things you shouldn't say to (or about) an autistic person:

autistic people, feel free to add more :)

allistic people are encouraged to reblog, but don't clown

autism modifiers

someone asked me to do these and uh fuck yeah so let’s go, critter modifiers for all your autistic needs

bat autistic

this is an autistic who identifies heavily with the physical feelings of autism. whether it be constant stimming, sensory seeking or avoidance, these autistics rely heavily on the sense of touch to navigate their world. they are truly in their body.

octopus autistic

this autistic collects special interests like it’s nothing. incredibly knowledgeable about their chosen subjects, the octopus autistic chooses to share their horde with trusted ones, and if that’s you, you’re very lucky.

lion autistic

this autistic is loud, proud and larger than life. like the roar of a lion, they refuse to let their neurodivergent pride go unnoticed. they are often extremely protective of their clan and would fight to the death for their friends.

alligator autistic

this autistic feels disconnected from allistics, and they’re fine with that. alligator autistics march to the beat of their own drum. no one can figure them out, gauge their emotions or inner thoughts, which is exactly how these autistics like it.

hawk autistic

this autistic is the observer. they are locked in on everything around them, intently noting every part of their environment. they prefer to watch others before jumping into an activity. they’ve also got a wicked sharp wit.

moth autistic

this autistic is a lovebug (no pun intended) who’s all about the heart shaped things in life. usually quiet and a bit anxious, as soon as they start talking, you’ll swear you’re best friends

I'm probably a hawk autistic with a dash of alligator.

Alien

You look like everyone else, but you don’t fit in. You understand things differently, your brain processes things differently. You are different. You try to fit in put on a disguise try to understand their jokes understand how they work. But can’t really understand it. They tell you are being inappropriate, that you should know better . But you don’t understand why it is inappropriate to wear pants on your head. Why does it make your ‘friends’ uncomfortable? They tell to sit still, tell you to pay attention, tell not to make that noise, tell you not to run up and down the stairs, to you tell you this, tell you that. But why? It makes you feel comfortable. You being weird, loony, crazy, interesting and so much more. But not normal. You joke about it hoping to fit in by you still do not fit in. You feel like an alien. But you’re not. You are an awesomely unique person, you are neurodivergent.

Hopefully the neurotypicals will understand you someday, let you break out of the box. Listen to you when you state your needs and don’t tell you you’re being entitled. Hopefully someday there will be more awareness and acceptance of neurodivergency. Hopefully someday that will happen. Until than you feel like an alien

This is why I used to relate so hard to alien characters in media.

you know, I remember, as a recently diagnosed autistic child, researching my condition and finding out that there were debates about whether people like me could feel love

I remember seeing an article about the autism every day video and actually asking my mother if she’d ever thought about killing me (she hadn’t and was understandably distressed by this question)

I remember as an adolescent, looking through literature from the national autistic society and noticing that almost everything was about younger children, and wondering why it seemed like I wasn’t expected to grow up

If you are one of the people involved in spreading these kinds of messages, I want you to use your infamous empathy and think about how painful that would be, and think twice before you do that again. If you are an autistic person, kid or adult, who is just finding out how some people view you, then please don’t despair. There are plenty of people in this world, autistic and otherwise, who realise how wrong such ideas are, and who will accept you for you. You’re not alone.

if you’re autistic, or otherwise neurodivergent, please know it’s completely okay to leave the table early, refuse hugs from relatives, take five minutes, or anything else you need to do to cope over the holiday season. all the stimulus from so many events over this period can feel so overwhelming, but you can get through this. I hope the new year brings many wonderful things for you

I hate hate hate hugs. Family gatherings are always rough.

You know what?

I am annoying sometimes.

And that’s okay. It’s not the death sentence I was led to believe. People will love me even if I can’t read their signals sometimes. Not understanding is forgivable. I don’t have to hold myself back so I don’t annoy anyone ever.

The people who love me know I get excited. And I am still loved.

It’s Autism Acceptance Month, so here’s a reminder to accept ALL autistic people, not just the ones you think are “cute” or act “close enough to normal”.

Accept autistic people who can’t mask their symptoms.

Accept autistic people who can’t hold down a job.

Accept nonverbal autistic people.

Accept autistic people who have difficulty communicating what they mean.

Accept autistic people who have low/no empathy.

Accept autistic people who have intellectual/learning disabilities.

Accept autistic people who have meltdowns.

Accept autistic people who have trouble taking care of themselves.

Accept autistic people who stim in “weird” ways.

Accept autistic people who get sensory and/or emotional overload easily or over “small” things.

Accept autistic people who have self-injurious stims.

Accept autistic people who aren’t geniuses.

Accept autistic people who can’t live on their own.

Accept all autistic people. If you don’t support all of us, you don’t support any of us.

(does one thing) hm i think i deserve a little reward :) (walks around in circles listening to music for three hours)

30 Days Of Autism Acceptance 2019: April 9th!

For day 9 of @autie-jake’s tag I’m going to shout out a few of my favourite autistic bloggers!! There are thousands of blogs I follow and love on here so it’d be impossible to list them all but I have the ‘blogs I follow’ option public if you want to check them all out!

Some blogs I love are:

@spongebob-autisticquestions

@autie-jake

@neurowonderful

@autismproblems

@vampiregirl2345

@autisticadvocacy

@butterflyinthewell

@jacobsjottings

@autisticjoy

@autism-artism

@myautisticjournal

@positivelyautistic

@autism-freaking-rocks

@neuro-positivity

@candidlyautistic

@autistic-hufflepuff

@pro-autistic

@autasticanna

@whatstodaysstim

@autistic-reptile

@positiveautistic

Oh my gosh! Thank you!!!

If you’re going to spread “Autism Awareness”, then spread awareness that

Speaking as an autistic person, stimming is really really really really nice and comforting and comes just as naturally to me as breathing does, so when you tell me to stop stimming because it embarrasses you, it hurts me the same way it would burn your lungs if I told you to stop breathing.

Let your autistic kids stim. Let your autistic friends stim. Let people stim. Our overall health and well-being is more important than your small dose of embarrassment

Shout out to all the neurotypical/allistic people who understand, and endeavor to understand, autistic people. People who make the effort. People who do not judge. People who don’t hold autistics to unrealistic neurotypical standards and then berate, bully, or cut them off when those standards are not lived up to. People without artifice, who will tell you if you make mistakes, and try to help you learn from them. People who will spell things out to you if you want them to, without being condescending about it. People who let you be you. People who have your back when it seems like everyone else is against you. There may not be very many of these people in your life, but the few that are, are true treasures. 

Start using support levels instead of functioning labels!

For the uninformed, functioning labels are terms like high functioning autism, low functioning autism, mild autism, severe autism. Other words like moderate or level 1, level 2, etc may be used too.

Functioning labels are extremely offensive because they’re placed on autistic people based on observation from the outside. This is problematic for three reasons.

Think of spectroscopy and how the elements create their own signature color lines. Now put peoples’ names in place of the elements: Hydrogen/Harold, Helium/Henry, Lithium/Luke, Oxygen/Olga, Carbon/Carol, Nitrogen/Nadine.

Autism is like that. We’re all on the same spectrum and all that is unique is how we display our symptoms, our sensory issues, our splinter abilities and so forth.

In light of that, I want to change the language. Let’s start pushing for support levels instead of functioning labels.

High support: Anyone who isn’t able to live independently and needs help with some or all of their basic daily living skills such as eating, bathing, basic grooming, putting on makeup, getting dressed and completing tasks. Can be abbreviated online or in writing as HSP for High Support Person or HSAP for High Support Autistic Person.

Usage in speech: Clarissa is a high support autistic person and needs assistance with getting dressed and taking a shower. Abbreviated usage online: I’m a HSAP and I’m really into physics, so the poor sucker who signs me on is gonna hear a lot about it when they hand me my iPad! 

Medium support: Anyone may or may not live independently and doesn’t need help with basic living skills, but needs help with other things like cooking, completing some tasks, transportation if unable to drive and assistance for things like grocery shopping. Can be abbreviated online or in writing as MSP for Medium Support Person or MSAP for Medium Support Autistic Person.

Usage in speech: Kevin is a medium support autistic person and needs some assistance to prepare meals and shop for the wood he uses for his carpentry projects. His boyfriend, Max, usually helps him with those. Usage online: I’m a MSAP and I’m looking for info about saws. Any fellow auties know what’s best for cutting oak? 

Low support: Anyone who more often than not lives independently and may only need assistance with minor things like balancing a checkbook, getting started on some tasks like organizing a garage sale or arranging to move from one house to another. Can be abbreviated online or in writing as LSP for Low Support Person or LSAP for Low Support Autistic Person.

Usage in speech: Jesse is a low support autistic person and she only needs help keeping her checkbook balanced. Usage online: I’m a LSAP and I’m thinking about moving to Seattle. What’s the weather and traffic like there? 

Reasons support levels are better:

Ditch functioning labels and start using support levels. These terms can apply to practically every kind of disability, not just autism.

For the record, I’m a MSAP.

Please reblog this whether you’re disabled or not. Make this viral.

MSAP here. I support other autistic and disabled people in their choices of personal terms, even if those are functioning labels, but I so very much agree that support labels make more sense.

Not gonna lie I LOVE these. It’s the first time I’m seeing them fully fleshed out withd escriptions. While Nyx is right and everyone has the right to their own label, I really hope these will be commonplace

Low to Medium support!! Im always invalidating myself bc im not “autistic enough” but im just lower support!!

Me too, but we are valid!