Hi, with all the Sia nonsense happening, you might be engaging with autism issues for the first time! That's totally fine, everyone starts somewhere- here are some basics you should know before engaging (thread)

Autistic folks are the authority on our own experiences. Before doctors. Before therapists. Before teachers. Before neurotypical parents. No one can speak above us on what being autistic is actually like because y'all haven't experienced it yourselves

Autism is not a "special ability" or a "diffability" or whatever nonsense neurotypicals want to call it. Calling it anything other than a disability significantly downgrades our lived experiences and is deeply harmful and offensive

Functioning labels are just another way of saying someone is "more" or "less" autistic and are harmful and inaccurate. I'm not "high functioning", my support needs are just somewhat more palatable to a neurotypical society

Autism $peaks is a hate group founded on eradicating autism. Do not go to them for information. Instead support @autselfadvocacy and @awnnetwork_ as well as individual #actuallyautistic folks

Autistic people exist in every field imaginable. There are autistic actors, writers, doctors, nurses, lawyers, literally any field you can imagine, we're there. A lot of us just don't feel safe disclosing our disability, and a lot of us mask very well so you don't see it

If a writer or director cannot tell a story about autistic people in a way that autistic people can play those roles, they shouldn't be telling those stories

There are ways for neurotypicals to write autistic characters well! @dimension20show 's use of a sensitivity consultant when creating an autistic NPC is a fantastic example of actually working with and consulting the community to represent us well!

Back to more basics: the majority of the community prefers identity-first language (autistic person) over person-first language (person with autism)

Any time you engage in a source about autism, ask yourself who is paying for the information to be created, and think critically about the end goal of the information and who is the person ultimately benefitting from it

Rainman is not good autistic representation stop saying that it is just because it stars an actor that you like

Neurotypical actors will never be better than autistic actors at portraying an autistic character, making literally any and all points about "we should just pick the best actor for the job" moot