Love, Not Fear
Today is “Love, Not Fear” flashblog. We write about the beauty of being, living, sharing and experience Autism, an Autistic life.
The Reality Behind Those Walls
The Judge Rotenberg Center is recruiting disabled students in the Midwest to be legally tortured with electric shocks. Help us stop this inhumane treatment of disabled people.
Because I Stood With Henry
Because I stood with Henry I am happier today and you should too. Henry not only got his rights, he proved that presumption of competence should be the default for every student.
Mother
This is for every person who embodies the meaning of motherhood. This is for the ones who nurture and protect, who never consider their lives more important than the lives of the ones being nourished, educated, protected and loved.
Standing With Ashley
I stand with Ashley because she is part of our community, she is brave and she survived brutality.I stand with Ashley because I hope to show her, one day, that the joy of belonging to our caring community trumps the memories of pain.
‘Autistic People Are’ by Amy Sequenzia
Autistic People Are Awesome! Autistic People are the real experts on autism. Autistic people are not more complicated than non-autistics. Autistic people are misunderstood and mischaracterized by non-autistics. Autistic people are artistic and we don’t need speech to show our talents. Autistic people are your friends your co-workers your children. Autistic people are parents siblings grandparents. Autistic people are not tragedies we are not burdens. Autistic people are not sufferers because of autism we suffer discrimination from non-autistics. Autistic people are “different but not less”. Autistic people are not “Rain
Autism Acceptance – Leading the Conversation
I want to talk about Autism Acceptance again. I want to talk about Autism Acceptance because soon we will be, again, referred to as tragedies, burdens, afflictions. This will go on, more than usual, for the whole month of April. April is the month chosen
Amy Sequenzia: I, Too, Want to Understand.
Why would a parent of an autistic child decide that it is better not to listen to other autistics? Why? I, Too, Want to Understand.
Amy Sequenzia: To You, Young Autistic Friend
Autistic advocate and poet Amy Sequenzia's message of acceptance and respect for young autistics for 2012 Autistics Speaking Day. "There is nothing wrong with being who you are. You are perfect in your uniqueness."
Supporting Young Autistics
We hope that young autistics today will be proud of themselves and without shame. The message that boy received at that moment was the opposite of acceptance. It was ableist and it came from someone who is part of our own community.
Bureaucrats
You look at me But you don’t see me You talk about me but not to me You think you know all about me But you deny my humanity You think I don’t have wishes You believe I don’t have plans You don’t respect my basic rights According to you I should be grateful That I have a place to sleep That I have three meals a day If I say I want to go out You ignore me To you I am only a burden Too disabled to have an opinion To you I don’t count as a person
I Stand With Henry
What Henry is doing is advocating for his rights, at the same time that he reminds us of our own rights and about how far we still have to go.
A Poem About Pain
Other people have written better articulated articles about the same things I write in this poem. It is hard for me to elaborate beyond the words in the poem. It could have easily been me in some cases, it can happen to any of us.
Amy Sequenzia : Friendship and Respect
It is a mistaken idea that we, autistics, lack empathy. It is also a myth that we are not social. My friends and I, we understand and respect differences. And we understand that we all have a lot to contribute, in a diversity of manners.
Amy Sequenzia: “Storm”
"Storm" a poem by autistic self-advocate Amy Sequenzia.
Change Leader: Amy Sequenzia
"Presume competence. The same way I want people to assume I am competent, I also assume that others are competent".
Amy Sequenzia:Dear Mainstream Media
I am an autistic woman, non-speaking and I have many needs.Yes, dear mainstream media, I am the autistic supposedly too “low-functioning” to deserve to be heard. You pity me and you ignore the facts.
Ollibean Think Tank Member Amy Sequenzia
Amy Sequenzia is a poet and autistic self-advocate. Her writing is as beautiful and powerful as she is. She is an extraordinary voice in the disability rights community .
Amy Sequenzia: “Just Me”
Amy Sequenzia writes about rejecting society's many labels. Perceptions such as “super spectacular” autistic and “low-functioning” are equally harmful .
Amy Sequenzia: Respect How I Choose to Speak
I type my words because I am non-speaking. One of my disabilities, or one characteristic of my disability, is that my body does not move like my brain wants. That of course, includes my arm. And I use my arm, my hand and my fingers to communicate. I also need the support of someone to help me coordinate and synchronize my brain and my finger. I need to define support. It is the physical support of helping me type slower than my brain works, being able, at the same time, to feel my movement, knowing when to let go, when
Autism Speaks: Time to Listen by Autistic Self-Advocate Amy Sequenzia
Autism Speaks: Time to Listen by Autistic Self-Advocate Amy Sequenzia
Presuming Competence
This issue is very important to me because so many events and breakthroughs in my life happened because I was presumed to be competent. On the other hand, some events in my life were not so good because of a presumption of incompetence. The message of presumption of competence is of encouragement and acceptance. The presumption of incompetence sends a negative message, a message that says no matter how much one tries, success is out of reach. For disabled people, especially the ones who need more support, who can’t communicate through speech or who have other communication difficulties, this negative
Epidemic, Awareness and Us, Autistics
By now everyone knows about the new numbers on autism diagnosis. And we have already seen the media jumping in the alarmist train: IT IS AN EPIDEMIC! My friend and I decided to look up some definitions for this word that has been used to classify me. This is what I found in one on line dictionary: epidemic noun a widespread occurrence of an infectious disease in a community at a particular time: a flu epidemic. a disease occurring in such a way. a sudden, widespread occurrence of a particular undesirable phenomenon: an epidemic of violent crime. Am I a
Acceptance
Welcome new Ollibean writer, Amy Sequenzia! We know you're going to love her blog and her poems........ "Accepting myself is an on going process. A few days ago I wrote a poem about acceptance. It is easier for me, sometimes, to write about my life in verses. But after I write about what bothers me in verses and stanzas, I can talk about it in any format. I freed myself when I wrote the poem. In a way, I accepted myself a little more." It is very hard to have confidence in my abilities when all my life, when people
