Laughing My Asperger's Off

Hey, #actuallyautistic (and artistic) Tumblr ladies!

We’re looking for an artist for the cover of a book about autistic women!

An acquaintance named Heather Stone Wodis asked me to share this. She is having a book published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers. It’s her PhD thesis and it’s a collection and discussion of the stories of several women on the autism spectrum.

She’s offering $100 for a good piece of original art for the cover, created by a woman on the autism spectrum.

It can be something you’ve already done, it can already be posted online somewhere, just as long as it’s your own work and you think it would fit well with a book about autistic women’s stories.

Since it’s a pretty serious book (again, a PhD thesis), I don’t think she’d be interested in art that’s cartoonish, but whatever you have, it can’t hurt to try.

I’m guessing it would have to be a pretty high-resolution image. 300 dpi at least. And big enough to fill the width of a standard book cover (maybe 6 by 9 inches). I don’t think it has to be the same dimensions as a book cover, because they can put the title and author’s name above and below it, or crop to a part of it. But it needs at least enough resolution for them to do that.

To submit:

Send me (@erikahammerschmidt) either a message on Tumblr, or an email at [email protected]. Include either an attached file of the art, or a link to where you have it up online.

I will send Heather what you send me. She’ll look at the pieces and pick one to use. I’ll get back to the winner when she decides.

Notes:

1. I am not sure of the deadline, and she isn’t either. It’s probably soon, because the book is just about to come out. So I wouldn’t recommend starting a project that will take a long time.

2. I am not sure how the artist would be paid. I’m guessing she could do Paypal or a check in the mail, but I don’t know for sure. I really haven’t gotten much time to talk to her about this, and I’m in a hurry to post this because the deadline is probably quite soon.

If someone says something that you only partially understand:

DON’T ask for clarification with a generic “What?” or “I’m sorry?” (In my experience, people will repeat the phrase the exact same way without helping you to understand).

Example: Them: “Hey, do you like pahganabasa?” Autistic Person: “What?” Them: “Do you like pahganabasa?” Autistic Person: “I’m sorry, what?” Them (annoyed): “Do you like pahganabasa?”

Instead, DO repeat the part that you did understand, and substitute a “What?” for the unintelligable part.

If someone says something that you only partially understand:

DON’T ask for clarification with a generic “What?” or “I’m sorry?” (In my experience, people will repeat the phrase the exact same way without helping you to understand).

Example: Them: “Hey, do you like pahganabasa?” Autistic Person: “What?” Them: “Do you like pahganabasa?” Autistic Person: “I’m sorry, what?” Them (annoyed): “Do you like pahganabasa?”

Instead, DO repeat the part that you did understand, and substitute a “What?” for the unintelligable part.

“I was thinking of making brownies, bread and mochi for the road. What do you think?”

“Brownies, bread, and…?”

“Mochi.”

“For the…?”

“Road.”

“Sounds good!”

Just because you’ve not wrung yourself out to the brink doesn’t mean you don’t need it and aren’t allowed to use it. Protecting yourself from getting to that point is absolutely okay and encouraged, so please use your mobility devices. Anyone who says otherwise can kindly go smell some pretty flowers.

For the longest time I’d been afraid to use my wheelchair unless my legs had zero functionality or until I actually fell down. And you know what? It sucks to fall down, it’s scary, and it hurts. But I felt like I wasn’t allowed to use it unless I absolutely, positively had no other choice. And that, my friend, is internalized ableism.

Being a part of the spoonie community here on Tumblr has helped me so much. Just this weekend I went on a retreat thing and brought my wheelchair just in case I might need it. And it’s really the only reason I didn’t have to go home early. I waited till I absolutely needed it the first day. And even after my meds kicked in and my legs were a tiny bit steadier but still scary and difficult to walk with, I used it - as a wheelchair and as a sort of walker. I used it how and when I needed it and I helped prevent my condition from worsening.

I love my wheelchair. It helped me take care of myself this weekend and I was lucky to be in a really supportive group who were understanding not only about needing my wheelchair, but also when I went non-verbal.

It seems like a good simple way to think is: always save energy/mobility for an emergency! At least, it’s what I first thought of when I read the first few lines.

Sure, you *could* walk until your legs are wobbly and tired, but what if there was an emergency, and you had saved some spoons to break out of the “In Case Of Emergency Break Glass” case?

Question:

when my parents ask a question, I’m always like “what do you mean” because my brain takes it 131 different ways

Answer:

so I am also taking this 131 different ways so are you asking why your autistic brain does this or if this is normal for autistic people?

this is normal for autistic people

why autistic people do this is up for debate but from what I have read its starts with autistic people are different anatomically our brains have more connections in it then other over which means we make more mental connections then other people do so that’s what this happens, probably, maybe there are many factors.

asking, “could you be more specific?” is never inappropriate, especially with bosses you want to do the job the way they want you to do it. and if they ask “What do you mean be more specific?” because they think they are being oblivious just give two different examples of what they could mean, even though there is a hundred ways you could take that. silly aillistics usually can’t think much more past two things at a time :P