right to gender-affirming care based on the assumption that autistic people are not capable of making their own decisions.
Police brutality, an essential feature of bourgeois oppression, also disproportionately affects autistic individuals. On March 9, 2024, black autistic teen Ryan Gainer was shot dead by police after his family called for help during a meltdown. According to the body cam footage, the 15-year-old was distressed and warding off the officers with a gardening tool before he was shot. This is just one example in a long list of incidents of police brutality against autistic people.
Research indicates that people with developmental disabilities such as autism are seven times more likely to encounter law enforcement. This increases the likelihood of tragic outcomes because the traits of autism, such as avoidance of eye contact, stimming and repeating words (echolalia), often overlap with the behaviors police are trained to interpret as suspicious. Autistic traits are often interpreted by police as defiance or aggression, which threatens their authority. The impunity with which police in the US carry out extrajudicial executions of disabled as well as black, brown, gender nonconforming and LGBTQIA+ people is a direct result of their oppressive mandate. Training police to recognize and respond appropriately to autistic people is like putting a bandage on a bullet hole. Even if they receive adequate training, which rarely happens, intersectional identities like race, gender and socioeconomic status affect how police perceive potential suspects. Since police are ill-equipped to respond to mental health crises, the better solution seems to be to remove police from the equation entirely.
How will the autistic community fare under socialism? Severed from the requirement to turn a profit, services could be provided to autistic people and their families at little to no cost which will alleviate a large part of the financial burden placed on these families. An increase in free third places and sensory-friendly accommodations will not only benefit those professionally or self diagnosed, but also anyone who may be easily overwhelmed by excessive sensory input.
These accommodations will benefit society as a whole. The assumption that neurotypicality is the default is a bourgeois invention; it is far more likely that diversity and non-conformity is the norm when it comes to the human brain. A society that values individuals according to their inherent dignity as persons and not for what they can produce will benefit not only autistic people, but disabled and disadvantaged people across multiple identities. It is time to build a society that meets the needs of us all, putting into practice Marx’s foundational dictum: “From each according to their ability to each according to their need.”