Kassiane A. Asasumasu (née Sibley; born 1982) is an American autism rights activist who is credited for coining several terms related to the Neurodiversity Movement, including caregiver benevolence. As stated in the text Neurodiversity for Dummies, "Asasumasu's work set the stage for a broader understanding and acceptance of neurological differences", which "continue[s] to be shared, shaped and formed by all sorts of people who recogniz[e] that our world should be accepting, inclusive, and accommodating of people regardless of their neurotype".[1]
Early life
editKassiane Asasumasu[2] was born in 1982[3] and has seven siblings,[4] all of whom are neurotypical.[5] She was diagnosed as autistic when she was three years old and was bullied for much of her childhood.[4]
Asasumasu has shared that she also has temporal lobe epilepsy[6] and post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of applied behavior analysis.[7]
Asasumasu is Hapa and Asian American.[8] She is of Croatian, Japanese, Mongolian, and Romanian descent.[9]
Contributions
editNeurodivergent and neurodivergence
editFollowing the rise of the autism rights movement in the 1990s, many autistic advocates, including Asasumasu, recognized that a wide variety of people experienced the world in ways similar to autistic people, despite not being autistic. As a result, Asasumasu coined the related terms neurodivergent and neurodivergence circa 2000.[10]
According to Asasumasu, these terms refer to those "whose neurocognitive functioning diverges from dominant societal norms in multiple ways".[11] She intended for these terms to apply to a broad variety of people,[11][12][13] not just people with neurodevelopmental disorders, such as autism, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and dyslexia. She further emphasized that it should not be used to exclude people but rather to include them.[14] This term provided activists a way to advocate for increased rights and accessibility for non-autistic people who do not have typical neurocognitive functioning.[15]
As stated in the text Neurodiversity for Dummies, "Asasumasu's work set the stage for a broader understanding and acceptance of neurological differences", which "continue[s] to be shared, shaped and formed by all sorts of people who recogniz[e] that our world should be accepting, inclusive, and accommodating of people regardless of their neurotype".[1]
Caregiver benevolence
editAsasumasu coined the term caregiver benevolence in 2014[16][17] to describe the overarching societal assumption that caregivers are "angelic, saint-like figure[s]" for offering their time, energy, and financial resources to care for a disabled person. In alignment with this belief, ignorance is the only harm caregivers can do to the disabled person in their care.[16] Asasumasu argues that due to the presumption of caregiver benevolence, the relationships between disabled people and their caregivers are frequently framed through "claims of hardship and suffering" on behalf of the caregiver, while neglecting the harms caused to the disabled person on behalf of their caregiver; such a presumption and reframing can lead to society overlooking the abuse of disabled people.[18]
Publications
editBook chapters
edit- Asasumasu, Kassiane (2017). "Plea from the Scariest Kid on the Block". In Brown, Lydia X. Z.; Ashkenazy, E.; Onaiwu, Morénike Giwa (eds.). All the Weight of Our Dreams: On Living Racialized Autism. Autism Women's Network. ISBN 978-0-99750-450-7.[19]
- Asasumasu, Kassiane (2021). "What Your Daughter Deserves: Love, Safety, and the Truth". In Autistic Women and Nonbinary Network (ed.). Sincerely, Your Autistic Child: What People on the Autism Spectrum Wish Their Parents Knew About Growing Up, Acceptance, and Identity. Beacon Press. pp. 21–26. ISBN 978-0-8070-2569-7.
Journal articles
edit- Natri, Heini M.; Abubakare, Oluwatobi; Asasumasu, Kassiane; Basargekar, Abha; Beaud, Flavien; Botha, Monique; Bottema-Beutel, Kristen; Brea, Maria Rosa; Brown, Lydia X. Z.; Burr, Daisy A.; Cobbaert, Laurence; Dabbs, Chris; Denome, Donnie; Rosa, Shannon Des Roches; Doherty, Mary (April 2023). "Anti-ableist language is fully compatible with high-quality autism research: Response to S inger et al. (2023)". Autism Research. 16 (4): 673–676. doi:10.1002/aur.2928. ISSN 1939-3792. PMID 37087601.
References
edit- ^ a b Marble, John; Chabria, Khushboo; Jayaraman, Ranga (March 19, 2024). "Understanding Neurodiversity". Neurodiversity For Dummies. John Wiley & Sons. p. 19. ISBN 978-1-394-21617-8. Archived from the original on March 4, 2024. Retrieved March 4, 2024.
- ^ Fletcher-Watson, Sue (June 3, 2020). "Neurodiverse or Neurodivergent? It's more than just grammar". DART | Development, Autism, Research, Technology. University of Edinburgh. Archived from the original on December 7, 2023. Retrieved March 4, 2024.
- ^ "History". The Autistic People of Color Fund. Archived from the original on February 27, 2024. Retrieved March 6, 2024.
Kassiane A. Asasumasu is a vintage 1982 autistic & epileptic activist who has been active this whole century.
- ^ a b "How abuse mars the lives of autistic people". Spectrum. February 5, 2020. Archived from the original on March 4, 2024. Retrieved March 4, 2024.
- ^ Sibley, Kassianne (April 11, 2006). "Why Not Ask Us?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on June 8, 2021. Retrieved March 8, 2024.
- ^ Asasumasu, Kassiane [@UVGKassi] (February 6, 2023). "Yes, I'm epileptic (temporal lobe epilepsy). and everyone when I was a kid decided it was Behaviors instead of, like, a medical thing so now it's refractory because it was left untreated for too long. WHEEEEE" (Tweet). Retrieved March 6, 2024 – via Twitter.
- ^ Asasumasu, Kassiane [@UVGKassi] (December 15, 2011). "@lizditz @thinkingautism I have PTSD from ABA. PTSD + autism + self loathing is WAY worse than autism" (Tweet). Retrieved March 6, 2024 – via Twitter.
- ^ Tink, Amanda (March 7, 2023). "Black Inc. has stumbled with its anthology of neurodivergent writing. The term is not a diagnosis – it is part of a political movement". The Conversation. Retrieved April 8, 2024.
- ^ Grace, Elizabeth J. (ibby) (September 13, 2013). "NeuroQueer: Kassiane A. Sibley's Open Letter to Identity Police (Part 1)". NeuroQueer. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
I am biracial. Hapa. Hafu. Eurasian. Eastern European and East Asian. Mongolian, Romanian, Japanese, Croatian. Unacknowledged on a demographic form.
- ^ Thompson, Rachel (September 3, 2020). "Disability Justice Advocate and Writer Lydia X. Z. Brown on Autism and Neurodivergence". ROOM Magazine. Archived from the original on March 4, 2024. Retrieved March 4, 2024.
- ^ a b Walker, Nick (2021). "Neurodiversity: Some Basic Terms & Definitions". Neuroqueer heresies: notes on the neurodiversity paradigm, autistic empowerment, and postnormal possibilities. Fort Worth: Autonomous Press. ISBN 978-1-945955-27-3.
- ^ "Neurodivergence". University of Massachusetts Office of the President. Archived from the original on March 4, 2024. Retrieved March 4, 2024.
- ^ Coates, Shannon (October 25, 2022). "Neurodiversity in the Voice Studio, Clinic, and Performance Space: Using a Neurodiversity Affirming Lens to Build More Inclusive Spaces for Singers. Part 1, Current Understanding of Neurodiversity". Journal of Singing. 79 (2): 213–219. doi:10.53830/VHSX6387. S2CID 253177063. Archived from the original on October 27, 2022. Retrieved March 4, 2024.
- ^ Chapman, Robert (August 18, 2021). "Negotiating the Neurodiversity Concept". Psychology Today. Archived from the original on March 8, 2024. Retrieved March 4, 2024.
- ^ Liebowitz, Cara (March 4, 2016). "Here's What Neurodiversity Is – And What It Means For Feminism". Everyday Feminism. Archived from the original on March 4, 2024. Retrieved March 8, 2024.
- ^ a b Brown, Lydia X. Z. (2017), Johnson, Andy J.; Nelson, J. Ruth; Lund, Emily M. (eds.), "Ableist Shame and Disruptive Bodies: Survivorship at the Intersection of Queer, Trans, and Disabled Existence", Religion, Disability, and Interpersonal Violence, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 163–178, doi:10.1007/978-3-319-56901-7_10, ISBN 978-3-319-56900-0, archived from the original on March 8, 2024, retrieved March 3, 2024
- ^ Kronstein, Alex (June 29, 2018). "Caregiver benevolence: When parents don′t know best". Nova Scotia Advocate. Archived from the original on March 4, 2024. Retrieved March 4, 2024.
- ^ Asasumasu, Kassiane A. (September 23, 2014), "DisAbused: Rethinking the presumption of caregiver benevolence", University of Washington-Seattle
- ^ Cagulada, Elaine (2021). "All the Weight of Our Dreams: On Living Racialized Autism by Lydia X. Z. Brown, E. Ashkenazy, and Morénike Giwa Onaiwu (review)". Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies. 15 (4): 499–502. doi:10.3828/jlcds.2021.39. ISSN 1757-6466 – via Project MUSE.