Thread by @AutSciPerson

This is going to be a really awful thread.

Feel free to ignore it autistic people.

Non-autistic people:
I am going to copy and paste definitions of autism in this thread, from different websites. Websites wanting to "help" us.

Please read how dehumanizing these are. 1/

TW ableism

"ASD is characterized by social impairments, communication difficulties, and restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behavior."

"A neurodevelopment disorder that causes social, communication and behavioral challenges." 2/

TW ableism
"People with ASD often have problems with social, emotional, & communication skills. They might repeat certain behaviors & might not want change in their daily activities. Many people with ASD have different ways of learning, paying attention, or reacting to things" 3/

TW ableism
"Autism, or autism spectrum disorder (ASD), refers to a broad range of conditions characterized by challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviors, speech and nonverbal communication. According to the CDC, autism affects an estimated 1 in 54 children in the US." 4/

TW ableism
"Autism spectrum disorder is a condition related to brain development that impacts how a person perceives and socializes with others, causing problems in social interaction and communication. The disorder also includes limited & repetitive patterns of behavior. [cont]

"The term "spectrum" in autism spectrum disorder refers to the wide range of symptoms & severity. Autism spectrum disorder begins in early childhood & eventually causes problems functioning in society — socially, in school & at work, for example. Often children show [cont] 6/

TW ableism
"symptoms of autism within the first year. A small number of children appear to develop normally in the first year, and then go through a period of regression between 18 and 24 months of age when they develop autism symptoms. [cont] 7/

TW ableism
"While there is no cure for autism spectrum disorder, intensive, early treatment can make a big difference in the lives of many children."
(Fun fact - that whole quote is from the Mayo Clinic for defining autism) 8/

TW ableism
"Delayed, limited, atypical, or lack of communication
Difficulties with social skills
Difficulties with sensory processing
Abnormal attachments to objects
Repetitive behaviors (i.e. spinning, stacking, hoarding) [cont] 9/

TW ableism
"and/ or difficult behaviors (i.e. tantrums, aggression, self-injury)
Co-morbid conditions such as seizures, mental retardation, and hyperactivity
Sleep challenges
Gastrointestinal issues
Selective or restrictive appetites [cont] 10/

TW ableism
"To date there is no known cure or cause for autism, despite its increasing prevalence over the past twenty years. It is estimated that 1:68 children are currently diagnosed, with a predominance of males being affected. [cont] 11/

TW ableism
"Autism challenges include:
Increased emotional, relational, and financial stress for caretakers
Social isolation of affected individuals and their loved ones
A lack of comprehensive, consistent, and affordable healthcare [cont] 12/

TW ableism
"Uncertainty about the future of affected individuals as caregivers age
When these issues are not addressed, they can lead to social, emotional, financial, and familial demise."
[This one is from Worldforautism . org] 13/

TW ableism
"Problems with communication and social interaction include:

issues with communication, including difficulties sharing emotions, sharing interests, or maintaining a back-and-forth conversation
issues with nonverbal communication, [cont] 14/

TW ableism
"such as trouble maintaining eye contact or reading body language
difficulties developing and maintaining relationships
Restricted or repetitive patterns of behavior or activities include:

repetitive movements, motions, or speech patterns
rigid adherence [cont] 15/

TW ableism
"to specific routines or behaviors
an increase or decrease in sensitivity to specific sensory information from their surroundings, such as a negative reaction to a specific sound
fixated interests or preoccupations" 16/

That quote above is from healthline [behavioral therapy is also listed as the top treatment] 17/

TW ableism
"Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) refers to a group of complex neurodevelopment disorders characterized by repetitive and characteristic patterns of behavior and difficulties with social communication and interaction. [cont] 18/

TW ableism
"The symptoms are present from early childhood and affect daily functioning. ASD occurs in every racial and ethnic group, and across all socioeconomic levels. However, boys are significantly more likely to develop ASD than girls. [cont] 19/

"Often children with ASD do not understand how to play or engage with other children and may prefer to be alone. People with ASD may find it difficult to understand other people’s feelings or talk about their own feelings. [cont]" 20/

"People with ASD may have very different verbal abilities ranging from no speech at all to speech that is fluent, but awkward and inappropriate. Some children with ASD may have delayed speech and language skills, may repeat phrases, and give unrelated answers to questions. [cont]

TW ableism
"..people with ASD can have a hard time using and understanding non-verbal cues such as gestures, body language, or tone of voice. For example, young children with ASD might not understand what it means to wave goodbye. [cont] 22/

TW ableism
"People with ASD may also speak in flat, robot-like or a sing-song voice about a narrow range of favorite topics, with little regard for the interests of the person to whom they are speaking. Many children with ASD engage in repetitive movements [cont] 23/

TW ableism
"or unusual behaviors such as flapping their arms, rocking from side to side, or twirling. They may become preoccupied with parts of objects like the wheels on a toy truck. Children may also become obsessively interested in a particular topic such as airplanes [cont]

TW ableism
"or memorizing train schedules. Many people with ASD seem to thrive so much on routine that changes to the daily patterns of life — like an unexpected stop on the way home from school — can be very challenging. [cont] 25/

TW ableism
"Some children may even get angry or have emotional outbursts, especially when placed in a new or overly stimulating environment."

Do you know why I included this one?
It's from NINDS. From NIH. This is the "good" stuff. Yea. Good.

ninds.nih.gov/Disorders/Pati…

26/

This is what I want non-autistic people to think about, after reading all of these definitions:

Do these definitions describe the autistic people in your lives?

Do they make you feel like autistic people are represented in medical, research, and nonprofit discourse?

27/

Do you consider these definitions to be at all accurate? Do you think autistic people had any say in writing them?

How would you feel if you googled "person" and these are the definitions that came up? 28/

All I did, in this thread, was google the word "autism." These were the first links that popped up. These weren't even the worst ones, they're just the most common.

These links are what parents read when they worry about their child. 29/

If you're a non-autistic person, and you think that these definitions do not represent the autistic people in your lives:

Please educate people when they say harmful things. Please email nonprofits.

Please advocate to change harmful narratives that harm autistic people. 30/

We can't do it all ourselves. It's hard enough just reading what people think about autistic people everyday. Accidentally stumbling upon pathologizing research, or a bad website. Getting sent research articles from relatives that are about "curing" autism thinking it's good. 31/

We are exhausted and we need you're help. 32/32