It is great that more people, particularly women, are able to get an autism diagnosis these days. It was far too stigmatized for far too long. It's still not exactly easy as an adult though #r4today, and it can be incredibly intrusive and distressing when you are diagnosed. 1/
Personally I'm pleased I did get diagnosed and have found it has helped me understand who I am better. For years after being diagnosed though I hid it from myself as much as anyone else. Until then I had always thought if I tried just a little harder to fit in it would happen. 2/
Should be highly interesting to look at the study by University if Exeter, but I am concerned that some reporting on it, such as the negative framing here, is going to fuel claims that "you can't be autistic" if you can communicate or maintain a relationship etc. 3/ Image
It's also a risk that you will see even more people claim "we're all a little autistic aren't we". Just for the record, no, no we aren't. Not sure the way #r4today was talking about changing diagnosis criteria will have helped with that. 4/
A better understanding of autism, which leads to more people being diagnosed, is not the same as making out that we're just shifting the goalposts. It means that traits which have always been related to autism are being recognised as such. 5/
Really??? This is exactly what I was worried about. No, more people being diagnosed does not make it meaningless. It means we can access better support, but more importantly, I would argue, we can understand ourselves better and make necessary adjustments to protect ourselves. 6/ Image
Autistic individuals are at more risk in multiple ways, even as adults. Having a diagnosis, for me, was hard at first, but it has helped me to start to put strategies in place to reduce some of that risk. Increases in diagnosis definitely aren't meaningless to those diagnosed. 7/
The people, in my opinion, who make the claims that more people being diagnosed makes diagnosis meaningless are exactly the type of people who think it acceptable to "talk over" autistic individuals and are put out that some of us call out their misleading stereotypes. 8/
Hopefully, this study will help more people to understand and accept autism and how different autistic individuals may have a variety of different traits. Unfortunately, as we are already seeing, its more likely to be used to just dismiss us yet again, and tell us to be quiet. 9/

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More from @stand_for_all

28 Sep
Slightly concerned by the language here. There's a lot going on, but mainly, I'm curious how if they arrived yesterday they've been properly assessed as to eligibility already. "Economic migrants" has also become quite a loaded term which is used by too many to deny protection 1/
In the current globally hostile environment, I would also worry about the phrasing of "asylum management and legal migration pathways". The issue here is how these phrases are picked up on in order to further deny asylum applications from those entering via irregular methods. 2/
I am not blind to the issues which UNHCR has to deal with, including needing to maintain relations with States who may not wish to accept asylum seekers, but choice of words needs to be made with an eye to how they are used in wider context to deny protection for so many. 3/
Read 8 tweets
25 Sep
And minute UK did carry out pushbacks it would be bogged down in never ending litigation. Even Immigration Services Union admits tactics are "unusable". Just PR meat to the base while waiting for numbers to drop, as they always do around this time of year.
thetimes.co.uk/article/f16895…
Here's the thing, yes they've been up on previous years, mainly due to other routes still being more limited, but Channel crossings are basically seasonal. They always increase around this point as people try and make journey before weather turns and it become far too dangerous.
Home Office aren't stupid, they know there is about to be the annual winter drop in crossings. They also know minute they conduct illegal pushbacks they open a can of worms they really don't want to. Hopefully they're playing for time until asylum seekers leave the front pages.
Read 4 tweets
19 Sep
Deep breath, self DX for autism is entirely valid, and often necessary. I was technically first diagnosed at 6, but was never told until last year, so I ended up self diagnosing, which led to a long road to getting, another, formal diagnosis at 27. 1/
Even when someone is formally diagnosed though, if we present as too "normal" we will have idiots claiming we aren't autistic, or demanding we publish our diagnosis online. Now, my diagnosis statement is long and personal. Guess what, I am not sharing it with random people. 2/
For the most part, in my own personal experience, autistic individuals want to be left alone and just accepted. Unfortunately as that isn't happening it means some of us feel the need to step forward and put ourselves out there. You know what, it sucks. 3/
Read 5 tweets
19 Sep
Thread: Something I've been thinking a lot about this week is just how "good", for want of a better word, Home Office comms are. I mean, they're hideous, but they are also effective in their intended outcome, which isn't really to "communicate" so much as undermine opposition. 1/
The "activist lawyers" line was a masterstroke, because despite it being objectively wrong and misleading, there is no way to demonstrate that without them being able to reinforce the message to their target audience. 2/
It also provides them with the perfect cover for their claims that the asylum system is "overwhelmed" despite actual numbers of asylum seekers being down on previous years. "Don't look at us guv. Look at those activist lawyers holding up the process". 3/
Read 14 tweets
19 Sep
Oh FFS @MigrationWatch, sound out the words slowly and run your finger a bit further down the page. Pushbacks are highly illegal for multiple reasons, under various international laws, and vessels have a legal duty to protect life at sea, not cause people to drown.
98% of those who cross the channel seek asylum and vast majority of people who do so are granted it on either first instance or appeal. So this one is at best a highly disingenuous reading of data, at worst a flat out lie designed to stoke hatred.
Interesting that they quote the Mayor of Calais who has made it illegal of asylum seekers to be provided with food and water by NGOs, wonder if that may have something to do with it. Also France actually has higher "benefits" for asylum seekers, so again this is bollocks.
Read 6 tweets
17 Sep
Noticeable how already there is a slow decline of attention regarding Afghanistan, as with Syria, Yemen, Venezuela, and every refugee situation in the world. No wonder the government always feels so comfortable demonising asylum seekers. They know everyone forgets about them.
I mean, in a purely practical sense I get it. People have only so much attention span and as the news roles on they focus on the next story. Combine that with that hideous phrase "compassion fatigue", and it's not remotely surprising people forget.
Refugees don't forget about their situations though. When the cameras stop filming and the public stops caring they are still living in those situations. That's why legislation has to defend all refugees, no matter where from or how they reach the UK.
Read 6 tweets

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