welcome to stimland

Hey!! I'm Jack, 20, he/him, and this is my blog for disability stuff, mostly autism right now!

[stimland]

haven't posted on this blog in a while but would anyone be interested in a post about sugar motta from glee? she's objectively terrible representation and glee is an objectively terrible show in general but i unironically love her so much and have a lot of thoughts about her character

[stimland]

Sayo and Hina: Two Sides of the Same Autistic Coin

Sayo and Hina are heavily autistic coded in different ways, and I’m here to explore that, first by talking about them individually and then comparing them and their relationship.

Keep reading

[stimland]

i still get notifs for this post and i see all your tags and it makes me so happy to see so many people agreeing but also looking back on this post it was definitely rushed and completely surface level, i remember at the time of posting it thinking “i could do a lot better than this but i’m kinda tired and just want my thoughts out there.” i think i could rewrite this post to be a lot better tbh, would anyone be interested in that?

[stimland]

positive X strikes again!! i swear this thought always makes me feel way better

[image 1: A screenshot of X from BFB looking sad and distressed with the caption “Me feeling annoying after infodumping about one of my special interests to a friend”]

[image 2: X is smiling in relief and looking down with the caption “Me when I remember how much I love it when people infodump to me and that my friend probably does too”]

[stimland]

hey everyone, i haven’t been active much but i’m trying to start posting here again! i really like running this blog n i’d like to interact w fellow autistic people more, so if you wanna reply or reblog or send asks feel free!! btw i follow back from shrinevandal (in case anyone wants to be mutuals)

[stimland]

there’s been two separate instances of this happening on twitter in the past two weeks and i’m begging allistic people to develop some critical thinking skills

[photo 1: A screenshot from an Eric Andre skit that shows Andre shooting Hannibal Burgess. Andre is labeled “allistics making a troll account pretending to be a real autistic person” and his gun is labeled “purposefully batshit insane take nobody has said or even thought of.” Burgess laying dead in the background is labeled “Autistic community literally just existing.”

[photo 2: Andre is now facing the camera saying “Wow, why would a definitely real autistic person (trademark symbol) say something so fucked up?” The first letters in the words “definitely real autistic person” are each capitalized for sarcastic emphasis.] 

[ascsurveyformyepq]

Hey there!

I’m a UK-based student who is researching gender perception and high rates of transgender identity in AFAB, autistic people. I am doing this research for my Extended Project Qualification (you can find out more about the EPQ here: https://qualifications.pearson.com/en/qualifications/edexcel-project-qualification/level-3.html).

To help me with my research, I’m doing a short survey. If you’ve been diagnosed with autism, are AFAB, and willing to spare 5-10 minutes of your time, I’d really appreciate it! There are more details in the survey, but of course your results will be kept anonymous and emails won’t be collected. Please feel free to reblog if you like, as I’m trying to get a wide range of answers!

The survey will go up for three weeks, starting from 09/05/2021, 12PM GMT, to 30/05/2021, 12PM GMT. 

The link to the survey is here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdu28ySNZv11eDV5bmwVutAPKJreBtN1QUDcR2NIwVQcpPLxA/viewform?usp=sf_link

[somethingchanged244]

^ My friend’s doing this survey for her EPQ (Extended Project Qualification) research. If anyone fits the criteria and has the time, please do take the survey. If not, reblogging so more people see it would be really appreciated!!

[my-autistic-things]

Ooo! Since ik some followers were interested in my research between gender and being autistic (it was not the focus of my study, but I personally found a very strong relationship). This is a bit more AFAB focused but I just took it and it does ask stuff about being trans.

Good luck on your study op, I expect you will find some pretty solid results!

[stimland]

it hasn't happened yet but this is only day two of my first ever job

[IMAGE: a comic with three panels, one is a man with a shirt saying 'no fear,' the next one says 'going mute in front of a customer,' and the last one is the same man but the shirt now says 'one fear']

[stimland]

some more positive X, plus calling out Autism Moms

[IMAGE 1: X from BFB reading and saying Looks at your carrd slash about, wow dude your special interest is so cool!]

[IMAGE 2: X from BFB reading and saying Looks at your carrd slash about, wow dude your pronouns are so cool!]

[IMAGE 3: X from BFB saying You want to talk about your special interest? Bro I am listening]

[IMAGE 4: X from BFB with open arms saying Here’s a hug, bottom text]

[IMAGE 5: X from BFB facepalming and saying You view your child’s autism as a burden? How many times do we have to teach you this lesson old man]

[IMAGE 6: X from BFB facepalming and saying You donated to Autism Speaks? How many times do we have to teach you this lesson old man]

[stimland]

Something similar to xenogenders but for sexualities?

Hi! I’m asking about this because while there’s a lot of people talking about the connection between autism and gender expression, I don’t see many people talking about the connection between autism and romantic and/or sexual orientation. 

Just to be clear, I am not talking about the MOGAI community, although there may be some overlap. The MOGAI community is not directly associated with neurodivergence like the xenogender community is.) 

My own personal experience is that I’m somewhere on the ace spectrum due to trauma, but I’ve been considering whether I’m also on the aro spectrum due to my autism. I feel as though my “romantic” love for people isn’t wholly platonic or wholly romantic, rather somewhere in between. I also feel like I do not love people “correctly” or in a “normal” way. While I could always just say something like “aroflux due to autism” i feel like this might be a common enough occurrence that we would benefit from an actual label. I’m certain I’m not the only autistic person who feels this way. I wanted to explore this idea more.

Some research has yielded the following identities:

Autisexual - Named similarly to autigender, however it sounds very fetishistic, along the lines of sapiosexual. At a glance it seems like attraction to autistic people, which is really just a fetish, and I don’t want a word that conjures up that kinda imagery even if the technical definition is different. Autigender has already been bastardized into “autism is my gender” instead of “autism affects my gender” and I feel like autisexual would suffer the same fate

Xenosexual - I’m only including this because of the same prefix, but it seems most people using the word xenosexual are talking about a fetish for aliens. This is not at all what I want. Again, I’m only including it here to cover all my bases.

Alterous attraction - This refers to love that is sorta in between platonic and romantic, which feels very accurate to what I want. However, it doesnt seem to be autism specific. I do really like this concept though. To me it seems to be like queerplatonic love but without the Q slur which seems very excellent and inclusive of people who are uncomfy with the word (like me, due to personal experience). 

Neurosexual/Neuroqueer - I like this one the most out of all the things I’ve found, because it seems to be a direct parallel to neurogender, however as I’ve said I am not a fan of a Q word, which seems to be very tied into neurosexuality. 

Nebularomantic - I like this one too. The definition is “unable to tell the difference between platonic and romantic and alterous attraction due to neurodivergence” which is pretty accurate to what I’m looking for. However, it seems like it’s only for asexual people. The romantic suffix implies asexuality, whereas the sexual suffix doesn’t imply any specific type of attraction. While personally I am (probably) asexual, not every autistic person is. We need to be inclusive of the autistic community that does want to have sex.

What are y’all’s thoughts on these words? Do you prefer any one over the other? Are there any other similar concepts I’m missing in this post? Please let me know, this subject is very interesting to me and I want to talk more about it

[stimland]

the X stands for xenogender!

[IMAGE 1: X from BFB with an open mouth smile saying You use xenogenders? that’s so epic!]

[IMAGE 2: X from BFB with their tongue out saying You use neopronouns? that’s so epic!]

[IMAGE 3: X from BFB smiling and saying You coined a xenogender based on your kin? that’s so epic!]

[IMAGE 4: X from BFB frowning and saying You hate xenogenders? not cool bro]

[asenseofselfshop]

Come check out my fidget/stim toy etsy shop and support an autistic artist!

The fidgets/stim toys I make keep your hands busy as well as keep your tactile sensory needs fulfilled so you can regulate your body and mind.

[Image description: a gray Star Wars themed fabric bag with fidget toys coming out of it. The fidgets include a purple floral marble maze, a gray avocado friends marble maze, a dachshund patterned pyramid shaped bean bag, a cherries patterned pyramid shaped bean bag, and a pink beaded fidget key chain.]

[stimland]

highly specific autism positivity because i was in a mood for supporting my fellow autistic people and i don’t see these thing talked about enough

[IMAGE 1: i wish all autistic people with unconventional or unpretty symptoms such as but not limited to chewing their fingers, screaming, hitting themselves, crying when faced with any kind of negativity, or shutting down at seemingly random times a very pleasant evening]

[IMAGE 2: i wish all autistic people who have a hard time relating to the societal expectations of gender and sexuality due to their autism and feel as though they aren’t expressing their gender or sexuality correctly a very pleasant evening]

[IMAGE 3: i wish all black autistic people, afab autistic people, poor autistic people, and any other group of autistic people that regularly go underdiagnosed a very pleasant evening]

[IMAGE 4: i wish all people who are like 95% sure they’re autistic but can’t afford a diagnosis or face other difficulties in getting one a very pleasant evening]

[freematthewrushin]

#FREEMATTHEWRUSHIN CALL TO ACTION : please share share share

**THANK YOU TO ALL FOR YOUR CONTINUED LOVE, SUPPORT AND PRAYERS AS WE FIGHT TO BRING MATTHEW HOME THIS INJUSTICE. I DONT WANT MATTHEW TO DIE IN PRISON.**

Matthew Rushin was sentenced to 50 years for a non fatal car accident. His autism was never taken into consideration. No drugs or alcohol involved just his words used against him. The VBPD turned a car accident into a crime so each officer can get promoted. How disgusting! This was racial profiling! This was illegitimate legal lynching!

Matthew Rushin's guilt was decided the moment the Virginia Beach Police stepped on to the scene of the January 4, 2019 accident. None of the 17 Virginia Beach officers followed their own standard operating procedures to transport an injured and mentally confused and distressed person for evaluation.

They did not exhibit any understanding of autism in their interpretations of Matthews comments and actions. Instead, they took advantage of his vulnerability as they handcuffed him, questioned him for nearly 4 hours at the scene, lied to him about evidence, isolated him from his family, charged him with 2nd degree murder with a claim that the accident was an intentional attempt to kill himself by deliberately driving head on into another car.

The facts don’t support this, including the totality of the victim and witness statements, Matthew’s behavior and statements, and the forensic evidence.

It took less than 6 hours for Matthew’s freedom, his reputation, his future to be stolen by Virginia Beach Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice System.

Please ask Governor Northam, to refuse to allow the “system” to steal any more days from Matthew. Ask Governor Northam to grant Matthew an Absolute Pardon and do whatever it takes to free him today!

Matthew turns 22 on August 4th, 2020.

*******************************************************************************************

These are critical points:

1. Matthew was not taken for medical (and mental health evaluation) the evening of the crash. He has lost consciousness, had a prior serious brain injury, was banged up around the face and bleeding, was not making sense - yet, instead of taking him for evaluation and care, the police handcuffed and interrogated him for nearly 4 hours at the scene, then more at the police station (with lies and manipulation). He still has not had the physical evaluation he should have had that day - despite the fact that he has a cyst on his pituitary gland that was due evaluation the month he was jailed (19 months ago), AND he is having severe headaches, dizziness and temporary blindness.

2. Virginia Beach Police Department has a CIT (Crisis Intervention Team) program that is supposed to divert people with mental illness or in mental health crises to treatment rather than the criminal system. Not only did they not activate that team despite his history of PTSD, anxiety and his symptoms at the scene AND the fact that they were going to charge him with attempted 2nd degree murder on the basis of a suicide attempt (unfounded!), the woman how did much of the interrogation - which included lies about the evidence they had, and pretending that she was his friend - is a trainer for their CIT program. Further, suicidology must be determined by psychologist or psychiatrist. It was not - and wouldn't have been. They were able to maintain that charge, because after 7 months of jail, when Matthew was told that if he signed the plea deal, he could go home - that was his understanding - he signed it. From that point forward, the prosecutor, judge and press referred to the "fact" that he admitted he deliberately ran into the other car because he was trying to kill himself.

Officer Hosang only has 12 hours of Autism training, it takes psychologists years undergraduate education, graduate education and a whole lot of certification to even be able to practice. Officer Hosang told Matthew as heard in the interrogation, she hopes to arrest and charge him. What CIT does that? Is that descalating the issue? Um.. no way!

3. Mental health services have not been provided. Medication for anxiety was provided after months, but not counseling/treatment. Matthew has not had the required neurology follow up for his conditions identified prior to his incarceration.

4. Matthew and his family have not been able to talk face to face for 19 months, let alone hug. This 20 year old autistic man who had just been in a very serious car accident and who was clearly physically impacted was not allowed the comfort of his family. His dad was at the scene for hours waiting to be allowed to see his son. He wasn't even told when they took Matthew away from the scene. Mr. Rushin found out 45 minutes later.

5. Matthew was ripped from his life on the basis of an unsubstantiated claim, denied his rights, taken advantage of and taken straight to prison for a charge that never should have been made. Yet when there is overwhelming evidence of all of the wrongdoing, he remains in prison. That is totally unbalanced. He was judged guilty on sight. But it is taking months to free him. This is so wrong.

________________________________________________________________________________

(1) Mark R. Herring: Attorney General

EMAIL: [email protected]

CALL: [phone]

(2) Kelly Thomasson: Secretary of the Commonwealth

EMAIL: [email protected]

CALL: [phone]

Fax: [phone]

(3) Brian Moran: Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Secretary

CALL: Office: 804-786-5351

EMAIL: [email protected]

(4) Tonya D. Chapman: Chair of the Virginia Parole Board

EMAIL: [email protected]

CALL: 804-674-3081

(5) Virginia Governor Ralph Northam

CALL: 1 [phone]

EMAIL: [email protected]

(6) [email protected]

(1) PETITION LINK: (DO NOT DONATE TO THE PETITION, ONLY SHARE)

https://www.change.org/p/ralph-s-northam-matthew-rushin-autistic-college-student-odu?recruiter=295142305&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=psf_combo_share_abi&utm_term=psf_combo_share_abi&recruited_&fbclid=IwAR0k8rkuCWrURYz3pq7v8mXkd3rGwkfsidB8alqhxLiUn4mF-y7zXlUq0y8

(2) GOFUNDME FOR LEGAL AND EXPERT FEES (ZERO THE TIP FEE: DO NOT ADD A TIP): we still need financial assistance! We appreciate everyone ❤️

https://www.gofundme.com/f/SAVING-MATTHEW-RUSHIN

(3 PAYPAL:

https://www.paypal.me/Dance4Matthew

[stimland]

Sayo and Hina: Two Sides of the Same Autistic Coin

Sayo and Hina are heavily autistic coded in different ways, and I’m here to explore that, first by talking about them individually and then comparing them and their relationship.

Hina's Autism I’m starting with Hina because it’s widely accepted that she’s autistic-coded. The obvious things are her inability to relate to people (“Other people are so cool! I want to keep learning about them!”) and her general bluntness (“Aya-chan, you look so silly when you cry!”). Being emotionally disconnected is a huge symptom of autism. In the What a Wonderful World event story, Hina makes several comments about how she doesn’t understand everyone else. Less obvious but still prominent is her echolalia (Boppin’ in English, Runrun in Japanese). I call it echolalia because that’s exactly what it is-- Hina’s incessant boppin’ comments are her way of stimming. It’s also her way of expressing love to her friends and sister (“Onee-chan, you’re so boppin’!”), as many autistic people stim when we are happy. Overall, Hina is super autistic-coded in the savant kinda way. 

Sayo's Autism I see a lot of people headcanon Hina as autistic, and they’re absolutely right. However, this means Sayo is pushed to the wayside (ironic, huh?). Sayo is just as autistic as Hina, she just expresses it in a different way. She’s also very emotionally detached, viewing most of her bonding activities with Roselia as things to further the band rather than to have fun (“Going to the waterpark means our sound will be more connected”). She also likes precise measurements and objectivity as shown in the Cooking Class Craziness event story, as she struggles with off-white butter and the mixed dough, but says thirty minutes in the fridge is easy to understand. A direct quote from Chapter 2 of the event: 30 minutes, correct? Great. That's easy to understand. Okay, I'll go place it in the refrigerator...Quantifying can be quite difficult. Things like "until it's white" or "until it's blended" can be hard for me to understand, this being my first time. Cooking Class Craziness is one of the only events that aren’t centric to both Hikawa sisters that show Sayo’s autism so blatantly. Most of the others involve both of them, which brings me to the next point...

Comparison Despite being mostly opposites, Sayo and Hina have a lot of similarities. They both have trouble expressing their emotions and relating to people, they both come off as blunt and too honest, and they are both determined about music. Simply put, they’re both very autistic-coded. The event stories for both Wish Upon a Tanzaku and Umbrella for the Autumn Rain show their conflict and similarities very well. During their fight in Chapter 5 of Umbrella for the Autumn Rain, Hina says: And... If you're gonna quit guitar like this... If you're gonna be the type of sister who breaks her promise... Then I... Then I hate you too!! This quote shows that despite Hina’s apparent flakiness when it comes to her interests, she is passionate about playing guitar and helping both her and Sayo improve. This moment of transparency between the twins is crucial to understanding how similar they are. 

TLDR: Sayo and Hina are both extremely autistic-coded and I love them

[olly-core]

Why Person First Language Is Stupid.

Keep reading

[stimland]

My Opinion on Person-First Language, “Having” Autism, Low vs High Functioning, and What the Autism Spectrum is

[NOTE: Originally posted to my university’s music education forum in response to various prompts related to teaching children with learning disabilities. The prompt I chose was about person-first language]

As an autistic person, I hate person-first language. It feels patronizing to say someone is a "person with autism" because autism isn't something you "have" or are "with," it's part of your identity. Our whole lives are structured differently due to the differences in the way we learn and understand. We're taught to hate ourselves at a young age for missing "simple" social cues and tone of voice (things that take us several years to learn), for our "obsessions" with certain topics (special interests), for our comforting behaviors (stimming), etc. Personally, I couldn't even fully understand the difference in inflection between a question and a statement until about 8 months ago. Even before I was diagnosed, I was subtly bullied for my difference in the way I understand things, the way I take things too literally. A lot of times I only find out that people are making fun of me by my friends noticing and telling me. Being autistic is a huge part of my identity, and it wouldn't be fair to disregard it as simply something I "have".

Some of my autistic friends don't really care about person-first language or being described as "having autism" but the majority of us dislike it. It feels more like you're trying to separate the person from the disability, when we are actually connected in a way that can't be taken apart. There's a whole culture of allistic people trying to find a cure for autism and portray us as unfeeling monsters who can't do anything ourselves (I'm sure you've all heard of Autism $peaks).

Being autistic isn't even really a disability in the sense of someone whose legs don't work, most autistic people struggle not for our "disability" but for the lack of awareness by the allistic people around us. At least there's a better understanding that someone with paralyzed legs can't walk easily or at all. (Of course, people with physical disabilities have a whole other can of worms for them. They aren't taken as seriously as they should be either, and I'm not trying to speak over physically disabled voices in making this comparison.)

Another comparison to be made, more toward the language, is with the LGBT community. You wouldn't say a "person with gayness" or "person with homosexuality" because it honestly just sounds weird. We say gay people, bi people, and trans people (Lesbians are an exception to this because the word lesbian is a noun and not an adjective). In a similar vein, you wouldn't call us "autistics" because it's considered rude, just like you (hopefully) wouldn't say "gays" or "blacks" (I'm white, so if any black people feel like I'm overstepping any boundaries by including this comparison, let me know!).

Overall, I really don't like phrases like "person with autism" or even "differently abled" because it seems to be avoiding the truth that many allistic people don't want to face: Autistic people are here, we aren't going anywhere, and we're people just like everyone else despite our struggles.

[NOTE: Reply on my post by one of my classmates]

Hello! Thank you so much for sharing this, I really appreciate hearing about your experiences and opinions. You are not the first person I've heard say this about person first language, and I've heard similar sentiments about the terms "high functioning" and "low functioning" when it comes to autism. However, it's still good to have this viewpoint confirmed by another autistic person! Your analogies are spot on and I'll be sure to incorporate the preferred language into my teaching.

[NOTE: My reply to the above]

No problem! Thank you for listening. I have a lot of thoughts about "functioning" levels too, I won't go into too much detail but the whole "high" and "low" functioning thing comes from allistic people's misunderstanding of what the autism spectrum actually is. Autism is a spectrum in the sense that there's certain traits/behaviors caused by our autism, and every autistic person is unique. For example, I prefer online discussions because the playing field is leveled so to speak, we can all easily misinterpret tone because it's just words on a screen, so it makes me feel more equal. However, my best friend who also happens to be autistic prefers real life conversations because he's spent a lot of time studying people to figure out "normal" mannerisms, so he feels disadvantaged online. These are both a result of our difficulty communicating and picking up on social cues, but we deal with them in different way. Autism being a spectrum just means not every autistic person shares the same qualities in our autism. The problem is that a lot of allistic people interpret the words autism spectrum to mean a high to low spectrum, almost like a ranking or scale, when it's actually more like a circle of different traits. I said I wouldn't talk too much about this but I ended up rambling a bit anyway. Thank you for listening though!

TLDR: Person-first language is patronizing, autistic people are autistic not with autism, high and low functioning isn’t a thing