Unmasking is something I am coming to terms with, but having an environment within which I can feel safe and be myself helps significantly with that. As things stand, it’s a lifetime of damage that needs reversing.
When you look up what Autistic people have said about how to help us through meltdowns, the most foundational piece of advice you will see again and again is to remain calm. But what about when you can’t remain calm? What about when that Autistic person’s meltdown is triggering your own trauma response?
Every time I find a new ear protection tool, I am more and more amazed as to how other people can believe that we’re hearing the same thing.
If you’re the parent of autistic child or adult, and you are also horrified by the blatant misinformation being peddled and swallowed by MAGA truthers, you should be just as concerned about grievance-based autism parents and organizations.
You can listen and understand and believe and respect autistic adults every bit as much as you do those things with autistic children. If you don’t, you’re being ageist.
We talked with several autistic people about how non-autistic people can be good friends to autistic people. This is their advice.
This post is about the hundreds and thousands of autistic people who are misdiagnosed everyday by psychiatrists, psychologists, and other professionals.
My brother died because of ableism. Because people—including very close family—were terrified to face his neurodivergence, and his disability.
“I have to be realistic about the community that I am nurturing in, and the community for my children and for the parents that I help, as a Black autistic woman.”
I want to help my patients discover what strategies they as individuals can use in order to accomplish what they want and need to do, and I think I’m more likely to be open to supporting my patients in using “atypical” strategies. I’m less likely to suggest goals that are trying to fit a patient to a “reference norm”.