There is beauty in the ways we move
Every flapping hand and tapping leg
Every spinning, rocking, bouncing body
A symphony of stims
Producing an ethereal melody
The flowing motions of bodies always moving
A special joy lives in our interests
A bubbling, warming, overflowing joy
Derived from our obsessions
We become troves of information
Ready to share at any moment
Wanting to spread the radiance we feel
We build our days with routines
Comfort and peace live in repetition
That which brings a sense of calm and safety
These motions carried out again and again
In a familiar pattern known deep within
Carry us through our days
We see the world differently
Noticing the beauty of the smallest details
The world colored in crisp black and white
Experiencing senses, emotions, life so intensely
Possessing minds that find the solutions others can’t
Seeing magnificence in that which is so often overlooked
Our lives are piles of good and bad things
Just like yours or anyone else’s
The good neither erased nor overshadowed
By that which is unpleasant
And so we call for acceptance
Of all the good and even the bad
Autism awareness is coming
But that will not help us
Awareness paints us as monsters
Burdens, tragedies, problems to be fixed
Highlighting all the bad
While throwing out the good
And so we go Red Instead for acceptance
And call upon you to join us in this fight
We are done asking nicely to be seen as human
We now demand acceptance
Acceptance of brains that work differently
Acceptance of the things you do not understand
For there is good in autism
There is beauty in the ways we stim
Special joy in the intensity of our interests
Peace and safety in the routines we build
Advantages to minds that developed differently
There is good to being autistic
Tag: autism
Autism
Autism is a highly misunderstood neurological spectrum disorder, but as we move forward, we are learning more and more.
We can be extroverted
And we can be introverted
Or in the middleAnd thats okay
We can be talented or geniuses
And we can be average
Or less than averageAnd thats okay
We can be challenged
And we can overcome
Or maybe notAnd thats okay
We can be hypersensitive
And we can be hyposensitive
Or we can be bothAnd thats okay
We can have lots of friends
And we can have just a few
Or maybe noneAnd thats okay
We can empathize
And we can express it
Or maybe we cantAnd thats okay
We can love affection
And we can avoid it
Or we can be indifferentAnd thats okay
We can communicate
And in any way we can
Or maybe we cantAnd thats okay
We can be passing
And not passing
Or somewhere in betweenAnd thats okay
We can have autism
And in any form
Or displayAnd thats okay
Because not all of us are the same
Our spectrum a color wheel
Each of us with a unique palette of colors
Thats makes up the painting of who we are
But it is not what defines usAnd thats okay
Nonverbal Autistic Child cards
Bracing for April. I have so many ideas for what art things I’d like to make for Autism Acceptance month but also not enough time.
I made this one a while back and I’ve been meaning to put it on things.
Autism Acceptance Month Resources
View full page for all details.
Things to do that support the Autistic community
General
- How to support an autistic person during Autism Awareness Month
- Observe Autism Acceptance Month in April
- Autism Acceptance Day Self-care Checklist
- How to cope with Autism Awareness Month
- Identifying Beneficial Charities
- Amplify autistic voices
- Push back against stereotypes and inaccuracies
Support the Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN), an autistic-run nonprofit that does a lot of policy work
- Donate directly and/or become a member
- Shop at Amazon using AmazonSmile and choose ASAN
- Pagination Art (disclaimer: that is me, this blogger) will selling bookmarks with full proceeds to ASAN during April
- Sign up for ASAN’s newsletter (email newsletter@autisticadvocacy.org)
- Take a look at their publications
- Follow their social media accounts
- Find out if there is a chapter near you to participate in
Support Autism Women’s Network (AWN), an autistic-run nonprofit dedicated to providing community and resources to Autistic women and girls.
- Donate directly
- Shop at Amazon using AmazonSmile and choose AWN
- Sign up for AWN’s newsletter
- Buy their new anthology
- Shop at AWN’s Redbubble
- Follow their social media accounts
- Volunteer with AWN
Other Groups and Stuff to Support
Check out the Autism Acceptance Month Website (run by ASAN)
The #RedInstead Campaign instead of Light it up Blue
Follow the Autism Acceptance Day page started by Paula Durbin-Westby
Things to avoid
Avoid Autism Speaks and Lighting it Up Blue, and organizations with a focus on cure, prevention, etc.
- New Autism Speaks Masterpost by The Caffeinated Autistic
- ASAN flyer on AS
- ASAN statement on Autism Speaks Board Appointments (Dec. 2015)
- How to boycott Autism Speaks
- Identifying Beneficial Charities
Avoid Posting Personal Details about your Autistic Relatives Online (links are explanations)
friendly reminder not to support lindt this easter season, or apparently ever again, because they support autism speaks.
Wowwwwwwww
SIGH.
can someone please explain why autism speaks is so bad?
because they’re adamant that autism is a disease that can be “cured”. They don’t have a single autistic person on their board. Autism Speaks produces advertisements, small films, ect. about what a burden autistic people are to a society. They only spend about 4% of their money on “family services.” They create a stereotype that makes it hard for actual autistic people, like myself, be heard and recognized as actually autistic. I was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder before they realized that I actually showed signs of Asperger’s. They don’t actually help us.
That’s the problem with Autism Speaks.
(tw for violence, ableism, abuse, murder, and death)
It goes deeper than not having any autistic board members. Many of the allistics running the organization promote the horrific notion that you’re better off dead than autistic, and their influence and “activism” only supports the ideology resulting in the continued murder of autistic children and adults by their parents and caregivers.
Former Autism Speaks board member Harry Slatkin, whose wife, Laura, continues to serve on the Board of Directors, stated in an interview with Town and Country while still a board member that sometimes he hoped their autistic son David would drown in the backyard pond rather than “suffer like this all his life.” Evidencing a pattern of similarly violent rhetoric, Autism Speaks is also responsible for the 2006 PSA “Autism Every Day“ in which their then Vice President states on camera that she considered putting her autistic daughter in the car and driving off a bridge, and that the only reason she refrained from doing so was because her other, non-autistic daughter would have been waiting for her at home—her autistic daughter was in the room as she made these statements. Furthermore, the producer of this PSA explicitly admitted that the film was intentionally staged to portray negative images of autistic people and their families.
Only four days following the release of “Autism Every Day,” pathologist Karen McCarron smothered her autistic daughter with a garbage bag. McCarron stated that she murdered Katie because her “autism had not been improving,” had thought about killing Katie, that made an earlier brief attempt at suffocation, wanted to cure Katie, thought killing Katie would make her “complete” in heaven, and wanted to live without autism and thus had to kill Katie. Investigators found that McCarron was obsessed with different treatments for Katie. (See People v. FRANK-McCARRON, 934 NE 2d 76 – Ill: Appellate Court, 3rd Dist. 2010.) Though it is not presently possible to draw a direct connection between Autism Speaks’ PSA and Katie’s murder, this crime and dozens like it only underscore how the kind of rhetoric that Autism Speaks favors only serves to recklessly endanger the lives of autistic people.
Autism Speaks also publicly supports the Judge Rotenberg Center, a group home for autistic and neurodivergent students that uses “treatments” like food and sleep deprivation and electric shock to try and train the residents into acting neurotypical. The center has changed states three times in an attempt to bypass regulation against abusive treatment, and their practices have resulted in the deaths of more than one student.
It’s not just an issue of Autism Speaks making it harder for us to get proper diagnoses and treatment. Autism Speaks is actively killing us.
Well shit.
I was eyeing up their strawberries and cream lindor the other day but this is more important than delicious chocolate.
you all need to know this. You really do. Please do not support Lindt or anything that supports autism speaks. Please.
Seriously Lindt makes my favourite chocolate ever?? but My boyfriend is my favourite person ever so looks like I’m gonna go find a better candy maker, one that doesn’t support murder.
ghirardelli > lindt, and not just because of the autism speaks thing.
I have autism and IM NOT JOKING THIS IS IMPORTANT
Exactly. The autism “research” that autism speaks does, reeks very heavily of eugenics.
Okay, but it’s not enough to just not buy this brand of chocolate. It has to be made known exactly what kind if org Autism Speaks is. The reason they spend so much on PR is so that the general public never funds out how reprehensible they are. No non-autistic person I speak to is ever aware of these things.
If you find out an company is partnered with Autism Speaks, contact them. Call, email, write letters. Offer alternative charities. It may not work every time, but the more people you tell, the fewer people will be likely to donate to them in the future.
this post is from 2014, anyone know if lindt still support autism speaks?
https://www.autismspeaks.org/site-wide/lindt
Unfortunately this is an ongoing thing every year.
Parents: Don’t Hide Your Children’s Autism Diagnoses From Them
“You may think that an autistic child won’t notice they are different than their non-autistic peers… I have not met one autistic person (myself included) who hasn’t noticed their difference early in life. For me, noticing came through being bullied at school and at home. And since I didn’t know I was autistic, I just assumed there was something wrong with me and that I deserved what I got. I learned that intrinsically, I was less than a person…
When you learn that you are less than a person, being abused becomes normalized and expected. When I was six years old, I had a meltdown in a music class due to sensory overload. The teacher’s response was to lock me in a closet for the duration of the class. It was dark. I was terrified. It was normal. I deserved it. I can only hope those aren’t the type of thoughts you want your child to have.”
Parents: Don’t Hide Your Children’s Autism Diagnoses From Them
Image description:
[pale purple and yellow background with dark text]
This April, don’t support an organization that harms autistic people.
[crossed out logo for Autism Speaks]
Support one built by autistic people, for autistic people.
[logos for the Autistic Self Advocacy Network and the Autism Women’s Network]Reblogging to spread the word, cause evidence shows that Autism $peaks are classic horror movie villains.
Reblogging because I’ve always wondered who to support instead of AS.
Being LGBTI and autistic in Australia
You may think that an autistic child won’t notice they are different than their non-autistic peers… I have not met one autistic person (myself included) who hasn’t noticed their difference early in life. For me, noticing came through being bullied at school and at home. And since I didn’t know I was autistic, I just assumed there was something wrong with me and that I deserved what I got. I learned that intrinsically, I was less than a person…
When you learn that you are less than a person, being abused becomes normalized and expected. When I was six years old, I had a meltdown in a music class due to sensory overload. The teacher’s response was to lock me in a closet for the duration of the class. It was dark. I was terrified. It was normal. I deserved it. I can only hope those aren’t the type of thoughts you want your child to have.