#autismunity

I’ve been scheming and figured out what I’m going to do. I’ve been slowly working on it.

I cleaned some of my queue out and I’m scheduling my blog to post one anti-Autism Speaks post every hour. The posts will start appearing on April 1 at 9pm PST(April 2, 12am EST) and stop on April 3 at 12am PST.

I tagged the posts with all the Autism Speaks tags I know of on Tumblr, so the tags will get something from me every hour. None will come into the actuallyautistic tag although that will be one of the tags I use after the first five. (Tumblr only posts to the first five tags you use.)

I don’t care if the nasty autism moms end up blocking me. My slow and steady flood will be my protest against Autism Speaks. 

Anyone else is welcome to do the same. My hope is for my hourly posts to take over those tags or at least one will appear on every page to where they can’t get ignored unless I’m blocked.

I encourage you to be creative if you join in. It’ll take a lot of spoons and executive function to set up. I also encourage some posters who want to schedule hourly posts to do it on the 30 of every hour. So one of mine shows at 8am and someone else’s shows at 8:30 am. Somebody else who uses the quarters of the hours can really help too. (quarters are times like 8:15 and 8:45).

For those who use 24 hour time, the quarters and half of each hour would be like 22:15, 22:30, 22:45.

If we get cohesive, we could get our protest posts to show up in the Autism Speaks tags literally every fifteen minutes, maybe more if people want to use odd times like 8:10, 8:35, (18:10, 18:35) etc.

The exact tags I’ll be using: #AutismSpeaks #Autism Speaks #light it up blue #autism awareness #autismawareness #lightitupblue #LIUB #actuallyautistic #boycottautismspeaks #NAPP #WalkInRed

ETA: I’ve extended my protest to all of April. April 2 will have the big posts, the rest will be smaller posts. They’re scheduled to show up once a day at 12pm PST and anything else will be randomly tossed in by me.

TITLE: Pocket Chalk ~* FF.net and AO3 *~ SUMMARY: The Doctor is a mess after he gives his last box of chalk to Clara. He finds comfort in the smell of chalk, and not having any around is very upsetting. (Autistic!Twelve headcanon) RATING: K+ GENRE: Friendship/angst

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cc4dCkAb8o 

Speech is actually very difficult for me, but people don't understand that because they hear me talk and think "oh, she doesn't have any problems talking!" Most of what I say is not exactly what I'm thinking. Sometimes it's very close and sometimes I say totally different words to what I want to say. I can TALK, but I can't always COMMUNICATE how I want to when I talk.

Btw my eyes are not looking at the camera in the thumbnail. I was looking at something just to the side of it.

I politely messaged this person about Autism Speaks about a week ago, and when I checked the BoycottAutismSpeaks tag today to see what’s going on in there  I found this apology post. (Link goes to my reblog because I thanked them.) That’s when I poked into their blog and realized they’d responded to me, but I never got a response alert for whatever reason.

They removed their posts related to A$ (there’s one reblog where they’re asking someone to please delete the post they reblogged) and they indicated they’ll talk to their management staff about removing their support of A$ and finding another organization. 

This is proof that nicely setting people straight when you approach them privately can work. Prefacing it with something like “I know you’re trying to do something nice, but A$ hurts autistic people by...(explains A$ here.)” is a lot less hostile than stuff like “you’re an awful person for supporting A$!” because a LOT of people don’t realize how awful A$ is. 

That’s like someone coming to you and calling you awful for supporting a fandom that is hurtful or damaging to the fanbase in ways you didn’t realize. You’d probably be like “hey, fuck you!” to someone who came at you like that, right? But you’d be more inclined to listen if someone politely told you “it’s nice that you’re so passionate, but... (imaginary explanation here.)”

Of course, there are some who say they deleted their posts, but you go to look and they didn’t. Some sorority chick pulled that on me and I blocked her because I’m not someone who cusses people out via their inbox. Those people are kind of awful.

I think we, as an autistic community, need to save our anger for the people who refuse to listen or look at the information we cite and instead go on about all the good A$ has done for their child. Those are the people who contribute to hurting and dehumanizing us. But be nice until you know otherwise because being rude about it makes us look like a bunch of internet trolls and that’s exactly what A$ wants people to think about us.

ETA: He responded privately saying he can’t make GAP not support Autism Speaks, but he said he won’t volunteer for fundraisers and I told him that’s okay. Stepping back and not participating can be a statement, too. He may delete our Q/A post because it makes him uncomfortable since people were apparently attacking him about it.

[Image has a white background and shows the blue Autism Speaks puzzle piece crossed off with a red X.

Gray text matching closely to the Autism Speaks logo text reads: I’m autistic and I’m tired of being called a burden, an epidemic, a tragedy, broken, “mssng”, demonized, dehumanized, ignored, silenced and cast aside by AUTISM SPEAKS. IT’S TIME TO LISTEN to what autistic people are saying about this organization. Speaking and nonspeaking autistic people detest this awful organization and everything it stands for. Supporting them is supporting the hatred of autistic people.]

Hey, Suzanne Wright!

I fixed the Autism Speaks logo for you and your organization. It’s now green like the money you’re putting into eugenics and advertising instead of helping the autistic people you claim to support.

My Autism isn’t a Tragedy! series. Fandom: Guardians of the Galaxy

An autistic headcanon written by me, an autistic fanfic author. You’re welcome to say hi to autistic!Groot on Tumblr. He’s nonverbaltree.

TITLE: Being ~*~* FF.net and AO3 *~*~ SUMMARY: “…different is not less.” What most species call autism is normal neurology for Flora Colossi. Therefore, Groot does not see himself as disabled and thinks the way everyone else experiences the world is weird! RATING: T due to some violence and Rocket’s potty mouth. GENRE: Friendship, hurt/comfort, introspective * * * TRIGGER WARNING: There is mention of abusive ABA-like therapy.

TITLE: Always, Really and Forever ~*~* FF.net and AO3 *~*~ SUMMARY: “Friendship is the most understated form of love.” Groot’s quest to understand love goes awry when Rocket ends up in the hospital because of his out-of-control drinking. Without his social crutch around, Groot suddenly finds himself having to prove his competence again and again. RATING: M due to descriptions of nudity and Rocket’s potty mouth. GENRE: Friendship, hurt/comfort, introspective. * * * TRIGGER WARNING: Emetophobes might be bothered by this. There is mention of abusive ABA-like therapy. Also, Groot has an encounter that might be triggery to sexual assault survivors.

TITLE: Inner Gardens ~*~* FF.net and AO3 *~*~ SUMMARY: “We become what we plant within ourselves.” Something triggers Groot’s memories of Halfworld, which in turn results in uncontrollable self-injurious meltdowns. The side of himself he never wanted anyone other than Rocket to see is about to be laid bare. RATING: M due to graphic violence and sexual content. GENRE: Friendship, hurt/comfort, introspective * * * TRIGGER WARNING: Emetophobes might be bothered by this. Also, there are graphic flashbacks involving ABA-like therapy given by behavior therapists who are physically, emotionally and sexually abusive.

TITLE: Disclosure ~*~* FF.net and AO3 *~*~ SUMMARY: “Limits are not shameful.” Groot sees Quill experience frightening symptoms related to an undisclosed medical condition. Quill asks Groot not to tell anyone about what he saw. Groot, being the selfless sweetheart that he is, goes on a solo journey into the city to retrieve Quill’s medicine because he doesn’t want to spill the secret. In doing so, he comes face to face with his mental and physical limits. RATING: T due to some swearing. GENRE: Friendship, hurt/comfort, introspective * * * TRIGGER WARNING: Vague mention of past ABA-like therapy.

My hope is reading these helps people realize four things:

Functioning labels(high functioning/low functioning/mild/severe) are useless

It’s important to presume competence

Autistic people aren’t tragic burdens

Autistic voices matter

I’ll be periodically reposting/reblogging this. Autism acceptance is a thing that needs to happen every day, not just in April.