How Can We All Do Better By Our Autistic Girls?

April 22, 2016January 31, 2022 by Shannon Des Roches Rosa

TPGA is observing Autism Acceptance Month by featuring accounts from autistic people about the differences accommodations (or lack thereof) make in their lives. Today, five women talk about about the under-recognition of autistic girls, the long- and short-term effects of going without supports and accommodations, and what autistic girls and actually need to succeed and be happy. Photo: Steven Depolo (Flickr) [image: Two smiling African-American girls, on a swing set.] Autism is different for girls, and not only because fewer girls than boys get autism diagnoses. Autistic women and girls tend to have different traits than autistic boys do, and are also socialized differently — leading to many of those girls being overlooked or misdiagnosed well into adulthood, plus leading most of their life without the supports that could have made their lives much easier. It gets even more complicated when autistic girls are also racial minorities, and/or from low-income…

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Disability

No (Wo)Man’s Land: Being an Autistic Mother of an Autistic Child

April 19, 2016January 31, 2022 by Shannon Des Roches Rosa

TPGA is observing Autism Acceptance Month by featuring accounts from autistic people about the differences accommodations (or lack thereof) make in their lives. Today’s story is from Christine Langager, about being an autistic parent of an autistic child — and the frustration of often being excluded from autistic and autism-and-parenting communities when by definition one belongs to both. Christine Langager Photo © Christine Langager [image: Selfie of white woman with long braided light brown hair] As a child, I never fit in Always on the fringe, always looking in As an adult, it has always been more of the same Never fully clicking, but making my way I met the love of my life, and finally felt that I had a place to belong We started our family, and I looked forward to more ways to connect As our first son got older, his intensity was clear Play date invitations…

Disability

Ableism FUBARs and Constructive Recoveries

December 31, 2015January 31, 2022 by Shannon Des Roches Rosa

Shannon Des Roches Rosa, with Carol Greenburg, Patricia George, and Christine Langager The disability and empowerment-themed website The Mighty recently published a post called Introducing: Meltdown Bingo, and sparked an actual Internet meltdown. In the post (since retracted by The Mighty’s editors), a parent used the popular Bingo Card meme to detail challenging aspects of their autistic child’s meltdowns. The online backlash from autistic and disability activists was understandably swift and strong, underpinned by a history of those activists’ dissatisfaction with The Mighty coupled with dismay over yet another hijacking of autistic children’s most vulnerable and misunderstood moments justified as parenting “honesty.” But here’s the thing most backlash commentary missed or ignored: The mother who wrote the post is autistic. Anyone who clicked on the author bio for the original Meltdown Bingo post would have read the following: “Christine is an adult-diagnosed autistic mother to autistic Cameron, 8.” Also missing…