Photo © Jill at Blue Moonbeam Studio | Flickr / Creative Commons [image: A wooden gate in a botanical garden, with the Austin skyline in the background, as seen reflected in a crystal ball.] Devin S. Turk twitter.com/AuroralAutistic As I have become more involved with the autistic self-advocacy movement, I’ve found myself paying more and more attention to how non-autistic populations talk about us. I have often heard my beautiful, vibrant community described by non-autistics with words like “disease” and “epidemic.” Even if it’s not as blatant, the language our wider society uses to talk about autistic people is reflective of a deep-seated discomfort and even disgust with the non-normative.  One example is the idea that autistic people are in our “own little worlds.” “They’re in their own little world” alludes to the intensely ableist trope of the “mysterious autistic” person, someone who is “trapped” within their “Autism-ridden” body or…