Spectrum House: An Autism-Ready Family Destination
Spectrum House is an autism-friendly family vacation home that includes sensory, space, and safety accommodation features, and is located on New York’s beloved Fire Island.
Spectrum House is an autism-friendly family vacation home that includes sensory, space, and safety accommodation features, and is located on New York’s beloved Fire Island.
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.
Listen to me. Please. I went to therapy for countless hours over countless years to be able to identify and express my needs and now that I finally can, it seems like it doesn’t matter.
We talk with Dr. Mary Doherty and Dr. Sebastian Shaw of Autistic Doctors International about how undetected barriers to health care for autistic people can lead to delayed care, serious complications, and sometimes even fatalities.
Something that would make my life easier would be accessible virtual health care; in other
words, NOT by phone.
Overall, the hearing aids have been hugely helpful. It’s easier to participate in conversations and less tiring. I no longer feel like someone’s spraying me with a hose full of confusion and painful sounds—I’m just interacting! It’s also much easier to be around background noise.
Being an “inclusionista” means understanding that just because something has been deemed “accessible” by ADA standards doesn’t meant it actually is, and that the battle continues.
Color Communication Badges by Button Justice League, on Etsy [Image Description: Three 1.5 inch pinback buttons each with a vivid color, a bold black word and a black shape underneath the text. From left to right: a “Red” button with a octagon, a “Yellow” button with a triangle, and lastly a “Green” button with a
Accessibility is too important for us to ignore just because it can be difficult or unpopular. We also can’t choose one group and decide to make everything accessible to them, and inaccessible to other people.
Maxfield Sparrow unstrangemind.com Photo © Stephen Melkisethian | Flickr/Creative Commons [image: Black-and-white photo of disability rights protesters at the U.S. Capitol: some using wheelchairs, some not.] We educated our legislators. We wrote letters and made phone calls. We worked hard to get the message across, yet the House judiciary committee has chosen to take the next