Communication, Interaction, and Autism Acceptance
If you've read enough of my writings, you know that I am an activist for the rights of all people - especially Autistic people - to communicate using whatever method it works for each individual. Communication and Autism Acceptance Everybody communicates. Communication doesn't need spoken words. Communication doesn't need words at all. Behavior is communication. Smiles, looks, our bodies - those are used for communication and they are as valid as any word. I can type, and I like to type. Even if typing is exhausting, I still use this method to speak out. Interaction and Autism Acceptance But I
Autism Awareness Month Awareness
Beware of Autism Awareness Month by Amy Sequenzia. "Autism Awareness Month" Awareness I am writing this in March because I want everyone to start getting ready for April, which was declared by non-Autistics to be "Autism Awareness Month". I am declaring March: “Autism Awareness Month” Awareness Month. To make it less confusing, let's call March: The Month to Beware of Autism Awareness Month. Why am I doing this? April's Autism Awareness Month Because Autism Awareness Month is the month when all those so-called autism advocacy organizations double, triple down on using our neurology to raise money by advertising how terrible it is
Love, Respect and “Autism Parents”: My Story Is Mine to Tell Part 2
Love, Respect and "Autism Parents" : My Story is Mine to Tell - Part 2 by Amy Sequenzia. This is the second post on how Autistic voices are dismissed and erased when the world talks about autism, and about what being Autistic means. The first post was about how the "experts", the media, and so-called advocacy organizations tell our stories. This post is about how parents tell our stories. It is a little more complex, because while it is true that parents usually know their children better than other people, and while we all hope that every parent loves their
Toxic Autism Awareness
Toxic autism awareness - sorting out autism fact from autism fiction Judy Endow Autism Fact or Autism Fiction During the past week I have run into two different people in my personal life who have expressed erroneous beliefs about autism. Both people knew that besides being autistic myself, I am a therapist in the field of autism, have written many books and numerous blogs on various autism topics, and consult and speak internationally. Without a doubt, these people knew that I know about autism. And even so, they presumed their comments to be accepted fact so much so that they
Autism Awareness and Autism Acceptance
No more deficit based Autism Awareness. Autism Acceptance focuses on the strengths and abilities of autistic people.
Parents, Are You Listening To Your Child?
As a non-speaking Autistic, I pay special attention to comments and statements made by parents of other non-speaking Autistics, especially children. Many times I see parents lamenting that they will never listen to their Autistic child say "I love you", or how much they long to hear those words.
OLLIBEAN : Acceptance, Love, Self-Care: #AutismPositivity2015
Autism Positivity is coming out of April stronger. Tired A little frustrated Spoonless. But stronger. Autism Positivity is rejecting blue lights, casting a red shadow and obscuring the blue puzzle pieces of hate. We continue our #WalkInRed call to action, we are joined by accepting friends, old and new. As Elvis Costello has been singing for decades, even the Angels want to wear the red shoes. Acceptance, Love (and the Angels wearing red shoes) = Positivity Autism Positivity is reclaiming words used to devalue us, and giving them their true meaning. Defiant: standing for what we believe in and for
Being Comfortable In My Skin
When I shared my post "Celebrating My Life" one commenter pointed out that “very few people are as comfortable in their skins” as I am. This got me thinking about what makes it possible for me to not only be ok being me, but to be proud of who I am. What makes me an unapologetic, unabashed, proud disabled woman? According to followers of the medical model of disability – most doctors and all the self-proclaimed “experts” – I have a long list of “devastating”, “severe” and even tragic deficits and impairments. Their “deficits list” would look like this: Non-speaking
Autism, Sensory Regulation and Movement Fluidity
Many any individuals with classic autism seem to have neurological movement differences. When these movement differences play out in our bodies, it is easy for onlookers to see, as we may get stuck in one position or in repetitive movement. Sometimes there can be difficulty in getting a body movement going, and at other times once our body is in motion, we cannot stop even if we want to. These movement differences can also play out in thoughts, speech, and emotions, areas that are not as readily observable to onlookers, yet can be daily obstacles to outsmart for some of
Celebrating My Life
Celebrating My Life Amy Sequenzia won't stop celebrating her autistic, disabled life. le I am writing this prompted by something John Elder Robison (I will refer to him by his initials, JER) wrote about Autism Awareness/Acceptance Month, in particular this quote: “We may have gifts too, but disability remains the basis for diagnosis. Some autistic people are rendered non-speaking by their condition, and I can’t imagine who would celebrate that. Others live with significant medical complications like epilepsy. I’ve yet to meet anyone who celebrates that either.” I commented that JER does not have to “imagine”. I am here, I celebrate being non-speaking, I celebrate
Autism and Stuck Emotions
It has taken most my lifetime for me to begin figuring out stuck emotions in relationship to my autism. In discussing this with other autistic adults I have discovered many share this problem. Some describe the stuck emotions as being shut down. There are variations of experience, but there seems to be a shared experience of stuck emotions in autistics. Everyone I have discussed this with agrees that stuck emotions are quite difficult to deal with and, in fact, have led to much misunderstanding and sometimes to psychiatric hospitalizations. Even though I have been talking to other autistics about this
The Reason I Blog
This blog (The Autism Wars), and all the other blogs and projects associated with it, are for my autistic son, Mustafa. But this blog is actually not talking about him without him or about daily life with him with some rare exceptions for times when his daily displays of empathy, kindness, and love towards me move me to write. When I say it is for my son, I mean it is part of my activism and my exploration of what it means to try and ally myself to his cause. This cause is something that too many of us are aware of
I Don’t Want Your Awareness
I don’t want Autism Awareness. Actually, I fear Autism Awareness because it only makes the world fear, hate and ignore us, one blue light, one puzzle piece at a time.
Autism, Inflexibility and Diversity
A universal assumption about autism is that autistic people tend to be inflexible and it is NOT GOOD to be inflexible. Let’s take a look at that assumption. Neuro majority people talk a lot about the inflexibility and the rigidity of autistic people. Seems like they get stuck in that train of thought. Isn’t it quite a narrow perception to believe that everyone should be just like you and should conform to your ways? And yet, as an autistic, if I want to get anywhere in the world I need do just that - to conform to the ways of
In Sidewalk Cracks: Authentic Relationships
In Sidewalk Cracks: Authentic Relationships In life we play on sidewalk squares. You on your NT sidewalk square You jump to my square to help me out (and so does everyone else) That I need all the help you can give. You teach me to copy your ways. I jump to your square and copy you. You are happy because I am learning To copy your ways in the world. All I have is you helping me And me copying your ways. Is it a wonder the feeling of alien predominates? There is more to jumping over the sidewalk crack.
More Than An Autism Diagnosis
I am an adult with autism. My thinking is visual rather than word-based. Autism gifts me with a literal and concrete way of thinking. My thoughts are all in full moving color. You can read about this and about my life in my book called Paper Words, Discovering and Living With My Autism. (Endow, 2009a) “Always, I have a front row seat to watch the show! Each color, with its infinite variety of hues and brightness, has its own movement patterns and sound combinations. Even though spoken words are the medium most often used by people to communicate with me, I
Musings from an Autism Outsider – Seeing the Full Spectrum
When I started writing about disabilities, I’d been working with disabled people for over fifteen years. I’d been in schools and agencies as the numbers of autistic people requiring support had started to rise. I’d heard the projections from the experts about how the numbers were going to continue to rise. And, in my most recent job, I’d had to tell several families with autistic teenagers that the agency for which I worked wouldn’t be able to support them, as we only supported individuals with intellectual disabilities. I knew that autism was a spectrum disorder. But I’d really only seen
Goodnight Autism Puzzle Pieces
You may like lighting it up blue or using puzzle pieces as a symbol of autism awareness. I personally no longer like either of these things for lots of reasons and I post various blogs and articles about these topics in social media venues. My opinion, even though it may differ from yours, does NOT mean my autism is preventing me from understanding your point of view. It simply means we have different points of view. Yesterday I had a conversation in social media with a woman who explained all the reasons the puzzle piece symbolism was important to her
Parents – Acceptance Starts at Home
Parents, home is the single most important place for our children to feel accepted. We must embrace ALL of our children with love and acceptance for being exactly who they are. Home is the first place our kids learn about being accepted and accepting others. It is our responsibility and privilege as parents to create a nurturing environment where each child feels valued, safe, loved and whole. Our children are always listening and picking up on our feelings and attitudes. They're listening to how we speak to them, about them, and closely watching how we react to other people who
What Good Does Autism Awareness Do? It Doesn’t
I know most people want to do the right thing and believe “Autism Awareness” helps. But it doesn’t and it is time for some blunt truths, it is past time to stop walking in circles and move forward with Autism Acceptance.
Love Not Fear
Love Not Fear. Henry Frost on Autism Acceptance Two Houses a story of Autism Acceptance. There are two houses. There are two boys that live in these houses. Each house inside has one family living. Each member of each family has different ways of being. House Number One One house has the family that tells the boy he is loved . The family is not a family without the boy. All of the family members are loved as they are. They are loved for being. The boy is loved as he is. He is educated. He is respected. He
Love, Not Fear
Today is “Love, Not Fear” flashblog. We write about the beauty of being, living, sharing and experience Autism, an Autistic life.
Musings of An Autism Outsider: Realizing How Much I Didn’t Know
I felt like an outsider taking first steps into a world that I hadn’t realized existed. An autism outsider.
Are You a Bully in Sheep’s Clothing?
On Dec. 16, 2013 I wrote a blog titled “Autistics Can BE Friends” and posted the link on social media sites. Regardless of how often or how many of us autistics write about why many of us choose to call ourselves autistic many in academia and in the medical fields continue on to let us know we “should not” be doing this. I am including in this blog a public conversation I had with a Linked In reader on this matter. The entire conversation had nothing to do with the blog I had posted – only the fact that I
The Importance of Supports
"If we invested a mere one-tenth of the amount of money that we currently pour into causation into empowering Autistic people to communicate, that young man and hundreds of thousands more like him would be able to communicate their needs to us today. I am not here today to speak for every Autistic person – that’s impossible. What I am here for is to argue for every Autistic person to have the same opportunity to communicate that I have come to enjoy thanks to the support that I have been lucky enough to receive in my life." Ari Ne'eman
You are not wrong.
Know you are not a burden or trouble for being. You are a person who has every right to be. A family that is saying love but saying you are so hard so wrong for not being as they wanted. The family is wrong. Not You. A school segregating is wrong. Not You.There are many if the disability community that are here for you.
More Problems With Functioning Labels
Every now and then my autistic friends and I have to explain why functioning labels are not helpful, why it works against acceptance, why it is something created by non-disabled people who knew very little about how autistic brains work, who saw autistics as lesser people, and who saw the need to grade us in order to apply their wrong assumptions in an attempt to "fix" us. To them, "high-functioning” autistics were "better", easy to deal with. The "low-functioning” autistics required a lot more work because their lives was "misery". That's the first problem: lack of understanding of autism, leading
Issy Stapleton: Emergency Information and Autistic Community Response
Emergency information is on here, followed by commentary. Emergency information for disabled victims is first, since they are in the most immediate danger. Unfortunately, many disabled victims of violence are at the mercy of their would-be-killers. Emergency information for people who are concerned that they might murder or otherwise injure a disabled person follows. Some links are en español. Read More Here.
Hi @KatieCouric I am #autistic & would like to talk to you about #inclusion, #communication & #civilrights #KatieAutismChat
Katie Couric will have a Twitter Chat with Autism Speaks on Wednesday May 29th at 1pm EST . Autistic people should be in the chat. hashtag #KatieAutismChat. This is my message. Hi @katiecouric I am #autistic & would like to talk to you about #inclusion, #communication & #civilrights #KatieAutismChat .
Emma’s Hope Book: Accepting Ourselves So We Can Accept Others
Beautiful post from Ariane Zurcher.
Autism Rights Are Human Rights
Autism Rights are Human Rights Autism Rights are human rights. That’s something every Autistic activist knows. It is printed in t-shirts we wear and it is something we have to keep reminding the world because our rights are violated on a regular basis. We have to fight for the right to be heard, for the right to participate in the conversation about us. Young Autistics have to fight for the right to go to their neighborhood school, with their friends, to learn the same curriculum a non-autistic child learns. That’s why we say that the fight for autism rights
Must Have Autism E-book
Great e-book for Autism Acceptance Month !
Autism Acceptance- All Created Equal
John Hussman on the MCIE Blog. "And then love them back. Not for who they might have been without autism, or for who they might be if they were “cured,” but as people who need to be nothing other than who they are, to be loved and accepted."
Autism Acceptance Month
"Acceptance is an action." Autism Acceptance Month from the brilliant folks at ASAN, is beyond incredible. We could read the About page again and again- and probably will. Check it out. Take the Pledge. What is Autism Acceptance Month? Autism Acceptance Month is about challenging ignorance, prejudice, fear, and hysteria about autism and autistic people. Autism Acceptance Month spreads the word that autism is both a neurological disability and a natural part of human diversity, and centers the voices of autistic people in the conversation about us. Autism Acceptance Month promotes acceptance of autistic people as family members, sons, daughters, spouses, friends, classmates, co-workers,
Boys & Girls Clubs of Tampa Bay Stand Up for Inclusion
Presented and discussed will be the importance of inclusion and friendship for youth with disabilities. The cast and of the acclaimed feature documentary, Wretches & Jabberers will be joined by The National Center on Inclusive Education’s Mary Schuh, PhD, and Tampa advocate, 13 year old, Henry Frost.
April and Autism Acceptance at Tampa Theatre
Get your advocacy on. April and Autism Acceptance is in Tampa. The rock stars of disability advocacy- Tracy Thresher and Larry Bissonnette- are back.
Ollibean Art for Change at USF: April. Autism. Advocacy. Acceptance.
A day of inclusive education, community acceptance, and self-advocacy at USF with Academy Award Winning Director and Stars of the Acclaimed Documentary Wretches & Jabberers, NCIE's Mary Schuh, PhD, and Tampa advocate Henry Frost. CARD (The Center for Autism and Related Disorders) at the University of South Florida) will host at USF's Marshall Hall.
Autistic People Are Everywhere | Musings of an Aspie
This post is a part of today’s “Autistic people are . . .” flashblog. You may have seen the news this week that Google has promised to eliminate the problematic “Autistic people should” autocompletes in response to last week’s flashblog. They’ve said it will take time to engineer, so while the hateful autocompletes are still appearing, hopefully they’ll soon be gone. We can make a difference by speaking up. ——- Autistic people are everywhere. We sit next to you at school and on the bus. We give your dog his rabies shot, teach your kids, make your latte and sweep
‘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
Shatter the Myths About Autism
"No Myths". Must see PSA by the Autistic Self Advocacy Network and the Dan Merino Foundation. Change the conversation about autism.
Autism Speaks: Time to Listen by Autistic Self-Advocate Amy Sequenzia
Autism Speaks: Time to Listen by Autistic Self-Advocate Amy Sequenzia
Autistic Man, Jesse Saperstein Free Falls to End Bullying
Best-selling author, autism advocate and motivational speaker Jesse A. Saperstein is spreading an Anti-Bullying movement across America with his “Free-Falling to End Bullying in 2012” YouTube video hoping to put an end to torment in and out of the classroom.
Michael Buckholtz on Discrimination
Autistic multi-platinum Record Producer and author, Michael Buckholtz talks about discrimination and how he handles it in this video on Autube.tv.
