Sweet Autism Things

I'm Luna Rose (she/her/hers), and this blog centers on autism positivity. I create and reblog autism-positive posts to support autistic people's happiness and self esteem.

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Did you know that people with Down syndrome are more likely to be autistic? So here's a drawing of an autistic guy with Down syndrome.

My sister has Down syndrome and I've spent years trying to figure out how to accurately draw people with Down syndrome. The goal is for people to be able to tell that the person has Down syndrome when they see the picture. I think I'm getting there!

This is an illustration for the Autism Living Wiki's page on Down syndrome.

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Here's an autistic teen girl with a neurodiversity-affirming therapist! This therapist encourages her to stim freely, unmask when safe, assert herself, and respect herself along with respecting others.

Sometimes the term "neurodiversity-affirming" is used as a buzzword, representing neurodiversity lite rather than genuine support and inclusive practices. But when done right, it can make a real difference.

This illustration is for the Autism Living Wiki's article on neurodiversity-affirming practices.

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Today's picture is simple: an autistic person in headphones! Listening to repetitive, familiar music can be such a lovely experience.

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My autistic character Cherry Bloom loves plushies and cute animals! Here she is with kitty stuff. It makes her happy.

This illustration hasn't made it onto an Autism Living Wiki article yet, but I'm thinking of making a "childlike interests" page, since some of us autistics have these. Cherry loves stuffed animals and there's nothing wrong with that!

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Here's Cherry Bloom outdoors! She can get overwhelmed sometimes, and time in nature helps calm her and put a smile back on her face.

This picture is an illustration for the Autism Living Wiki article on mental health. Self-care is important!

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Three autistic people hanging out! Everyone has their own style. The person on the left wears generic clothes, the person in the middle has teal hair and an autism shirt, and the person on the right has a stuffed kitty and cat-themed clothing. And all of them look excellent.

This picture is for the Autism Living Wiki's article on the Autistic community. I know our community is mostly online, but I thought people might find art of autistic people more relatable. And I chose to draw them unmasked since it's important to unmask sometimes (if you do mask) and nice to see art of autistic people being themselves.

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Yes, she's nonspeaking and she drools. No, that doesn't mean she doesn't think. So here's her dad working on teaching her to use an AAC app on her tablet so she can communicate more!

AAC isn't magic. Some people struggle to use it and put their thoughts into words. For some people, it takes a lot of work. But communication is a human right, and this girl deserves support learning how to say things with more than gestures.

This is for the Autism Living Wiki's page on presuming competence. This girl's dad isn't giving up on her. He's going to keep working hard until he can hear what his daughter has to say. And she's paying attention and learning!

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Here's an illustration of a lower-masking autistic person! We've got ear defenders, a chewable necklace, and classic T-rex arms.

This is an illustration for the Autism Living Wiki's page on disability accommodations. Many, though not all, autistics need or benefit from these.

These icons represent flexible timing, work from home, clear written instructions, and access to stim toys. I have always worked from home and stimmed at work.

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Here we've got an autistic guy, a woman with ADHD, and a guy who's neurodivergent (exact condition(s) not specified). They're hanging out at home!

This illustration is for the Autism Living Wiki's page on the phrase "autistics and cousins," which isn't used much more lately. It refers to both autistic people and neurodivergent people who have autism-like traits (e.g. those with ADHD or dyspraxia).

The late Mel Baggs thought we should revive the term. Maybe we should! I feel like it would be handy to have a term that refers to the autism-adjacent zone of neurodivergence, since "neurodivergent" is a broad umbrella term and sometimes we want to refer to the autism-like diagnoses specifically.

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An autistic fairy child! Okay, maybe her wings look like the wings I once got from a department store to wear for Halloween as a little girl. But you know what? They're sparkly and I like them.

This picture is for the Autism Living Wiki's page on the changeling myth. In some parts of Europe, children with traits of autism or other developmental disabilities were believed to be fairy children. The idea was that the fairies had stolen the human child and swapped them out with a fairy in disguise.

Rather than use a historical picture, since many of these weren't the best-looking, I drew a cute little fairy kid. And since some of us autistics feel out of place in neurotypical culture, maybe we're longing to go to the fairy realm, where we can feel like we belong.

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I'm not sure if this counts as autism positivity, but it's peaceful and cats are great, so I'm doing it. Here's an autistic person utterly engrossed in watching a cat.

This is an illustration for the Autism Living Wiki's article on monotropism. This theory of autism suggests that we tend to focus intensely on one thing (or just a few things) at a time and struggle to transition between topics. It doesn't explain all of autism, but could relate to topics like special interests, hyperfocus, and executive dysfunction.

Anyway, this autistic person is focused on Cat. Only Cat is important. Nothing matters right now but Cat. Cat is great.

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Here are three autistic people just chilling together. (They're close together because I wanted to zoom in more closely for my art.)

This picture is an illustration for the Autism Living Wiki's article on the levels of autism as described in the DSM-5. Some autistic people, especially those not at level 1, find these labels useful for self-describing. Others dislike the levels. The wiki article reports on the different opinions.

Regardless of personal opinions, I thought some people might relate to one or more of the people in this picture. And with representation for autistic people being so scant, pictures are worth having.

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Here are Noelle (my sister's character) and her son, Teddy (my character). Both are autistic. Teddy loves it when his mami reads to him.

This illustration is for the Autism Living Wiki article on social stories. Some autistic people benefit from stories explaining different aspects of life and helping them prepare for things.

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This is Hans Weiss, a character from a story draft of mine. He's autistic and never really "fit in" with neurotypical society. Many other guys like sports, video games, and cars, but Hans would rather read or engage in his hobbies.

Everyone has different interests and that's okay!

This illustration is for the Autism Living Wiki on disinterest in pop culture, a trait some (but not all) autistic people have. We don't always have the same interests as our peers.

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Here's Noelle (my sister's character) explaining autism to Teddy (my character)! Both Noelle and Teddy are autistic, and this information will help him understand himself, his mami, and the world around him.

This illustration is for the Autism Living Wiki article "Tips on telling a loved one they are autistic." The wiki sometimes features tip articles alongside general information.

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Here is one of my favorite illustrations I've made this year: raining cats and dogs! An adult describes the weather this way, confusing the heck out of an autistic girl who sees no adorable pets falling from the clouds.

It's hard to overstate just how much fun I had drawing the animals for the dialogue balloon. As you can see, they are all smiling, so clearly they are falling at a safe speed, ready to land on the ground and leap into the arms of whoever wants to adopt them.

Anyway, literal thinking in autistic people can be more complex than getting confused by figures of speech. But this art opportunity was too cute to pass up. No regrets!

This is an illustration for the Autism Living Wiki's page on literal thinking. And one of the best pictures I have ever drawn.

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Here's an older autistic adult hanging out! Just chilling with T rex arms.

This is an illustration for the Autism Living Wiki's article on the term "Ausian," coined by Courtney Ahn to describe autistics of Asian descent. It's an alternative to the term "Woo gang," since not everyone likes the TV show Extraordinary Attorney Woo.

The term ended up not catching on as much as I thought it might, which is too bad. But I don't want to get rid of the wiki page on it. The solution obviously is for the term to catch on.