The Autisticats - #StopTheShock Profile picture
May 5, 2021 10 tweets 4 min read Read on X
In honor of AAPI Heritage Month, here are some Asian autistic people you should know about!

Lydia X.Z. Brown is a Chinese-American adoptee. They are heavily involved in disability justice work, and their writing on disability is foundational to the movement. Photo of Lydia X.Z. Brown, ...
Yuh-Line Niou is a Taiwanese-American politician who serves in the New York State Assembly.

She represents the 65th district, which includes Chinatown. She originally ran as a member of the Working Families Party, but she is currently in office as a Democrat. Photo of Yuh-Line Niou, a T...
Kodi Lee is a Korean-American musician and singer with perfect pitch, who recently won America’s Got Talent.

He is also blind (due to optic nerve hypoplasia) and has Addison’s Disease, which affects hormone production in the adrenal glands. Photo of Kodi Lee, a Korean...
Niam Jain is a South Asian painter and visual artist from Canada, whose paintings are vibrant and abstract.

His speech is limited, so painting is an important form of self-expression for him. Photo of Niam Jain, a young...
Hikari Ōe is a Japanese composer of classical music. He is the son of Kenzaburō Ōe, a Nobel Prize winning author.

He is visually impaired and epileptic, and has limited speech. He uses musical compositions to help express himself. Photo of Hikari Ōe, a Japan...
Helen Hoang is a Vietnamese-American romance novelist, and autistic parent to an autistic daughter.

Her first novel, The Kiss Quotient, is about an autistic woman exploring her sexuality and figuring out romance. Photo of Helen Hoang, a Vie...
Naoki Higashida is a Japanese author and visual artist who types to communicate.

His most famous book, The Reason I Jump, was recently turned into an award-winning documentary film. Photo of Naoki Higashida in...
Amrit Khurana is an Indian visual artist whose life and work was featured in the documentary version of The Reason I Jump.

Her speech is limited, and she uses art as an outlet to express her thoughts and experiences. Photo of Amrit Khurana, an ...
Raj Singh Tattal is a Punjabi Sikh visual artist from the UK who is most well-known for drawing detailed portraits.

He had not drawn for over a decade until he was diagnosed as autistic, which led him to decide to channel his ability to focus for hours on end into creating art. Image of Raj Singh Tattal h...
Last but not least, Ping Lian Yeak is a Malaysian-Australian visual artist with limited speech.

He has been featured in several documentaries, and his artwork was displayed at the United Nations headquarters in 2008 in honor of Autism Awareness & Acceptance Month. Photo of Ping Lian Yeak in ...

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More from @autisticats

Oct 24, 2021
Last year, a study came out which revealed that autistic people are more likely than neurotypicals to follow our morals even when no-one is watching.

This is an article that @AutSciPerson wrote about the study and its implications:

neuroclastic.com/autistic-peopl…
In the study, autistics and neurotypicals were recruited to see if they would donate to a good cause that would make them lose money, or support a bad cause that would benefit them financially.

In one condition, the decisions were private. In another, the decisions were public.
In the public condition, both autistics and neurotypicals were more likely to donate to the good cause that made them lose money.

But in the private condition, neurotypicals were much more likely than autistics to support the bad cause that would earn them money.
Read 9 tweets
Oct 6, 2021
Today I discovered the name of a phenomenon I’ve been experiencing as long as I can remember:

Allodynia, a type of neuropathic pain where the skin is extremely sensitive to touch.

As it turns out, this kind of nerve pain and hypersensitivity is common in autistic people.
Here are some studies I read, which explain that lower C-fiber nerve density/denervation in some autistic people is a likely cause of allodynia.

hindawi.com/journals/np/20…

mdpi-res.com/d_attachment/j…
Notably, one of those studies is about the connections between autism and Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (which I also have).

People with EDS often exhibit denervation of their C-fiber nerves, just like autistic people.

This can make it very hard to experience pleasant touch.
Read 9 tweets
Sep 23, 2021
Loneliness is a health issue that affects autistic people at a rate 4x higher than the general population.

It’s a serious problem, but I think many people don’t quite understand the effects of loneliness on the body and mind.

So, I’m going to explain.

huffingtonpost.co.uk/amp/entry/peop…
Humans need warm, loving contact with other humans in order to keep our nervous systems and bodies regulated.

We are fundamentally social creatures, and autism doesn’t change that.

What autism does often change, is the likelihood of being treated well by others.
The source of that problem is not autistic people.

It’s a problem created and perpetuated by a society that does not understand (and is not willing to care for) autistic people.

So in order to solve it, we have to change social attitudes and behaviors towards autistic people.
Read 10 tweets
Sep 16, 2021
When autistic people’s autonomy is stripped away from us, we’re more likely to be aggressive.

This is true of all human beings.

But when autistic people are not viewed as fully human, and people don’t recognize our autonomy, they can’t see why we lash out when it’s denied.
In the documentary “The Limits Of My World,” Brian (a 21 year old nonspeaking autistic man) lashes out at one of his caregivers.

They were at a center for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, doing crafts.

It was overstimulating.
There were many people talking all at once, including 3 people talking to Brian directly.

One caregiver had his hands on Brian’s shoulders, but would often reach down to grab Brian’s hands and force him to do things.

The other caregiver was sitting beside Brian.
Read 9 tweets
Sep 13, 2021
One of the main ways that nonspeaking autistic people are denied agency, is through repeated and incessant demands to communicate.

I watched a documentary the other day called “The Limits Of My World” and there was one scene in particular that drove this point home.
The documentary is about a nonspeaking 21 year old autistic man named Brian, who lives in a caregiving facility.

One of his caregivers was helping him dry off after his shower, when she pointed to the mirror and said, “Who’s that? Brian, who is that? What’s your name?”
I couldn’t count how many times he was asked. And the irony was, she clearly knew his name.

Over time, her tone shifted from a light and playful “Brian, what’s your name?” to a demand: “Brian, tell me your name.”

He couldn’t answer because he couldn’t speak.
Read 9 tweets
Sep 9, 2021
When people say they’re against eugenics because (for example) altering autistic people’s genes might “accidentally get rid of special talents and skills”…

They aren’t actually anti-eugenics.

In fact, that argument is very much in line with the core ideas of eugenics.
When people say “Autism shouldn’t be eradicated because…” and then follow up that statement with things like:

- “Autistic people are intelligent”
- “Autistic people can be productive”
- “Autistic people have special talents”
- “Autistic people can be independent”…
They are doing two things:

1. Feeding into the idea that a disabled person’s only worth comes from how well they can be exploited economically

2. Erasing autistic people who don’t fit those criteria, and implying that it would be okay for *those* people not to exist.
Read 10 tweets

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