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On #WorldAutismAwarenessDay, I have this to say. Many #ActuallyAutistic people have sent me encouraging thoughts and words about these ideas. I will elaborate a little today.
Autistic people deserve to thrive and contribute, just like everybody else does. If you don’t experience this as intuitively obvious to the most casual observer, try substituting “black” or “gay” for “autistic” and see how it feels.
I was trying for a Smiths reference on Point 1, but it was a little obscure.
You shut your mouth, how can you say
I go about things the wrong way?
I am human and I need to be loved
Just like everybody else does
You shut your mouth, how can you say
I go about things the wrong way?
I am human and I need to be loved
Just like everybody else does
Autistic people are adults for longer than they are children or adolescents. I reject the idea that there is a good reason for autistic people having a lower life expectancy than the general population.
I reject the idea that support structures for autistic adults should be any less robust than support structures for autistic children and adolescents. @AutisticBride made this picture worth a thousand words.
Autistic people are the experts on what causes them to thrive or struggle. Some people have said “Autism isn’t a processing error, it is a different operating system.” Like Linux is different from Windows.
I would go even further to say autism is a different machine architecture. For further details, read The Autistic Brain by Temple Grandin and Richard Panek.
It is therefore no great shock that autistic experience is different in many ways from the general population. That experience must be the guide for the way forward for autistic people.
Applied Behavioral Analysis is child abuse. Some people thought I was engaging in hyperbole, but I mean exactly those words.
I wish I had written these words, but I’m happy that @ispecter3 did. https://mobile.twitter.com/ispecter3/status/1223394521293250560
I say, and I say it again, many states have banned gay conversion therapy. One day they will ban autistic conversion therapy (ABA) as well. https://mobile.twitter.com/douglasbass/status/1223224028074270721
Masking causes depression and suicidality in autistic people. After a certain number of days when the world says “Oh ****, it’s you again, a lot of autistic people look in the mirror and say “Oh ****, it’s you again.”
For a lot of autistic people, every day is a day where the mask might slip, where being their authentic self will cost them a job or a relationship. There is a lot of effort and energy involved in making the mask and keeping it in place.
Eventually this results in a phenomenon known as “autistic burnout.” It isn’t pretty. https://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/autistic-burnout-an-often-misunderstood-element-of-autism-080620197/
There was an academic conference in the UK on suicidality in autism. The smoking gun? Masking. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/05/170524194808.htm
I take consolation that there are autism researchers working on this, most notably (to me, anyway) @Sarah_NottsUni , @DrLaurenBishop and @avkirbyPhD
Identity-first language is ordinary common courtesy. Many people refuse to accept someone saying they are an autistic person. Many alternatives are offered. I don’t want any of them.
It is ordinary common courtesy to address someone in the way they wish to be addressed. I wish to be called an autistic person instead of a person with autism.
Stims are a thing of beauty and a joy forever. I mean by this that autistic people stim to regulate their emotions and manage their stress.
