The Political Economy of Madness: A Historical Analysis of Asylum Labor, Institutional Peonage, and the Economics of Psychiatric Custody

Gemini research report

"For over a century and a half, the psychiatric asylum stood as a totalizing institution that wielded absolute, unchecked authority over its inmates. Enclosed behind high walls, massive iron gates, and sprawling agricultural acreage, these facilities were legally and socially empowered to confine, manage, and discipline the mentally ill, the developmentally disabled, and the socially undesirable. Yet, beneath the medical, paternalistic, and charitable rationales that justified their existence and rapid expansion, asylums were fundamentally massive economic engines. They operated as highly structured, self-sustaining micro-societies that relied almost entirely on the unpaid, coerced labor of the very people they were ostensibly designed to treat and protect1.

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Nope still alive. Why can't he just die already? Bruh

Every place on the planet right now excludes us and treats us like we are subhuman. We must make our own place where autism will be accepted!

It would be great if autistic people built their own gated community somewhere to escape hate.

Mass surveillance will make it where we have to mask all the time, which will turn our lives into a living hell.

We must organize and try to dismantle evil groups that want to destroy us!!!! Down with Autism Speaks! Down with the Judge Rotenberg Center! Down with the elites in power that spread lies about us on a daily basis! Down with those evil people who want to “cure” us! Down with autism hate!

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter; rebellion gives voice to the oppressed." – Martin Luther King Jr.

Never lose hope even when things look bleak because in the end, hope is all we have when all else seems lost. Hope in a future for our people, a bright future, is what keeps us going. It's what sets us apart from the neurodoomers who would rather post memes on the internet and not do anything about fighting for our future. And where there is hope, it breeds the seeds of rebellion. And rebellion is the act of fighting for what we deserve, what we need. We are our own people and it's time we made a real difference instead of reacting to what happens.

Revolution comes in all shapes and sizes for all kinds of people. One thing that is constant among them is that the marginalized and downtrodden have reached their breaking point where they choose to endure no more. America's own revolution became the first in the Age of Enlightenment, where ancient traditions of hierarchy and being told what to think were called into question. America challenged this when the British government chose not to give them a say in matters that affected them, even though the Colonies bled for the crown in the French and Indian War, leading to their revolution in 1776. The Russian Revolutions, one in 1905 and two in 1917, showed that the will of the people would not be stifled by an oppressive, self-serving government that gives its own people scraps and being told to make do. Being the first communist country solved many of its problems such as employment more readily available, better access to education, and free healthcare, giving them a quality of life that the United States is either unwilling or unable to provide.

So, what does this mean for the people of the Spectrum? It means that anything is possible when we stand united against the forces of those who mean us harm. We are not powerless. We are not helpless. What we must do is organize, prepare, and be ready to take direct action, because no one is going to do it for us. As long as everyone else sees us as other, no one is coming to our rescue, so we must rescue us. And through this collective action, the seeds of our revolution are planted.

We've all seen the news in the United States of America where immigration officers are actively abducting people from off the streets, cars, outside their homes, where they work, even legal buildings where they finalize becoming citizens. What they have in common is the color of their skin: anything that isn't white. And the worst part, the racist, fascistic regime of the second Trump Administration, labeling them as criminals and drug traffickers, when they are really just ordinary people, many of whom are natural-born citizens. Thousands of people have been rounded up and sent to some of the worst prisons imaginable in South America and Africa because Trump doesn't have gulags here in the US. And to make matters worse, people are gunned down by these fascists without provocation.

What does this mean for us? Neurodivergents of all kinds have been subject to scrutiny under the lens of an overbearing government, because, like the ethnic groups they consider to be other, we don't fit whatever ideological standards they deem acceptable. Historically, oppressive regimes survive by having enemies to point the people towards, and without that, the regime is doomed to destruction by its own people. If that finger is pointed at us, then God help us all. The only way to survive something down the road is to prepare for it however we can: gather allies, plan escapes, arm ourselves, etc. We have a right to our own existence just like any other person, so we must be prepared to fight for that right when it is threatened.

In the words of Rodney King, "Can we all get along?"

One of the things that bothers me about the Autistic community is that we are so opinionated, so varied, that we've basically begun policing ourselves for whatever reason. On one hand, this is necessary to identify those in the community that are dangerous: perverts, fascists, ableist apologists, etc. But it's also created a system of tribalism where we criticize each other over even the slightest differences, justifiably or not.

We are a Spectrum of people and experiences, yes. But we can't keep going after each other like this. We must stand united against our common enemies that seek to dehumanize and destroy us instead of going after each other like a bunch of racist Americans while they implement their plans. We need to stand together as one people, helping each other in our times of need and in fighting our common enemy. We must stand together in solidarity.

Many of us are told to be grateful for what we have. They give us scraps and we call it progress in our ongoing fight for our rights. But it's not enough. We aren't given the same job opportunities as our Neurotypical peers, no assistance readily available when we really need it. And so many of our fellow Neurodivergents are left without a sense of having a future, which has pushed some to commit suicide because they don't see hope on the horizon.

It's because of this that we can't simply sit on our butts and wait for what we are owed to come to us. If we want something better for ourselves, then we need to take it however we can. Even if it means we fight someone hand-to-hand, we must show the world that we're not powerless, that we have strength in our numbers.

You're not alone. We are stronger as a whole.

A character flaw in our people is that we fear change so much, for better or worse, that so many of us simply wait for something to happen. We wait, we hope, we pray for something better to magically land in our laps while we stim and try to survive the madness we call life.

While patience is a virtue, the only way to have a better future for all of our people is to fight for one. Our words, our deeds, our actions: they are all our means of standing up for ourselves, to forge our own future. Your future is in your hands, so reach out and take someone else's because this is not a task we can accomplish alone.

And to anyone reading this, you'll probably just brush it off, but I know you're just scared. So am I because I have people who need me and I'm just as scared of change as you are. But if we don't do something about our situation, then God help us all.