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More from @QueerlyAutistic

Erin Ekins (she/her)

@QueerlyAutistic

Apr 12

The thing with both LGBTQIA+ people AND neurodivergent people is that, in my experience, we tend to find each other?

Even when we don't REALISE that we're LGBTQIA+ or ND (we just know we feel...different?) we gravitate to people who give off a similar vibe and seem to 'get' it.

So you'll see people clamouring that their kid started identifying as LGBTQIA+ because they were hanging out with other LGBTQIA+ people, rather than realising that they were always LGBTQIA+ (even if they didn't realise) and found space with the people they felt safest with.

Similarly, you'll see people suggesting that people are wrongly self-diagnosing as neurodivergent because they hang around with neurodivergent people - not realising that, actually, they found space and understanding with those people BECAUSE they were always neurodivergent.

Read 8 tweets

Erin Ekins (she/her)

@QueerlyAutistic

Oct 2, 2023

My best friend, who is autistic, got written off as 'difficult' by healthcare workers, and subsequently mistreated, because she yelled at a nurse that her IV wasn't in properly and she wasn't getting any painkillers post-surgery. Hours later, they checked it, and she was right.

My friend spent hours and hours in increasing agony, with healthcare workers declaring her 'difficult' and refusing to listen to her because she was, understandably, shouting and frantic from the pain, and getting more loud and frantic as the night went on and no one helped her.

When the shifts changed, she was lucky enough to get a new nurse who ignored the 'difficult' label and actually took the time to check her IV - and found that, yes, it wasn't in properly, and she'd had no pain relief all night directly after having her gallbladder removed.

Read 19 tweets

Erin Ekins (she/her)

@QueerlyAutistic

Aug 24, 2023

Sometimes I stop and think about the fact that one of the main societally recognised 'clues' that someone is lying or guilty (not making eye contact) also just happens to be one of the most common traits found in autistic people.

In fact, a ton of neurodivergent traits, especially in terms of what we do with our bodies, and our faces, are societally recognised as evidence of lying or guilt, or untrustworthiness. And just think about the implications of that.

It's why I get so angered by those 'body language experts' (particularly those who've made a career on YouTube or talk shows), because they'll sit there pointing out 'look at that gesture, that's a sign of deception' and I'll just be like 'or me being normal on a Tuesday'.

Read 8 tweets

Erin Ekins (she/her)

@QueerlyAutistic

Aug 10, 2023

If your neurodivergent inclusive policies only kick in when someone discloses that they're neurodivergent, then these policies are not truly inclusive of neurodivergent people. As much as it can be, accessibility should be inbuilt, not reliant on diagnosis or disclosure.

This is particularly pertinent for neurodivergence because a) there's so much misdiagnosis and under-diagnosis that many people do not know/cannot prove their neurodivergence, and b) disclosing neurodivergence can pose a real danger and is genuinely terrifying for many people.

These two points are particularly relevant for neurodivergent people from already marginalised communities, meaning that accessibility policies that rely on diagnosis/disclosure actively and overwhelmingly fail the most marginalised neurodivergent people.

Read 5 tweets

Erin Ekins (she/her)

@QueerlyAutistic

Jul 7, 2023

One of my favourite nerdy Titanic facts is that the process of filming the 1997 film actually helped solve a big mystery about the sinking: what happened to the grand staircase.

When the Titanic was found in the 80s, there was basically a giant hole where the grand staircase would've been, and no one knew for sure what had happened to it. It was posited that maybe the wood had been eaten away, but there was also no sign of the non-wood adornments either.

Additionally, the staircase was made of very strong oak, and all around the ship are other wooden artefacts, columns, wall panelling, etc. that have not been eaten away. So it was all a bit of a mystery what happened to this giant fuck-off staircase to make it just...disappear.

Read 15 tweets

Erin Ekins (she/her)

@QueerlyAutistic

May 11, 2023

Today I saw a really constructive online conversation between autistic people and parents of autistic kids, discussing eloping and wandering and how best to keep autistic kids safe, get totally derailed by someone barging in going 'EXCUSE ME, YOU MEAN CHILDREN WITH AUTISM' 🙃

Throughout the conversation, people had been using both person first and identity first language, with no one commenting on what anyone else was using because it wasn't relevant to the (important) conversation, until this person decided to barge and interrupt with their demands.

Of course, the conversation then veered totally off track, with autistic people in the conversation defending their preference for identity first language, trying to explain why they use it, and this person absolutely doubling down every step of the way, demanding they change it.

Read 10 tweets

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More from @QueerlyAutistic

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