Proudly Autistic, Disabled, still a teacher at heart. Working to build a neurodiverse-positive education nonprofit, after having been displaced by the ableism of the NYCDOE.
If you’d like to help with items for my SD’s care, you can send Chewy gift cards to [email protected]. (This would go to more than just treats!)
My MS in Ed is useless for income after being pushed out via ableism 4 years ago, & because MCAS reactions to the mold, plus a severe infection, have caused a dip in my health. If you can help, or RT my 📌 GFM on Twitter (AuTeacher), it would help. Working hard to catch up on thanks after extended flares, executive dysfunction from reactions to the mold, stress, remediator predation, and more.
My true joy in life comes from helping others, especially via teaching. The more others share this, the more I can focus on self-care, so that I can do what I do best, from home. It’s been 4 years, but teaching and working for autistic community is STILL what I’m meant to do.
Much love. Thanks to anyone that can #help/#share. I promise to pay it forward if I can just get past this.
I was out trying to find a bathtub I could use because I’m in a power chair and I need something I can transfer into with a bath lifter.
So I get to the showroom, look around for a disabled parking spot. I can’t see one, so we pull around back, my mum drops the ramp so I can roll out, then she finds a regular park. We notice signage at the back and go in, because it looks like this is just another entrance. It is, but it turns out to only be for tradespeople. But it’s okay, because there is a door into the showroom. But there’s a problem. The door is custom and way too narrow for me to get through. So we go back out and we head for the front. The front has steps. There is a ramp, but the car parked there is covering most of the entrance and then there is a giant concrete bollard right in the worst place. Mum goes into the showroom, the person moves their car, and I just manage to squeeze past the bollard and up the ramp. There are some pretty sinks and taps, but no baths. Then we notice the stairs and the sign that says “Baths and Main Showroom on the First Floor”. So my mum goes up and I ask a very disinterested salesman where the lift is. He doesn’t even look up before telling me “There isn’t one. Sorry.” His tone is completely flat and he actually seems annoyed I even asked. So I just sit pointedly at the bottom of the stairs until mum comes back down. Nothing usable. Getting back out is just as horrendous as getting in was (the car blocking the way turned out to be in the handicapped parking spot and didn’t have the disability parking card). By the time we get back into the car we are completely exhausted and I end up crying.
Tl;dr - Access beyond a ramp is actually really important.
Thanks for the good vibes. It sucked at the time, but it made me even more determined to advocate as much as I possibly can. I’m fortunate in a lot of ways, and I want to try and make sure people know what it is like and add more visibility. I never really thought about this sort of thing before I got sick, and now when I walk along a sidewalk looking at stores I think, ‘Step, step, ledge, step, oh flat!’ It’s like a really awful game of duck, duck, goose.
I’ve seen this shared all over the internet the past few days. It’s not as progressive as most people think it is.
Many choose not to have children for the exact *opposite* of “selfish” reasons. I myself am meant to help nurture children, just in a different way. And I’m willing to risk everything trying to do so - the exact opposite of “selfish.”
I’m meant to help mothers, and other parents. I’m meant to act in a role that’s often similar to being a surrogate parent. And I’ve accidentally been called “mom” several times in that role, which I take as the highest of compliments.
But I’m not meant to have children myself. It’s *more than* okay, and I don’t need anyone’s validation on that.
Let’s just stop equating “nulliparous” with “selfish,” and the world will be a much better place🤷🏼♀️
So, I’ve been trying to work out a color scheme to use in an area meant for autistic (and otherwise neurodiverse) education purposes. This includes not only the website/social media presence, but also a physical space, as well.
The color scheme of this page itself, atm, is something that I found attractive. However, I purposely avoided colors that I found aversive growing up - such as large amounts of red. This was in hopes of making the page a comfortable place for others that are neurodiverse.
The picture I’ve included here, like many I found on Google, showed red as an “energetic” or “powerful” color. While some may feel that way, colors like bright red and yellow are actually known as “danger colors” for a reason.
Poisonous animals often feature these colors, to warn predators - so it’s something that’s just a general rule of nature. Many brands may use this startling effect to “stand out,” as certain colors can be quite jarring to the senses. (This is one of the many reasons why places like supermarkets, full of bright color palettes, jockeying for buyer attention - can be a sensory nightmare for some autistics...adults and children alike.)
Even from a young age, I found that the wrong loud colors could be just as distracting as loud sounds, when it came to feeling that I was in a comfortable learning environment. Yet at the same time, I want to work with colors that bring a dual sense of calm and engagement. Neutrals have a definite snooze factor, and I want to create a sense of excitement, yet without that sense of panic.
If you could learn in your *perfect* setting as an autistic person - even thinking back to imagine your perfect learning space in childhood - what would that space look like? What colors do you envision on the walls, and in the space in general?
While I know my own feelings on this, I would love to get the point of view of others.
Autistic/neurodiverse adults - what rooms did you love to be in growing up, and which did you hate to be in, or feel uncomfortable in, due to color schemes?
Parents of autistic & neurodiverse children, same question - do you notice that the color of the environment has an impact on your child? What colors are their preferred spaces and objects? Have you noticed a trend in certain bright spaces being places where distress & meltdowns are more common? (Even without the explicit language to share this information, body language can also share a lot about this - so I’d love to know your interpretations of this/noticing of patterns in this area, as well.)
Many thanks to all that share an answer. Creating an accessible, calming aesthetic is important to me. Also, feel free to share pictures of your dream color samples. I’ll share this post on Facebook & Twitter (both @AuTeacher), so that you can share color samples of your imagined “dream space,” if you’d like. An open-ended color-poll, if you will😊
My first box of book donations, & my first donation in general!! Super excited to be getting started with my dream project.
Anyone in the Long Island area with gently-used early-childhood & childhood books, toys, or games that you’d like to donate? Art materials and certain educational materials would also be super helpful.
For now, the best way to reach me would be to message me by searching “AuTeacher” on Facebook (and a follow would be great, too!). You can also find me at @auteacher on Twitter, and at “au_teacher” on Instagram. This will be the main website for now.
I’ll be doing a lot of work, including building out ideas, physical and tech/social setup, seeking out donations, and more - so updates may not be super-regular at this stage. But I’ll definitely be on the lookout for donations, and checking for messages regularly!!
Will be back with more news soon...but until then, it will be a lot of hard work!! You can also find me at @AuTeacher on Twitter, at-Au_Teacher on Instagram, or by searching “AuTeacher” on Facebook. A true website is pending due to cost and time factors (until then, Tumblr it is!).
If you’ve come here via my Twitter, you may be aware that I’m a *displaced* educator. Neurodiverse education is my passion, and I also loved being a visibly disabled role model for my students, who, like me, were also neurodiverse, and/or disabled.
It was amazing to see students’ positive responses at my switch to using a powerchair - with some doing things like comparing how my chair was both different and similar to their own. But it was also soul-crushing to be blocked from coming in to work soon thereafter, via ADA violations. I also faced retaliation, which took away my insurance at a critical point, for the greater part of 8 months. This not only kept me too ill to follow up on a pending lawsuit, but it also caused many other issues.
My health took a hard hit - physically, from the lack of care, and emotionally, because my job had quite literally felt tailor-made for me, and my natural talents. I’d also loved my students dearly, and felt like I lost my school “family.” For a long time, I was unable to see teaching scenes on television without breaking down in tears.
After years of worsened illness, and feeling completely traumatized over what had happened - I finally realized that I was *still* Miss Kelly, and that my natural talents and insights in neurodiverse education could never be taken away.
My goal is to build a nonprofit in my area of expertise, education, & experience. Neurodiverse students deserve better. Current systems often do not optimize student learning, but instead focus on things like administrator bonuses and school ratings. While working in the largest “special needs” system in the country, I saw countless instances of safety issues, and shortchanging of students. I saw forceful handling of students that have left me with nightmares, to this day. Yet my warnings were continually unheeded, and I was targeted for voicing my very valid concerns.
There are things that I want parents to know about what’s happening in classrooms, and about their rights, and those of their children. There are also things that I want to share with teachers. Many brilliant, *amazing* human beings quickly leave this field far too quickly. And there are many reasons for this - disillusionment, burnout at trying to right tons of wrongs on their own, and outright bullying, for refusing to be silenced about issues with the status quo.
I’m super excited to get started. However, I do need to ensure that my own health is taken care of while starting this endeavor. Because of the discrimination I faced, I haven’t worked since 2017. I’ve fought extremely hard to get healthy enough to return to the field that I love so much. If anyone wants to donate to my GoFundMe, you can find the link below, and pinned on my Twitter account. I use bartering and donations of used items when I can, but sometimes - like with the new powerchair I need - that’s just not possible.
Thanks to anyone that can help! I’ll be updating socials as soon as possible, but there may be delays, especially at the start...as I’m wearing many hats (in fact, every hat!) in this endeavor😊
https://gofund.me/e0bbface
Update: I desperately need the first $4-5k for a powerchair, drinka… Kelly Womack needs your support for Help Kelly With
