As we approach the end of Autism Acceptance Month, here is a reminder that countries like New Zealand will prohibit you from immigrating there if you are autistic.
Psychiatry and other forms of bigotry go hand in hand.
“The case, first reported by the New Zealand Herald, is one of hundreds rejected under New Zealand’s rules, which set a $41,000 limit over five years on an immigrant’s cost to the health system. The criteria exclude people with a number of “high-cost” conditions including physical disability, intellectual disability, autistic spectrum disorders, brain injury, multiple sclerosis and cancers.”
@simon_brooke It is "justified" because apparently autistic people to them are a burden on their healthcare system, quoting "severe cases of autism" costing a lot.
It also includes other conditions and disabilities that bar people from immigration to certain places.
Capitalism above all, ableism be the norm and eugenics are still alive. The healthcare is supposed to be profitable for them.
@madfedi The value of human beings is not merely as numbers in a spreadsheet. But, even supposing our value was only in the balance between the tax we pay and the benefits we receive, I don't think many countries would manage very well without their #ActuallyAutistic populations. We do, actually, create a lot of innovation, which in capitalist economies translates into wealth and, consequently, tax.
@simon_brooke It does not matter to them. You can invent a literal miracle cure for all diseases and thus save the world from a lot of misery, but the moment you are mentally ill, neurodivergent or otherwise disabled, it all goes to trash, because society views disabled and mad folks as inferior.
This has sadly been the norm all the time, just like what queer and POC folk go through.
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