Tag: autism

mrv3000:

There are many things I love about Phryne Fisher.  One of the biggies is how much she likes and is protective of women.

And one of my favourites:

beatrice

An autistic, academically gifted university student in an otherwise all-male student body is framed, stalked, bullied and slandered.

Phryne doesn’t lay the blame on her, fixate on her differences or say her treatment is justifiable. She imitates her behaviour to understand it, opens up her home as a safe haven, and tries to see the world from the girl’s perspective rather than deciding to coach her to pass.

Do you know of any articles related to Autism in women or people who identify as one?

talesfromthechickpea:

Academic articles? Not really, though I might be able to find some. Blog stuff and diagnostic help? Sure!

For Ladies on the Spectrum

Some people may recommend the book Aspergirls by Ruby Simone, but I cannot. I did not like the book at all and did not identify with much of what Simone said. It was also very heteronormative, which really bothered me. 

Agreed. I’m a queer autistic woman, and a friend of mine bought a copy of Aspergirls and handed to to me to look at. I admit I didn’t read it from cover to cover, but I didn’t need to. I looked up certain headers that were of interest to me, and decided that I did not want or need to read it. It was so heteronormative that I felt I had nothing to gain from reading it. It was exclusive at best and offensive at worst, and it had this weird New Age vibe to a lot of the stuff she was talking about. Basically, the book is for cishet Aspies who want a man in their life. There is nothing for queer girls, transgirls, lesbians, asexuals, bi girls, gender divergent folks or any other flavour of difference. I cannot speak for how much privilege is in it either, because it was some time ago I looked at it, but it wouldn’t surprise me if there was a bunch of that, too.

You said in an answer to an ask a while ago that traditional therapy didn’t really work for you. If it’s not too personal: what did help you? Because you seem to have your shit together pretty well (of course, on the internet nobody knows who you really are, but I guess even as an A.I. in a basement you could technically develop depression? Maybe?)

copperbadge:

It’s a complicated question to answer, Anon, in part because there’s not “what helped me” so much as “what helps me” — clinical depression, the kind not caused by situation or circumstance (but potentially triggered by it) is not something you cure. Which I don’t think you were implying, but I want to be clear that I didn’t have depression and fix it — I do have it, it’s a chronic condition, and what I have instead of therapy or medication are coping mechanisms. And if you can’t tell when I’m in a depressive episode, well, that’s because of those coping mechanisms. 

Second caveat: if therapy helps, or if medication helps, use them. My personal distaste for therapy is not a disbelief in its ability to help people, just a disbelief in its ability to help me, derived from personal experience. The fact that I don’t go to therapy or take medication is more to do with my ability to manage without, because of the relative non-severity of my condition. They are not the optimum weapons for my personal battle. They may be the best for yours.    

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One of the major signs is my unwillingness to engage with new narratives or ones in which I have an emotional investment — ie, I won’t go to see new movies even if I was really excited about them, BECAUSE I was really excited about them, and I won’t watch new TV shows or even new episodes of shows I like. The emotional impact (even when it’s a good emotion) is too overwhelming, and I know that when I’ve reached a point where I can’t cope with my own emotions, I’m probably going to have a rough few weeks ahead.

I do this. I didn’t know anyone else did. Well, I guess I thought someone must, but I’ve never actually known someone who does it. I know it’s linked to my level of cope, but I didn’t know how anchored it was to my depression/anxiety and how much it was tied to my autism. It’s sort of in that muddly, murky intersectional space, I think.

Don’t know if this is still on, but worth a shot :)“What is the rule?” he asked. DJ held up a leg. “Yes. You managed the main rule, the ‘there must be pants’ rule. I’m proud of you.” He kind of was. DJ hated clothing. Steve was better about getting him into a full outfit, but with Tony, the Stark Stubbornness kicked in far too often. Tony had settled on pants. They could work on shirts and socks and shoes and the rest of that shit later. Right now, he was happy about the pants.“So you have pants

scifigrl47:

 As the mother of an autistic child, one with an aversion to certain types of clothes, to seams, to matching socks, to materials etc and I loved how this was explored with DJ and I wondered if this was deliberate (A lot of DJ matches things on the spectrum) or just a coincidence

Yes.  It’s deliberate.

Many of DJ’s traits are based on those of those on the autism spectrum, including his difficulty with sensory processing, his inability to easily or accurately read facial expressions and his literal reading of many situations, his need for order and control.  A lot of things in the stories point to the way he processes his world, and how the people in his family deal with his needs.

I have never explicitly stated that DJ is/would be diagnosed as on the spectrum.  That’s because DJ is an AI magically transformed into a child.  He’s a unique case, but what I did not want to do was draw a comparison between real life people on the spectrum and robotic AIs.  

This is a group that already struggles against a lot of unpleasant stereotypes and misunderstandings.  I do my best not to propagate things like this, so what I tried to do is write a sympathetic, well loved character who relates to the world in a way that could best be described as neurologically atypical. 

He is presented as a child who handles and processes things in a way that is different from the rest of his ‘family.’  This isn’t unusual in the real world.  It’s also not unusual for family members to struggle with the differences that they can’t fully understand.  It takes different people differing amounts of time to come to terms with what a child, what another person, needs.

That came up in the socks scene.  

Steve has been observing, determining what DJ needs, what makes him comfortable, what small alterations can be made in a daily routine to make DJ happy and productive.  Steve gives him time warnings.  Provides him with structure, and makes his expectations clear.  He communicates in clear language, and checks in repeatedly to make certain that DJ understands and is comfortable with what is happening.

Steve has researched things, and as an adult, he’s adjusted his own expectations and needs to match his child’s.  I imagine his own mother did the same, for her sick and stubborn son.  I imagine that Sarah Rogers, while not a saint, had done everything she could to make Steve’s life easier, to protect him, to raise him with love and acceptance.

She was a nurse who could not cure her son, but she could make him as comfortable as she could.

Tony struggles a bit more.  Tony was raised with expectations.  Tony is aware of public scrutiny in a way that Steve isn’t.  Tony was raised with constant reminders that he was being judged, at all times, by a lot of different people.  Tony looks at the socks, looks at a lot of different things, and doesn’t see a need, he sees something small that DJ could easily do to avoid needless problems.

He does’t understand that just because something is easy for him, doesn’t make it easy for DJ.  That DJ has different needs, and different levels of comfort.  

Tony fights to understand, and he doesn’t always get it, but he’s trying.   Just like a lot of other people’s, Tony’s growth takes effort, and he slips from time to time.  Not because he doesn’t love DJ.  But because he does not understand, and understanding takes education and effort.

He was raised by people who did value appearances, who expected their son to be part of their perfect family.  Tony fights against that, a lot.  It’s another thing that has to be unlearned.

DJ is unique.  But yes.  He is based on various individuals I’ve known on the spectrum. I’ve been helped quite a bit by friends and readers, who have helped me adapt his personality and outlook, and I’ve been gratified by the response of readers, especially by those who identify as being on the spectrum themselves. 8)

stimtastic:

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.

neurowonderful:

youneedacat:

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/)

generic-art:

5-Year-Old With Autism Paints Stunning Masterpieces 

Autism is a poorly-understood neurological disorder that can impair an individual’s ability to engage in various social interactions. But little 5-year-old Iris Grace in the UK is an excellent example of the unexpected gifts that autism can also grant – her exceptional focus and attention to detail have helped her create incredibly beautiful paintings that many of her fans (and buyers) have likened to Monet’s works.

Little Iris is slowly learning to speak, whereas most children have already begun to speak at least a few words by age 2. Along with speech therapy, her parents gradually introduced her to painting, which is when they discovered her amazing talent.

“We have been encouraging Iris to paint to help with speech therapy, joint attention and turn taking,” her mother, Arabella Carter-Johnson, explains on her website. “Then we realised that she is actually really talented and has an incredible concentration span of around 2 hours each time she paints. Her autism has created a style of painting which I have never seen in a child of her age, she has an understanding of colours and how they interact with each other.”

Much better version of the same subject matter I posted earlier.

That is a trufax autistic artistic magical girl and her cat familiar. Paint on, little sister!