The four steps, as outlined in the previous posting, are akin to the four seasons; when the year goes by, that's not the end. The cycle continues, even beyond the life of a person. Likewise, the four steps continue, beyond the life of an advocacy person, group, or global organization.
The direct comparison of the four steps to the four seasons is difficult to get a hold on, as there seems to be differences of opinion as to when, in the four seasons, the intuitive phase (corresponding to Awareness would begin), and therefore, when the rest of the analogy would correspond. Any season, in effect, could be a starting point, with the other three seasons following.
The same is true with the analogy of the four steps being compared to the four six-hour periods in a day. When does Awareness, Acceptance, Input, and Integration occur during the 24 hour day? That seems to be a very subjective matter, and very prone to debate as to what the best approach would be.
The other analogy that comes to mind is that of the hydrologic cycle, with the evaporation, cloud formation, condensation (precipitation), and surface water movement. I suppose that one could say the ground water movement is the start (Awareness), as one notices the water on the ground quite easily, even in childhood. Then the evaporation would correspond to the Acceptance, as there is no way to stop the evaporation due to the energy from sunlight. Next to evaporation (Acceptance) would be the cloud formation (Input), where the the darker the clouds (and often, the storms), the more the impact, and finally, the rainfall would correspond to the Integration, where the water is integrated back into the landscape, to show that this cycle goes on, and on.
It's like a farmer during a drought. First he notices the water levels going down--streams drying up. Then he acknowledges the water is being evaporated to the sky, but that, so far, is where it's at--without the cloud formation yet showing in his area. Then, hopefully, one day, he will see the clouds, but this might not be enough, until the day when the rain, itself, falls on the fields.
Autistic Advocates first noticed the support for autistics waining, as the label, itself was brought forth. This was the Awareness of the need for autistic advocacy. Then the Acceptance began to grow, but that, in itself, did not provide an answer--just a stepping stone (albeit a major one--just like evaporation is a major part of the hydrologic cycle). Now we are beginning to see the Input developed--like the clouds starting to form, however slowly in the sky, and this gives the autistic advocates hope--just like the clouds give the farmer hope. Then, eventually, the Integration will occur, just like the rainfall for which the farmer has been hoping.
However, the cycle could backfire, as in the case of the farmer getting too much rainfall--i.e. flooding. That would be akin to autistics being so integrated into the fold that they lose their identity, and cannot find out who they are any more, as they are just "one of the flock", and therefore are lost in the crowd (like a drop of water lost in a flooded field).
This is where the Input (akin to the cloud formation) has to watch out, and try to prevent too much integration--like a person trying to integrate every culture, religion, political system, etc. People need to be both integrated and diversified, and too much integration will only drown out the diversity, which has been going on now for a few centuries.
That is where we are now--at the threshold of Input in autistic advocacy. We must be very careful but forthcoming in our approach to the issues before us, both globally and locally, as persons on the autistic spectrum, as we go beyond the Awareness and the Acceptance towards the Input and on to the Integration, or we could find ourselves in deep water...
