Hey! It’s your friendly neighborhood autie reminding you how to be a good ally to autistic people this April (and all other timers):
-Call April “Autism Awarness Month.” Awareness implies that autism is a disease like cancer, which is not true at all!
-Under ANY circumstance, support Autism $peaks and their “pledge to be kind!” They are an absolute atrocious excuse for an organization, and harm autistic people more than help. There are many reasons why they are such an awful group, but to make this shorter, they are in likes to PETA in terms of grossness.
-Silence and talk over autistic experiences. This is pretty self explanatory.
-Use the puzzle-piece symbol to represent autism. The symbol was created to describe autism as “puzzling” and harbors very negative connotations of autism.
-Tell an autistic person that their autistic headcanons are invalid because there is already one canon autistic character in the show, or that the character “doesn’t act autistic enough!” Many autistic people use these headcanons on their favorite characters as comfort.
-Refer to an autistic person as “a special needs kid.” This one I hear the most often in a school-setting, but it still can be portrayed as harmful, mainly because it creates the thought that all autistic students are separate from allistic students.
-Think that all autistic people are geniuses, or all autistic adults act in a childish manner.
-Tell an autistic person to stop stimming because it’s “annoying” or “distracting”
-Say anything along the lines of “you don’t seem/act autistic!” This implies that autism is a bad thing!
-Say “Im so sorry” to someone when they tell you they’re autistic.
-Use “high” and “low” functioning labels. This implies that “low-functioning” autistic people are “stupider” and cannot as many things as “high-functioning” autistic people.
-Associate fandoms/shows/media as “cringey.” Many shows/media that are considered “cringe”, (such as MLP, FNAF, Undertale, Sonic, Danganronpa, Naruto, Pokemon, BNHA, Cuphead, etc.) have a large autistic interest and following. Many autistic people come to these series as comfort. However in the recent years, these have been considered “cringey” pieces of media. Cringe culture is heavily based in re-marketed bullying of autistic people, which is disgusting and ableist. So wholeheartedly fuck cringe culture!
-Use the word “r*tard” and r*tarded”, or “autistic” as an insult.
-Support autistic content creators and autistic run businesses!
-Support ASAN (Autism Self-Advocacy network) and AWN (Autistic Women’s and Non-binary network)
-Listen to autistic people’s experiences
-Be mindful of autistic triggers, such as loud noises, bright lights, strange textures, changes in routine, etc.
-Listen to infodumps on hyperfixations or special interests!
-Support autistic people of all genders, sexualities, races, religions and cultures!
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