A few days ago, thanks to one Tumblr post the Autism Speaks page on Facebook went from 3.9 stars all the way down to 1.4 stars. It has started to become something of a victory in the autism community after many years of Autism Speaks trying to silence us.

However earlier this morning they decide to disable their rating system so that people would not notice their star rating and realize how bad they are. They did not bother responding, instead they choose to take the cowards way out and silence us once again.

So I urge everyone who reads this to spread the message and not let Autism Speaks get away with this, we cannot be silenced, we WILL not be silent. They are not going to get away this time.

Another hashtag that hilariously backfired …

Also one of those tweets is from John Elder Robison, who USED to work for Autism Speaks until he left because he couldn’t support their message.

that autism feel when maaaybe that one food won’t taste quite so bad this time and OH GO D IT DOES

Claiming the puzzle piece and letting us, the autistics, define it.

Looks like the puzzle piece logo for autism is never gonna leave because of ableism.

So we need to think of a positive meaning to the symbol and take it out of the hands of non-autistics and own it for ourselves.

The puzzle piece currently means that autistic people don’t fit in with others and are a “puzzle”. I am a PERSON not a “puzzle”. I also expect to treated like a person and not as a jigsaw of random crap.

I think we need to own the puzzle piece logo by changing its meaning to “part of a bigger picture” because autism is different in everyone so one person is not the whole picture but a part of something much bigger that when put together, creates something beautiful and something to be proud of. The symbol could also reflect how we think, how we are good at finding solutions and seeing things differently, how we see something and can connect with it in a way no non-autistic can. And as a woman on spectrum (Aspergers/ASD) I think that’s something to be cherished.

videogamesandrainbows autisticbooks autisticadvocacy autismgirl1 autismproblems autism-really-speaks neurowonderful neuroatypically-speaking what do you guys think??

I’d think instead of the puzzle piece being all “These [autistic] people are puzzles” it should be more “Human beings are puzzles, and autistics are a vital piece of that puzzle; without them [us] we [humanity] wouldn’t be complete!”.  Something along that line, anyway.

-Volpe

Link in case tumblr eats the vid

Quite some generalisations in here, but he makes a few good points as well. I’m having a hard time of telling whether this song is ableist or not.

Here are his lyrics:

I’m having a really hard time determining the same...   ;-;  For the most part, it seems ableist with the generalites and even exaggerations, but at the same time (like you said) there are a couple of actual points in there. I almost feel like this might be satire? For people who try to claim to be autistic but actually aren’t, and try to make up ludicrous reasons to why (pretty much said reasons/things in the lyrics)?  I don’t even know.  

-Volpe

Aspergers community

Is the term “aspie” pejorative?

It absolutely is not, if you’re referring to yourself or to the Aspie community/populous. If someone tries to use it in such a way, that’s different.. but, really, ANY word/phrase/term can be used in a negative context.    -Volpe 

Sensory overload isn’t always rocking back and forth on the floor in crowded places. Especially if you’ve learnt to hide your traits. the most common situation i cant deal with is the kitchen in my own house. There are three lights and my eyes/ head start hurting. Theres the smells of coffee and milk and toast and i usually cant breathe properly. There are tiny crumbs and wet surfaces and you want to flap your hands to get rid of it. and i can hear next door using drills and hammers and it feels like those things are being used on my skull. If there are other people in the kitchen there just no hope because tap water sounds and knife against plate sounds and stirring tea sounds and talking sounds and microwave sounds and radio is loud and im not even going to get into the breathing/ eating/ footsteps/ general people sounds. The worst is the kettle but i usually leave if i know its going to be used.

“I can only speak for myself, but i have swarms of fire ants just under my skin. they are never not moving i am never not aware of them most of the time its just something I’ve gotten used to until something touches me in the wrong way and makes all of them bite. My skin burns, spreading out in ripples from the epper centre of me all of my cells are screaming and the only way to quiet them is flap, rock, twist, spin, drag shoe along floor, rub hand across hair. Notice the release of it. Do it again.” - Gabe Moses, Stimming.

When someone is surprised by how much you know about your special interest(s.)

This is hilarious because the .GIF is LITERALLY FROM MY SPECIAL INTEREST. :D 

 -Volpe

people will spend thousands of dollars on ABA and then say that a $300 AAC app costs too much. FFS.

but it really is so important to find people who don’t lose patience with you or get angry if you’re being irrational or insecure or downright ridiculous, it is so so necessary to be treated with gentleness from loved ones and not to be made to feel like you’re irritating or a burden

When people tell me that I “must be a very high-functioning autistic” I always wonder whether it’s because they actually think that they have any kind of comprehension of how well I may or may not function in different areas - or if they simply can’t imagine that an autistic person who they’d consider low-functioning could be so… human? 

seen on my face book feed(Anti-vaccination, modern)

“studies”

who has ever thought this ever

Don’t let your children drink water it might make them think drinking other clear liquids is okay do you want your child drinking bleach

don’t let your children walk, it might make them think its okay to walk away from home

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure not even people who use heroin believe it is beneficial.

Don’t let your child breathe air. Studies have shown thatin the event of a fire, children who breathe in air are much more likely to breathe in smoke than children who’ve never breathed air.

Don’t have a child. 100% of children grow up and die. You’re literally condemning your own children to die.