Ensuring autistic people are leading in autism-related issues is not enough.

We must ensure that a VARIETY of autistic people is represented.

Trans autistics, BIPOC autistics, non-speaking autistics, poor autistics...we still have a LONG way to go to true representation.

Autistics who can‘t work, autistics with institutionalization experience, autistics from sheltered workshops, autistics with co-ocurring chronic physical and/or mental illnesses, autistics without higher education...

ALL OF US must be heard!

It‘s not enough to have AN autistic person speaking at a conference about autism-related issues.

There are still many groups horribly un(der)represented in autism discourse - usually exactly the groups most affected by marginalization, oppression, ableism, etc.

It‘s just not good enough to have what society considers the „acceptable“ autistic people at the table. White, cis, working, independent, eloquently speaking.

I mean yes, it took us long enough to get to THIS point...and it’s good that we got there...but it’s not good ENOUGH.

We aren’t really fighting for all autistics if we don‘t actively include all autistics.

If we don‘t ensure all of us are present, seen, heard...we can‘t ensure that all of our needs are known, let alone met.

The most marginalized and vulnerable among us MUST be included.

If you are a white cis autistic person who can speak, work, and live independently and you are given a platform...please do what you can to lift less privileged autistic people up onto that platform with you.

Yes, I know it‘s often not in our power.

That‘s why I say TRY.

Try.

This goes infinite times more for autism-related topics that don‘t DIRECTLY affect certain autistic people, but do affect those who rarely get included in discourse about them:

- institutionalization
- segregation
- sub-minimum wage
- restraint
- seclusion rooms
- ABA

I‘m not saying we shouldn‘t all do activism regarding such topics.

We SHOULD!!!

I‘m saying: if it doesn’t directly affect you, do what you can to ensure those directly affected are represented, get listened to as the experts of lived experience they are etc.

„Nothing about us without us!“ should be at the basis of any and all autism advocacy and activism.

We must be mindful that this credo is also at the basis of our own inner-community dealings.

We should all aim to truly live this, every day, in everything we do.

I‘m at a point in my self-advocacy and activism journey where I feel there‘s something truly amiss whenever I see an autism-related event and there‘s no non-speaking autistic person on the roster/panel/whatever you call it.

The range of representation MUST widen.

#autism