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#high support needs
lightning-system · 2 months
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As a medium/lower support needs autistic who works with young higher support needs autistic:
We all matter. We all have the same diagnosis. We all deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.
But we are not the same.
I can mask and might be seen as 'odd' or 'weird' in public. The students I work with are seen as 'dangerous' and 'practically little kids'.
I can go to university and work with accommodations. The students I work with likely will never live independently and a few might find jobs that support them but still pay them less than an abled worker.
I have full control of my finances. The students I work with aren't allowed to make independent financial decisions, even if capable.
If I say 'no,' I'm making a choice. The students I work with can't say 'no' without being labeled as defiant and difficult.
I can feed myself, bathe myself, and take care of myself with extreme challenges. The students I work with are unable to take care of themselves without high levels of support/one on one support.
I had an IEP in high school but was mainstreamed in classes. The students I work with take separate classes and some rarely get to interact with their abled peers.
Our experiences are fundamentally different. Higher support needs autistics will experience a specific type of ableism I never will, and can never fully understand.
Lower support needs autistics need to stop saying we understand what higher support needs autistics are going through and then present autism as only being disabling because of society/lack of acceptance because that is dangerous. We need to stop saying every autistic person is capable of everything if given the right support because that leaves out huge parts of our community who will never be able to do certain things, regardless of support.
We are worthy of existence regardless of our abilities.
Autism is a spectrum. It is not the same for every autistic person. Autism acceptance and advocacy has to come with accepting, acknowledging, and listening to our higher support needs peers.
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zebulontheplanet · 2 months
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This is your reminder because some of y’all are fucking weird.
An adult who has high support needs is NOT the same as a toddler. A high support needs adult is NOT “functionally a child”
THEY. ARE. AN. ADULT.
High support needs people that are adults are fucking adults. Stop speaking of them like they aren’t. “Oh but they can’t do this independently and they act very childish” THEY ARE HIGH SUPPORT NEEDS. STOP IT.
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radiostatic166 · 4 months
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Please stop infantlizing autistic people
Stop being weirded out when we cuss. Stop being weirded out when we talk about nsfw topics. Stop being weirded out when we are semiverbal or nonverbal.
We can smoke too, we can drink, vape, and cuss and do anything normal people can do. We can have (concented) sexual relationships. We can kiss people. We can have kinks. We can like BDSM or have fetishes. We are not innocent little kids.
Just because we have a disability doesn't mean we aren't people.
Just because we sometimes need to live with someone else doesn't mean we aren't people.
Just because we don't pick up on social clues doesn't mean we aren't people.
STOP INFANTILIZING US. STOP CALLING US INNOCENT. STOP THINKING YOU NEED TO PROTECT US. WE ARE REGULAR PEOPLE TOO.
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meowtismz · 5 months
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please please please STOP weird out when autistics specially nonverbal semiverbal autistics cuss talk about nsfw topics etc
deserve talk about topics if old enough like any other peers
autistic cuss have sexual relationship (with consent) consume alcohol date etc etc etc
STOP INFANTILIZING US we humans too
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ok i need. need. NEED. you all to understand what high support needs autism actually is. not just higher support, but highhhh (high) support.
& honestly me, am not even fit to talk about this!! but knowing popular (often low support) autism content creators & authors tokenize me & include me in justification “well i listen to high support needs people and they need—”
high support needs not just need remind take meds, not even need remind eat, need remind shower. if you think “high support needs” & those struggles come first in mind & see those as most represent of HSN, most classical way of be HSN, then you wrong. you wronggg.
many HSN autistic, not even “advanced” enough (for not have better word) to able use reminders. on average day often need physical help. for a lot, need complete physical help. need complete physical help hold spoon n fork, or not able be a part at all and need other people do it. need be told open mouth chew swallow sometimes. need other people clean up drool & spill from mouth & mess.
they have worth. deserve all the fucking help they need.
“difference between low & high support is not actual amount struggle because all struggle inside same but that high support show more external outside struggle & those struggle more annoying for people around them” hear this so often and make blood boil because cannot be farther from truth yet some you all so loudly proclaim.
then tell me why only hear LSN say this. why only hear LSN on internet. why all big content creator big authors big autistic speakers all LSN.
tell me how someone nonverbal and no robust communication no functional language struggle even nonverbally communicate not even AAC not yet or not ever ever, how that same inside as someone who able speak who speak fluent who able communicate want needs dreams have conversation with words
both struggle. but not fucking same struggle.
many people in between. but you not get use people like them like me to give self shiny credential of “i know high support needs because i listen”
don’t use me. you embarrass me.
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my-autism-adhd-blog · 8 months
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Alright people…it’s A N G R Y time! 😡
A boy was kicked out of a New Jersey movie theater after using the bathroom with his mom. This instantly made me angry because some people with high support needs do need help using the bathroom sometimes.
According to this report:
The incident began when Gallinaro’s son needed to use the bathroom and she took him into the women’s restroom. There is no family restroom at the Cinemark in Hazlet, according to the lawsuit.
“My son is not equipped to go into a men’s bathroom in a public setting alone,” Gallinaro told NJ Advance Media last week. “I took him to the women’s bathroom.”
There were other women in the restroom, some of them mothers, she said.
“Right away, they see he’s with me. They pick up why he’s in the bathroom with me,” she said, noting that she noticed one woman “looking at me smiling.”
The 59-year-old manager of the movie theater wasn’t as understanding, the suit alleges.
The manager angrily approached and “shouted blatantly discriminatory remarks” toward the mother and the 15-year-old, the lawsuit alleges.
“A grown man should not be in the women’s restroom,” the manager said in the crowded lobby, according to the suit. “This is not a transgender bathroom.”
Even though there were no other complaints, the manager allegedly ordered the Gallinaros off the property and directed an assistant manager to call the police, the suit states.
This is complete discrimination. Please reblog this to help spread the word. This can’t keep happening.
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spooksforsammy · 6 months
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Everyone love autism until the person needs someone to remind them or help do things like bathe, change clothes, and use the bathroom.
Everyone love autism until they need to be told what to do in social interactions and still can’t do it correctly.
Everyone love autism until they can’t communicate in the way you deem appropriate. Until they need other ways to communicate because they can’t verbally do it. They love autism until they can’t communicate even if they have aac. until they have NO (no) ways to communicate because they don’t understand they can.
Everyone loves autism until they can’t sit down and stop moving. Until they grunt or moan or make random sounds. Love until moves around and not even realize that their moving.
Everyone loves the idea of autism until it’s not level one low support needs. And not fair that high support needs, medium support needs, level 3, level 2 autistics get so much hate for things can’t help. They should still be loved!
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cryptid-aac · 5 months
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Love post for ppl who type " weird "
Love you ppl who type " weird " because use AAC to type (hi, sometimes)!!
Love you ppl who type " weird" because have language disorder (hi)!!
Love you ppl who type " weird " because have I/DD!!
Love you ppl who type " weird " because have severe autism/higher support needs autism/Level 3 autism/however you identify (hi)!!
Love you ppl who type " weird " because English not your native language!!
Love you ppl who type " weird" because rushing thoughts (hi)!!
Love you ppl who type " weird " because blind!!
Love you ppl who type " weird " because that's how brain thinks!!
Love you ppl who type " weird " just because!!
Love you ppl who type " weird " because semiverbal (hi)!!
Love you ppl who type " weird " because nonverbal!!
Love you ppl who type " weird " for any reason not mentioned or no reason or reason that not know of!!
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twisted-rat-king · 1 year
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so sick of seeing "their poor parents" in regards to someone who is delusional, psychotic, or otherwise "not normal." any time the topic comes up, someone's there to drop that steaming pile of shit. i promise you, the caretakers aren't suffering half as much as the person they're caring for. but nobody talks about that part.
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Currently waiting for people to realise that yes, the autistic teens, kids, adults and elders who are always swarmed by aids, cannot speak, lash out, have limited speech, act “dumb”, run away into dangerous places (eg. Roads, pools ect.) when overwhelmed, are similar to the autistic stereotype or in general don’t act in a “civilised manner”
Have access to the internet
They are on tumblr
We are on tumblr
And we don’t appreciate being your punching bag, being excluded from conversations about accessibility, or used as a tool by high functioning autistics who want to say “oh look at me I’m not like the autistics who bite people or make weird sounds in public or need support, I’m just unique and have fun interests.”
We are real people and we are smarter then you think.
Edit: thanks to the people who pointed out that smart wasn’t the right word! So I’m going to add this: the opinions of me, a low functioning autistic who has the privilege to be able to write coherently and communicate my opinions and views in two different languages, holds the exact same weight as someone who cannot do any of those things and in fact sometimes it’s their opinion and views that matter more. The opinion of “smart” autistics matters just as much as the opinion of “non smart” autistics and people you would consider dumb. Lower functioning autistics who are not conventionally or, at all, “smart” are just as human, important and valuable and deserve to have their opinions taken into consideration just as much as I do writing this. You don’t loose your value as a human or as a disabled person when you aren’t smart.
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flowercrowncrip · 2 months
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Possibly an unpopular perspective, but sometimes I feel like parents of children with similar or higher support needs to myself who campaign for things like changing places toilets, affordable health and social care, better quality care homes, and better access and funding for education understand a great deal of my life better than people who are disabled but never give a thought about those with high support needs.
Someone who knows what it's like to plan their entire life around the just over 2000 registered changing places toilets in the U K (compared to over 43,000 towns, cities, and villages) so that their child can use the toilet with dignity understands that part of my life better than the disabled people who have never even thought about the lives of people who can't use standard accessible bathrooms.
People who go out in public with their wheelchair using child and see the looks they get, hear the ableist comments and experience how much of society wheelchair users are cut out of understand that part of my life better than the disabled people who told me being a visibly disabled full-time wheelchair user makes me "privileged" compared to other disabled people.
I know that there are problems with some nondisabled people who are close to a disabled person talking over disabled people's first-hand experience, but I also think that there are some disabled people who could do with actually listening to severely disabled people and our families rather than assuming that the experiences of people with lower support needs are universal
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clownrecess · 9 months
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Giving nonspeaking kids and kids with difficulty using oral speech access to AAC as soon as possible needs to be normalized.
Of course you want your child to communicate, that's fine, that's GOOD. But oral speech isn't the only way to do that, and refusing to give your child a way to communicate because it isnt the form of communication you favor isn't okay.
Its OKAY if your kid never learns (or relearns) to use oral speech. ITS OKAY.
"But I put them in speech therapy to learn to talk! I don't want them to use that tablet all their life. They need to learn to talk using their mouthparts." Why??
First of all, AAC is proven to actually help people develop language skills and oftentimes oral speech. So any concern about AAC hindering development of oral speech is uncalled for and irrational. But along with that, ORAL SPEECH ISNT THE ONLY GOOD FORM OF COMMUNICATION!! AAC is good. Sign is good. Etc.
Saying otherwise and/or preferring your child to use oral speech IS ableist, and yes, it IS harmful to everyone.
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zebulontheplanet · 2 months
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I think people have greatly watered down autism into this silly label or identity that they can collect.
I’ve seen multiple posts that defend that autism should be an identity, similar to how sexualities and gender labels are. I think they’re missing multiple things with this analogy. First, you cannot help your queerness. It’s not simply a “label” it’s your whole being. It’s who you are.
I want people to realize that autism is a serious disorder for over half of people diagnosed with autism. From more then 30% being higher support needs, to more than that having different comorbidities, it’s a serious disorder. Not only can it affect every aspect of your life, it can severely affect how your health is, how independent you are, etc.
To a lot of people autism isn’t “a silly label” it’s a disorder. A disorder that comes with comorbities, that affects how they speak or don’t speak, how they view the world, how the process or dont process things, etc.
Higher support needs people need to be recognized, and in turn you have to recognize the disorders that they have. You can’t ignore them. You can’t simply shrug it off as a silly little label or identity.
People deserve to have their life altering disorders taken seriously and not turned into something that’s shrugged off and seen as another add in the newspaper. Autism is serious. It’s a neurodevelopmental disorder. Say what it is. Don’t water it down.
That’s all.
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the-rest-is-silenc3 · 3 months
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shout out to the people who DO look autistic
to the people who have different facial features from autism or conditions that often occur with autism
to the people who need padded equipment, gait trainers, or other highly noticeable aids
to the people who are ignored in favor of talking to their parents/guardians/carers
to the people who have been told they shouldn’t be seen in public because of their autism
to the people who are told they don’t exist by low support needs autistics
there is a place for you in the autistic community <3 [heart]
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meowtismz · 5 months
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Remember that if talk or type weird all ok
Remember that if not low support need all ok
Remember that if not level 1 autism all ok
Remember that if nonverbal or semiverbal all ok
Remember that if cognitive function low all ok
Remember thay if dysfunctional all ok
Remember that if "more debilitating autism" all ok
Remember that disability ALWAYS debilitate one thing or another, if have "less accepted" autism still valid and deserving of love respect help
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autism can be an invisible disability.
but saying “autism is an invisible disability” is widely inaccurate & borderline aspie supremacist.
for many of us, our autism is highly visible and i don’t mean the “dress a little quirky a lil absent minded cover our ears when loud noises” just a lil weird kind of visible
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