THINKING PERSON'S GUIDE TO AUTISM

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Category: acceptance

Graphic with an aqua background, and a simplified digital drawing of an adult with light skin and short black hair hoisting a child who shares features on their shoulders.
acceptance

Autism and Ageism

Posted on November 4, 2022November 4, 2022 by Maxfield Sparrow

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.

Ivanova Smith, a Lavtian American person with short brown hair and glasses, out in the community at a restaurant table with two drinks with lemon slices and straws in them.
acceptance

Have Faith In Your Children With Intellectual Disabilities

Posted on December 31, 2021March 12, 2023 by Shannon Des Roches Rosa

This idea that people with intellectual disabilities cannot learn is a very dangerous idea and it leads to us being harmed. I think it is important to autistics with intellectual disabilities that we get the support to learn.

square-neurodiversity-event-steve-silberman-and-john-marble
acceptance

Autism: A Vision for a More Equitable Future

Posted on April 30, 2021March 16, 2023 by Shannon Des Roches Rosa

“For too long autistic children have been just taught what they should do to fit in a neurotypical mold, instead of being taught who they are as autistic people, and who neurotypical people are as a neurotypical people, and how to appreciate both, and build translations between the two.”

The author Emily, a white woman with light brown hair in two French braids, smiling and sitting in a field of lavender
acceptance

The Joy and Vibrance of Autism

Posted on February 27, 2021August 3, 2022 by Emily

I feel things so intensely, and when that’s a good emotion, it’s the best thing in the world. I feel joy with every bone in my body. When someone else is happy, I feel it too.

Photo of a young child wearing a white baseball cat crouching down and talking at a brown bunny.
acceptance

Why Doesn’t Respect for Communication Diversity Include Nonspeaking Autistic People?

Posted on May 13, 2020October 23, 2022 by Emily Paige Ballou

When we are far more willing to believe in the capacity for communication of animals and aliens than we are in that of nonspeaking and intellectually disabled autistic people, and extend our research and creativity towards mutual understanding, no, I have to reject the assertion that “Some autistic people just can’t communicate.”

Photo (light-painting) by the author: a spectral outline around a hand and arm, raised as if to flap, on a black background
acceptance

Starting Points for Understanding Autism

Posted on February 9, 2019October 11, 2022 by Fergus Murray

I believe that the best way to understand autistic minds is in terms of a thinking style which tends to concentrate resources in a few interests and concerns at any time, rather than distributing them widely.

Hand holding a spinning fidget
acceptance

What the Fidget Spinners Fad Reveals About Disability Discrimination

Posted on May 20, 2017October 16, 2022 by Aiyana Bailin

I’m angry about the sudden popularity of fidget spinners, but probably not for the reasons you think. I’m not mad that they’re disruptive in class, or obnoxiously trendy. I’m furious because of what they reveal about societal power structures, and the pathologizing of disabled people by non-disabled persons.

White teen boy with short brown hair, seen from behind, sitting on a hilltop bench overlooking an ocean.
acceptance

Hey Parents of Autistic Kids: Here Are Five Big, Avoidable Mistakes

Posted on April 10, 2017July 23, 2022 by Shannon Des Roches Rosa

I am all about helping parents learn from my mistakes, so they don’t repeat my mistakes. Here are five bonks I made during the early years of parenting my autistic son, and how you can avoid repeating my fails.

Black-and-white illustration of a Borg drone, by Sonny Hallet
acceptance

Autism and Normalisation

Posted on October 27, 2016October 11, 2022 by Fergus Murray

Full normalisation of autism would require a substantially broader concept of ‘normality.’ It would mean acceptance of autistic people who are non-speaking, an understanding of meltdowns, and general awareness of the dangers of sensory overload.

Backlit book lying open on a flat surface, with its central pages curved into a heart shape.
acceptance

Do Me a Favor

Posted on February 7, 2014March 18, 2023 by Christine Stephan

I regret that I didn’t give my non-speaking son the opportunities to display an interest in things that I assumed he wouldn’t understand. I regret that my assumptions limited him when they should have been expanding his world.

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