This Is My Spectrum

A zine chock full of autism.  Share your spectrum and email [email protected]  Allistics are welcome.

[puppygirllaika]

It's actually so fucking weird that your identity is absolute these days. like, it's been normalized to the point we don't think of it much, but until a hundred years ago, hell even less, you could just kinda. go somewhere else, and be a new person. and that's not a thing anymore.

[secretearthworm]

Yk this is fully untrue right? You can fully still do this if you're willing to change and let go of everything at literally any moment you want

[puppygirllaika]

since a good few people now have said this i want to be clear: you can move to a new town still and change socially, but like. the government still knows who you are. so do tons of corporations. your identity follows you.

[puppygirllaika]

13 hours later and the parade of stupid comments like this has not stopped =_=

[ratbastard69420]

a guy named Rusty cage did a video on how it's impossible to leave your identity behind unless you become a eunuch

[ratbastard69420]

fuck hermit I meant hermit

[puppygirllaika]

Identity is stored in the balls.

[labmousegirl]

one of the things that makes autism a disability (and why some of us choose to label it as such rather than an “alternate neurotype”) is the stress. 

part of autism is just being incredibly stressed. overstimulation? stress. holding a conversation? stress. something happening to our schedule? stress. people talk about how often autism is recognized and diagnosed via our stress responses (like meltdowns) because it is just so common to see autistic people stressed because of lack of accommodations to how our brains work.

and this matters because stress kills. stress causes a lot of health issues, or it can trigger pre-existing ones by making certain chronic conditions flare up. i once had a psychiatrist very unhelpfully tell me i “just need to manage my stress” when the stress i was describing was things i could not avoid in neurotypical society and can’t “just get over”. i can do “self care” all i like but i cannot at the very base level change the way my brain inputs information and reacts accordingly.

[roach-works]

i only learned this year that loud noises aren’t physically painful for other people. i have lived 34 years in a world in which my friends and family regularly physically hurt me at random just by shouting, and i thought everyone else just thought i was kind of a wimp for not dealing with the pain as well as they did.

like. loud noises physically hurt. it’s like a static shock from my ears to my spine that doesn’t stop until the volume goes back down. i thought we all agreed that ‘that’s too loud!’ and covering our ears meant ‘ouch!’. turns out i’ve been dealing with a stressor almost no one else has, my whole life, alone.

autistic people have to keep functioning through debilitating levels of stress that no one else in their life acknowledges or helps them with. it’s no wonder that their most visible ‘tells’ are breakdowns. 

[bimiriyas-deactivated20210810]

THE STRUGGLE ™

[archerjay2019]

Thoughts about ABA

September 1, 2019

I have a lot to say but hard to find words for whats in my head

lately I see a lot posts about ABA and a lot parents fighting about ABA being good

I don’t like it

I had abuse all my life I had ABA

ABA was most terrible

I never get be me had be still or I get hurt

I not be still I put alone I be hurt

I still be alone as adult

I twenty-five when get AAC to talk but only now is communication I can understand

people says I bad when have meltdown people don’t understand

is better I stimming is better I can say need with my pictures

I hate be make look be still I know if let do and learn my way

lots don’t listen me say I can’t be like they child say I can use computer they wrong

you don’t know what happening off the computer you don’t know I hitting me everyday you don’t know I screaming everyday you don’t know I needing help all time you don’t know me

listen to autistics they know

there is no good ABA it never be good

ABA is always always bad awful

(Written with Unity 144

[thisismyspectrum]

This is my Spectrum

https://thisismyspectrum.wordpress.com/

Our website is up.  Sorry for disappearing earlier this year, I was busy making a documentary about educational accommodations.  

The next issue will be up whenever I can sort out the hyperlink issues in the pdf. 

[thisismyspectrum]

Hi, is there any way I can print off your zine? I would like to have a copy for myself but also for the autistic people I support. Thanks.

So long as you do not do so for profit, definitely!

[thisismyspectrum]

TO ALL MY FOLLOWERS

Yes, yes, I will be moving the zine. It has less to do with the new policy change than the fact that Tumblr isn’t the best location to showcase this piece of work. The policy change is just a matter of timing. I’m grateful that now it isn’t a surprise; LOTS are people are moving.

As to when the next issue will be released… Maybe the beginning of next year. I have been very busy, and I apologize for the delay. I’m closing submissions now, but I’ll keep y’all posted on what’s happening with This is my Spectrum.

Also… thanks for following. There’s 253 of you and it means a lot to me that you all care.

[thisismyspectrum]

I’ll still try and post on Tumblr though for all of you who are interested, however the main hub will be elsewhere.

[thisismyspectrum]

TO ALL MY FOLLOWERS

Yes, yes, I will be moving the zine. It has less to do with the new policy change than the fact that Tumblr isn’t the best location to showcase this piece of work. The policy change is just a matter of timing. I’m grateful that now it isn’t a surprise; LOTS are people are moving.

As to when the next issue will be released... Maybe the beginning of next year. I have been very busy, and I apologize for the delay. I’m closing submissions now, but I’ll keep y’all posted on what’s happening with This is my Spectrum.

Also... thanks for following. There’s 253 of you and it means a lot to me that you all care.

[thisismyspectrum]

Can we include some infodumping? I want to contribute but there’s a very real chance I’ll include some infodumping in whatever I write.

Gosh, yes! Infodumps are welcome—encouraged, actually. All that I ask is you break it down and explain whatever you are talking about for people who may not be as knowledgeable about that subject as you are.

[thisismyspectrum]

Are you autistic? Did you do a thing? Would you mind sharing? I’m looking for content by #actuallyautistic people for the next issue of this zine, which is by/for autistic people.

[thewokewordsmith]

Er..what do you mean by do a thing? You’re going to have to spell it out for me. 

[thisismyspectrum]

I'll take artwork, photos, writing, etc.  It can directly be about the autism spectrum, or not.  If you have artwork, send it my way.  If you have something that you really want to talk about, I’d love to hear it.  I say anything at all because I don’t want limit submissions.  For those of you that worry that what you’ve got isn’t good enough, I’ll work with you on a piece so we can present your best work.  

[thisismyspectrum]

Are you autistic? Did you do a thing? Would you mind sharing? I’m looking for content by #actuallyautistic people for the next issue of this zine, which is by/for autistic people. Message the editor here, or email content to [email protected]

[thisismyspectrum]

Thanks to all of our contributers!  I apologize for any issues that you find.  I won’t be taking this down and fixing it because I do not have the time.  I spent hours putting this together and as much as I would like to focus 100% on this, I have other things I have to do like eating, sleeping, and getting my other work done.  This is the first in what is hopefully a long line of zines, and I’m still figuring out how all this works.

Thanks to all of our contributors!  I couldn’t have done it without you.  Seriously.  This is a lot of content, and it’s all thanks to you.

@jimjongjung @margoisapest @h0shikohime @trottings @ladyautie @6-word-autism @aspergirl101 @frognome @mrwilliewonka @helen007900 @transmerlins @buncompass @autie-jake @aubbielor 

P.S.-  We’re now accepting submissions for issue #2!

[thisismyspectrum]

The revised pdf version and original png files are available here:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ni2rim255657dbi/AACw0mHwimxtB8IfC0zjSVMha?dl=0

[thisismyspectrum]

Thanks to all of our contributers!  I apologize for any issues that you find.  I won’t be taking this down and fixing it because I do not have the time.  I spent hours putting this together and as much as I would like to focus 100% on this, I have other things I have to do like eating, sleeping, and getting my other work done.  This is the first in what is hopefully a long line of zines, and I’m still figuring out how all this works.

Thanks to all of our contributors!  I couldn’t have done it without you.  Seriously.  This is a lot of content, and it’s all thanks to you.

@jimjongjung @margoisapest @h0shikohime @trottings @ladyautie @6-word-autism @aspergirl101 @frognome @mrwilliewonka @helen007900 @transmerlins @buncompass @autie-jake @aubbielor 

P.S.-  We’re now accepting submissions for issue #2!

[thisismyspectrum]

What do you think about Facilitated Communication?

Long answers, short answers, anything at all--what do you all think?  Please comment/reblog this post.  Share even if you can’t--maybe someone might and this could use the signal boost.  If you want to share privately, direct message me or email me at [email protected].

I promised you a zine, and a zine you shall have.  Unfortunately, I need just one more last minute thing, and I need it from you.  I just found out that the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) no longer recommends facilitated communication--which includes the rapid prompting method (RPM).  The official statement can be found here: https://www.asha.org/policy/ps2018-00352/).  

Here are open letters to ASHA after their intentions to stop RPM in America were shared:

https://autisticadvocacy.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/2018-07-02-ASAN-Letter-to-ASHA-Ad-Hoc-Committee.pdf

https://juniperhillfarms.org/2018/06/25/an-open-letter-to-asha-advocating-for-the-right-to-a-communication-method-of-choice/

https://growingkidstherapy.wordpress.com/2018/06/28/open-letter-to-asha-by-elizabeth-vosseller/

http://www.lauranadine.net/?p=3556

https://growingkidstherapy.wordpress.com/2018/06/21/open-letter-to-asha-from-the-ii-guys/

These are a few of the many letters sent to ASHA.  Although not all of them are written by autists, they all contain valuable information.

Facilitated communication is how many nonverbal autistics learn to communicate and share their thoughts and ideas.  I don’t have the patience to go into all of what’s wrong about ASHA’s decision.  Perhaps I’ll write about it--although, to be honest, I’d much rather it be you.  Just doing the formatting for all this is hard enough.

[thisismyspectrum]

I’m nearing the completion of the first issue.  It will likely be posted sometime next week.  If you aren’t in it and I asked if I could use/you’ve submitted something of yours, you will be in the next issue.  I apologize for not being able to fit everyone in; my computer can only handle so many files.

[thisismyspectrum]

Calling autists everywhere!

This is my Spectrum is a zine by autistic people.  I’m preparing for the first issue and we’re looking for anything you want to contribute.  And we do mean ANYTHING!  Social media posts of any kind, writing, art, an opinion/story you want to share, a picture of a booger on a tissue that you sent in just because...  Anything goes.  As long as it’s by you and you’re autistic, it counts.  Message the editor here, or email content to [email protected]

The deadline for the first edition is August 5th, 2018. The zine will be published on Tumblr and you will be credited unless you don’t want to be. Even if you don’t submit, please like and reblog for the signal boost.