Thread by @MorenikeGO

Jacob David, Jaycee Eubanks, Isiah Desmond Kirk, Mercedes Losoya, Deonn Carter, Jzya Thompson, RonNiveya O'neal, Stavian Driver, Marchs McGhee, Aaron Carter, Gavin Douyon, Nicole Amari Hall, Elijah McCain, Stephon Wotts, Melissa Stoddard. Kendrick Lee, Izzy Techenor.

Kobe Heisler, Avonte Oquendo, Reece Watts, Jeremiah Degrate Rios, Omarion Humphrey, Maleah Davis, Keydall Jones, Rashaad Germany Jr, Duke Flores, Chris Castillo, unnamed 7 year old girl (hit and run), unnamed 10 year old boy (murdered), Jayliel Vega Bautista, Gabriel King.

Zavire Dion Portis, Xavier Hernandez, Jayden Morrison, Linden Cameron, Brian Alejandro Ripley, Liam Husted Brown, Hazana Anderson, Eliza Talalir, Mohamed Nour, Keyontae Holzendort, John Tecas, Maliyah Bass, Thomas Valva, Najib Masif, Antonio diStasio, Kyrin Carter.

All those names I just listed? Black and brown #ActuallyAutistic people, including infants, children, teens, & adults who are ALL DEAD.

Several were murdered. Some wandered & drowned. Some were killed by police for the crime of being #AutisticWhileBlack.

Several of these cases happened right here where I live, & I didn’t even know about it. And this list is not exhaustive. It was just as far as I could go psychologically before being overwhelmed w/tears that I could no longer read the names on the screen to add them to the list.

Yesterday was #DDoM2022 - Disability Day of Mourning for those killed by caregivers. Several of the people I’ve listed here are on that list as well. And countless others are not. They are nameless, faceless brown blurs, forgotten by everyone except those closest to them.

The majority of the people on this list are children, & are Black. But there’s also people who are Asian, & Latine, & indigenous, & multiracial. People who once shared oxygen on this planet with us. Now they are gone. Never to return.

A few happened as recently as this week.

Haunting pictures of the deceased, smiling, in news stories & obituaries. Many of them who resemble my children, my nieces & nephews, my siblings, me.

At the same time I’m compiling their names, I’m getting notifications from #ActuallyAutistic people criticizing & insulting me.

“You’re a traitor! You went on a podcast Autism Speaks promotes & had civil dialogue w/autistics who have internalized ableism!”

Not a word about how I was, & remain, openly pro-neurodiversity. No acknowledgement that I’m making efforts to encourage dialogue. Just criticism.

Go ahead & attack me if that makes you feel happy. Because I’M NOT APOLOGIZING for trying to reach out to people beyond the echo chamber. Our people are suffering &, literally, dying out here. YOUR strategies clearly aren’t working; don’t hate on me for trying something else.

Because while y’all are ruminating in your ideological purity, some child is getting an autism diagnosis. What’s the likelihood that the child’s clinicians are sharing neutral or positive things about autism to that child’s parents? Slim to none, & you know I’m not wrong.

These parents being told the same thing I was told about my kids, about myself: negativity, doom & gloom. They’re not being supported or encouraged to think holistically about autism. They’re terrified & lost - & that autistic child is going to be greatly impacted due to that.

Maybe that’s okay with YOU. It’s NOT okay with me. Everybody has been doing things YOUR (flawed) way for years; we’ve made little to no progress. If I want to reach across the d@mn aisle & see what I can do to make things better, I’m going to. I don’t need your permission.

You don’t have to join me in these efforts. You don’t even have to agree. For all I know what I’m trying to do will fail miserably & blow up in my face. I’ll risk it. If I can help even ONE autistic person’s circumstances to improve, I will have accomplished something.

None of y’all look like my mama; I’m not seeking your approval. But you know what I DON’T need? Your ill-informed judgment & your gossip. Let me do what I feel called to do, & you keep doing you. You have no right to call me a sellout or a traitor for wanting things to be better.

I’ve previously shared that I’m making efforts to build bridges. That podcast wasn’t the last; I plan to try other things too. Your concerns about philosophical purity are not helping add 1 single extra day to any BIPOC autistic person’s life while my efforts potentially could.

The least you could do is give me the benefit of the doubt instead of assuming I’ve betrayed the community I have labored in for years. My heart hasn’t changed. My intentions haven’t either, even if my tactics might be evolving. morenikego.com/accountability/

I have been extremely transparent over the years about concerns I’ve had with Autism Speaks. As well as with the collective autism community & its failure to prioritize the intersectional realities of autistic people with ID and/or who are nonspeaking, BIPOC, TGNC, etc.

I’m still me, but if I have to decide who to get through to: A) those connected to the 1 in 48 people who are autistic - including the autistic children who are the faces of the future,

or B) grown a$$ autistic adults who should be capable of agreeing to disagree…
I choose A.

In less than 48 hours, that podcast episode has been listened to 13K times. What I said could have resonated w/some parent, some provider, some researcher, some teacher. Which was the goal to begin with. I’m not sorry. m.soundcloud.com/user-252693680…

Never in my life thought I’d be posting an Autism Speaks link in my feed, but I’m posting this one. There’s a transcript & there’s audio of exactly what I discussed. I have no reason to lie. Review it for yourself before just internalizing rumors about me. autismspeaks.org/podcast/adulti…

While you’re at it, review this link of several resources I put together specifically FOR anyone who stumbled across the podcast episode & wanted to learn more about neurodiversity. I’m just trying to “plant seeds.” You don’t have to like it, but back off. morenikego.com/faq

I’m done. Go ahead & “cancel” me if y’all want. I’m still going to be me, & I’m still going to continue to labor for change & push for acceptance. I’m the same person in the light & the dark; I’m the same person whether y’all back me up or stab me in the back. GN. /thread end

1 more thing & I’m really done. I’ve been asked to share the messages & emails of those who accused me of being a “traitor.” I’m not going to do that; that’s not how I roll. They’re entitled to their opinions. But they are NOT entitled to my companionship, so they getz blocked.

Wise words overall, but especially relevant to me personally rn, unfortunately.

Gonna take a break for a few days from messages &/or emails until folks get bored & move on to something more productive than spewing BS in my inboxes. It’s all good, though; #TGIF! #AndStillIRise

https://twitter.com/autistichoya/status/1490054064494858240