Y'all, if you're not autistic and your family knows how to use this, please don't sign it for them. By doing so you are, in effect, speaking over actual autistic people, which contributes to ableism and stigma. It's one thing if they're a literal 3-year-old or don't know how to use a computer or Scratch yet, but if they're capable of it, let THEM sign it. Autism isn't the problem. Ableism is. Also, since I didn't have room to include it in the notes: (trigger warning: ableism mention) DO NOT SUPPORT ABA THERAPY. IT IS ABUSE OF AUTISTIC PEOPLE AND SHOULD NEVER BE USED TO "TREAT" THEM.
So April is coming up which is known to most as Autism Awareness Month. However, this trend wasn't started by actual autistic people. "Light it up blue" was started by Autism $peaks, which speaks over, silences, and abuses autistic people. Case in point: they defended a mother who, let me put it this way, was not kind to her child because they were autistic in court. "Autism awareness month" was coined by A$ to create a stigma against autism and "find a cure. The reality is, the majority of autistic people DON'T WANT a cure. In fact, A$ no longer has even one autistic person on their staff. Autism is not a disease, not a mental illness, not "stealing your child". It is an incremental and fundamental part of who they are. You take autism out of someone's neurology, they aren't gonna be themselves anymore. Supporting a cure for autism is eugenicism, the practice of "getting rid" of the "weaker" parts of society. The theory is that getting rid of people who are sick or disabled would make society stronger and healthier. The reality is that this is not the case: if you never get sick, you never develop immunity, and if there were no disabled people, there would be less variety in neurology. Ableists disguise eugenicism as "wanting to better society," but in reality, what they're saying is "you shouldn't exist because you're different from us" which is inherently discriminatory. Let me repeat that: INHERENTLY discriminatory. #RedInstead is a movement started by the autistic community promoting autism acceptance instead of false "awareness" that promotes the demonization of autism. Blue is used by A$ because they think autism is a "boys' disorder," but girls can be autistic as well. I am a woman and I am autistic. I believe the color red is used within the movement because it is the opposite of blue: hence, the opposite of A$ - not ableist, but rather informative. Please spread this information to as many people as you can. Don't donate to Autism $peaks. They do not speak for us. Instead, if you want to contribute, spread awareness, and/or donate or help ASAN - the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network - or AWNN - the Autistic Women and Nonbinary Network, or something along those lines. These two are the biggest organizations advocating for autism acceptance right now, however, so you might want to do something for them as well if you donate to somewhere else. Lastly, a clarification: Do not use person-first language towards an autistic person unless they ask you to. Respect identity-first language. We don't say "person with gay" or "person with womanhood," so we shouldn't stigmatize autism by using this kind of phrase. I do not HAVE autism, I didn't buy it from the dollar store. I do not LIVE WITH autism, autism doesn't pay bills. I AM autistic. It is a large part of my neurology and fundamental to who I am as a person. I firmly believe that I would not be the same person I am now if I wasn't autistic or neurodivergent at all. And yes, before you ask, I do have an official diagnosis, but you shouldn't go around yelling at people who self-diagnose if they're not being a hypochondriac. Self-diagnosis is, as far as I've seen, usually done by people who already suspect they might be or have something, or have tried to get a diagnosis but were turned away by biased doctors, or who don't have the money to get an official one, or who have done months upon months of research. The DSM-5 criteria is online. That is the exact same manual doctors use to diagnose autism and mental illnesses. Anyone with enough reading capability would be able to understand what the traits of an autistic person are. For the sake of being informative and spreading knowledge about how autism actually works, here are some examples of autistic traits: - Special Interests: These are often called Spins or SP.Ins by the autistic community. They are usually highly specific interests that have a tendency to be obsessive. Someone who has a special interests might spend more time on things related to said Spin than other things. It will be the thing they might want to talk about the most. They might talk about it constantly, or list everything they know about their Spin to someone who is willing to listen. Please stop telling us we're "hijacking" or monopolizing" the conversation. It makes people like me feel guilty for talking about what they enjoy. Instead, if you don't want to talk or hear about that right now, tell them politely "Can we talk about this later?" or something along those lines. It comes off as less rude to us. - Stimming - Self-stimulation, it means doing a specific type of fidgeting to relieve stress, express joy, or cope with something. Examples include hand flapping, rocking back and forth, playing with fidget tools, head banging, leg bouncing, and so on. NEVER tell an autistic person - or anyone who stims - not to stim. It is not healthy for us not to express ourselves.
