The widespread sharing of annotated screenshots, followed by NEXT's recent statement doubling down on their position on ABA and eugenics is an excellent example of what I suspect is the most widespread form of ableism encountered by autistic people.

As a community, we collected receipts. One person even laid out, step by step, how they found the information. Circling what links they clicked, showing what they googled, highlighting sections of text. And when I saw this, I immediately knew why.

We are *so used* to being told we've misunderstood and misinterpreted things that we need to document everything and give exact quotes and sources. This is how we try to protect ourselves. And of course somehow it still doesn't fucking work because NTs do not care.

If we don't collect receipts, we're misinterpreting, misremembering, misunderstanding. If we do, we're obsessive, on a crusade, overly emotional, and not understanding things properly. We literally cannot win. And I'm so fucking tired of this.

As a population, we tend to be very methodical and data- and research-oriented. We're not quick to jump to conclusions, and we understand the importance of precise language. Don't fucking tell us we don't understand or aren't well-versed enough in modern research.

I shouldn't even be engaging with this rn because I've got my own shit going on this week, but interestingly enough that also involves being told I misunderstood something that I DEFINITELY didn't misunderstand.

So yeah, I'm angry. I'm angry as hell. Don't fucking try me with this "you don't understand" crap I have a fucking master's in counselling psychology and a special interest in reading terrible research and "treatment" manuals.