There’s a rumor that Autistic People don’t use (or cannot understand) humor and sarcasm. #ActuallyAutistic #AskingAutistics – do you?
Continue reading Can Autistic People Understand Humor and Sarcasm?
Calling Trans and other Queer People “groomers” is insulting to actual survivors of real groomers and those who have escaped (or are still stuck in) relationships dependent on coercive control.
As someone who’s the survivor of more than one long-term relationship with people who used coercive and controlling methods to groom and keep me for their benefit (at the expense of my mental and physical health), I am disgusted by how casually the word “groomer” is thrown around today – especially with regards to trans people.
I consider “Conversion Therapy” to be ANY behavioral modification program that uses negative and positive reinforcements to coerce and manipulate someone into emulating behaviors that are forced and unnatural to them to make the person blend in and appear more “socially acceptable” (whether for Queer, NeuroDivergent, or any other type of behavior that is not considered the “social norm”).
Continue reading Behaviorism 101: Identifying Autistic, NeuroDivergent, and Other forms of Conversion “Therapy”
As expected, both of my posts created pushback from angry parents who follow the ABA ideology and felt “shamed” by my choice of strong words – “Conversion Therapy” but I stand by them.
Continue reading Objections to the Terms Autistic and NeuroDivergent “Conversion Therapy”
There are many types of conversion therapy used to “normalize” Autistic and other NeuroDivergent People. ABA, or Applied Behavioral Analysis, is among the most widely recognized and controversial.
Continue reading You don’t have to have been subjected to formal Autistic Conversion Therapy to have experienced behaviorism and its harms.
Because I’d been told “work wasn’t supposed to be fun,” I kept taking jobs that made me miserable, feeling as if the punishments and misery were rights of passage necessary for the money I earned.
Continue reading How many NeuroDivergent people’s skills are lost (or never have a chance to grow) because those NeuroDivergent People are stuck in survival mode?
I used to, but at this point in my life, I no longer wish I could have discovered I was Autistic sooner. I’m happy I learned the truth when I did (and grateful I was spared from ABA).
Continue reading Do I Wish I Could Have Been Diagnosed Autistic Sooner?
Without my Autistic brain, I wouldn’t be me. Autism influences nearly every part of me and my experience of the world around me.
Continue reading There’s no Cure for Autism (I Don’t Want One) – I Will Always BE Autistic
Autistic Pride Day was not borne from the need to celebrate being Autistic, but instead in recognition of our right to live authentically (or at all). Continue reading 10 Reasons We Need Autistic Pride
If the general public had a less stigmatized, balanced human view of Autism and Autistic People, my life (and the lives of all Autistics) would be much easier.
Continue reading AskingAutistics: What do YOU wish non-autistics understood about Autism and Autistic People?