THINKING PERSON'S GUIDE TO AUTISM

Autism news and resources: from autistic people, professionals, and parents

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Accommodations

Supporting Your Young Person Through Autistic Burnout

Posted on September 26, 2023September 27, 2023 by 
Helen Edgar


If your child is going through Autistic Burnout, they will need your support. They will need your understanding, flexibility, increased sensory regulation time and a decrease in demands both from family and school environments.

Promotional photo from the movie Ezra. Robert DeNiro and William A. Fitzgerald, a young white actor with shaggy brown hair and glasses, are playing at holding their fists up at each other. Actor Bobby Cannavale, a white man with curly black hair, looks on from the background with unease.
Autism

Ezra: Is Hollywood Getting Better at Autistic Representation?

Posted on September 16, 2023 by Anne Borden King

The new movie Ezra shows that when autistic people are creatively involved in telling autistic stories, it strengthens not only representation, but the very quality of a film itself.

Renaissance-style oil painting of warrior with orange hair and a blue dress standing on a rock and holding up a sword. Below them is a crowd of people, yelling at or ignoring the main person.
ableism

Autistic People and the Power of Positive Nonconformity 

Posted on September 15, 2023September 15, 2023 by Dr. Sara Woods

Next time you are annoyed by an autistic person’s failure to comply or their different way of doing something or seeing the world, stop and consider the power of positive nonconformity and be grateful for those who dare to be different.

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profound autism

Grave Concerns About “Profound Autism” and Diagnostic Overshadowing

Posted on September 4, 2023September 5, 2023 by Shannon Des Roches Rosa

We spoke with autistic academics Richard Woods, Kathryn Williams, and C.A. Watts about their recently published letter explaining why “profound autism” bungles the support needs of autistic people with co-occurring conditions, and will endanger autistic lives.

Cover of the book Work it Out by Sarah Kurchak. The background is light aqua with a light gray grid pattern. In the center is a person seen from overhead, lying in a bed with their head on a pillow, holding two hand weights next to their head. They have brown skin, dark brown hair, and are wearing a yellow tank top.
exercise

Work It Out! An Accessible Guide to Starting Exercise

Posted on September 1, 2023September 2, 2023 by Eli Eggers

Sarah Kurchak’s Work it Out is a neurodivergent accessible guide to starting regular physical exercise. This is a handbook on how to get started for those who have had difficult due to any number of reasons (like stigma, physical and mental health, being neurodivergent in a world where instructions are not designed for your neurotype).

Hypersaturated photograph of a grocery store aisle
Accessibility

On Being Overwhelmed By Grocery Shopping While Autistic

Posted on August 22, 2023August 22, 2023 by Ann Memmott

Autistic brains can be in danger of overload while grocery shopping. When that happens autistics needs a quiet space—fast. But there are usually none in big stores.

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Disability

How Gifted Labels Harm Autistic and Disabled Children

Posted on July 24, 2023September 11, 2023 by Sarah Owocki

I still see a lot of “gifted” labeling in the school system, along with a conversation that is frustratingly narrow, because gifted labels cause harm—both to the ability of “gifted” disabled children to get support, as well as to those without the gifted labels.

Three smiling actors from the Australian TV show reboot Heartbreak High. On the left is James Majoos, a biracial person with short curly black hair, wearing a white ringer t-shirt. In the center is Ayesha Mason, a South Asian woman with long black hair wearing a pink suit. On the right is Chloe Hayden, a white woman with red hair in a long shag haircut, wearing a sheer white top with white hearts, and a blue plaid bottom.
Autism

Heartbreak High: A Stunning Depiction of Being Autistic

Posted on July 9, 2023July 9, 2023 by Sarah Kapit

Even though the Netflix series Heartbreak High looks like purely soapy fun, Sarah Kapit says it has “the best on-screen depiction of being autistic that I’ve ever seen.”

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Autism

The Complicated Politics of Passing as Neurotypical—and Writing as Autistic

Posted on July 6, 2023July 6, 2023 by Meg Eden Kuyatt

Maybe there’s a reason autistic authors have often opted to write neurotypical characters. Maybe it’s proven to be more sellable and “believable” than their own experience. I’m upset, wondering how many wonderful autistic stories we’re missing out on as a world because of neurotypical gatekeeping.

Close up profile photo of a squawking seagull.
Autism

Questioning the Pathological Part of PDA: A Talk With Dr. Deborah Budding

Posted on June 29, 2023 by Shannon Des Roches Rosa

The thing about PDA or “Pathological Demand Avoidance” is that there are a lot of reasons why someone would resist doing something, and it’s often more complex than it appears on the surface.

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thinkingautism thinkingautism.bsky.social @thinkingautism ·
16h

Apologies Twitter has become near-unusable for threading. The full thread for the SNS panel on ND and the legal system is on BlueSky and I will try to re-paste over here in a few.

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thinkingautism thinkingautism.bsky.social @thinkingautism ·
17h

Sam Crane: Adult guardianship means a court appoints another person to make decisions for another adult. Guardianship gives another adult a HUGE amount of control over another adult. Like dating, friendships, medical care. It's an incredibly restrictive system, people lose rights

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thinkingautism thinkingautism.bsky.social @thinkingautism ·
18h

The Stanford Neurodiversity Summit 2023's Human Rights panel on Neurodiversity, Discrimination, and the Legal System starts in less than 45 minutes! We will be moderating, and will be live-tweeting/skeeting as we can. #neurodiversity

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thinkingautism thinkingautism.bsky.social @thinkingautism ·
29 Sep

If you are a parent/caregiver for an autistic person, we beg you to consider our Autism Checklist of Doom: Things that may upset an autistic person & cause distress, but may not be obvious to a bystander. Let's help the autistic people in our lives thrive!

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On Autism Diagnoses

  • The Importance and Power of Autistic Self-Diagnosis
  • After an Autism Diagnosis: 13 Necessary Next Steps For Parents
  • Jean's Adult Diagnosis Story

Understanding Autism

  • Why No Autistic Child Should Be in ABA Therapy
  • What Is Sensory Processing Like For Autistic People?
  • Behaviour Analysis, The Autistic Way
  • Starting Points for Understanding Autism
  • Why I Do Not Hate Autism
  • The Problems with Functioning Labels
  • What the Neurodiversity Movement Does—And Doesn't—Offer
  • Eye Contact: For The Recipient's Validation Only
  • Eleven Ways You Can Make Your Autistic Child's Life Easier
  • Autism Is Not a Shell Surrounding a “Normal” Child
  • An Open Letter from an Autistic Child in Meltdown
  • Understanding Autism, Aggression, and Self-Injury: Medical Approaches and Best Support Practices
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