Community Resources For People With Autism: Fill & Download for Free

As I type this I am sitting, rocking in my chair. I can’t stand up. I can’t make my body move so I can stand up and drive my partner to their doctor’s appointment. I am unable to speak in complete sentences and can barely speak at all.I am what many would consider “high functioning.” I usually do not present the stereotypical picture of autism that I present today.But I am always autistic.I have a great deal of sympathy for the parents of “low functioning” autistic children. Being a parent is difficult. I am raising two children, one of whom is two years old. Her older brother is autistic, also “high functioning” (god I hate these labels). My daughters father and I are already seeing signs that she might be autistic. And I admit it, I worry. I worry about the next few years when my daughter might continue developing as she is now or she might start developing very differently. Might stop speaking, stop coming to me for cuddles all the time, “retreat” into her own world of her own thoughts.But I don’t worry for the same REASON as many of the Autism Mommies™ I see on social media. I don’t worry about autism “stealing” my daughter from me. I don’t worry that she will “lack theory of mind” or be an “imbecile” or not love me.I worry about my ability to connect with her the way she will need. About how well I will manage to give her a voice, in a world that has consistently silenced MY voice. I worry about how I will help her navigate a world that will believe that because she is silent, she is stupid. That because she is focused on her own thoughts, she doesn’t HAVE thoughts.What does this have to do with Autism Speaks?A few months ago the autistic community on twitter FLIPPED THE FUCK OUT over a book by an Autism Mommy (TM). This book was written by the mother of an autistic child who is capable of holding conversations, browsing the internet, and texts regularly with a girl in his class. In the book (which the author asked her NT but NOT the autistic son’s permission to write), the author shares her son’s text messages and says how sometimes she questions (questioned?) if he was even capable of thinking.And she listed Autism Speaks as a resource for parents of autistic children in the back of her book.Look lady, if your son can hold conversations, exchange text messages, and attend public school, I’m pretty damn sure he can think.Obviously, Autism Speaks is not responsible for the wackadoodle opinions of other people. BUT Autism Speaks has routinely used people who share similar opinions and views that this woman has in their advertising copy. Has repeatedly pushed the ideas that dehumanize autistic people. (several other answers have talked about/shared a specific marketing video by Autism Speaks which exemplifies this kind of thinking. Obviously it’s okay to talk about wanting to kill yourself and your autistic daughter because she has autism while your autistic daughter can hear you because she can’t think/doesn’t have theory of mind/won’t be traumatized by her mother’s revulsion. She’s autistic!)That’s part one.Let’s talk part 2.Do you know that current research suggests that women/girls have autism just as often as men/boys? But Autism Speaks is still using their blue puzzle piece on their website. The puzzle piece they debuted as part of their “light it up blue” campaign to draw attention to all the boys with autism.Um… excuse me. Current research looks like women and girls have autism just as often but are consistently misdiagnosed/denied diagnosis because they don’t fit the stereotype of an autistic person. Autism--It's Different in Girls But the best known autistic advocacy group wants to talk about how boys with autism are being overlooked and not given the help and support they need?Here’s a radical idea—drop the gendered bullshit. PEOPLE with autism aren’t getting the help and support WE need. And if you are the best known autistic “advocacy group” maybe try to keep your marketing and advocacy in line with current research? M’kay?Part 3As others have said, a group called “autism speaks” with NO AUTISTIC PEOPLE SPEAKING is kinda… I don’t know? Bullshit?It should be called “parents of autistic kids speak” or maybe “Autism Mommies™ speak). Because it’s got fuck-all to do with autistic people speaking.NOTHING ABOUT US WITHOUT US.I’ve got nothing against the parents of autistic kids, who don’t have a way to speak for themselves, being involved in an autistic advocacy group. Those kids DO need someone to speak for them and theoretically their parents know them best.But any organization that is ENTIRELY parents of autistic kids and no autistic people has no right to present itself as an autistic advocacy group.Part 4When people like me speak out about this, we’re told that we’re “high functioning” and we don’t know what it’s like and we have no business trying to speak for “low functioning” autistics or what it’s like to be autistic when we can “pass” for neurotypical.Which brings us back to me. Sitting here, unable to speak a coherent sentence, typing out this (if I do say so myself) eloquent explanation of my issues with Autism Speaks.Do you really think I don’t know what it’s like to be that kid rocking in his seat in school unresponsive to the teacher? Really? Really!?Do you really think I’ve never had a meltdown in the middle of a supermarket? Do you think that because for most of my life I only went in public when I could fake being NT that I experience the world as an NT experiences the world? That I don’t have trouble getting a job when 90% of getting a job comes down to an interview (ie, how well you present yourself in a social situation).I am neither “high functioning” nor “low functioning”. I am AUTISTIC. And I’m tired of being silenced and spoken over by people, INCLUDING AUTISM SPEAKS who think the voices of people who think it’s okay to talk about killing their autistic kid in front of that kid, who think it’s okay to share an autistic kid’s private text messages without their permission, should be the voice of autism.Final Note:I’m hearing about major changes in Autism Speaks board, how they’ve not done anything really horrible in several months, yada yada. And I want to be hopeful. I want to believe that Autism Speaks can actually become the advocacy group that autistic people need.But with that blue puzzle piece still holding its place of pride on the website? I’m not holding my breath.Update: Thanks to a comment, it occurred to me that I should share some of the autism orgs that are worth supporting and autistic people can actually get some help from.Asperger / Autism Network (AANE) is the group I know that comes closest to do what most people think AS should be doing: provide support and help to autistic people. It includes autistic people in governance and as staff members. AANE has two main weaknesses as an autism support group. They are a local org, not a national one. They offer several online support services but their main work has been in New England. They have recently announced that they are expanding to NYC, and I expect they will expand further as they have the resources. They also have a focus on autistic people with lower support needs, having been started initially to help people who were diagnosed with Aspergers back before the diagnosis were merged.I do not know if they intend to expand their focus in the future. Some of their services and supports are available in Spanish: Programas para la Comunidad Latina – The Asperger / Autism Network (AANE)Autistic Women and Non-Binary Network is dedicated to providing community support and resources. As I noted above, AS has historically been focused on providing support for boys with autism, and many other orgs have done the same. AWN Network seeks to fill the gap in support and resources for autistic people who aren’t boys. They do not offer services, and I don’t know if they ever plan to. They provide community space online, information, and some helpful resources. They also do some work in education and awareness about autism. Their board and staff include autistic people. They welcome men and boys as part of their community as long as they do not seek to divert focus from the needs of women and non-binary folks. “AWN Network welcomes all women, both transgender and cisgender, non-binary and genderqueer people, Two-Spirit people, people who have at anytime identified as women or girls, and all other people of marginalized genders or of no gender. AWN recognizes and affirms all people’s gender identities and expressions, as well as choices about disclosure, transition, and going stealth.”The Autistic Self Advocacy Network are the people who coined the term ‘Nothing About Us Without Us’. As the name says, ASAN is focused on advocacy and does not provide direct support for autistic people aside from training in self-advocacy. ASAN is involved in advocating for policy changes to support the rights of disabled people, educational initiatives, and projects to make workplaces cultures more inclusive of autistic people.SFARI and SPECTRUM ~ Home Page are your go-to place if you want to support orlearn about autism research. SFARI is the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative, and Spectrum is their news site that shares the latest in autism research. SFARI has at least one autistic person on their community advisory board if any of the researchers involved are autistic, they don’t share it in their bios. SFARI is building research resources for folks researching autism (databases and lists of people willing to take part in research and similar) and provides grants to researchers studying autism.There are other good autism orgs out there, these are just the ones I know of. I invite other autistic people who have found good orgs to share them in the comments.Update 2: I realize this is a long ass answer, but it’s only the tip of the iceberg. Check out A Roundup of Posts Against Autism Speaks for a more on A$, including stuff like legal issues that I didn’t know enough about to get into here. Link also includes a bunch more autism-focused non-profits than the ones listed above.Thanks to Joshua Burrow for the link

Superpower: Extraordinary Vision!Many people on the autism spectrum report heightened sensory perceptions, and research confirms this![1]For example being able to read tiny text like the small print on the back of products from across a room.Below is the world’s smallest book (Teeny Ted from Turnip Town), next to a minute scratch…you need an electron microscope to read it…Or maybe just an autistic with Extraordinary Vision ;)Our brains have allocated more brain resources in the areas associated with visual detection resulting in visual hypersensitivity.Image attribution: VisionSpecifically autistics have more brain resources associated with visual detection and identification (but less activity in the areas used to plan and control thoughts and actions).[2]This results in outstanding capacities in visual tasks.Instead of playing Where’s Waldo?, we play Here’s Waldo!Image attribution: Where’s Waldo? That’s EasyWe can see changes in the gap size on a screen filled with the letter C, much better than neurotypicals.[3]We grow up not knowing that others do not see the world the same as us…they don’t see air particulates, some of us do:My bed was surrounded and totally encased by tiny spots which I called stars, like some kind of mystical glass coffin. I have since learned that they are actually airborne particulates yet my vision was so hypersensitive that they often became a hypnotic foreground with the rest of ‘the world’ fading away .[4]Image credit: Martin SilvertantAnd if that does not convince you of our Super Powers, we have the visual acuity of birds of prey. What a neurotypical can see at 7 feet, we can see at 20 feet on average![5]Image attribution: RaptorWe have increased pattern recognition.Autistics exhibit more activity in the temporal and occipital regions and less activity in frontal cortex than non-autistics. The identified temporal and occipital regions are typically involved in perceiving and recognizing patterns and objects.[6]It is all in the detail!We see more details than a neurotypical, because we process a greater amount of sensory information. While neurotypicals focus on faces, we look around and see the details.Image attribution: Can’t See the Forest for the TreesWhen you show a neurotypical and an autistic a forest, they do see the trees…But we (people with ASD) also see the insects, flowers, moss etc.In addition, people with ASD are less susceptible to visual illusions…Image attribution: Optical IllusionsThis is because we tend to focus on the details as opposed to the gestalt.And finally we have an increased ability to identify colours!Our rods and cones are different. 85% of us see colours with greater intensity than neurotypicals, with red appearing nearly fluorescent; 10% saw red as neurotypical children do; and 5% saw muted colours.Image credit: Martin SilvertantFor more information on autism, visit EmbraceASD.comJoin our community on Facebook here: Embrace ASD GroupFootnotes[1] Visual Acuity in Adults with Asperger’s Syndrome: No Evidence for “Eagle-Eyed” Vision[2] New research explains autistic's exceptional visual abilities[3] Brief report: the relationship between visual acuity, the embedded figures test and systemizing in autism spectrum disorders.[4] Autism and Asperger Syndrome[5] Talent in autism: hyper-systemizing, hyper-attention to detail and sensory hypersensitivity[6] New research explains autistic's exceptional visual abilities

I believe that the assumption in the question is probably true, that people with autism and Aspergers in particular suffer constant psychological abuse. I will use the term autism to mean both autism and Aspergers.I’m going to start with playground bullying, and equivalent behaviours among adults.Bullies tend to target people who are socially isolated or people whom they can socially isolate.People with autism may have more difficulty in making friends in the first placePeople with autism have difficulty understanding other people’s intentions.People with autism may have difficulty identifying that they are being bullied and may have difficulty in telling friend from enemy.Sometimes people with autism, who have been a target of bullying, will simply deal by not trusting anyone, reverting to defensive behaviours with everyone, continuing the cycle.Bullying does not always occur. Sometimes a girl with autism will be looked after by a ‘mother hen’ peer or a boy will take refuge with ‘the nerds’.Abuse at homeHaving a child with special needs is very stressful, to say the least. The parents must deal with feelings of loss, plus manage the extra demands placed on them. Rather than getting more support from the community, they get less.The effect on the child of being in an environment of constant crisis, being the centre of ‘blame’, when it is not their fault and they are trying their best to deal with being autistic in a world of neurotypicals, is like psychological abuse.Abuse by professionals and support staffIntervention programs offering false hope with no evidence baseNegative attitudes of professionals and staff which limit opportunities, staff constantly giving little ‘micro-aggressions’ toward the autistic person, the idea that the autistic person needs to be punished for being autistic.Abuse secondary to under-resourcing including insufficient training, insufficient ratio of staff to client, lack of resources, staff burnoutAbuse in the workplaceGeneral ignorance about autism leading to stigma, stereotyping, underestimating, more bullyingA person with autism is often in a situation of continual punishment. Although it is the person with autism who has difficulty with empathy, it is actually neurotypicals who do not try to empathize with the person with autism.