Today’s disability reporting Fail goes to my alma mater, which manages to make sweeping generalizations about people with a wide range of disabilities, describe the suspected underlying genetic cause as “what went wrong,” and capitulate to the popular nomenclature of “Fragile X Syndrome” to describe said genetic cause, once again reinforcing language that paints disability as a weakness, liability, and curse.

I have to say, the headline rubs me the wrong way too. It seems to encourage the assumption that the reader is not autistic, and to present a balm for our hurt feelings that autistic folks don’t want to hug us. It reminds me very much of people who are personally offended when they’re asked not to touch service animals, as if they are owed an explanation for another creature’s demand of bodily autonomy.

10 bonus points if you guessed this research was funded in part by Autism Speaks.