Tweet

The Autisticats

12 Feb, 10 tweets, 3 min read

I’m watching Sia’s movie, in order to write a detailed & chronological review (so that nobody else watches it out of curiosity).

But for now, I just want the public to see a few things that speak for themselves, starting with this image:

The next thing I want the general public to see is this clip from the opening scene.

CW: strobing lights, overwhelming visuals, caricature of autistic mannerisms

Here’s a still shot of Maddie Ziegler’s face at the beginning of that opening scene.

I don’t think I need to explain what’s wrong here, but I’m going to anyway.

This performance is a caricature of autistic body language.

It’s unsettling, and insincere.

And it is deeply reminiscent of the exaggerated mannerisms non-autistic people often employ when bullying autistic & developmentally disabled people for the ways we move.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the ways autistic people move, or the ways we make facial expressions.

Some of us roll our eyes and put our teeth over our lips as a stim or just because it’s comfortable.

But we do those things naturally. Maddie Ziegler does not.

The fact that Ziegler is not autistic, and the fact that her performance is so heavily exaggerated, turns the entire movie into one long display of mockery.

I know that “wasn’t Sia’s intention.”

But it doesn’t make things any easier to stomach.

Two other things I want to touch on:

1. The strobing lights and colors in the dance scenes are extremely overstimulating, and could cause seizures in people with photosensitive epilepsy (common in autistic people)

2. The restraint scenes are still there, without a warning.

I was under the impression, according to Sia’s apology and accompanying promise, that:

A. There would be a warning at the beginning of the movie regarding the danger of restraint, or

B. That the restraint scenes would be removed from the film entirely.

That isn’t true so far

If this thread prevents just 5 other people from watching this movie, it will have been worth it.

I know people are curious.

And I also know it’s not my responsibility to bear the burden of watching this film for the community.

But I want to serve the greater good.

I want to be able to provide my perspective from as informed a position as possible, and I couldn’t do that without actually watching the film.

I’ll be writing my review and posting it when it’s done.

I don’t know if this was a good idea. I just want it to be worth something.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

More from @autisticats

The Autisticats

@autisticats

13 Feb

Yesterday I made a thread about how the caricature of autistic body language in Sia’s movie is harmful.

Some autistic people said the scenes made them feel ashamed of their own body language.

So I want you to see a few photos of me, and know that I’m not ashamed.

Here’s a photo of me when I was 8 years old. I had an overbite and I would often put my front teeth over my bottom lip as a stim. This is a characteristic that was mimicked in Sia’s movie.

I still put my teeth over my lip.

Here’s another photo of me around the same time period. On a hike with my family, I started flapping my hands while we sat down for a water break.

I still flap my hands.

Read 10 tweets

The Autisticats

@autisticats

10 Feb

“Autistic” is not a bad word.

It’s a neutral, descriptive term that is very much preferred by autistic people ourselves.

Much like Deaf people and Blind people, the majority of Autistic people want to be called “autistic person,” not “person with autism.”

So it was endlessly frustrating to me when, in my reading assignment for my “Issues Affecting Persons with Disabilities” class, the word “autistic” got put in the same category as the r-word.

There were a lot of other really bizarre and questionable things in that reading, too.

For one thing, the list of “words not to say” included the phrase “differently abled.” But then directly after that chart, this header was used:

Read 9 tweets

The Autisticats

@autisticats

29 Jan

If you’re new to the autistic community, you might not know what the acronym AAC stands for.

AAC means “Augmentative and Alternative Communication.”

Augmentative = a supplement to spoken communication

Alternative = the method doesn’t require speaking to communicate

AAC is a very broad category of communication methods that don’t require speech.

AAC is used by many autistic people who can’t speak, have unreliable speech, or find it easier to communicate without speaking.

And it’s used by many other disabled people as well.

Some examples of AAC include communication apps for smartphones or iPads, electronic keyboards, sign language, symbol-based systems, pen & paper writing, etc.

A lot of people use the word “AAC” just to refer to communication apps, but that’s only one type of AAC.

Read 7 tweets

The Autisticats

@autisticats

29 Jan

This isn’t about autism, which is the usual topic on this page. But I have this platform and I intend to use it for good.

If you’re following what’s happening on Wall Street & you’re worried about the subreddit and Discord server being shut down, I have 1 word for you: Mastodon

Mastodon is a decentralized, open-source social media platform.

There are no corporate owners.

You won’t have your whole operation shut down because you’re challenging the power of billionaires.

Anyone can create an “instance.”

It seems like the perfect place to continue.

What we’re all witnessing right now is an extremely historic moment.

Working class people who know how the system works are acting in solidarity with each other to redistribute wealth.

It’s important that the people who are doing this don’t lose the ability to communicate.

Read 8 tweets

The Autisticats

@autisticats

27 Jan

If you’re the parent, teacher, caregiver, friend, etc. to an autistic person, keep this in mind:

When you want us to do something, you have to be explicit about it.

If my parents want me to do something but don’t tell me the specifics, I have no idea what’s expected of me.

This usually creates misunderstandings related to chores and other household tasks.

If I don’t know what’s expected of me, there’s no way for me to do whatever is needed.

But often my parents seem to think it’s okay to leave things implied, because I “should” know what to do.

Here’s the problem with that:

Autistic people don’t make as many assumptions in social situations, and we often have trouble making inferences based on things people say.

We tend to take statements literally, so you can’t imply things & expect us to always pick up on them.

Read 10 tweets

The Autisticats

@autisticats

20 Jan

CW: autistic meltdown, prone restraint, death

This is an extremely hard thing for me to write about.

But in Sia’s new movie, the autistic character Music is shown having several meltdowns and being held in prone restraint.

(Leaked video via Auteach on TikTok)

For those who don’t know, prone restraint is extremely dangerous.

Just a few days ago, the story of a 16 year old autistic boy named Eric Parsa came up on the news.

He died last year at the hands of police, by being held in prone restraint and sat on during a meltdown.

When I was younger, I had pretty frequent meltdowns.

My parents would put me in prone restraint, roll me up into a blanket so I couldn’t move my limbs, and then sit on me.

I was an 80 pound child, and they were adults.

I remember desperately gasping, “I can’t breathe!”

Read 9 tweets

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!