neurodivergentcosmere

[neurodivergentcosmere]

Because of first stumbling into the right own-voices posts, into the right subreddit, into people not talking about X or Y symptom, but about their experiences without focusing on one specific thing. And I don't want others to have to be this lucky, or at least give them more possibilities to find the right people and places. (Oh, god, I'm just realizing this is pretty much a blogpost given to you very annoyingly...I need some guide to tumblr, sorry.)

Ok, I hear you, but: What am I supposed to do with this? This is a (basically inactive) fandom blog, not a self-diagnosis resource or a thing for community discussion. You’d probably be better off posting this with the #actuallyautistic tag if you want a discussion.

[neurodivergentcosmere]

OKAY RULE1 for writing autistic characters:  The labels of “High-functioning” and “low-functioning” are. Well to put it plainly, they are actively and absolutely harmful. They are used to silence autistic people. If you are deemed low-functioning, you are therefore unable to make any decisions for yourself, thus, you are put in the control of others. If you are deemed high-functioning, it is also used to silence you, because you aren’t “really” autistic. Do not use these labels unless it is specifically the bad guys using them, or if the characters are very obviously uninformed and ignorant of what they are contributing to by using these labels.

Rule 2:  Aspergers is the same thing as autism. Aspergers is usually just applied to “”High-functioning”” autistics because it sounds nicer than autism. They are the exact same thing.

Rule 3:  This should be obvious. But autistic people do not “suffer” from autism. And we are not people with autism. We are autistic people. Believe it or not there is a difference, and it is important. If I hadn’t been born autistic, I would not be me. You can’t separate the brain from the mind. You can’t separate autism from the soul.

Rule 4: Being diagnosed with autism doesn’t suddenly make you an entirely new person. Someone you know being diagnosed doesn’t mean that they are an entirely new person. Autism is like gravity—even before we gave it a name, even before we acknowledged it and realizing that “hey, this is a thing!” It was still there. Still making apples fall out of trees. Just because you find out that someone is autistic doesn’t mean your entire perception of them needs to change. They’re still the same person you’ve always known. Just like you know that gravity exists before you’re taught about it in school. Just because you don’t have a word for something doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.

Rule 5: We are not sick. Autism is not an illness. I don’t care if you have a kid that’s autistic and you’re sad that they’ll never say to you “I love you” or hold your hand. There are more ways to express affection than hand-holding and verbal declarations. We are not sick. We do not need to be cured. I don’t care if you think we’re sad miserable things that will never meet arbitrary life goals. We are people. We just happen to be different.

Rule 6: Do not write an autistic character just because you want a gold star. Do not write an autistic character because you want to be able to say your story is diverse. Do not write an autistic character so that you can get some imaginary trophy. If you’re going to write an autistic character, it should be because you really care about the subject. It should be because you want to learn as much as you want to teach. Do not write autistic characters so that you can pat yourself on the back and give yourself brownie points. Write an autistic character because you really, genuinely, care.

Rule 7: Don’t tag something as involving autism if it’s literally just a background character that shows up for 0.2 seconds and doesn’t even have a major impact on the story or any real role at all. Not only is that obnoxious for people trying to find fics about autistic characters, it’s insulting. We are not objects you take off a shelf to show off, and then stick back when you don’t want us anymore. Either go all the way or don’t do anything at all.

Rule 8: We are not children. We do not “have the mind of an X year old”. If an autistic person is twelve, they do not “have the mind of a three year old.” They have the mind of an autistic twelve year old. Do not infantize us. Do not treat us like children.

Rule 9: DO. NOT. USE. THE. R-WORD. AS. A. DESCRIPTOR. DO NOT DO IT. IT IS A SLUR. DO NOT USE IT IN CASUAL CONTEXT UNLESS SOMEONE IS GOING TO REACT TO IT LIKE THE SLUR IT IS. 

Rule 10: Do not make “high-functioning” autistics look down on “low-functioning” autistics unless this behavior is explicitly shown to be in the wrong and completely misguided.

Rule 11: I don’t know what it’s called but that thing? Where people “teach” autistic people to be more normal? Where they force autistic people to make eye contact and not stim or walk on their toes and stuff? Yeah. That’s not a good thing. At all. Do not make it out to be a good thing unless this is later proven absolutely and disastrously damaging and wrong.

If you are autistic and have something to add, PLEASE FEEL FREE.

Allistics, please feel free to reblog. No, having an autistic family member does not give you free reign to add your own rules. This is meant to be a list of rules written BY AUTISTIC PEOPLE for the benefit of allistic writers so that we can read things without wanting to die of brain implosion.

[neurodivergentcosmere]

Atypical Autism Traits

The [ original source ] for these is highly gendered.

Under the cut, I am retyping the original source in gender-neutral language, as atypical autism traits do not only appear in girls.

If you are Autistic and your autism matches this profile, it does not mean that you must be a girl; it just means your autism is a kind that often gets missed by traditional diagnostic profiles. These traits were commonly found by researchers in cisgender girls, but they are by no means exclusive to cisgender girls.

The traits are split into four categories.

Keep reading

[neurodivergentcosmere]

How my autism needs routine

I used to think that I didn’t have a need for routine, because schedules are anxiety-provoking for me. But I have since learned that a need for routine is much broader than scheduling. 

My need for routine manifests as I need to sit in a specific seat at the dinner table. I also need to be sitting on the left side of the aisle when at a religious service, and on the right side if I’m a passenger in a car.

There are other manifestations of my need for routine, but the most obvious to other people is my need for essentially having my own assigned seat.

If my routine is broken, everything feels Bad and Wrong and I have a sense of unease. It is very difficult for me to adjust to sitting in a different seat or area than I am accustomed to.

[neurodivergentcosmere]

I really don’t think people who aren’t Autistic or who don’t struggle with sensory issues understand that when it comes to certain stimuli, those things provoke actual feelings of pain, nausea, disgust, discomfort, etc for people that are Autistic/have sensory processing disorder.

Take “picky eating.” I was labelled a “picky eater” even as a little toddler. I couldn’t eat sauce, tomatoes, or have my food touching other foods. People said stuff like “She’ll grow out of it” or “She’ll eat it if she’s actually hungry” or “Tastebuds change; she’ll like it when she’s older!“ 

But the fact was, if it was a food I couldn’t eat, I literally couldn’t eat it. I’d try to eat lasagna and start crying, and gagging, and I’d have to spit it out. Guess what? I didn’t “eat when I was hungry” if it was one of those foods, I just didn’t eat. This was especially an issue when I started going to school and daycare (I eventually got a note from my doctors that detailed my Autism diagnosis and sensory problems, so that the local kids center would provide me with alternative meals. They treated it the same way they did with kids with allergies, basically.) 

Also, I didn’t “grow out of it.” I still cannot eat tomatos, sauces, and most mixed food dishes. Because I just can’t even make my mouth chew and swallow without gagging and spitting the food out. Just a couple months ago I went to grab some chicken wraps from the local taco place, and I asked specifically that they hold the sauce. But they didn’t, so when I took a bite I got a mouthful of pain and chucked it right into my napkin (gross, I know. I’m making a point here though.)

So when Autistic people, or anyone with a sensory processing related disorder, tells you that they cannot handle something-whether that means being touched, wearing certain clothes, being around noise, or eating certain foods-remember what I just said. That’s how it feels, when people willfully ignore our reminders and warnings about our stimuli and triggers. That’s what you’re doing when you touch someone when they tell you it hurts them, or make them wear that suit or outfit, or put sauce on their food when they politely ask you not to. Granted, overload is different and presents differently in everyone, but bottom line-you’re choosing to disrespect someone’s boundaries, and their medical issues, and you are hurting them when you force certain stimuli on them after they’ve asked you to stop. Just respect people, and don’t shame people for not being able to handle or do the same stuff other people can. 

[neurodivergentcosmere]

Explaining sensory overload and hypersensitivity to neurotypicals

so in a discord im in, me and @kuonabnaq started explaining hypersensitivity and sensory overload in terms people who dont experience them will understand and i thought they’d be useful to people! i’ve seen sensory overload and hypersensitivity explained decently, but never in ways people who don’t experience them will understand well so here’s some ways!

Sound

yknow that feeling you get from nails on a chalkboard? every sound does that

or yknow that feeling you get from nails on a chalkboard? every sound i cant control does that (since sometimes music helps - its a controllable sound)

Vision

“when you come out of a movie theater and the sun just pokes your eyes” - that, with every colour in my vision field

or the light at the dentist which goes right into your eyes, but with all light (including lights, colors, etc..)

Touch

when you forget that the sand on the beach is painfully hot and stand for a second too long, but with all contact

or when you get a bad grape but with everything

Smell

smell is when you walk past someone with a ton of perfume/cologne but for everything

or one of those really weird acids you have in chemistry, you know? Those that just shoot right up to the back of your head when you make the mistake of smelling it directly.

or walking into a lush/bath and body works/other similar store, but always  (first and third are especially good if you want to highlight the ‘even good smells are bad smells’ thing)

[neurodivergentcosmere]

🔫

-mod Elend

I’d also like to apologize for mod Elend being a fckGN MEME and reblogging that Sesame Street post.

-mod Renarin

[neurodivergentcosmere]

I’d also like to apologize for mod Elend being a fckGN MEME and reblogging that Sesame Street post.

-mod Renarin

[neurodivergentcosmere]

thoughts on Renarin Kholin, gender, and ableism

this is a topic there can be a pretty massive discussion of, but here’s just a summary of some stuff I think we should think and talk about more?

disabled -> dehumanized through denial of gender- esp when it’s something like REN BEING DENIED THE DEFINITION OF ALETHI MASCULINITY

so he’s seen as genderless by society

(which leads to my first point: I think the prevalent trans guy hc is from people picking up on this) (but then it seems like they’re just stealing part of his disabled identity) (pls remember to think about this when talking transmasc Ren hcs)

and the other point is… he has to fight to be seen as a guy

and he DOES

so like… can we move the gay/trans discourse spotlight off him pls? I luv gay trans Ren but

the boy fought so hard to be seen as a man. sometimes this discourse feels like we’re denying him that

and I’m not saying don’t talk trans Ren! I’m saying talk more trans Kal and Adolin and Jasnah

and remember ableism when you talk trans Ren bc honestly? his relationship to gender is STILL INTERESTING if he’s cis because ableism intersects with everything

tldr: we should talk more about how ableism totally fucked up Renarin's relationship with gender

-mod Renarin

[neurodivergentcosmere]

it’s sad that puppets are more accepting than people…

[neurodivergentcosmere]

lmao reminder to any allistics (not autistic people) out there that autism isn’t some “huge serious disease”

It’s not a fucking disease. It’s a developmental disorder. Autism can’t be “cured” because it isn’t some disease. Behaviors can be unlearned but that’s honestly usually unhealthy and forced upon us.

And if your main argument against this blog is “YOU CANT HEADCANON A CHARACTER AS AUTISTIC BECAUSE AUTISM IS SERIOUS!!” then well I’m sorry to say but you have the ableist mindset that autism is some disease.

And while you’re over there trying to play “allistic savior of autistic people” you’re actually being very rude and ableist, and you’re restricting our voices.

Autism isn’t a disease. Autism isn’t something that needs to be “cured”. Stop acting as if autism is some “serious debilitating disease” that needs to be wiped out.

Autism is a developmental disorder. Not a disease.

[neurodivergentcosmere]

You don’t have to visibly stim, avoid eye contact, or have special interests to be autistic. There are hundreds upon hundreds of traits not limited to the stereotypical five or six a lot of autistic people have in common or talk about at length. Bad/unusual posture, deep connection with animals, walking on your toes or at an “aerodynamic angle”, extreme sensitivity or resistance to medication, poor balance, disinterest in popular shows/movies/books, and so many more are all autistic traits not frequently talked about. Autism has so many traits and so many manifestations not limited to what is stereotypical or popular. There’s no wrong way to be autistic and there’s no one way, there’s millions.

[neurodivergentcosmere]

writing an autistic character when you are not autistic - a masterpost

completely double spaced version on google docs here – this post is more blocky for the sake of people’s dashboards, but still long so people will be less likely to glaze over it. my apologies if that makes it hard to read

things to look for and avoid in an autistic character

• symptoms only manifesting as “nonverbal and rocking” • super smart / living calculator • super dumb / doesn’t understand anything • all the symptoms you can come up with for them are “awkward” and “has special interest(s)” (please do more research) • trains, technology, and/or math as special interests • acting like a child • getting treated like a baby • unreasonably cruel and uncaring about others’ reactions to them being cruel • if they’re comparable to sheldon from the big bang theory, start over • animal comparisons • a lack of feelings • please no stories about what it’s like to be autistic told by allistics

the right way to write an autistic person

• lots of symptoms, including secondary ones not included on a general diagnosis requirement list (here’s a list i rather like that was made by an autistic person – their blog is also a good resource) • having a good amount of general knowledge and actually talking about it (i cannot believe that i have to say this) • talking about things outside of special interests (again…. come on……….) (special interests are usually the default things our brains go to when theres no stimulation or we want to entertain ourselves – it isn’t literally all we think or talk about ever. if a conversation has no connections to a special interest, reconsider having your autistic character bring it up in a context that is not an introduction.) • explicitly expressed to be capable of attraction and romantic feelings – if your character is an adult, add sexual feelings to this point • capable of general functioning, just with a disability that makes it more difficult – not a walking disability (….sigh) • a wide amount of feelings and emotional turmoil (but perhaps only being able to express it in limited ways) • we’re people • just people whose brains are wired differently

things to avoid in research for an autistic character

• autism moms / autism blogs and websites not run by autistic people • any affiliation with autism $peaks means you should walk away and never look back • a scientist trying to create explanations for what autistic people do without actually asking / not mentioning asking autistic people • anything about a cure for autism • a person that “worked with autistic kids” phrased in the same way as “worked with animals” • talking about autistic people as if they are mysteries, are like animals, or are otherwise othered weirdos instead of people

things to look for in research for an autistic character

• actual autistic people talking about their experiences and symptoms • just stick to that and you’re good but it’s hard to find sometimes ngl. just look for the above red flags

things i would personally like to see in an autistic character

• less easy to swallow sadness and more destructive anger. i would love to see a canonically autistic character who was frustrated easily by small things and had trouble communicating why • not a story about being autistic, a story that happens to have a character or characters who are autistic – it isn’t pointed out or questioned, they’re right at home with the rest of the cast and not othered (a la symmetra from overwatch) • intensive sensory issues / small sounds making large reactions • clear communications about not liking x sensory thing (for example being touched) • poor motor skills / clumsiness and not being laughed at for it • walking funny (body bent downwards, walking very fast, walking slowly, big strides, shuffling, stiffness, etc)  – no one treats it as if it’s funny or something totally strange • a big personality that has a presence so they can’t be cast aside (but feel free to have quiet characters too) – if this was along with being nonverbal they would probably leap to being one of my favorite characters ever • a fear of asking for clarification on sarcasm or jokes because of past experiences and an arc about the character becoming more comfortable asking questions

>> if any fellow autistic people want to add something, feel free <<

allistics are encouraged to rb this

[neurodivergentcosmere]

10 WAYS TO HELP AUTISTIC PEOPLE [BY AN AUTISTIC PERSON]:

Be aware of your surroundings. Bright lights and too much noise are hell for autistic people. Is there anywhere quiet or dim that you could take them to if they got stressed? Is there a way to lessen the noise and/or brightness?

Don’t tell us to “stop acting weird”. Chewing on things, flapping our hands, rocking on our feet, and so on are all natural, healthy behaviours that help us to process emotion and sensory input. Telling us not to do them is akin to telling an allistic (non-autistic) person to stop smiling.

Most autistic people are happy as we are. Some would rather not be autistic, it’s true, but most of us just want to be ourselves without shame or stigma. It’s generally bad manners to talk to us about a “cure” or “treatments” for who we are.

Non-verbal communication – vocal sounds, text or written communication, sign language, etc – are all valid forms of communication which we sometimes have to use. (Or always have to use, in some cases.) Sometimes, we have to text the person sitting next to us because we can’t talk. Please don’t try to make us use our voices when we’d rather not!

Research autistic groups before supporting them. What do actual autistic people say about this group? We like self-advocacy groups, we don’t like allistic people trying to talk for us. Not every group that claims to help autistic people is actually our friend!

Special interests – things which autistic people fixate on and obsess over – are healthy and important. Don’t make fun of us for getting really into things, even if they’re “childish” things like Minecraft or Pokémon. It’s incredibly hurtful when someone we like just dismisses our interests without a second thought.

When an autistic person is having a meltdown or shutdown, listen to them! Don’t fuss over them or get up in their face. Just listen to what they want you to do to help them, if anything. Let them write or text it, if they have to, and keep your voice down!

We don’t process the world the same way you do. Sometimes things which seem obvious to you require explanation before we’ll understand them. Sometimes an explanation you understand will be one that makes no sense to us. Please be patient. We’re not being difficult on purpose! We want to understand, we really do.

Be understanding when we say we can’t do something. Our energy gets used up a lot quicker than yours. Often we’d really like to do something, but we just can’t, and it can be difficult for us to explain that. Don’t guilt trip us for not going out or whatever – we already feel really bad about it!

Listen to our boundaries. If we don’t want to be touched, don’t touch us. If we want you to leave our possessions alone, leave them alone. If we aren’t up to talking, don’t try to make us talk. We need boundaries a lot more than you do, so please try to respect them. It’s common courtesy!

[I originally posted this on Facebook, but I decided to post it here, too.]

[neurodivergentcosmere]

being autistic is important to me because it affects how i experience the world. it’s something that i can’t hide or repress. it’s part of me and i love being autistic even in the face of ableism and cruelty that i know many autistic people face. autism is not a bad thing. autism is not a disease. we’re not “missing a puzzle piece”. please listen when we talk about our experiences and don’t dismiss it under the guise of “they don’t know what’s good for them”. we do know. we know ourselves better than anyone else.

[neurodivergentcosmere]

End the desexualization and infantalization of autistic people. Autistic people aren’t all inherently asexual. Autistic people can want and consent to sex. Autistic people have sex. Autistic people have just as much sex as allistic/neurotypical people. Autistic people can be just as sexually attractive as allistic/neurotypical people. Autistic people want and are capable of having fulfilling romantic/sexual relationships.

[neurodivergentcosmere]

oops, i think i’m autistic

this is a text for people who have just realized, or are beginning to wonder that they might be autistic. i will try to give you some keywords and language to describe and understand your experiences.

this will not be about pursuing a diagnosis or getting external help. these can also be very important steps, but in this text i will only try to shed some light on experiences that are often silenced by the neurotypical mainstream.

autistic burnout

being autistic is as wonderful as it is hard.

the fact that you are just now considering that you might be autistic can mean that you are experiencing what we call autistic burnout. it can occur together with or independent from a classical burnout. autistic burnout often includes the loss of abilities and increased visibility of autistic traits.

the long text “help, i am getting more autistic” explains many things that can lead to showing more autistic traits, like increased outside expectations, stress from other sources, autistic burnout and others.

communication

being autistic means that we struggle with neurotypical communication, both verbal and nonverbal.

we may avoid eye contact, we may not be able to read faces. we may not be able to understand or use facial expressions, body language or tone of voice in the same way neurotypical people do.

many of us use scripts to make communication easier. that means we have specific words or sentences that we say in specific situations. like saying “good morning” to your coworkers, we might have a script for “what to say when people ask me how i am doing” or “how to explain my health problems to doctors” or “how to react when someone is feeling scared”. some of us come up with scripts on their own, others use phrases they have heard or read somewhere else (this is also called echolalia).

we may use autistic body language that is very different from neurotypical body language. we may react very differently to any stimuli. many of us laugh or smile when we are distressed. many of us move rapidly when we are happy. these are just some examples - we are all wonderfully different.

our social interactions are markedly different from non-autistic social interactions. many of us prefer to be direct and honest over hiding our points in words that mean something else. we often use parallel conversations were 2 or more people talk to each other, but everyone is talking about something completely different.

social difficulties

those of us who are usually verbal may experience “going nonverbal”, that means losing the ability to speak for an amount of time. many of us struggle at keeping up conversations, finding the right words in the right time and getting other people to understand us.

many of us have a hard time trying to understand concepts that are important to neurotypicals. this can include problems with understanding abstract words or lacking the ability to understand other people’s intentions.

many of us have prosopagnosia, that means being faceblind, which means we cannot remember and recognize faces.

many of us have alexithymia, that means we cannot identify and name our emotions, even though we feel them very clearly.

our social difficulties often makes us susceptible to manipulation and deception. when we try to understand and mimic social rules, we are not always successful.

sensory experiences

many of us have difficulties with sensory processing. we may get overwhelmed by loud noises or bright lights. touch may be very unpleasant or painful to us. we may have sensory hyper- or hyposensitivities. we might struggle to remember images or sounds. we might have trouble interpreting what we are seeing or hearing, even if we do not have vision or hearing impairments. (another keyword is “auditory processing disorder”.)

we might be very sensitive to taste and smell - or we might need intense tastes and smells to feel comfortable.

many of us experience synaesthesia, that means we associate different senses with each other. numbers may have colours, sounds may have shapes or feelings may have directions.

stimming

many of us crave controlled sensory input. the act of giving ourselves this controlled sensory stimulation is called stimming. stimming can be thousands of activities - it can be rocking, pacing, clapping, fidgeting, chewing, touching or looking at good things, there are acoustic stims, vestibular stims, taste and smell and pressure stims, the possibilities are endless! stimming is wonderful and natural.

thought organization

we seem to have a different kind of thought process than non-autistic people do, but there are huge differences between the ways autistic people think as well! some of us think mostly visually. others cannot think in images at all. some of us think in words or echolalia, others don’t use words in their mind. there’s an amazing variety in the ways our minds work.

many of us have executive dysfunction. it can be hard for us to do even simple tasks. we may have to re-learn the same thing over and over again. we may get overwhelmed by tasks that are too big for us. we may have trouble figuring out the single steps that make up a complex task. we may struggle with initiating tasks or switching tasks.

on the other hand, many of us experience hyperfocus, where we just sink into whatever we are doing, completely forgetting about the outside world for hours on end.

routines

one of the ways we deal with both sensory processing difficulties and executive functioning problems are routines. having routines means doing the same thing in the same way always, it means having a reliable reference and a frame that gives our lives shape.

familiar surroundings and reliable planning are important for many of us. we may plan ahead meticulously. many of us react very strongly to change in routines or plans. having things and surroundings stay the same can be very important for our functioning and wellbeing.

special interests

being autistic often also means having one or more special interests. special interests are things that we get very excited about. we collect information on our special interest, or we have the need to do it as much as possible. it’s more than just a hobby - it’s a special and wonderful hobby. we may have the same special interest for all our lives, or we may have many different special interests, each only lasting a few days. we may find ever new things or come back to old favourites or we might be simply too tired to have a special interest again.

emotions and empathy

some of us do not experience empathy at all, others are hyper-empathic, others experience it only partially. empathy has many different aspects: you can “feel what others feel”, you can try to “put yourself in their shoes” to imagine what you would feel in their situation, you can react to their emotions with your own emotional response. however, all of this requires you to read their emotional state first, which can be very hard for us.

one of the misconceptions about autism is that we are supposedly “emotionless”. the truth is, many of us are extremely sensitive. we can develop ptsd from experiences that others would not even classify as traumatic.

another myth is that we are unable to lie or understand irony and sarcasm at all. while it is true that we often struggle with detecting irony and sarcasm, most of us can still understand the concept and use it.

it is also untrue that we lack “theory of mind”. we are well aware that other people have different thoughts than we do, which is exactly the reason why it is hard for us to guess what other people may be thinking or feeling.

stress reactions

many of us respond to sensory overload, emotional overload, routine changes or other stress factors with shutdowns or meltdowns.

meltdowns are an explosive stress reaction that can range anywhere from “i am upset” to “i am endangering myself and/or others” or “i am destroying objects”. meltdowns can be internalised or externalised.

shutdowns is when we go silent and become very calm. we may freeze or drop on the floor. we may dissociate.

sensory overload, shutdowns and meltdowns can happen several times per day or once every couple of years. severity and frequency can change for any given person over the cause of their life.

there is no one way to be autistic

autism is just the way our brains are wired. we still have unique personalities.

we come in all shapes and sizes, in all genders and sexual orientations, we exist in all races and cultures. we don’t grow out of autism. we are autistic from before we are born and stay autistic for all our lives.

our autistic traits are also influenced by other neurodivergences. personality disorders, ptsd, adhd, ocd, schizophrenia, and everything else can influence the way we experience or display our autism.

it is important to recognize that there is no hierarchy between different “types” of autism. people who were diagnosed in childhood are not generally better or worse off than people who were never diagnosed. we experience different kinds of ableism: dehumanization and dismissiveness.

functioning labels - that is, labelling autistic people as “high functioning” or “low functioning” - harm everyone. they are being used to deny “high functioning” people the help they need and to deny “low functioning” people their independence and humanity.

while it is true that some of us need more support than others, this does not mean we “function” at a different level. this classification is based on ableist notions about what abilities a human being must have in order to be seen as fully human.

autistic people often have very asymmetric skill development. only very few of us have real splinter skills, but many of us are far better in some areas of competence than in others.

if it just so happens that the things we are bad at are the things required for everyday living, we may get labelled “low functioning” - regardless of what we are actually able to do.

autism is not a one dimensional condition. there are hundreds of things we can be very good or very bad at. some of us have intense sensory sensitivities, others have strong social difficulties, yet others cannot cope with the slightest change in their routine. some of us are very musical, others excel at maths and science, yet others prefer to play volleyball.

autistic culture and identity

autistic culture has been existing probably as long as any kind of human culture has, long before the term autism had been invented.

we have always been a part of society. with our contributions we enrich humanity. we are teachers, artists, engineers, nurses, cleaners, designers, professors, bus drivers, activists, politicians, parents, doctors or therapists. capitalism likes to exploit our special skills while at the same time refusing to meet our special needs.

we are friends, we are family members and neighbours, we care and we help and we work in our own ways. not everyone of us can work in a way that is rewarded financially.

while it is true that being autistic can be a severe disability, or that this anti-autistic society can be very disabling for us, many autistic communities are seeking to establish Autistic identity outside of pathologizing medical definitions.