Social skills can be a foreign language to us: We can learn it, but what comes natural to you doesn’t come natural to us. Don’t call us rude if we prefer to be alone, don’t laugh at our social struggles, we’re trying, and any ableist reaction isn’t going to help us
What you can tolerate may be intolerable to us: We process things differently. We often can’t cope with certain sounds, too much visual information can drive us into overload. Certain textures can also be intolerable. We’re not exaggerating if we say something is too loud, we’re not lying if we can’t cope in a busy area
Meltdowns are not tantrums, and we may need time to shutdown: I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, meltdowns are not tantrums, we are not doing it intentionally. We are doing it as a fight-or-flight response. And likewise for shutdowns, don’t question if we go non-verbal, and please understand we may need time alone
Stimming is generally a coping mechanism: This is a trait commonly mocked by ableists. We use stimming as a way of coping. It may look weird to you, but we do it for many reasons. To keep us focused, to calm us down when feeling overloaded, to express emotion
Special interests aren’t weird or dangerous: If I had a penny for every time an allistic person implied my special interest was unhealthy and should be discouraged, I’d have quite a lot of pennies. It’s only weird to you because you don’t understand the joy it gives us. And you may worry that infodumping about one topic could discourage people from talking to us. I can’t speak for all autistic people on this, but I for one would rather be friends with someone who accepts my special interests, at least then I’m being myself
Just because some of our stims look different, and may be “socially acceptable” behaviors like listening to headphones of using a seat warmer, that doesn’t mean we need them any less to cope.
I know I post a lot of positivity and I stand by that but life with autism isn’t always super easy and its totally okay to struggle with it. Its okay not to always feel thrilled about it; feeling like that doesn’t make you a bad person. Just remember that you are fantastic for who you are. Accepting yourself or your diagnosis might be a process and that’s absolutely fine. Autism acceptance month isn’t just about others accepting us, for a lot of people its about working toward self acceptance too!
I have something I wanna say - no one has a right to speak for the whole autistic community. Autism $peaks certainly don’t but nor do I or anyone else. Everyone’s experience of Autism is individual and so are people’s opinions toward it. However, sharing your experiences of autism & opinions is vital in building the community and changing how autism is thought of across the world. I hope I’m adding my voice & experiences to the community but if you feel differently (so long as you are being respectful towards others) to my posts that’s also fine! I am only speaking for me & my view.
Your voice and your experience matters!!!
(Please be kind & respectful towards others though, I do not tolerate abusive comments or threats - thank you)
So often life with autism is frustrating. It’s frustrating trying to constantly meet other’s expectations that aren’t necessarily beneficial but are just there to make others more comfortable. It’s frustrating when sensory overload interrupts your plans and exhausts you. It’s frustrating when all you want to do is explain your experience to others but none of the words quite seem to fit. Its frustrating when you know things could be so much easier if there was even just a little more understanding and acceptance.
This is why I love all the wonderfully amazing autistic people on here - together we can make autism acceptance a reality ♡♡♡
Rules: Answer the prompt of the day on your own separate post. You can answer as many or as few of these as you like. Answer with as much or as little detail as you wish. Some questions this year have an alternative option that you can do if you prefer. You can answer just one or both of them. And make sure to tag it as #30daysofautismacceptance and #2022. And feel free to do this on any other social media platform that you want as well. And once again I am doing this with the help of my wonderful friend @lesmiserabby! Half of the prompts were created by them just like last year. So please give Abby credit for the prompts this year as well! And please help me spread this before the start of April!
April 1st: Introduce yourself. Talk about who you are as a person. Your age, hobbies, special interests, family, etc. Anything you feel comfortable sharing.
April 2nd: Post your redinstead photos today. Alternatively, you could talk about what autistic pride/autism acceptance month means to you.
April 3rd: Talk about jobs. Do you currently work or have you worked before? Was it hard for you to find a job? Does your job work well regarding your autism? Alternatively, if you don’t work, what was school like for you as an autistic person? What was good about school? What was bad?
April 4th: Talk about humor. Do you feel that your autism affects your sense of humor in any way? Are there any inside jokes in the autism community that you really like?
April 5th: Talk about instances of miscommunication. Are there any examples you can give for a time where you misinterpreted an interaction with someone else or them you? What do you think went wrong with that interaction?
April 6th: Do you tend to infodump about things that you’re interested in?
April 7th: Is there anything in particular that you’d like to see more of in autistic representation? Anything you’d like to see less of?
April 8th: Do you feel like your social skills have gotten better or worse with age?
April 9th: How are you when it comes to clothes? Are there certain clothes that you avoid or seek out for sensory reasons? Do you prefer tight or loose clothing? Would you consider yourself a fashionable person?
April 10th: Do you collect anything? Do the things that you collect have anything to do with your special interests? How do you organize your collection? Show off your collection if you want.
April 11th: Would you consider yourself to be a creative person? What kind of things do you create? Does being autistic influence how creative of a person you are?
April 12th: Do you consider yourself to be an organized person or disorganized? In what ways? Does being autistic affect how organized you are?
April 13th: What are some aspects of being autistic that you feel don’t get talked about enough
April 14th: Talk about connections, platonic and/or romantic. Who are some of the most important people in your life? Is it generally hard for you to connect with people? If it is, what kind of issues do you have with it? Do you find it easier to get along with other autistic people?
April 15th: Media is something that has the power to speak to a lot of different people in different ways. What are some media (movies, tv shows, books, etc) that really speaks to you as an autistic person? Something that you can really relate to?
April 16th: Talk about discovering yourself as an autistic person. When did you first find out you were autistic? If you were diagnosed, what was that process like? If you are self diagnosed, when did you first start to suspect that you could be autistic? How did you feel about it when you first found out compared to how you feel about it now? Have you gotten to a place of acceptance? What does being autistic mean to you?
April 17th: Do you prefer fiction, nonfiction or a mix of both for entertainment?
April 18th: Do you have any pets? If not, do you want any in the future? Why or why not?
April 19th: How do you feel about self diagnosis?
April 20th: What are your thoughts on terminology? (ie, high functioning and low functioning vs high support needs and low support needs, nonspeaking vs nonverbal, person first vs identity first, etc)
April 21st: What do you think about euphemisms for disabilities such as special needs, differently abled, etc?
April 22nd: Do you like hugs or dislike them? What about other forms of physical contact? Does it depend on the person or situation?
April 23rd: If you could live absolutely anywhere, real or fictional, where would you live? What would your dream home look like?
April 24th: How easy is it for you to focus on things? Are you easily distracted? Is it harder if it’s something you’re not interested in?
April 25th: Do you struggle with switching tasks or is it easy for you? Does it depend on the task/situation?
April 26th: Do you stim? What sort of stims do you have? What do you wish people knew about stimming?
April 27th: Do you have trouble identifying physical feelings like hunger or being tired? Do you have trouble with identifying emotions?
April 28th: Can you drive? If so, do you like driving? If not, do you want to learn?
April 29th: What sort of things do you like to do to relax/for self care?
April 30th: Do you like to plan ahead for things or do you like to just “go with the flow” and see what happens? A mix of both? Does it vary by day to day?
Rhee Rhee memes. It’s meant to make fun of autistics w/higher support needs
Using Autistic as an insult. (Wow you’re so autistic or what an autistic meme.)
Calling each other R*tard.
Making fun of autistic people’s tics or special interest.
Making fun of physical differences.
Getting things autistics need banned (it’s ok to have stim toys like fidget spinners etc.) as long as you don’t get them taken away from those who need them.
Having fake therapy animals STOP THAT
Supporting Autism speaks The are a hate group. Need proof watch the I am autism add
Asking an autistic what thier thing is.
Tokenizing you’re autistic friends by going oh my stepsisters cousins best friend is autistic. Umm ok I know folks with brown hair I don’t point it out when I meet folks with brown hair.
Saying stuff like accommodations are unfair/cheating and just ways disabled folks get ahead.
Not listening to autistic friends and peers when they tell you the truth of our existence buck vs bell (forced sterilization.) still legal. Disabled folks can’t marry w/out one person loosing healthcare etc.) both true facts.
Telling an autistic or nuerodiverse kid in you’re school that they are most likely to be as school shooter. (It’s untrue and offensive. Especially when we hate that people get hurt seeking an education.)
Saying autistics don’t have a culture or cultural values
Telling autistics it’s thier perspective when they report bullying to you when 33% more than ¼th of all bullying victims according to Pacer.com are autistics
Making videos of you doing something nice for the autistic kid so you can get attention… it can be embarrassing for us
Making us you’re “autistic friend.” So you can impress other people with out charitable or kind you are and then drop us when you’re done that hurts.
Using us for our accommodations
Not realizing those “special classrooms” and “special bathrooms” are apart of disabled segregation. When they all should be accessible
Telling autistics not to headcanon characters as autistics (Even after we show you proof.)
Forcing person first language on us without asking how we identify.
Laughing at socially awkward tendencies because you don’t know who could have an invisible disabilitie
Dressing up like asylum victims for Halloween when thier graves have numbers instead of names.
Also no Sexy mental patient costumes if the first wasn’t offensive enough rape and sexual assault is 8 to 9 times more likely to happen to folks with invisible disabilities. 3% of all rape cases are disabled folks (to put that in perspective 1% of the world population has green eyes and you’ve seen folks with green eyes.)
Also stop making mental patients the villains in you’re horror movies or ghosts. Simply ,because they have an invisible disability that’s A.) Lazy writing B.) stereotyping an at risk community.
Also autism is HIGHLY genetic so ^ making fun of above things makes fun of us,our parents,our siblings,our nieces ,and in some cases our ansestors.
Autism has been around since prehistoric times not just 1940s
10. Autistic Twitter: “how could that creepy goblin represent an autistic child better than an actor could?”
11. Playhouse: “Well you see because he’s a non verbal autistic and aggressive so things get pretty physical and also it would be stereotypical and insulting to make a human play an autistic person but if we use an inanimate object it’s fine.”
12. Autistic Twitter: “We are NOT okay with this.”
13. Playhouse: “You haven’t even seen the play. We consulted with so many autistic people.”
14. National Autism Society: “Yeah you consulted us and we told you that this play was problematic and that you should make some major changes including dumping the puppet.”
15. Playhouse: “And we took those notes under advisement.”
16. NAS: “But you didn’t make the changes.”
17. Playhouse: “No. Because you just a read a script and we know you’ll all feel differently when you see it.
18. Autistic Twitter: “So… can autistic theatre critics get free tickets so we can see if?”
19. Playhouse: “No we can’t afford to give out free tickets to critics.”
20. Non-Autistic Critic: “Actually you offered ME free tickets and I turned them down saying you should give them to an autistic critic.”
21. Playhouse: “…Hey look, opening night!”
22. Non-Autistic Critic: “So I went to see it and… it’s really weird. The parents are terrible people and I cannot for the life of me understand why they thought an adult man with a grey faced goblin sprouting from his groin making autistic noises was more realistic than an autistic actor playing the child themself.”
23. Non-Autistic Autism Advocate: “I went to see it and it was SO GOOD. I totally forgot that Laurence was a puppet he seemed so much like a real autistic child in that he was not human and he didn’t even feature that much in the play.
The heartbreak of the family dealing with the tragedy of autism was so real and honest and I have NO idea why people are offended by this wonderful play that portrays autism as a family-destroying evil.
24. #ActuallyAutistic Critic: “GUYS I WENT TO SEE IT AND OMG. Theatre isn’t sensory friendly, non sensory friendly performances, no trigger warnings on anything even though it’s full of ableism and screaming people.
Plot of the play is that the kid is being taken by social services to go to an institution.
Big plot twist is that the mom called them herself because she couldn’t handle the autism anymore.
Puppet just flaps around and occasionally attacks people. I actually really love puppetry but this was messed up and not well done AT ALL.
These people are all terrible. Dad has been taking shits on the Mom’s pillow and blaming it on his non-verbal son.
Puppet gets pinned to the ground in that move that can kill people.
The puppet’s care worker says that autistic people are animals who have reincarnated as people, and he’s still the best human being in this play.
This is play is an ableist shitfest written by allistics for allistics about the tragedy of autism and how it destroys families.”
25. Autistic Twitter: “Sorry, did you say the Dad SHITS ON HIS WIFE’S PILLOW AND BLAMES HIS SON??”
26. Allistic Twitter: “This play was SO brave to be so honest about how awful autistic children are! So refreshing to see a play showing the PARENTS’ viewpoint for once!
(SERIOUSLY)
So that’s where we are right about now. If you want to go be angry the hashtag on twitter is #puppetgate
Here is a link to Shaun May’s amazing and horrifying review of this tire fire of a play.
I know I post a lot of positivity and I stand by that but life with autism isn’t always super easy and its totally okay to struggle with it. Its okay not to always feel thrilled about it; feeling like that doesn’t make you a bad person. Just remember that you are fantastic for who you are. Accepting yourself or your diagnosis might be a process and that’s absolutely fine. Autism acceptance month isn’t just about others accepting us, for a lot of people its about working toward self acceptance too!
Gotta love hefty doses of ableism and non disabled people defending it because “it was for his own good” and “it was a different time”. Not to mention the racism and sexism! I hate this book and will fight people over it.
