“don’t use ableist language” doesn’t mean “tag your ableist slurs so people can blacklist them”; it means don’t weaponize sickness, it means don’t pin institutionalized violence on disability, it means don’t use our dehumanization as a rhetoric device, it means don’t say someone’s Messed Up In The Head or Emotionally Handicapped whether or not i’m not around to get mad.

it means “don’t use ableist language”. christ.

You deserve to be respected as an autistic person. Not in spite of your autism; you deserve to have that part of yourself acknowledged and respected too.

non-autistic authors write autistic characters all the time. they just don’t realize it. they’d rather not admit it most of the time, either.

the thing is, non-autistic people have met autistic people more than enough times. however, due to their stereotypes about autism, they often can’t identify it as autism. they see something is up, but they can’t put their finger on just what is up.

so they see people like us and they know the ‘archetype’ which is autistic people. they write us all the time: airheaded professors, awkward nerds, pent up geniuses, etc.

when autistic people point out how strikingly obvious it is that this character is autistic, they usually deny it, or at best, they say the character is ‘if anything, extremely high functioning’, which is more of a kick in the gut than a confirmation. we hardly get those, either.

so, here’s the thing: there are some characters that are very obviously autistic to actual autistic people. pearl from steven universe and papyrus from undertale are two of the most agreed upon examples that i’ve seen. nearly ever autistic fan of steven universe i met says, “yeah, she’s autistic”, and the same goes for papyrus. 

when we, as a community, bring this up, however, we are shot down. “oh, he’s not autistic.” i once was told that - ironic as it was - my headcanoning papyrus as autistic offended autistic people or hurt autistic people. but i’m autistic and they weren’t. 

two autistic people were both agreeing - damn, this character is blatantly autistic - but non-autistic people felt the need to but in and say how horrible it was to “project” onto characters with such a horrible thing.

listen, if you aren’t autistic and you’re reading this -

if an autistic person says a character is autistic, can you just shut up about it?

because if you’ve watched any amount of tv, read any amount of books, whatever - if you’ve consumed stories, there are tons of autistic characters in them.

just because neither you nor the media’s creators knows shit about autism doesn’t mean that the character can’t be autistic.

either way, it’s none of your business.

we have little to none confirmed representation that isn’t terrible and inconsiderately offensively written. 

find something better to do with your time.

NT Author: *Writes lovingly nuanced character who is quirky, shy, physically sensitive, socially awkward, clumsy, brilliant at a few special topics and has the capacity to grow and learn friendship and love in a nontraditional way*

NT Author: They can’t possibly be autistic!

NT Author: I’m gonna write an autistic character!

NT Author: “Doesn’t talk, rocks back and forth, loves trains”

Gonna say this as an author:

It is 100% okay to use the phrase “well, they are now.”

If a ton of people approach you with a character you didn’t realize you coded autistic, and they’re like “fuck yeah, autistic character!”

You can 100% say “I didn’t even realize that’s what I was doing, but you know what? Sure. With the number of people who see it, I’m not gonna say no. They’re autistic now.”

Nobody worth having around is going to be offended by that.

Space, universe and science related special interests...

Are really cool.

In fact, all special interests are cool.

While I know I can’t actually convince people to not use the “r*tard” in any context, I would like to say that there’s no actual reason to use it given how many other words there are for “to slow/stop”

delay, slow down, slow up, hold back, hold up, set back, postpone, put back, detain, decelerate, hinder, hamper, obstruct, inhibit, impede,check, restrain, restrict.

There’s no reason to use it so like why use a word that makes an entire group of people be in definitely emotional pain and may even result in physical pain?

Shoutout to autistics who are super literal

To autistics who are called gullible or too trusting

To autistics who get made fun of for literal interpretations

To autistics who are mocked for believing what people say

There’s nothing wrong with you for taking people at what they say. You’re not unintelligent or st*pid or d*mb for taking the literal meaning of people’s words.

You deserve to have people in your life who speak clearly to you in ways you can understand.

You are awesome. Don’t let the bullies get you down!

It’s okay to.

It’s okay to take a break from your special interest.

It’s okay to get a bit tired of your special interest.

It’s okay to say things you don’t like about your special interest.

[Purpleish gradient square with a Laura Tisoncik quote: “The difference between high-functioning autism and low functioning is that high-functioning means your deficits are ignored, and low-functioning means your assets are ignored.”]

Ask an autistic why they struggle, and they'll often tell you it's the lack of help, support and understanding of others. Maybe they'll say it's due to bullying or lack of acceptance.

And then most people will go on to say it's the autism itself that's the main reason

“Somebody calls autism a tragedy. Somebody kills an autistic person. Somebody doesn’t see how these two events are connected. I try to explain. I try harder.”

piece of media: this character is Creepy and Insane. They’re totally crazy and Nobody Understands Them.

the character: *just displays a bunch of neurodivergent traits like rocking back and forth, talking to themself, pacing, doing the same thing over and over again, being a loner, etc*

Like that’s literally just a normal Saturday for me.

That autism feel when someone asks about your special interest and doesn’t tell you to shut up and engages you in conversation about it and cares about what you have to say about it and it makes you so happy

Dear people who hate autistic headcanons:

Every character you love is autistic because I said so.

Have a nice day!

Autistic people are welcome to reblog this to piss off ableists who crap on autistic headcanons or send anon hate about them.

sometimes, people don’t understand that we are hated for being autistic. “But I don’t hate autistic people!”.

That’s right! Because you don’t know how autistic people are.

You know, people never bullied me for being autistic. Because neither me nor they had the terminology. Nah, they punished me for being weird. And what made me weird to their eyes? I spoke weird and often stumbled, and I spoke like a grownup anyway, and I wouldn’t shut up about Ancient Greece. I moved weird too, because I was (am) really clumsy, and I didn’t have any friends. I was boring and didn’t catch jokes (made at my expense) and I didn’t look them in the eye, and so on and on.

If you asked any of the people who bullied me for years whether they hate autistic people, they’d say “no!”. Because they don’t hate autistic people, but oh boy do they hate weird people. Perhaps they don’t hate autistic people, but surely they hated me for being obviously autistic.

I’ve been trying to explain this concept to a lot of people. You did a really good job summing it up.

ive seen people online claim to support autistic people and then kind of mock/ostracize others for not immediately picking up on all the unwritten online social rules

An important thing to be mindful of.

No offense but i love my autistic self and no, that’s not “glamorizing autism”, that’s self-acceptance. Autistic people should be allowed to love and accept themselves without neurotypicals telling them it’s bad.

i dont wish i was neurotypical

i wish i was respected

I’ve noticed some common misassumptions about autistic people and verbality, so I thought I’d share some of my experiences!

If you meet me at a social occasion, I will be talkative and you will probably be surprised to know that some days I struggle with being verbal. Here’s what I might look like on a nonverbal/less verbal day

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