Wibbly-Wobbly Ramblings

"My autism diagnosis gave me such a sense of relief…My diagnosis made sense as to why school was hard for me, since I had to try to be a super smart black girl due to the expectations of black culture."

dear buckaroos. chuck woke to find that CAMP DAMASCUS has remained steadfast on USA TODAY BESTSELLER LIST for a second week. first week includes preorders which means most books drop off suddenly yet camp damascus remains and this is ONLY because of one thing: YOUR word of mouth.

so thankful buds are resonating with this story and  recommending it to buds who need it. i have given my art and you have given me this love and kindness in return. you have seen my outsider way and STEPPED UP to say 'i sign off on this too' and for that i am awash in gratitude.

for years ive talked on buds sayin 'i love chuck tingle but i would never read his books’. well meaning buckaroos say this because what i do has a specific ‘queer outsider way’ and there is a subconscious block to proclaim: ‘YES I PERSONALLY AND PROUDLY SUPPORT THIS UNIRONICALLY’

but no longer. i am so moved and impressed with way that TOGETHER we have shifted this timeline towards love and acceptance of UNIQUE TROTS. of the way i have been embraced. so this one is for the 'strange buckaroos' because ultimately we are ALL strange buckaroos in our own way

so support of camp damascus is officially no fluke and we have remained on the dang bestseller charts for a second week. the strange and unique and joyful trots are here to stay. the queer and neurodivergent trots are here to stay. THE BUCKAROOS ARE HERE TO STAY. LOVE IS REAL

 just making a little post with update on way of CAMP DAMASCUS trotting onto this timeline next month. preorders are doing GREAT, vibes are doing GREAT, ITS ALL COMING TOGETHER. chuck wanted to take moment and say from bottom of heart 'thank you for being on this journey with me'

i have been creating this art for a long time, at one point there were no more than a dozen buckaroos and now we trot in the dang hundreds of thousands. every DAY i am overwhelmed with gratitude at this way we have built as a force of OUTSIDER ART sayin ‘here is a different way'

and to see this way now accepted by mainstream is hard to describe without tears of joy. i have always had faith in buckaroo message but DANG BUD seeing it happen like this AND TO BEND THIS TIMELINE towards a path that celebrates queerness, neurodivergence and LOVE is so powerful

just wanted to say THANK YOU for being here in this moment, a divergence of timelines where we kick down the wall and chart a NEW path. whether you are old time buckaroo or a fresh faced bud i appreciate you SO MUCH. we are heckin TROTTING right now and this is only the beginning

LOVE IS REAL (camp damascus preorder is here)

CONTENT WARNING be careful watching somewhere where a loud noise could scare the heck out of you

hey buckaroos did you know my first traditionally published horror novel comes out this upcoming summer. it is about a christian conversion therapy camp, and it has a queer autistic main character. i am VERY proud of this way. it is also a very cathartic story, i think.

here is the book trailer and i think it is good example of fact that even though chuck is working with traditional big timer publisher i am still unique in my ways. i do not think you will ever seen a book trailer like this.

THANK YOU to my buds in band THE LOCUST for allowing chuck to use their song. 

anyway buds if you want to preorder CAMP DAMASCUS you can right here

Anybody remember that Pixar short "Float"? The one where the kid is deemed different by others for his ability to float, and although the kid is happiest when floating, the dad tries to suppress it because he's scared of the judgement from others.

Then when he tries to make the kid "act normal", he realises it's just making his kid depressed and learns to embrace what makes him different.

It's almost like this short was meant to represent autism....

I hate that no one talks about just how distressing memory loss from adhd actually is. I always see memes that are like “haha I forgot my phone, I don’t remember where my laptop is, etc”, but no one seems to talk about how it can really fuck you up long term to just, not remember things that are completely mundane to non-adhd’ers. The memory loss is, however, so frustrating to us. I cannot physically count how many meltdowns I have had over the sheer mental frustration and torture of not being able to remember seemingly simple things

I know it’s not even April, and it’s been not April for the longest time, but it still stands. Every month. All - all the time.

The original is from incorrectwhoquotes on Instagram

@butterflyinthewell I think you’d like this.

I still hate them.

After @elzear-stims got some hate for elz body stims, I decided to draw some stim positivity! 

Text reads: Feel happy (leads to) happy stim (leads to) feel happy VS Feel happy (leads to) quiet hands (leads to) can’t express self (leads to) what am I even feeling?! (leads to) numb. 

Distressed (leads to) stim (leads to) feel soothed (leads to) communicate needs (leads to) calm/safe VS Distressed (leads to) quiet hands (leads to) mute (leads to) no help (leads to) distressed.

Stim ‘cause it feels good (leads to) feel good (leads to) have fun! VS Don’t stim ‘cause it’s ‘weird’ (leads to) feel lost (leads to) be unhappy. 

Respecting people’s body stims -

- costs 0 monies (money) 

- makes people feel accepted

- support’s people’s health and safety

- contributes to exciting changes in acceptable communication!!!

- literally does not hurt you in any way

I think the main reason growing up autistic and raising autistic kids is so hard is because society doesn’t accept us yet. I hear a lot of autism parents rant about how difficult autism is and how some parents just cannot cope. It made me think of the nearsighted analogy I see floating around so I’m gonna expand on it.

I’m nearsighted, which is technically a disability, but I’m easily able to get glasses, to get them repaired when I need to, and nobody thinks twice about it. I got teased a little bit when I first got them, but people wearing glasses is basically considered normal and kids will tease you for anything.

But imagine if nearsighted people kept failing classes because they couldn’t see the chalkboard and glasses were too expensive or you had to jump through hoops to get them. Imagine if instead of wearing glasses, they had to go to expensive and ineffective therapies to train their eyes to see normally.

Of course, these methods would lead to physical and mental exhaustion and really painful eye strain as well as feelings of guilt and shame for something that’s beyond the individual’s control, so nearsighted people would protest that they are ineffective. But what do they know? They’re nearsighted.

Imagine if you were told you were stupid for holding the book close to your face to read, or not being able to read a billboard. Imagine if you were trained not to squint because squinting made the people around you uncomfortable. Imagine if people told you that if you would just go outside more or try harder, your vision would go back to normal.

Imagine finally getting glasses, only to find out that they don’t actually help because they’re one-size-fits-all. They just make everything blurry in a different way and give you a killer headache on top of that.

Imagine growing up with access to glasses that do help a little bit, then becoming an adult and realizing that you can’t get help if your glasses break or your vision changes because the only nearsightedness programs around are for children and you’ve aged out of them.

Imagine people assuming you were stupid, slow, lazy, and irresponsible just because you have a physical difference in your eyes that could easily be fixed with glasses, but for some reason nobody thinks to accommodate you.

Imagine seeing your mom cry because she hates that her nearsighted child will never experience the world the way someone with 20/20 vision does. Imagine hearing her tell her friends that she’s afraid to send you to school because of the way the other kids treat you, and because the school doesn’t do anything to help. Imagine hearing her say that sometimes she wishes she aborted you because the stress is too much.

Imagine seeing on the news that a mother killed her nearsighted son because she “couldn’t cope with the stress” and not being charged with murder because the court sees it as a valid reason to kill someone.

If we as a society put more effort into accommodating neurodivergent people, parents wouldn’t be fighting against the world to provide for their kids. Autism would be just another way kids can be different from each other.

In what backwards universe do neurotypicals equate autistic people saying “hey, don’t post videos / blogs showing your autistic kids in crisis situations they would find humiliating” means we’re trying to ignore any autistic person with extensive care needs?

DEAR NEUROTYPICALS, here it is in the plainest English I got:

We say “hey, don’t post those video” because the person in the video is a human being who deserves their privacy. 

A disabled human is not a circus side show to be gawked at. 

We never saw videos of Stephen Hawking with his wheelchair stuck on a ramp. We don’t know how he went to the bathroom or the routine for getting him dressed and groomed in the morning. We never saw him with food on his face or if a muscle spasm caused him to tip in a weird position in his wheelchair. His carers did everything to keep his private life private. Sometimes rumors and bits got out, but for the most part the public wasn’t privy to what went on in his house until years later.

Gee, how hard is that, to let a disabled person have their privacy? NOT THAT HARD.

Showing videos to the public that depict the autistic person in undignified / humiliating / crisis situations is not educational at all. It’s voyeuristic, exploitative and a destruction of their privacy.

I don’t even like it when parents post embarrassing videos of their able bodied / neurotypical children, but at least NTAB kids can say “mom, turn the camera off! Mom, take that video down!”

Someone who can’t speak or advocate for themselves that way can’t defend themselves against how they’re being portrayed to the public.

Autistic people don’t say “no videos like that” to people because we want the ugly side of autism to go away.

We want you to stop exploiting people who can’t defend themselves against that exploitation. 

Here, let me break it down so even a child can understand.

Did the person in the video say you can share it on the internet?

If yes, go ahead and post it.

If no, only share it with a doctor if the behavior is a symptom of something and then delete it or keep it out of the public eye.

If it isn’t possible to get a yes or no from the person, DO NOT POST IT ONLINE!!!

“We do not all face the same risks; as with every attack on members of our community, some of us are more directly targeted and others are more called upon to stand in solidarity.

The solidarity autistics have shown since January 2017 with other disabled people, even when they are not directly affected by an issue… has been amazing to watch. I am grateful today, as a trans person, to be a member of the autistic community.“