autistic people on tiktok have apparently forgotten that we are up against a billion dollar industry that’s currently abusing kids and researching how to engineer our extinction because they are canceling each other and letting Next for Autism know, “you win! our genome is yours”

a bunch of autistic tiktok creators were going to do a charity livestream to benefit ASAN on friday at the same time as mark rober’s but then they found out ASAN was accused of plagiarizing one pamphlet so they canceled the event & the organizer deleted her tiktok

i’m sorry but what planet are we fucking living on? the author who supposedly all this self-immolation is in honor of didn’t want people to stop supporting ASAN or for the event to be canceled over it so clearly it’s not actually for them

tiktok & instagram are full of white autistics expressing shock & outrage at each other & i just can’t comprehend the lack of perspective. who was directly hurt by the plagiarism? the author. it’s not up to white autistics to decide if plagiarizing a BIPOC writer is bad enough?

if you don’t have the judgment to see that plagiarism is not a bigger and more pressing issue than ABA and eugenics, idk what your goals are here. this is all so performative it reeks. the author didn’t even think it was big enough. it isn’t. kids are being abused right now.

i’ve seen major influencers with big platforms respond to this by saying that we shouldn’t support any organizations, just individual autistics. sure, if you want to die. because *not* organizing is such a winning strategy for social justice movements.

ASAN is the only autistic-led organization to ever get into the DSM workgroup meetings. the DSM V doesn’t have autism severity labels and recovery criteria because of their lobbying efforts. the real-life impact that has on autistic people is huge. that’s what organizing can do.

Does this mean ASAN is immune from criticism? No. Just because the internet told you there are no other options besides glorify and cancel does not make that true. In the real world, people and organizations get criticized, change sometimes, fuck up, fix things, and keep going

Do you know what is still going to happen on Friday? The Color the Spectrum livestream where they are going to raise millions of dollars to cause direct harm to the vulnerable people who are our responsibility to advocate for. There is no counter-event now. That’s a forfeit.

I'm honestly pissed bc this is an unconscionable loss of perspective & focus on what is at stake. The autistic community spooked Next for Autism with our outrage. They tweeted a desperate denial, exposing their vulnerability - they never thought autistic people would fight back

And now their fears have been put to rest. Not to worry, autistic people will just go ahead and destroy themselves! I know they sounded really upset about ABA but that pales in comparison to their true passion, ending plagiarism and not having anyone be mad at them ever

I find this humiliating. What exactly do they think we are up against? How do they expect to get there? Do we fight until we find the single best opinion and then it is magically appointed the winner of the world? Wake up. Grow up. Stop cannibalizing each other.

What this is really all about is the insular dramatic feedback loop of internet approval and disapproval. Autistic people need to find a way to become OK with people being mad at you. I did it, you probably can, too. Yes, we're all traumatized. Can we stop traumatizing each other

this is not “can't we all get along” hippie shit. We do not all have to get along, we don't have to agree on everything, we don't have to like each other. we have to stay focused on the big picture or we will all go extinct together. that’s it. this is real life.

After that livestream, some kids are going to be put in ABA for the first time with that funding. If you joined in on this ridiculous fucking righteousness crusade, you forgot about them. were the tiktok likes worth it? Personally, I don't think your tiktok likes were worth it.

Instagram and tiktok are full of talk of accountability. They're proud of how this was handled. They're going to forgive the organizers. Maybe. Maybe if that one makes a better video. It's accountability. Accountability. accountability to whom? Why do you matter so much?

I love the autistic community on the internet. I am really enjoying making friends & learning from you. But I will go ahead & promise you right now that if someday you are upset at me and I think you're wrong, I will not be making speeches about accountability & using buzzwords

I have my sights set on achieving liberation for autistic people. I am laser focused on not letting them kill us, starting by not letting them kill me. This kind of activism screams that you're not serious. We can't cancel Autism Speaks & their million-dollar lobbyists.

This definitely shows me that unfortunately some of the autistic creators with the biggest platforms have no idea how to use them. Not use it perfectly, never hurting anyone's feelings. Use it like the tiny scrap of political capital it is that we have to spend.

the organizer who deleted their tiktok said they were going to decenter themselves. by deleting one of the only larger platforms any autistic person has to share information and reach new people? is there any larger view of the situation here? WE HAVE SUCH LITTLE INFLUENCE

this bubble isn’t reality! most people have no fucking idea autistic adults exist and advocate for our community! so many unknowingly autistic people are still out there struggling, suffering autistic burnout they can’t comprehend, thinking they’re completely alone! right now!

On Friday I will be in tuned in to Mark Rober’s infuriating lifestream to shit on it in the chat. to be more specific I will be criticizing it so people tuning in who have never heard that autistic adults hate most autism charities and think ABA is abuse will have the opportunity

Anyone willing to remember that the real audience we have to reach is outside of our community is heartily invited to join. we’re not dead yet, bitch