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27 May, 4 tweets, 1 min read
There are so many problems with how special interests and autism are framed here and these are the "good" articles.

"Reduced autism traits"
"Deficit"
"Interruption"

Seriously, researchers:
Stop using the words "autism traits" as if you can "turn down the autism" in a person! 1/
You cannot "turn down autism traits." I do not have "more autism traits" when I'm in distress.

I'm just an autistic person, in distress!

And when I'm not in distress, I don't have "reduced autism traits" I'm just less stressed out!

Autism is Not Separate From Autistic People.
Neurotypical people:

Do you have "reduced neurotypical traits" when you're behaving well in a classroom and "increased neurotypical traits" when you perform small talk?

No!

You know why?
Cause you're a human being!

Autistic people are human beings too!
Maybe one day I will create an online training course for researchers about how to not pathologize autistic people in research. One day..

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More from @AutSciPerson

AutisticSciencePerson Profile picture
28 May
Reminder: Changing surface-level terms, using "autistic people" instead of "person with autism," doesn't make up for perpetuating myths about autistic people.

"many experience some level of difficulty with social-cognitive mentalizing, also known as 'theory of mind'" 1/13
"..understanding the early course of social-cognitive neurodevelopment may afford the best opportunity to mitigate the profoundly negative effects that social-cognitive differences can have on some autistic people." 2/13
scientificamerican.com/article/autism…
I'm also not a fan of the framing of "let's learn about autistic people so we can figure out how social attention works because they don't have it!" as if we're some fun commodities to be studied.

Not to mention that neurotypical people are crap at reading autistic people.. 3/13
Read 13 tweets
AutisticSciencePerson Profile picture
27 May
Reminder to anyone who thinks that autistic people just "have" to do X/Y/Z because the world is harsh and unwelcoming -

Accommodations in the workplace exist. "It's the world we live in" doesn't prevent us from trying to make a better one. Stop thinking this as a good reason. as a parent i want my son t...
Autistic people do not have to mask to make friends - we can make friends with other autistic people or neurodivergent people in general (and we often do). Be able to interact with others? Again, we can interact with other autistic people.
Asking autistic people to mask in order to get a job is essentially asking autistic people to mask for the rest of their lives while in that job.

Effectively you're saying I'd rather you have a job than have sound mental, emotional, and even physical health.
Read 5 tweets
AutisticSciencePerson Profile picture
26 May
Autistic kids who are "high achievers" (i.e. get good grades in school) are often seen by adults as more mature/loser to adults.

There are a few reasons for that. They may -
like talking to adults more than peers
like to talk intensely about topics
Have interesting insights 1/11
They may even prefer talking to teachers rather than students.

They may not like the sensory overwhelm of other students around them.

They may think about life more abstractly or seem to talk about "more mature" topics than peers. 2/11
They also probably notice adults around them treating them more like an adult because of how they act.

They may also want to people-please especially with adults and seek validation, so they may seem more "well-behaved" but that's actually from anxiety. 3/11
Read 14 tweets
AutisticSciencePerson Profile picture
25 May
Alternative communication methods are not only for nonspeaking or minimally speaking autistic people.

Being "highly speaking" as an autistic kid does not mean "can express myself in words super clearly all the time even when nearing meltdown/shutdown"

Use typing/writing/etc 1/4
And it certainly doesn't mean "can easily label emotions and explain sensory sensitivities by speaking."

Being able to talk doesn't equal being able to explain everything at all times. For me, 70% of the information I wanted to get out was missing when I speak. 2/4
Email (where you can take time to read and reply without someone expecting you to talk immediately), AAC devices, writing, or typing on a keyboard/phone can be easier ways to talk about stressful subjects or about emotions. 3/4
Read 4 tweets
AutisticSciencePerson Profile picture
25 May
Chart of what autistic people may say and what they may mean: Two columns. Left column header - What Is Said. Right column
The chart above should also be paired with this:

Read 4 tweets
AutisticSciencePerson Profile picture
24 May
TW ableism

Nearly all autism "treatments" are based in lack of autonomy of the autistic person, hostility, and abuse.

Reading this page and scrolling down to "treatments" is really upsetting.

These are the "autism experts." This is what people trust.

nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/…
Our society is medicating autistic people for being in distress (for "Irritability/Aggression/Repetitive behavior").

Torturing autistic people for being in distress (behavioral therapy to "reduce challenging behaviors").

This "treatment" is due to not being accommodated.
These "treatments" really are nearly as perverse and horrifying as gay people being "treated" via medical and behavioral interventions.

It really is that simple.

This fact becomes clearer for me everyday.

It's sickening.
Read 4 tweets

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