Very late yesterday, we learned from friends in Ireland that a Mass of Reparation would be offered at 3pm Dublin time today. This was very carefully and thoughtfully put together by a group of faithful individuals who pray weekly for healing the ways our society approaches autism and autistic people. The weekly intentions include resolutions to better understand and promote neurodiversity and to make amends for errors in understanding which have led to the harmful stereotypes and alienation of autistic people we are all too familiar with.
These friends eagerly described this as a Mass of Reparation for the times when autistic lives have not been valued. It seemed like ideal timing, between April’s being dubbed “Autism Month” and the recent public statements made by the US Department of Health and Human Services which starkly revealed the underbelly of societal attitudes – which most people don’t want to admit are still there, but are ultimately just as dehumanizing toward autistic people as any of the darkest periods of human history.
What a gift. The chief person organizing this Mass is herself late-diagnosed autistic and is personally invested in making things better for neurodivergent people worldwide. She helped draft what would be the Prayers of the Faithful, asking for and using suggestions from Autism Consecrated, and was very excited to see this come together.
And then? After we shared this good news and invited autistic people worldwide to join us, it all got changed at the very last minute.
No longer a Mass of Reparation, it was a Mass for “People Affected By Autism.”
The Prayers of the Faithful were hastily rewritten – by someone who isn’t (to my knowledge) autistic.
The only time the word “autistic” was used was when our friend managed to sneak it in, saying that she herself is autistic. All other mentions reverted to “people affected by autism,” which is the term used by people who do not care that autistic people like being called autistic people, and that the phrase “affected by autism” perpetuates the stereotypes for which we hoped to make reparation.
In short: The Mass intentions requested in good faith by autistic people were hijacked and rewritten to conform to neurotypical sensibilities.
Yes, you read that correctly. Autistic voices – autistic pleadings in prayer – were silenced, ignored, and overridden by nonautistic voices who assume they know better.
The intentions which are dearly important and meaningful to us were DELETED and replaced by intentions from a neurotypical perspective. This happened mere minutes before Mass began, giving us no time to react, or to protest, or to ask why.
THIS IS WRONG ON EVERY LEVEL.
This was supposed to be a Mass affirming the value of autistic lives. That cannot happen when autistic voices are censored and our intentions completely changed.
Autism Consecrated offers our most sincere apology to those who expected what we expected. We had no idea our Mass would be turned into the very thing we intended to heal from and to make reparation about.
We are truly sorry.
And we will continue to pray, to offer personal prayers for reparation, and to persist in our mission to realize autism’s belonging in the Body of Christ.
