New Year Writing Goals

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reminder that this is the typical online experience for blind folks.

imagine if your dash, your Twitter feed, your fb looked like this. imagine if someone shared a photo with the comment “omg so cool!” and the above was all you could see. now imagine this happened hundreds of times. imagine that this was your normal experience interacting online.

add image descriptions to every image that you share. here and on every other social media platform. every time.

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Cheers to all the autistics whose special interest is autism itself;

Cheers to all the autistics whose special interest is any other condition they do or do not have;

Cheers to all the autistics whose special interest is seen as stereotypical within the community;

Cheers to all the autistics whose special interest is their job, career or degree;

Cheers to all the autistics whose special interest is a person, a group or a character;

Cheers to all the autistics whose special interest is a show, a movie or a series;

Cheers to all the autistics whose special interest is town, a country or another location;

Cheers to all the autistics whose special interest is an art or a craft, even if underrated;

Cheers to all the autistics whose special interest is an activity or a sport;

Cheers to all the autistics whose special interest hasn't been mentioned above;

Cheers to all the autistics who do not have a special interest;

Cheers to all the autistics who are still figuring out theirs;

Cheers to all the autistics.

hey you know what, heres a post for stupid autistics

whether you've been called stupid or see yourself that way,

whether you hate the word or not.

im so fucking tired of this.

theres so many jokes on this website blatantly calling autistic people and symptoms stupid.

ignoring any autistic person who isn't "smart."

shoutout to autistics like me,

who have bas reading comprehension, who struggle to understand things, who take things literally, who are called stupid every day of their fucking life.

you're not lesser than.

in case anyone on here needs to hear it:

if you're hitting yourself during your "panic attacks," that's more likely an autistic meltdown not a panic attack

if it's really really hard to speak when you get overwhelmed, that might be verbal shutdown (you might have heard "going nonverbal" but those who are nonverbal - all the time - have asked not to use that phrasing)

if you get really angry over seemingly little things like people making noise, too many things happening, etc. that might be sensory overload

if you hate tags, or "fancy clothes," or the wrong kind of socks, or the way the belt doesn't sit quite right on your hips, or the feeling of doing dishes, or lights, or the sound of your air vents, or being the tiniest bit sweaty, or being hot at all, or the wrong types of fabrics, or the way your shirt creases at your elbow, that could be sensory issues

if you can "make eye contact" but you feel like you're staring into their soul, and you feel kinda weird and anxious about it and don't quite know where to look or how often to break it, and you can only do it when the other person's talking but you have to look around when you're talking to be able to "think," that's still having trouble with eye contact

if you've accumulated a huge list of comorbid conditions (OCD, BPD, chronic fatigue, EDS, anxiety, social anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, sleep disorders, ADHD, epilepsy, IBS, eating disorders, PTSD, psychosis, OCD) autism can often be the underlying missed diagnosis

if you had an evaluation before 2013 and were diagnosed with only ADHD, you might still have autism because the diagnoses used to be exclusionary (they would only choose one) even though they very commonly occur together

if you identify as a "highly sensitive person" you should definitely look into autism because the traits all overlap

if you "can socialize fine" but it's actually just people-pleasing and putting on a mask to fit in, that's not socializing naturally like a neurotypical would

if you "don't have special interests" but you're obsessed with a band, or a show, or psychology, or makeup, or some other socially acceptable interest.. those can still be special interests, it doesn't have to be something obscure

if you "don't stim" by hand flapping/jumping/using fidget toys, but you play with your phone all the time, or your hair, or pick at your skin, or repeat words/phrases/songs in your head, or hum to yourself, or make random noises, or crack your knuckles, or play with the clip on your pen, those are also stims (note: everyone stims to some degree)

if you have trouble with eating but can't quite figure out why, it feels disordered but you're confused because it has nothing to do with weight/body image, alexithymia and ARFID are both common issues that cause eating difficulties in autism and ADHD

Back from the dead to reblog my own year-old post.

Wanted to add that if you're autistic and want to reclaim the puzzle piece, that's perfectly fine! But it's good we advise people to stay away from websites and organizations that use it since most of them are still ableist.

Since it's Autism Awareness Month, here's

Why the puzzle piece is offensive to the Autistic Community

[Large text: Why the puzzle piece is offensive to the Autistic Community]

Unfortunately, the most commonly used symbols to represent autism are all puzzle related, like the ones bellow.

These symbols and similar ones are typically used by Autism Organizations that are run by allistic people rather than autistic, Autism Speaks being the best-known example across the internet, but not the only one.

I'm not going to go deep into how bad Autism Speaks is, but just to leave you with the tip of the iceberg, know they used to put out ads that demonized autistic people (and even one in which one of the organization's leaders spoke about wanting to drive herself and her autistic daughter off a bridge).

Autism Speaks, and many others, attempt to "teach" people about autism, without hearing what actually autistic people have to say, and that's their biggest (but not at all only) problem.

Now, stay with me as we dive into history...

The puzzle piece was first used as a symbol for autism in 1963, by UK's National Autism Society, later on being adopted by Autism Speaks, which made it more popular.

Back then, autism awareness campaigns were viewed as being similar to, for example, cancer awareness ones, because autism was seen as an illness, a disease (which it is not).

As I've made clear before, the puzzle piece is heavily associated with organizations that spread misinformation about autism, making it, of course, already a bad symbol to represent us, but there's something I personally feel bothers us a lot more, and that is the symbolism of the puzzle piece.

The puzzle piece represents an idea of "mystery" and — you guessed it — being "puzzled".

And us, autists, don't really appreciate being called confusing.

Not only that, these words were often used to describe autism offensively in the past (and still are). And, on top of that, most times, when you find a puzzle supposed to represent autism, it is incomplete.

Isn't the message clear enough?

We're people, not puzzles that have to be worked out. We're not incomplete and we're not "puzzled".

So

Which symbols can you use for autism awareness?

[Large text: Which symbols can you use for autism awareness?]

The infinity rainbow symbol is common for all neurodivergent people, while the golden infinity is specific for ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder, in case you didn't know the acronym).

The infinity symbol represents the complexity and vastness of neurodivergence and autism.

Autism is less about "severity" and more about different struggles in different topics and areas (though not a lot of people seem to understand that, unfortunately). After all, autism is a spectrum, not a scale.

And if you're interested in why golden is the color of choice for us, that'd be because the periodic symbol for gold is Au, which I think is very clever, haha.

Some people also like to use red or plain yellow, I don't know a lot about that, but I'd recommend you research it.

And since we're on the topic of color, just a warning: in the Autistic Community we kind of avoid using blue to represent us, especially because it is heavily associated with Autism Speaks' "Light It Up Blue" movement.

Blue is seen as a representation of feelings like sadness, as well as being commonly associated with boys (this is important because women and other AFAB are often misdiagnosed and underdiagnosed because many people still think autism is only found in boys, and because many traits are viewed as "normal behavior" in AFAB people).

This isn't to say you can't use blue in the title of your PowerPoint presentation about ASD, it's just a thing we try to avoid.

Well, that should be all.

I decided to make this post because I've seen many people post about which symbols to use for Autism Awareness Month, but no one explaining why.

Thought this could help some poor lost soul understand it, lol

Happy Autism Awareness Month, my beloved Yippies, and a thank you to everyone who stopped to read <3 (heart).

Now I'm gonna go clean my search history and my gallery, just reading "Autism Speaks" gives me the ick.

For narrative: if you find it too confusing to use multiple pronouns for the same character when there are a lot of characters present and acting, you can switch pronouns each chapter — in chapter X you only use "he/him" and in chapter Y only "they/them", for example.

For dialogue: make a list of which pronouns you think other characters should address them by — this is also a nice detail about how your other characters view non-binarity (if it isn't normalized in the story) and even how they view the NB themself. While one character will use multiple pronouns for them, others might choose to only use one.

It's not that difficult, really

We need more non-binary characters who use multiple pronouns.

I understand why we often advise binary writers to only use they/them for non-binary characters and how it can be a little confusing to have multiple pronouns being used for a single character in narrative, but there's ways to make it less confusing and we should remind the world that:

1. not all enbies use they/them pronouns

2. not all enbies use ONLY they/them pronouns

Multiple pronouns, both for non-binary and even for binary characters is just accurate representation.

Also this autism acceptance and awareness month please stop using the term going Nonverbal or going nonspeaking when you are having a temporary loss of speech. Use a term like verbal shutdown or speech loss episode instead. As a Nonverbal autistic I am tired of speaking people using the term Nonverbal or nonspeaking to describe their verbal shutdowns

For July 2024 we're keeping the party going here at the Prompt foundry, celebrating diversity, solidarity, and triumphs won in the fight for rights as we roll right from Queer Pride in June to Disability Pride in July with Pride 2 Disability Boogaloo!

If you use this list, please tag me here @thepromptfoundry, I’d love to see your writing and art!

Feel free to combine different days' prompts with each other, or combine them with other seasonal events! Use your OCs, your favorite characters from media, your own experiences, whatever tickles your fancy.

Respond to as many prompts as you want or as interest you, don’t worry about missing or skipping any. Remember, this is supposed to be fun!

If you have any questions or musings, check our FAQ, and if you don't find your answer, shoot me an ask.

Plain text list below the cut:

1 We’ve always been here 2 Growing up disabled 3 Mobility aides 4 Curb-cut effect 5 Memory loss 6 Dignity 7 Limb difference 8 Sensory sensitivity 9 Autonomy 10 Invisible disability 11 Family 12 Nonverbal 13 Communication 14 Deaf or Hard of Hearing 15 Support 16 Technology 17 Pain 18 Rest 19 Facial difference 20 Space for us 21 Neurological disability 22 Neurodiversity 23 Becoming disabled 24 Allergy 25 Chronic condition 26 Genetics 27 Skin difference 28 Maintenance 29 Respecting limits 30 Solidarity 31 A future for us

Have fun!

“Autistic people need special accommodations” and “autistic people should not be infantilized and talked down to” are schools of though that can and should co-exist.

While I do get your point, I still don't think it is reasonable to call any sign language useless, especially when speaking with someone who would very much benefit from learning it.

What do verbal, hearing people have against sign language?

I'm a hearing-able and "usually" verbal person, but since I'm autistic I sometimes go into verbal shutdown.

Both because of that and because I simply find sign languages to be important languages that should be more normalized around the globe, I really wanted to have the opportunity to learn my country's sign language properly.

However, whenever I mention that to certain people, they'll tell me it's useless and pointless because I don't know any deaf, hard-of-hearing or nonverbal individuals.

Like????? Excuse me?????

I don't know about other countries, but we don't have the chance to learn sign in Portuguese schools and I personally think we should be taught to communicate easily with everyone in our own country before being taught how to communicate with foreigns.

Sign languages are languages like any other. When my friends chose to learn French and German no one told them it was useless because they don't know any French or German people, so what's the big deal with sign language?

I apologize to any and every deaf, Deaf, hard-of-hearing, non-verbal or semiverbal person reading this for how rude some jerks out there can be.

(Also, sorry if hearing-abled isn't the correct term, I can’t really find an answer anywhere)