To celebrate the launch of Stimtastic, I’m giving away a whole bunch of stim toys, fidget and chewy jewelry and autism-related books.
Giveaway rules:
- Reblog this post to enter. If you want to signal boost without entering, just put a “signal boosting” note when you reblog.
- Maximum of 3 entries per person (1 for a comment on the blog post announcing the giveaway, 1 for a reblog on Tumblr, 1 for a comment/like on the Facebook status)
- The giveaway is open to everyone (over 18 or under 18 with parental permission), including those outside the US.
- Giveaway ends Monday, November 24th at 11:59 p.m. EST
- Each of the photos here represents 1 giveaway item/set of items. See the photo descriptions below for details of each giveaway item/set of items.
- 10 winners will be chosen at random on November 25th. The first winner chosen will get first pick of the items. The second winner can choose from the remaining items and so on. The tenth winner will receive the remaining item.
- No giveaway blogs.
- You must have your ask box open so I can contact you if you win and you must be willing to provide me with a shipping address (PO Box is fine).
Good luck!
Image descriptions: There are 10 images showing the items being given away.
Image 1 shows 3 stim toys: a bendable toy with a hand on each end imprinted with text that reads “flappy hands are happy hands”, a tangle Junior, and a Klix.
Image 2 shows 2 pieces of chewable silicone jewelry, a necklace with a red twist shaped pendant and a red bangle bracelet.
Image 3 shows a tin of green colored thinking putty and a green fabric covered gel stress ball.
Image 4 shows the cover of a book that is blue, features a photo of a woman swinging her purse, and reads “Nerdy Shy and Socially Inappropriate”.
Image 5 shows 2 stainless steel spinner rings, one with a black infinity symbols and one with a black arrow symbols
Image 6 shows a bracelet made of stainless steel bike chain style links in blue and silver.
Image 7 shows 5 highlighters in the shapes of large Lego-style building blocks.
Image 8 shows 2 pieces of chewable silicone jewelry, a necklace with a purple donut shaped pendant and a lime green square bangle bracelet.
Image 9 shows a necklace with a small dog pendant that has a black body and silver head and legs as well as a paracord keychain in alternating red and black pattern.
Image 10 shows a book cover that reads “I Think I Might Be Autistic” in white on a blue background with a set of colored pencils at the bottom of the cover.
Tag: actually autistic
An internalized sense of wrong
Shame, especially when it comes in the form of internalized ableism, is so difficult to shed. But I keep reminding myself that I am enough. — Kat (@Ask_anAspergirl) September 11, 2014 Before our se…
The words of a group of autistic people who learned to type using the Rapid Prompting Method (RPM) — what Tito Mukhopadhyay was taught by, except it doesn’t involve hitting people anymore (which is actively discouraged by the same woman who did hit Tito in the course of his “training”).
I always notice that parts of the autistic community that are more connected to the general developmental disability community, and are more likely to have been labeled as intellectually disabled as well as autistic, and those made up largely of those labeled low functioning, are far more racially and ethnically diverse than the “AS/HFA communities” (in name or in practice) that I’ve found online and offline. The diversity in this video mirrors the diversity in my special ed school. I don’t know what it is about the “high functioning” communities that attract so damn many white people and shut out so many people of color, but the “low functioning” autistic communities don’t have that problem.
Also please note that nobody is obligated to enjoy being autistic, especially if their main experience of being autistic is being trapped and unable to communicate their thoughts for years or decades when they have thoughts as complex to communicate as any “high functioning” person. Lots of people who’ve gone years or decades with no communication system are highly ambivalent about their autism at best, and with good reason.. Not everyone, mind you, but that is a serious hardship to have to take on, and it’s not the same as having your speech shut down sometimes. It’s never, ever being able to say anything important, even when it’s super important, even when it’s life and death. And the people in these videos are the lucky ones for whom RPM was successful. There are plenty of people who won’t ever learn to type or speak, and some of them are okay with that and some aren’t (judging from the words of people who were once in that category for a long part of their life and then came out of it).
Anyway, I’m glad this video was made. All the words in the video are printed, not spoken. They’re either superimposed on the screen, or writteon on boards. So it’s not blind-accessible, and I don’t have the spoons to make a transcript.
And I’m reminded once again why autistic communities comprised mostly of nonspeaking people and people who’ve been in the DD system, tend to be more welcoming to me than other communities: They’re more diverse. Racially, ethnically, class, sexuality, gender, everything. And that makes it so there’s a much wider space for me to make into my own, in these communities. Even if they’re still not quite ‘home’. And even if I still don’t quite fit because my life story isn’t the one people expect of a nonspeaking autistic adult. But still. Things like this make me ache for community.
Just where I can fade into the background. That’s what I wish I could do. Fade into the background, not be a big name, just be me, just be me around people who can mostly read me even when I’m not typing. I’d love to find a community where nobody spoke and nobody typed for certain periods of time, whether they were ever capable of it or not, and nobody saw it as “Oh no people are overloaded we have to Do Something about this, it’s bad!” People would just see it as “Words are tiring and we’re not made of words and we want a break from words.”
Of course RPM often doesn’t allow that, at least during training sessions. They’re very big on not allowing autistic people a moment to process things, just shoving them to the next level as fast as they can. And it works, and I know exactly why it works, and many autistic people would gladly take that temporary tradeoff in order to learn to communicate in words. But many autistic people also need time away from words and that needs to be respected too.
TL;DR: I like this video. It’s by several nonspeaking autistic people who learned to type using the RPM (Rapid Prompting Method). I have my misgivings about the RPM but it does get results and those can be life-changing for those it works for. I miss communities (like AutCom) that form around autistic people who mostly haven’t been considered ‘high functioning’, there’s a definite difference in diversity and in how welcoming they are to someone like me, versus the less diverse and less welcoming “AS/HFA communities” (whether they call themselves that or not, that’s what they are). I guess the perfect community for me would be the “I fluctuate between categories and eat their remains for breakfast” community but I haven’t found that one yet. Love the video. Keep them coming. All the words were written by autistic people. Until someone makes a transcript, this is Deaf-accessible but not Blind-accessible.
I like this video. I like seeing autistics who found a thing that works for them. I like how the video was honest about how unimaginably frustrating and isolating it has to be to not be able to speak at all. I’m functionally verbal about 80% of the time, so even at my most frustrated or in my greatest struggles, I’ve never experienced what non-verbal autistics do.
That being said, I also like that this video also wasn’t a sob story. I love that the actual autistic people were the focus, that even in the scenes where they were working with RPM clinicians/facilitators/I don’t know the right word, there wasn’t that insiduous “able gaze”, no use of camera angles or lingering shots to frame the autistics as pitiable, small, young, or helpless and the non-autistic people as these towering angels acting on the bodies of autistic people. That happens a lot and it sucks, but this video was really good.
I think that, when it comes to verbal autistics, or autistics who would receive a “high-functioning” or Asperger’s diagnosis, there is a real lack of diversity in the community in large part because of the intersection between racism, classism, and inaccurate stereotypes about what autistics look like. Like, many people know that autistic girls/women are under-diagnosed, and the same goes for POC. I have heard from many, many autistic adult and teens who non-autistics would label as “high-functioning”, and if they are any race but white it seems like they are way more likely to recieve a misdiagnosis (I hear ODD or ADHD a lot for brown people, and schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder for black people quite a bit) or to be shot down entirely in their pursuit of an ASD diagnosis. This is totally unscientific, just coming from what I’ve heard and read others in the community saying and the messages/e-mails of people who contact me, but I think it happens, and happens a lot.
So when an autistic POC can’t talk or they look obviously disabled in “classical autism” way, I’m thinking an ASD diagnosis is more easily forthcoming, since professionals just can’t make that person fit into any other boxes, than in a case where an autistic POC can talk with their mouthparts. Those autistics can be more easily pushed into a category that professionals, influenced by the very pervasive racism and classism in the medical community, can feel better about.
I feel like the other large thing contributing to lack of diversity of in AS/HFA communities is racism coming straight from the community. Just straight up gross sentiment and behaviour from autistics, which is awful. Or thoughtlessness and being unintentionally closed off or uninviting. Like, it is not enough for white autistics to just not be racist, there also has to be an effort towards being inviting and welcoming to autistic POC, and purposefully moving over to make spaces for them.
But of course I’m part white, so I have white passing privilege and all that entails. Any autistic POC please feel free to correct me on anything I said here. And if you want to or feel comfy doing so, please chime in. Why is the HFA/AS community so darn white?
(Source: https://www.youtube.com/)
s/o to all the autistic teens and adults relearning how to stim. your hands don’t need to be quiet any more.
It’s raining on my face.
When Doctors Discriminate
Are medical professionals biased against the mentally ill?THE first time it was an ear, nose and throat doctor. I had an emergency visit for an ear infection, which was causing a level of pain I hadn’t experienced since giving birth. He looked at the list of drugs I was taking for my bipolar disorder and closed my chart.
“I don’t feel comfortable prescribing anything,” he said. “Not with everything else you’re on.” He said it was probably safe to take Tylenol and politely but firmly indicated it was time for me to go. The next day my eardrum ruptured and I was left with minor but permanent hearing loss.
Another time I was lying on the examining table when a gastroenterologist I was seeing for the first time looked at my list of drugs and shook her finger in my face. “You better get yourself together psychologically,” she said, “or your stomach is never going to get any better.”
If you met me, you’d never know I was mentally ill. In fact, I’ve gone through most of my adult life without anyone ever knowing — except when I’ve had to reveal it to a doctor. And that revelation changes everything. It wipes clean the rest of my résumé, my education, my accomplishments, reduces me to a diagnosis.
I was surprised when, after one of these run-ins, my psychopharmacologist said this sort of behavior was all too common. At least 14 studies have shown that patients with a serious mental illness receive worse medical care than “normal” people. Last year the World Health Organization called the stigma and discrimination endured by people with mental health conditions “a hidden human rights emergency.”
I never knew it until I started poking around, but this particular kind of discriminatory doctoring has a name. It’s called “diagnostic overshadowing.”
According to a review of studies done by the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College, London, it happens a lot. As a result, people with a serious mental illness — including bipolar disorder, major depression, schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder — end up with wrong diagnoses and are under-treated.
That is a problem, because if you are given one of these diagnoses you probably also suffer from one or more chronic physical conditions: though no one quite knows why, migraines, irritable bowel syndrome and mitral valve prolapse often go hand in hand with bipolar disorder.
Less mysterious is the weight gain associated with most of the drugs used to treat bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, which can easily snowball into diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and cardiovascular disease. The drugs can also sedate you into a state of zombiedom, which can make going to the gym — or even getting off your couch — virtually impossible.
It’s little wonder that many people with a serious mental illness don’t seek medical attention when they need it. As a result, many of us end up in emergency rooms — where doctors, confronted with an endless stream of drug addicts who come to their door looking for an easy fix — are often all too willing to equate mental illness with drug-seeking behavior and refuse to prescribe pain medication.
I should know: a few years ago I had a persistent migraine, and after weeks trying to get an appointment with any of the handful of headache specialists in New York City, I broke down and went to the E.R. My husband filled out paperwork and gave the nurse my list of drugs. The doctors finally agreed to give me something stronger than what my psychopharmacologist could prescribe for the pain and hooked me up to an IV.
I lay there for hours wearing sunglasses to block out the fluorescent light, waiting for the pain relievers to kick in. But the headache continued. “They gave you saline and electrolytes,” my psychopharmacologist said later. “Welcome to being bipolar.”
When I finally saw the specialist two weeks later (during which time my symptoms included numbness and muscle weakness), she accused me of being “a serious cocaine user” (I don’t touch the stuff) and of displaying symptoms of “la belle indifference,” a 19th-century term for a kind of hysteria in which the patient converts emotional symptoms into physical ones — i.e., it was all in my head.
Indeed, given my experience over the last two decades, I shouldn’t have been surprised by the statistics I found in the exhaustive report “Morbidity and Mortality in People with Serious Mental Illness,” a review of studies published in 2006 that provides an overview of recommendations and general call to arms by the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors. The take-away: people who suffer from a serious mental illness and use the public health care system die 25 years earlier than those without one.
True, suicide is a big factor, accounting for 30 to 40 percent of early deaths. But 60 percent die of preventable or treatable conditions. First on the list is, unsurprisingly, cardiovascular disease. Two studies showed that patients with both a mental illness and a cardiovascular condition received about half the number of follow-up interventions, like bypass surgery or cardiac catheterization, after having a heart attack than did the “normal” cardiac patients.
The report also contains a list of policy recommendations, including designating patients with serious mental illnesses as a high-priority population; coordinating and integrating mental and physical health care for such people; education for health care workers and patients; and a quality-improvement process that supports increased access to physical health care and ensures appropriate prevention, screening and treatment services.
Such changes, if implemented, might make a real difference. And after seven years of no change, signs of movement are popping up, particularly among academic programs aimed at increasing awareness of mental health issues. Several major medical schools now have programs in the medical humanities, an emerging field that draws on diverse disciplines including the visual arts, humanities, music and science to make medical students think differently about their patients. And Johns Hopkins offers a doctor of public health with a specialization in mental health.
Perhaps the most notable of these efforts — and so far the only one of its kind — is the narrative medicine program at Columbia University Medical Center, which starts with the premise that there is a disconnect between health care and patients and that health care workers need to start listening to what their patients are telling them, and not just looking at what’s written on their charts.
According to the program’s mission statement, “The effective practice of health care requires the ability to recognize, absorb, interpret, and act on the stories and plights of others. Medicine practiced with narrative competence is a model for humane and effective medical practice.”
We can only hope that humanizing programs like this one become a requirement for all health care workers. Maybe then “first, do no harm” will apply to everyone, even the mentally ill.
By JULIANN GAREY
Published: August 10, 2013
Reblogging because this is the sort of thing that needs signal boosting the heck out of it. Probably many of the people who see this in my Tumblr are people who already know from first-hand experience as a patient. Probably most of the people who even know my Tumblr exists are not in a position to perpetuate this problem (because they aren’t doctors). But I figure if more people get info like this circulating, maybe eventually someone in a better position to reach more doctors with this kind of information and open serious dialogue about how to address the problem will come across this.
Until then, at least a better informed patient population can, I hope, be in a better position to advocate for themselves—if not always as individuals then perhaps as groups.
This is for those who don’t understand what executive function is. Even I know what it is after reading this and I can relate to this so much, especially in organization, impulse, and self-monitoring!
It doesn’t mention autism, but I know autistic people tend to be poor at executive functioning.
Inertia: From Theory to Praxis
An explanation of autistic inertia.
More importantly, it has tips to help one get past inertia. This could apply to those who are autistic or who have other forms of executive dysfunction.
There’s a rather wordy section on examples of autistic inertia, but this other part has some questions which may help guide you to doing things:
If you’re inertial, and you’re trying to figure out some ways of structuring things to make inertia less of a problem, here’s an outline of a possible way to proceed.
- Think about the tasks/activities you do easily, and those you find difficult or impossible (it might help to write a list out). Are there patterns? For example:
- Are you better at doing things in one setting (home, work, school, a friend’s house, etc.) than in another? If so, what is different about that setting?
- Are you better at tasks which need to happen at a particular time than at tasks which need to happen just whenever?
- Are you more likely to do things when you’ve already said out loud or in writing that you’d like to do them (or that you plan to do them, or something)?
- What effect does pressure have on your likelihood of completing a task?
- What effect do various sorts of reminders from friends and others have on your likelihood of completing a task?
- Are you more likely to do tasks you’ve already practiced several times?
- Are there certain things you get stuck doing (playing a particular computer game, etc.) which make it harder for you to move on to what you want to do?
- Do you have an easier time with certain tasks when you’re alone, or when you’re with people?
- Are there particular people you have an easier time doing stuff around? Are there particular people it is difficult or impossible to do stuff around?
- Is it easier when the people are busy doing stuff of their own, or when they’re in certain frames of mind?
- Is it easier to get stuff done when your day has gone certain ways (say, when you’ve exercised, or when you’ve eaten breakfast, or have gotten enough sleep, or aren’t stressed, or already accomplished something that day, or scheduled enough break time, or…)?
- Does it help if your environment is clutter-free?
- Does it help if there is a cue for what you’re trying to do (like the textbook, if you’re trying to study, or the stamps and envelope if you’re trying to send mail)?
- Brainstorm some ideas for making some of the tasks/activities you care most about easier for you to do, possibly with help from a friend. Try them out for a week or so and see if they help. Then, brainstorm again.
Radical Neurodivergence Speaking: AUTISTIFYING MY HABITAT!!
Neurodivergent K wrote this post about making adaptations in her home environment to help her operate better there. She talks about making her life more accessible for herself.
im going to look Actively autistic when im in college. im gonna flap and bob whenever i damn well please and i will take down anyone who makes snide comments at me, i don’t give a fuck if i make allistics uncomfortable
Be your autistic self, be what makes you comfortable, be what makes you happy and what makes you feel alive. And if being openly autistic is safe for you and you think it will bring you joy, then by all means, flap away, little sibling.
knitting in the dark 