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540 points drankl | 3 comments | | HN request time: 0.618s | source
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GuB-42 ◴[] No.44485852[source]
I think what (may have) changed is that we now have "acceptable" labels. ADHD is fine, autism is fine, alcoholism, schizophrenia, not great, pedophilia, very very bad, even if you have never acted on a child.

I don't remember past "acceptable" pathologies, or what was considered a pathology back then, it included being gay. It you have a pathology, then you are mad, and if you are mad, then you lose your rights, at best, you are considered like a child, at worst, you end up in a place worse than prison.

Now, if you are diagnosed with an "acceptable" pathology, you actually get some advantages, people are expected to tolerate your quirks and you get full freedom like normal people, you may even get some welfare benefits as you are considered disabled.

To summarize:

Before: You are diagnosed as autistic, you end up in an asylum and lose your freedoms. No one wants that, so you avoid the label, it is just a personality trait.

Now: you are diagnosed as autistic, you get welfare benefits and people find it cute on social media. You want the label.

replies(2): >>44485885 #>>44485940 #
1. bevr1337 ◴[] No.44485940[source]
>Now: you are diagnosed as autistic, you get welfare benefits

I wish I lived in this reality. It sounds like a utopia over there.

replies(1): >>44486106 #
2. GuB-42 ◴[] No.44486106[source]
It is not utopia, it is my country, France. And while public healthcare looks better than in the US, it is absolutely not a utopia, from understaffing, bureaucracy and fraud, it is not without problems, even putting aside how much it costs in taxes.

But the idea is: in current society, for some pathologies / personality traits, you are better off with the label than without the label, so people will seek the label rather than avoid it, they would be crazy not to...

replies(1): >>44486365 #
3. Tijdreiziger ◴[] No.44486365[source]
But it sounds like this is not really meaningfully true outside of France, then?

Here in the Netherlands, there isn’t any such thing as an ‘autism benefit’ or ‘ADHD benefit’. Only if your condition is so debilitating as to make you unfit for work, then there is a benefit that you could apply for, but not in all circumstances, and only if an unemployment doctor is convinced by your case.