The Saltiest Autistic

Rules: Answer the prompt of the day on your own separate post. You can answer as many or as few of these as you like. Answer with as much or as little detail as you wish. And make sure to tag it as #30daysofautismacceptance and #2020. Please help me spread this before the start of April!

April 1: Introduce yourself. Talk about who you are as a person.

April 2: Post your red instead selfie today! Alternatively, you could talk about why you choose to go redinstead and what it means to you.

April 3: Talk about special interests. Do you have any? What are they? How long have you had them? What does it feel like to have special interests? What does having special interests mean to you? Talk about your past special interests

April 4: Do you consider your autism to be an important part of your identity?

April 5: Talk about your living situation. Do you live with your parents? Do you live on your own? Have roommates? Etc. If you live on your own how hard was it to get used to?

April 6: Are you able to drive? If you can, was it hard for you to learn? If not, what alternatives do you use, if any?

April 7: Talk about autism in the media. Do you think that autism is typically portayed well? Badly? Is there anything you'd like to see more of when it comes to autistic representation? Who are your favorite autistic characters? Do you have any headcanons?

April 8: What are some misconceptions/stereotypes about autism that you hate?

April 9: How sensitive are you when it comes to touch? Are you pro hug or anti hug?

April 10: Do you have trouble understanding when someone is being sarcastic or joking?

April 11: How open are you about being autistic? Do you usually tell people?

April 12: Talk about social skills and communication. What kind of things do you find hard?

April 13: What kind of things do you have trouble with as an autistic person? Why do you think you have trouble with it? What helps?

April 14: What would you like other people to be more aware of when it comes to autism?

April 15: Free day! Write about any topic you want!

April 16: Do you experience hyper empathy or low empathy? Talk about it. What is it like?

April 17: Have you experienced ableism before? If so, how did it feel and how did you handle it?

April 18: Discuss how you felt when you felt when you first learnt you were autistic vs how you feel now.

April 19: Talk about scripting. Is scripting something that you normally do? What kind of situations do you have a script for? Does it help you?

April 20: Discuss stimming. In what ways do you stim? What does stimming mean to you? What do individual stims that you do mean? Do you have any stim toys? What would you like people to know about stimming?

April 21: Give a shoutout to some of your favorite autism blogs/autistic bloggers

April 22: What are some social rules that do not make sense to you/that you don't understand?

April 23: Do you have any internal rules? What are they?

April 24: Talk about community. What does the autistic community mean to you? Is it important? How does it feel?

April 25: Do you know any other autistic people off the internet? Is anyone else in your family autistic or are you the only one? Do you wish you knew more?

April 26: In what ways can allistic people better accommodate you and other autistic people? What would you consider helpful?

April 27: Do you have any vocal stims or echolalia? Can you give any examples?

April 28: Are you LGBT? Discuss the intersection between both identities.

April 29: Why is acceptance important? What does it mean to you?

April 30: What would you like your final message of Autism Acceptance Month to be?

According to this absolute fuckwit, autism is comparable to cancer, ALS and muscular dystrophy. You know, deadly illnesses that KILL people.

I don't recall autism ever killing someone. Because it isn't a fucking disease. And you know what kills? Ableism. Not autism.

Oh, and apparently if we don't support Autism Speaks and don't see autism as comparable to cancer, we shouldn't be allowed to vote, drive or reproduce. Yeah... no.

Once again, not a disease or a genetic disorder. Please look up "developmental disability", and also look up "ignorant" in the dictionary. You'll probably find yourself there.

Also when you have a huge majority of the autistic community speaking out against Autism Speaks, you may want to listen.

Didn't know this person could read our minds and tell us what we want and how we feel. Also functioning labels, but that's just standard.

Really shows how NTs think of us - they think they know what we want, and they think we have to have our decisions made for us.

Also we don't need to be "eliminated". We're not fucking rats or cockroaches. Or a disease.

Oh look, a concern troll. Boo hoo.

Like you'd know anything about autistic life. Yes, it can be hard, but it's part of us - one that a lot of us are genuinely proud of.

And of course this becomes about parents and kids. Of course it's all about how the parents feel. Not about how autistic adults are subjected to this bullshit.

Meltdowns aren't seizures, dumbass. Seizures are more to do with epilepsy than autism anyway.

And apparently we're "sociopaths" for not supporting Ableist Fucks Incorporated Autism Speaks.

It has been a good five years since I last posted a proper guide back on my whatever-the-fuck mess blog that I’ve since moved away from (it’s still up, if you’re interested in guides on a lot of random psychology and non-psychology!). I always meant to write this guide, all those years ago, and it was requested too, here and there, I just could never properly formulate my thoughts into something coherent enough to be worth something to people.

But here it is, finally, five years overdue. Better later than never, right? AN AUTISTIC’S GUIDE TO WRITING AUTISTIC CHARACTERS FOR ALLISTIC PEOPLE. Shit, that’s a long title. This is going to be an entity that exists on Google Docs, that I’ll be constantly working on (as I write this [Nov 4 2019], it’s not even finished, but I need to get out of that perfectionism/procrastination loop), and I’ll be adding and editing as I get smarter and smarter. Or that’s the plan, anyway.

It has been a good five years since I last posted a proper guide back on my whatever-the-fuck mess blog that I’ve since moved away from (it’s still up, if you’re interested in guides on a lot of random psychology and non-psychology!). I always meant to write this guide, all those years ago, and it was requested too, here and there, I just could never properly formulate my thoughts into something coherent enough to be worth something to people.

But here it is, finally, five years overdue. Better later than never, right? AN AUTISTIC’S GUIDE TO WRITING AUTISTIC CHARACTERS FOR ALLISTIC PEOPLE. Shit, that’s a long title. This is going to be an entity that exists on Google Docs, that I’ll be constantly working on (as I write this [Nov 4 2019], it’s not even finished, but I need to get out of that perfectionism/procrastination loop), and I’ll be adding and editing as I get smarter and smarter. Or that’s the plan, anyway.

Elementary school was hell. Not academically. (Not to sound boastful but I was considered “gifted” back then when really I just read a lot so I could escape my crappy reality). But my problem was socially. Okay fine, that was probably because I was afraid of slides and balls, (The toys, the ones you throw, just in case that isn’t clear.) and all my peers only wanted to either play sports or run around the playground. Plus, my special interest back then was Winnie the Pooh and yes, I know you’re wondering how that isolated me since I was a kid, but nah, apparently in first grade, people had already graduated from Disney movies to Disney Channel shows and so people teased me for that. Yeah. I had a few friends scattered throughout my time in elementary school, but most of the time, I just read books against the brick wall during recess. Also, PE sucked. I don’t remember all of my PE teachers, but most of my elementary school PE teachers were so strict. Then again, it didn’t help that I sucked at PE. Also, I had a lot of meltdowns back then since I had less emotional control.

In middle school, things started to get harder academically. Also, that’s when my classmates really started to get mean. Back in elementary school, they were just brutally honest children who didn’t realize that maybe they shouldn’t rely on someone who’s afraid of balls to catch the ball for their team. But middle school, oh no, enter the mean girls. They didn’t necessarily do anything to me, but they did exclude me. Unfortunately, I ended up sitting at the same table with them. Anyways, as I was saying, school got harder academically. That was when my parents started pressuring me to think about being an adult, which was (and honestly still is) scary and stressful. Because of that pressure, I took an AP class... and got my very first C in a class other than PE. As I said, when I was younger, I was considered “gifted”, so yeah, that was a shock. Now don’t get me wrong. I did have a handful of friends back then, but the academic pressure, experience of being purposefully excluded, and the growing awareness that I as an Autistic was indirectly the target of all my “edgy” classmates’ jokes made it basically hell still.

But as I said, high school is better. Yes, there’s still pressure, and in fact, even more pressure, but I do feel a lot more accepted here. While yes, it may be true that I still hear some “edgy” jokes, I told one of my friends that I was uncomfortable with her using the r slur and she stopped. Well, she still slips up occasionally, but I know that she genuinely just forgot because when I remind her, she genuinely apologizes and does her best to remember to not use the word anymore. Plus, I actually have met a lot of autistic, ADHD, or otherwise neurodivergent people at my high school, so yeah.

I can’t even say the word, and that hurts. I should be able to describe myself with the correct word, but I can’t. Everybody around me has used slurs in place of the word autistic and it hurts.

Since it’s next month, remember that it’s not “autism awareness month” and it is “Autism Acceptence Month!”

Please call it Autism Acceptence month!!

It’s not “light it up blue” or puzzle pieces, it’s “Red instead!” And Autistic people, like me, already are whole. There is no need to try and put us back together!!! This is why we want acceptence and not awareness!!

Please call it Autism Acceptence Month and use Red Instead!!

Do not say “a person with autism” say “an autistic person!” Autism is a huge part of our identity!! It is apart of who we are!! It’s not something I carry with me, it’s something that is apart of who I am!! Don’t separate it from me! Being autistic isn’t bad!! We want acceptence of it, not awareness!

Call it Autism Acceptence Month, use Red Instead, and call us autistic!!

We are not something bad or broken! We don’t need to be fixed or put back together!! We are already perfect and fine just the way we are!! If you want to help us, listen to OUR experiences! Don’t listen to organizations who claim to speak for us (like Autism Speaks). If you are wondering what’s so wrong with them, google them. They are a hate group who believes we need to be cured!! Also, call out “Autism moms”! They are parents of autistic kids who believe autism took their perfect child away from them. It’s a horrible toxic culture that often paints the murder of disabled/autistic children as ‘understandable’ and ‘for the best’. Don’t let them get away with this. We are already fine the way we are!

Call it Autism Acceptence Month, use Red Instead, call us autistic, and don’t stand or tolerate people trying to speak for us or over us about our own experiences!!

Finally,isten to us and accept us the way we are!! Let us be happy and proud to be autistic!! Encourage that pride and self love in younger autistic kids!! We don’t need a cure for autism!! We need autistic people to be more loved and accepted!! There is nothing wrong with us!! We are not bad in any way!! We are not something broken that needs to be fixed!! We are perfect the way we are!! We need to celebrate that!!

Call it Autism Acceptence Month, use Red Instead, call us autistic, don’t tolerate people speaking for or over us, and help us celebrate who we are!!

Thank you for reading!! Please spread this around so people can learn if they don’t know!!

send an emoji to correspond to a question!! if you get asked something that you dont feel comfortable answering, you can always pass!

⏰- when were you diagnosed/when did you start suspecting you were autistic?

🌙- are you a morning person or a night person?

🎁- what’s your special interest(s)?

🍔- do you have sensory problems with food? what food do you like to eat?

🎧- what symptom(s) of yours is the hardest for you to deal with?

🦄- what do you excell at?

🍯- do you stim? what are some ways you stim?

🌡- do you prefer the heat or the cold? is one or the other stimmy? does one or the other cause sensory problems?

🌈- are you a part of the lgbt+ community? what is your lgbt+ identity?

🎢- what are some common phobias you have?

🎆- fireworks: yes or no?

💬- are you an introvert or an extrovert?

🍫- do you have a sweet tooth?

☕- do you regularly consume caffiene? do you find that caffeine helps manage your symptoms or makes them worse?

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦- do you have friends or family members with autism?

👕- what kind of clothes do you usually wear?

✏- do/did you like or dislike school?

💅- how do you usually practice self care?

and, just for fun,

❤- what’s your favorite color?

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