It’s 1am on a Sunday night, and this is the question that is keeping me awake. Where did the Scottie Barnes autism joke come from? Recent example but I’ve been seeing this for months now on NBA Reddit. what am I missing out on?
I'm pretty sure Scottie Barnes hasn't retired. That's the question you asked - I think your spell failure is somewhat ironic considering the question you were trying to ask....
I'm guessing the thread poll misspelling is on purpose since the word op's covering for is considered derogatory... so didn't want to spell it out. There's new jargons now like neural divergent. People can decide what they want to call it. On the topic, people have been question it because some of his facial features resemble people who is on the mild side of the spectrum. Whenever he does weird things it gets picked up virally. There's a video of Barnes answering the question directly by a fan, which he denied and was laughing it off. It's been an on going thing which a subset of Raptors base and NBA meme crowd are keenly aware. There's entire compilation of clips on Barnes. The reading one is new.
So, this is a little personal for me, as I have a son on the spectrum. First off, Autism is not mental r****dation. There are different levels of what we define as autism, from mild forms of attention deficit disorder to full scale non-verbal autism. That is why it is called a spectrum. My son is somewhere at the low end. He takes medication for his issues. We did an IQ test and he has a 122 IQ, so no, he is definitely not r****ded. He is a tech wizard, and is very good at mathematics. He is also a voracious reader. His issues come across in other ways; sometimes he will forget to eat, his handwriting is not as good as it should be, and he tends to skip words when he writes, because as his therapist says, there is a disconnect between his brain and his hand. Occupational therapy can help with this. I don't know Mr. Barnes, but I have seen him play basketball in person on several occasions. He is definitely a great player and a budding talent. Whatever issues he may have, it does not impact his basketball IQ. He always seems to make the right play. Like all things, it just takes a little more work. I know "normal" people who make mistakes, in life and in their career.
Lebron always opening a new book on a journey of knowledge -- never finished one but he starts a lot.
This is what people need to understand and (from my observation) makes so many parents of children with autism angry. Understanding there is a spectrum is also crucial. At a previous job, one of my staff had a child with autism. Over the years, he gave me an education that I am grateful for. I was ignorant and a large chunk of the general population remains so.
People are just ignorant. I also think autism is too broad of a scope and wish it'd go back to how it was in the 90s and before. I mean everyone who visits clutchfans regularly can be seen as autistic in today's definition of it. back then we had some mensa candidates at my schools growing up and those kids were always a little awkward but for us ("normal" kids) they were awkward because they were really smart. and those kids were still friends with people, etc., like everyone else. Nowadays they'd get an autistic label slapped onto them.
there was an autistic kid in middle school and so many kids were mean to him. never understood why since he isn't in any of our classes and the majority never really interact with kids from his class anyway. well actually one was in my orchestra and played viola.
LOL I remember when LeBron decided that he was the Oprah of the Millennial generation of young men.... then old man Kareem exposed his ass. LeBron is an amazing story and he has never been in trouble - but he doesn't read paper books, he reads int on his I-Pad, this isn't 1980 where people carry books with them. Besides, I am pretty sure he just looks at thirsty instagram models, tennacle p*rn and TMZ.
I have one as well. The autism spectrum is all the way from non-verbal to the one of the 3 wealthiest men in the world. Correct - many more people now are be diagnosed as autistic. I was diagnosed at 40.... I have what they call "a touch of the tism." Yes - my son is on the low end of the spectrum as well. They are debating skipping him 3 grades in school (which I am against). Low end of the spectrum people tend to have very high IQ's but lack social skills or misread social cues. People with low end autism are peculiar often but tend to be able to live completely normal lives. I like talking about it because it normalizes it. I do not know if Barnes is on the spectrum, but it wouldn't surprise me based on some of the things he has said and is interested in.... but I think the same for K. Leonard as well.
The problem isn't the label - the people you are describing are indeed autistic. The problem is the stigma with the label - but I am noticing that is changing. Young people know there is a difference between autistic and r****ded. My wife and I joke with my son about being autistic sometimes, but he knows that I am autistic and that his degree of autism will not prevent him from doing what he wants in his life. His best friend calls him "Aspy".
