Autism News: 2016/12/04

Well, I haven’t made an Autism News post since before the American election, so we need to address that. All of you have presumably already read a million thinkpieces about the election, but there is less being spread around from a disabled point of view than from some others, so here are some important election-related posts by disabled people.

(Note: I’m not completely sure how to TW this section properly. Please assume, as with the Sad Things section, that everything that sounds like it might be negative/triggering is what it says on the can.)

• Carolyn Zaikowski on why the Trump administration will be deadly for disabled people
• Sara Novic on Donald Trump’s ableism and the dangers of his presidency, from a Deaf perspective
• Julia Bascom on what ASAN plans to do during the Trump administration (and beyond!)
• Real Social Skills has advice for disabled people who are struggling more after the election and for accepting human limitations while fighting evil

But not all of us live in the US! Here are some slightly less terrible things that are happening in the UK.

• Toys R Us follows in ASDA’s footsteps and introduces quiet hours for autistic customers in the UK
• An organization in the UK is campaining for more attention to autism-related and learning-disability-related hate crimes. (The article does not contain any detailed descriptions of hate crimes.)
• The Labour Party is appointing a Shadow Minister for Neurodiversity

Some useful psychological information:

• Alyssa Hillary on “life skills” that are not exactly skills
• Lisa Daxer on IQ testing
• Shannon des Roches Rosa on autism and electroconvulsive therapy
• Alyssa Hillary on aphantasia and apraxia

Some posts about personal experiences:

• Feminist Aspie on being an autistic college freshman
• Alyssa Hillary on the difference between silence and absence
• Dani Alexis Ryskamp on being able to love (TW: detailed description of pet medical emergency)
• M. Kelter on getting a therapist (TW: contains mentions of suicidal ideation)
• Katelynn Parlow on being a “high-functioning” adult who has meltdowns
• Sabrinawhitenight reflects back, one year after being diagnosed

Intersectionality:

• N.I. Nicholson on being autistic and multiple
• Matthew Rozsa on the underdiagnosis of autistic women
• Bryony White on being autistic and trans (TW: contains descriptions of police violence and medical ableism/cissexism)
• Rhi from Autnot on when mental health services are inaccessible

Some activism, and some posts about how to do activism:

• Lydia Brown on conference attendance as privilege, conflicting access needs, and the asymptopic standard of universal inclusion
• Weeds from into-the-weeds on why ableism is more than a set of words
• Some affirmations for Autistics Speaking Day from Feminist Aspie
• Ivanova Smith argues against institutionalization
• Jacqueline Koyanagi on writing queer and disabled characters
• Ari Ne’eman on the history of autism politics (TW: contains descriptions of eugenics, including murderous eugenics)

Misc:

• Autism Speaks removed the word “cure”, and many other pathologizing/stigmatizing terms, from their mission statement. (While this change is too little too late for many autistic people, it’s still really interesting news!)
• Brent White and Lindsey Anderson give a presentation on understanding and coping with meltdowns.

And finally, the Sad Things section. (Or should that be Sad Things Other Than Trump?)

• The fire in California which killed four disabled men and their caregiver has been confirmed to be arson-related, and potentially a murder-suicide.
• Lisa Daxer’s Autism Memorial logged six known times in October and November when autistic people were killed for being autistic: [1] 2 3 4 [5] [6]