Selene dePackh – dis/lit 20

Abigail Weber

Dr. Foss

ENGL 384

April 29, 2020

Troubleshooting and the Undermining of Social Issues in Dystopia

The definition of “dystopia,” according to Merriam-Webster, is “an imagined world or society in which people lead wretched, dehumanized, fearful lives.” Dystopian literature is a large category, spanning classic works of required high-school reading like 1984 and Fahrenheit 451 and recent popular works of young adult fiction like The Hunger Games and Divergent. At its heart, dystopian literature forces the reader to confront a horrific possible future and contemplate what current trends in our society might lead humanity down such a brutal path. Autistic author Selene dePackh likely intended to shine a light on the disturbing trends and rhetoric surrounding autism today and how they might lead to a dystopia if unchecked in her novel Troubleshooting. However, many austistic individuals already lead “dehumanized” and “wretched” lives as a result of our current ableist and disableist society, calling into question how much dePackh really needed to change the setting to highlight anti-autistic prejudice. By setting its story of autistic oppression in a dystopian future with a dramatically different political system, Troubleshooting lost an opportunity to examine the dystopian society that many autistic and otherwise neurodivergent or disabled people experience today.

In Troubleshooting, the main character, Scope Archer, is branded with a tattoo that marks her as autistic and removes her rights without her consent. She states that “tattooed, [she] was no longer entitled to due process” or the “presumption of innocence” before being subjected to forced medication, institutionalization, experimental procedures, or electroshock therapy (dePackh 5). However, autistic children, and some adults, face the same specters of involuntary abusive “treatment” and institutionalization without due process under the system of guardianship (Autistic Self Advocacy Network 1). “Almost every country” has a system of guardianship under which disabled individuals assigned a guardian “cannot choose where to live, where to work, who to be friends with, and who to marry without their guardian’s consent,” while the guardian is free to ignore the wishes of the person in their custody (Autistic Self Advocacy Network 1). They lose the “usual rights and responsibilities” of citizens without being legally recognized as “no longer a citizen” (dePackh 4). The law does not announce it is taking away the rights of disabled and autistic people by declaring them no longer citizens or branding them with tattoos. DePackh does not draw a comparison between the tattoo system and the guardianship system; she does not discuss how one led to the other, the ableist ideas underlying both, or the similarities between the two. A reader with background knowledge of guardianship can draw the parallel, but one of the biggest problems with guardianship is how little the general public knows about it. Without this knowledge, the tattoo and its accompanying restrictions simply become more set-dressing that establish how terrible the book’s society is, without prompting introspection or reflection on its contemporary precursors.

Troubleshooting does later engage with neurotypical guardianship of autistic people, but again renders its criticism irrelevant through its future setting. Scope has trouble living independently, particularly keeping track of monthly expenses, as a result of her autism. To deal with this, she takes in and ultimately marries an allistic man who handles the tasks she has trouble with. He quickly becomes abusive and controlling, and Scope has difficulty escaping him. This is an unfortunately common situation: some estimates place disabled people at almost twice the risk for intimate partner violence compared to their non-disabled peers, and even conservative estimates place them at a significantly higher risk that others (Breiding and Armour 455). Disabled people are at risk for intimate partner violence in part because their “increased dependency on others for long-term care” makes it difficult for them to leave abusive partners (Nosek et al. 178). The University of Michigan notes that disabled or elderly survivors requiring additional resources can add yet another barrier to escaping abusive relationships alongside those, like financial dependence and the fear of retaliatory violence, that their neurotypical and able bodied peers also face (“Barriers to Leaving”). However, dePackh undercuts this important point by explaining Scope cannot escape because “new domestic violence laws [don’t] favor” her (emphasis added), making it a recent development only relevant to the society and legal setup of the book (dePackh 168). This implies that before the dystopian future detailed in the book began, Scope would have handily escaped from her abusive relationship. Scope’s relationship could have played out along similar beats in today’s society, considering the numerous barriers to leaving an abusive relationship and the disadvantages disabled people have when navigating the law and dependence. Instead, Troubleshooting ignores the complex forces that push autistic people into abusive relationships and limit their ability to escape, replacing them with a clear-cut law passed by an openly misogynistic and disableist government.

By placing her narrative against a backdrop of a dramatically different future, dePackh makes her points on the treatment of autism feel irrelevant to the present sociopolitical system. She fails to connect the issues in the novel to their predecessors in contemporary America. Although readers with background knowledge of autistic issues or disabled advocacy may be able to make these connections, the text itself fails to illuminate them. This is particularly odd because the future described in Troubleshooting is not a distant one where current ideas of autism are forgotten. The narrator and protagonist is 15 in 2031, and the book was published in 2018, meaning that the United States completely transformed over Scope’s short lifetime from our current society to the one depicted in Troubleshooting. Despite this tremendous change all occurring while she was alive, Scope treats society as if it has always been this way, which might have been a powerful commentary on how the dystopia described in the book is not so different from modern America to an autistic child in the hands of an ableist caregiver—if the novel had ever mentioned this implication of Scope’s age. The short timeline could have helped to emphasize how close to dystopia the American political system is for autistic people already, but instead it serves to detach the world of the book from the real world through distracting, improbably radical shifts in the way the United States is structured. Readers are not left realizing how close we are to the world of Troubleshooting or questioning what part they play in preventing such a future. Instead, they are simply glad the world is not like that.

Word Count: 1057

I hereby declare upon my word of honor that I have neither given nor received unauthorized help on this assignment. -Abigail Weber

Works Cited:

“Barriers to Leaving.” Abuse Hurts, Regents of the University of Michigan, 2009, www.stopabuse.umich.edu/about/barriers.html. Accessed Apr. 28, 2020.

Breiding, Matthew J. and Brian S. Armour. “The association between disability and intimate partner violence in the United States.” Annals of Epidemiology, vol. 25, no. 6, June 2015, pp. 455-457. ScienceDirect, doi.org/10.1016/j.annepidem.2015.03.017.

“Dystopia.” Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster Incorporated, 2020, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dystopia. Accessed Apr. 28, 2020.

Invitational Summit on Supported Decision-Making and the Transition to the Community: Conclusions and Recommendations, October 18-19, 2016, Autistic Self Advocacy Network, June 7, 2018. autisticadvocacy.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/SDM-Summit-Conclusions-and-Recommendations.pdf.

Nosek, Margaret A., et al. “Vulnerabilities for Abuse Among Women with Disabilities.” Sexuality and Disability, vol. 19, no. 3, Sept. 2001, pp. 177-189. ProQuest, DOI:10.1023/A:1013152530758.

Amy Rouse

04/17/2020

Prof. Foss

Final Paper

Label Breaking on Autistic Abilities

Labels can put pressure on people to either outperform or underperform. With this pressure on those with autism there is a predominant focus on what they can’t do, and how autism has taken away and hidden a child under its grasp. The act of being labeled autistic; might provide slight relief to the parents, but also leaves them wondering who their child is without the autism, how might they form a connection with this child stereotyped to be connectionless? Autism didn’t take away a child, it gave you a unique child who is fully capable of connections, identifying with others, understanding what is being said to them, defying odds. That is an autistic child.

These connections and accounts are found in Ralph James Savareses’ “Prologue: River of Words, Raft of Our Conjoined Neurologist” from See It Feelingly, in “Perspectives” a poem by Craig Romkema from his collection of poems titled “Embracing the Sky: Poems Beyond Disability,” and Troubleshooting by Selene dePackh. All show those with a diagnosis of autism and call attention to what others think they can’t do while showing that the individuals mentioned can do those things and many more. Here, we will see these stereotypes that are forced upon autistics but also, how they are defying expectations and changing those stereotypes.

Having feelings such as empathy is presumed to be missing from those diagnosed with autism. Savarese shows us with his autistic and nonverbal son, DJ, that feelings and identification are possible for autistic individuals. His son feels “‘character’s feelings”’ so much so that he physically shows them which can be heavy breathing that the character themselves was perceived to be doing within the story, (Savarese, pg. 15). Identification is also mentioned for those with autism as being difficult and absent from them, but DJ “morphs into [Harriet Tubman], so she morphs into him,” (Savarese, pg. 16). Being able to put yourself in someone else’s shoes and feel what they were or might have been at that moment, is a skill to be appreciated and applauded, not one to be ignored because the individual themselves is non-verbal and is assumed to not understand.

Deficits in emotions are a portion of the DSM-5 diagnosis for autism, but what about those who feel sorrow, who have empathy? DJ is one of them, he does feel emotion so much that he is “ so attuned to the pain that it becomes his own,” (Savarese, pg. 18). Thoughts and opinions on what an autistic can’t do are summed up into broad categories in the DSM, but here we have a child who is not fully categorized within the autism diagnosis aside from his nonverbal form of communication and not wanting physical affection. There is a note made about these “prevailing stereotypes” concerning autism and emotions specifically, (Savarese, pg. 18). With a glimpse into DJs mind, we see how society has made him think of himself. For his graduation, he wanted to walk on stage and shake the Principal’s hand without flapping his arms, though he did not succeed, he “felt proud. I looked great and autistic at the same time. I realized in my own life something I had begun to learn from the books I was reading; simply conforming to the dominant culture is not always a worthy goal,”’ (Savarese, pg. 21-22). Many focus on the negatives and the so-called disruptive behavior that those with autism can perform, but why can’t they focus on the fact they just graduated? Through Savarese and his son, we see how stereotypes are demolished and outperformed, while also embracing who one is and being proud of it and letting the world see that.

In his poem “Perspectives,” Romkema hints upon the fact that those around him can fix him with “vitamin A” and by “measuring [his] head,” (Romkema). Everyone is always insistent on finding a cure for autism, but no one is taking time to notice what is actually going on in their heads. The label of autism is “freely” made and leaves parents “telling [him] always they knew [he] was there / Inside / And somehow we would find each other, / Connect / The way they could with the sisters and brother,” (Romkema). This embarks on the fact that many perceive those with autism as being disconnected from everyone, from the world and having to provide self-stimulation which can result in arm flapping and sometimes destructive self-harmful behaviors. Romkema calls attention to many stereotypes of autistics while also showing how they become more than those stereotypes and are not limited to them. He notes, “From that little boy so willingly labeled. / But now I can type thoughts, questions, / Responses, / Enter discussions on Shakespeare and / Algebra,” among other mentionings of voting and giving his own opinions not monitored or given for him, (Romkema). Those with autism are able to speak for themselves and prove they can on a daily basis whether they are deemed verbal or non-verbal.

Romkema himself is autistic but also has cerebral palsy, which can now explain to the readers why he was lying in his bed and other lines of his poem concerning his body. Connection, thoughts, and other daily actions that neurotypical individuals do look different on an autistic individual, and there is nothing wrong with this. While Romkema’s poem hits a few of these stereotypes, it showcases the brilliance of how someone with autism, laying in their bed doing what other may call “self-stimulation” but actually may be “ponder[ing] new theories while / watching [his] fingers, / Doing Nothing,” (Romkema). “Perspectives” truly gives us a new and recurring perspective: that of the parents, the doctors and other professionals, but also the individual labeled with the diagnosis. He “understood every word” those around him were saying, disproving another stereotype (Romkema). While stereotypes are disproven throughout the poem, it is seen how he can do everything a neurotypical child would be able to do, only in different ways that are not mentioned but can be assumed.

In the beginning pages of dePackhs book Troubleshooting, a patient is introduced with her ability to look in someone’s eyes instead of looking away. “I’m autistic, but I don’t look down and away like a good autistic; I stare. That complicated my diagnosis for the early years of my life,” (dePackh, pg. 2). Here, we have a very predominant example of focusing on what autistics shouldn’t be able to do, but we also have the example and label of a ‘good’ autistic, one who complies with the diagnosis standards. A whole diagnosis depends on deficits in the individuals, in this case, a deficit on eye contact was not there. This complicated a diagnosis that is plastered with aspects that an autistic individual shouldn’t be able to do. So shouldn’t it be said that she defied the odds, surpassed the expectations, derailed the label she was given? A label she had both physically and metaphorically tattooed on her, was enough for people to assume she couldn’t and should be able to do certain things. “I went up and introduced myself even though making social,” is something she would rather avoid, she does not shy away from things as it would be stereotyped (dePackh, pg. 3). Social situations are often avoided by those with autism, as would be assumed and is in the DSM-5 as a part of the diagnosis.

One very specific notion that is focused on in this first chapter consists of the tone of voice and connecting it to words and their meanings and how they become “callibr[ated]” to where it doesn’t take as long as her normal “‘auditory processing lag,’’’ (dePackh, pg. 7). Not only does this call attention to what is going on inside the brain of someone diagnosed with autism, it shows the readers the difference but the same way everyone understands words. It is like learning something new for a neurotypical individual, sometimes we get it if we have background knowledge (calibration) and sometimes it takes longer to be fully understood, so “taking the scenic route,” (dePackh, pg. 7). Her lag would be something the doctors, teachers, and others would focus on and try to rid her of and cure it, as it is noted later in the chapter in a high functioning autism classroom but also her own mother is trying to cure her autism and “cleanse” her from it, (dePackh, pg. 17). Focusing on her lag proves the point that the negatives and deficits a child may have with autism, is only part of who they are. Positives should be focused on instead because they, just like neurotypical children, can do so much more than they are perceived to. dePackh illustrates this from the few examples covered. Having a connection with your child despite the fact they may be unable to make one, depends also on the parents as well.

Common perceptions of autism include those that diminish the ability of these individuals. The literary works written by Savarses, Romkema, and dePackh prove that stereotypes put pressure on their children, others, and themselves, but these deficits that appear are solely focused on. There is never an article saying all the things that those with autism can do, only what they can’t do in order to get a diagnosis for their child. Autism presents itself in many ways, and that may be nonverbal but it can also be to look and stare into someone else’s face and be included in social interaction. The analysis offered here in this paper shows that autism is thought of as deficits, but those deficits are being disproved by those diagnosed.

Word Count; 1,594

I pledge,

Amy Rouse

Label-Breaking-on-Autistic-Abilities Download

Works Cited

Depackh, Selene. Troubleshooting: Book One, Glitch in the System. 1st ed., Reclamation Press, 2018.

Romkema, Craig. “Perspectives.” Embracing the Sky: Poems Beyond Disability, Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2002.

Savarese, Ralph James. “Prologue: River of Words, Raft of Our Conjoined Neurologies .” Seeing It Feelingly, 1st ed., Duke University Press, 2018, pp. 15–22.

Tag: Selene dePackh

Abigail’s Final Exam: Prompt 1

Final for Amy Rouse; “Label Breaking on Autistic Abilities”