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Johnny Profane Âû Profile picture
Johnny Profane Âû
@johnnyprofane1
One Voice. Raw. Real. Fiercely Neurodivergent. 🎤 Free Updates & Podcast https://t.co/dFv0qjtXXE
Aug 5 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
What I would have told my autistic son...

In the alternate universe.

Where I had one. Cuz life went different.

Text in first alt text.

#ActuallyAutistic THAT SONG I’LL NEVER SING TO MY SON Like some angel With a dislocated shoulder Half f l y i n g H a l f falling Younger to older From the day I was born. Tumbling to earth Rushing up below Body on f i r e H e a r t aflame In s l o – m o , a horror picture show… To a silent piano score… Like that song I’ll never sing To my son. Like that song Like this song…. Don’t be a dick Real talk… It’s harder than you think… Listen up, listen up… Maybe… Don’t mask… protecting others Don’t please yourself Less than bosses & lovers… Hold up… Most of all… Don’t forget To h... Image
Jul 29 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
A Shooting Star Has No Purpose

my autistic life...

failing upward 
toward collapse...?

succeeding downward 
toward joy...?

it's a quantum thing. 
the answer is simply...

yes.

I was not put on this planet 
to produce.

🧵 1/ A dramatic shooting star blazes across a dark night sky with flowing golden light and silver-blue trails. An intricately detailed tree stands in the foreground as silent witness. Stars dot the darkness. The style evokes William Blake's engravings with bold linework and cosmic symbolism. I was born to experience. 
Observe...

and over share.

our lives' value is 
not measured 
by clicks. 
or data mined by AI.

a shooting star
slashing through darkness
has no purpose.
unless 
it ignites 
a human instant
illuminates, ya know…
*that ness*

2/
Jul 3 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
🧵
a couple of mutuals have asked what's up with me.

well, i am going through some changes. in my AuDHD way, i won't know for awhile exactly what.

my process… i kinda…
do shit.
observe.
then discover motivation...

#ActuallyAutistic

1/3 A mural painted on a brick wall features bold, colorful text reading: "BE LIKE DUST," "BE LIKE WATER," and "BE LIKE FIRE." The word "#RESIST" is spray-painted in white graffiti over the first line. A person in a dark hoodie walks past the mural in motion blur. Digital tools included AI. but in my imagistic way i think i was headed somewhere while working on a piece on how Resistance happens...

without realizing i was outlining what the first 10 years after diagnosis have been for me...

2/3
Jun 24 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
🧵
Let's get clear right now, right here.

It's not being #autistic that creates our trauma.

It's living autistic in a society that inflicts trauma on us. Refusing to accept, adapt… support… us.

1/4
#ActuallyAutistic

#YouTube: Why do "helping" pros focus on my deficits, my lacks, my pitiful performance of “Activities of Daily Living”…?

Like, did I shower today…? No.

Rather than the sheer strength of will I demonstrate every time I take my next breath?

2/4
#ApplePodcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/aut…
Jun 14 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
#NoKings

The more different we are...

The less we need dictators.

#Neurodivergent #DisabilityRebellion #ActuallyAutistic

johnnyprofaneknapp.substack.com/p/i-need-to-ta…Image diversity is the strategy of evolution. the universe.

human breeding programs are anti-evolutionary. hence the inbreeding and other problems.

AND...

human compliance programs are anti-social evolution.

2/3
Jun 13 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
🧵

I hope Terry Moran sues ABC's fucking corporate ass.

And why aren't we boycotting chicken-shit corporate news?

#BoycottABC

While we're at it #BoycottDisney... the parent company...

serving us fascist fantasy fairy tales...

For 102 years.

1/2 fantasies based on princes & princesses are inherently fascist.

you don't have to agree.

we are in desperate times

i'm trying everything I can think of... desperately

not a defense. a manifesto. aimed at you

2/2
Apr 22 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
"I do emphatically NOT have a solution to offer. Or sell.

"I have call… a request? For action.

"To-do lists ain't working. Let's do something… different?

"I'm autistic. ADHD. I've observed my avoidant behaviors… crippling, disabling…

1/3
open.substack.com/pub/johnnyprof… "Insight ain't all it's cracked up to be.

"We're all full up with executive functioning here. Our CPU… and GPU...? Both red lining.

"I can't add ONE monitoring task without crashing. Not. One.

"All I get to do is... watch. Time after intermittent time. That's it…

#ADHD Comic panel showing time as a weapon. 'EVERY CLOCK...' appears beside a silhouette figure surrounded by clocks. '...IS A HANDGUN' accompanies an image of a revolver. '...POINTED AT MY HEAD!!' shows a distressed person with wide, fearful eyes facing multiple timepieces. A digital clock displays ':04' as a clock tower looms with 'BLAM!' text. Visual metaphor for how deadlines and time management become threatening, overwhelming weapons when experiencing executive dysfunction and task avoidance.
Apr 20 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
I’m the autistic RFKjr warned you about. A “dire threat” to America.

I have strengths. I am articulate… in my way.

I have challenges. I only function a few days a week. And not at all after a few hours of human contact.

Since I was a child.

1/ I had some accomplishments... despite these l facts. But not one of them justifies my existence.

But I… like many of us… have touched thousands of lives. Cuz we’re everywhere.

2/
Apr 4 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
there's that zen story about a monk falling off a cliff... grabbing a strawberry growing in a crevice as he flashes by. And savoring the sweet. Knowing he's hurtling toward a painful death.

there's this #ActuallyAutistic story of me falling off cliff after cliff...

1/4 Image hurtling toward death after painful ego death. career after career.

enraptured by fruit after strange fruit… after really weird career switch.

i'm a slow learner of new thoughts.

2/4
Mar 23 • 6 tweets • 1 min read
#FiercelyNeurodivergent

The personal IS political...

for #ActuallyAutistic too. Mebbe... *more*?

#ADHD #IEP #AltText

#FiercelyNeurodivergent

The personal IS political...

for #ActuallyAutistic too. Mebbe... *more*?

#ADHD #IEP

Alt text

Street art on a yellow wall beside a school yard fence. A woman wearing headphones raises her fist in defiant solidarity while a child reaches
Mar 21 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
"Fear is NOT the mind-killer. Denial is.
I must honor my fear.
Fear is my guardian. My junkyard dog. My screaming siren."

How Trump's attacks on #Neurodivergent’s affect 1 in 4 US homes.

Our most viral episode. Listen now.

#ActuallyAutistic #IEP

open.substack.com/pub/johnnyprof… First, we're other.
Then, we're less than human.
A burden.
A danger.
Finally…
A target
For violence.

And hate crimes against Americans with disabilities have risen 29.5% over the last five years. As American political discourse has darkened.

See what I mean? Image
Mar 19 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
I just want to put this out there. My autistic experience. Maybe no one else's.

For awhile? I was misdiagnosed bipolar II. Which led to unfortunate meds… and side effects. Permanent.

#ActuallyAutistic #ADHD #Bipolar

🧵1/ Profile silhouette of a person wearing a fedora hat against a black background. Multiple overlapping profiles extend behind the main figure, creating a visual echo effect. Dramatic lighting highlights only the edges of each profile. The repetition and shadowing suggest different states of being or cognition, visually representing the variable cognitive experiences described in the post about autism and misdiagnosis. See… I tested with a gifted IQ. But because of my spiky cognitive profile? I definitely perform at a subnormal level.

Here’s the deal…

During periods of clarity, I can indeed do some things that amaze me. I founded and ran an award-winning magazine at 30.

2/
Mar 18 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
an autistic meltdown is fight flight freeze & appease all at once.

even when it comes out as "fuck You fuck You fuck you."

it's a tiger seagull deer cringing dog all smashed into the same moment. like if a qubit could scream.

1/2 despite my spiritual ... pretensions... this has been my truth. sunce 1953.

My mileage may vary.

2/2
Mar 12 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
I'm an autistic writer and podcaster. I chose the "stage name" of Johnny Profane Âû.

why? I wanted to say what I really needed to say... without masking.

#ActuallyAutistic #Neurodivergent #ADHD

1/ Abstract black and white sketch with chaotic, intersecting lines creating a sense of movement and transition. Two circular forms emerge from the turbulence - one dark, one lighter. The spontaneous ballpoint pen technique evokes automatic drawing practices of surrealists, capturing raw emotional states. The unplanned, immediate response mirrors the author's journey from masked expression to authenticity, visually representing the "bardo" state between personas. The circular elements suggest wholeness emerging from chaos, complementing the narrative of finding a true voice. ironically I couldn't begin to do that without the fig leaf of internal cosplay.

i wasn't saying these things. Johnny Profane was.

cool thing? in time i wasn't listening to him any more

i was listening to me. then just speaking the truth.

2/
Mar 10 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
We sure blew past that goal! On Day $4!

Thanks to
Bernard Grant,
David Perlmutter,
Tony V in LV,
LivingWithHarmony,
Sam Farmer,
Ian Lawton,
Eric,
Krishna Sadhana,
Kara Mace!

I hope you can forgive me... I'm leaving the 7-day fund raiser up.

Here's why:

#ActuallyAutistic
1/ At left, banner on grafitti sign reads, "AutisticAF Out Loud. On Voice. Raw. Real. Fiercely Neurodivergent." At right, text reads, "Day 3, $210.55, 140% of Goal!, Raised toward $150 Goal. Check back tomorrow... for progress." I'm thinking of adding something. More sponstaneous. Letting me post more often. I could use a few nickles in my pocket to help make it happen.

A new podcast:
"Trigger Warnings: Fiercely 'Divergent News." A sort of "Gimme 10 minutes? I'll give you my neurodivergent world."

2/
Mar 7 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
I believe no one should have to pay to be autistic.
That's why all my resources on living Neurodivergent... out loud? Always free.

But at 70-something, on govt assistance, I need help.
7-day fundraiser: $150 & keep this work going.


#ActuallyAutistic 1/7 ko-fi.com/autisticaf Just in February 2025 alone, I talked directly with:

17 newly diagnosed #autistic adults
11 families raising #neurodivergent kids
12 therapists & caregivers
7 researchers
3 teachers

Hundreds reach out to me yearly.

THEN, the tens of thousands who read/listen. Silently.

2/7
Feb 23 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
@perplexity_ai? Most useful AI app I've used to date… & keeps improving at a fast rate.

Deep research,
brainstorming creative writing,
editing,
research,
project organizing via Spaces,
AI assistant to keep me on track,
+ instant search for tech support or any casual thing. Perplexity offers a whole lotta executive functioning help for this #autistic + #ADHD.
Feb 22 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
I'm #autistic. I've re-read the Dune series... maybe a dozen times since 1965.

How about you?

Are you #Neurodivergent? Do you re-experience your faves?

#AskingAutistics

1/2 I love re-reading. LOVE it.

I relive memories. I'm back in the moment. Like that, I re-experience the depth of emotion, insight, beauty each re-visit of a book or movie.

It becomes a deeply nuanced experience. Layers of feeling & sensations from various ages I re-read.

2/2
Feb 19 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
Trump administration identifying #Autism, #ADHD as "direct threats to the American people."

Underlying many of Trump's policies?

Eugenics. Against all disability.

Libertarian survival of the fittest.

#ActuallyAutistic Image Find me as johnnyprofane1 on most text, image, video platforms via

linktr.ee/johnnyprofane1
Feb 8 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
"I was not born to be pitied. I was born to raise Hell. Autistic style."

Now wherever you grab your podcasts...

#YouTube youtu.be/n5zMWz_nzws?si…

#Spotify open.spotify.com/episode/6DcSRn…

#Apple podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/aut…

#Amazon music.amazon.com/podcasts/21980…

#ActuallyAutistic #AutismAtWork #ADHD #Neurodiversity More good Karma with me, my friend, @char_boa !
Feb 2 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
#ImagineImpeachment

Start now. As a democracy, we the people are responsible for what our chosen leaders do.

As the economic impact of retaliatory tariffs hit American people, call your representatives.

Whether your state is red or blue.

1/ As things get worse, impeachment is realistic.

We need only a dozen or so Republicans to join Democrats in House and Senate to take back our country.

#ImagineImpeachment

2/3