Autism News, 2017/12/01

[ada_hoffmann]

Rose Lemberg is making a cool series right now about writing while autistic, and I am linking to everything in the series because it’s wonderful.

• On rules and guilt


• On productivity and stimming (This advice is about writing, but it might be usefully applied to many other stimmy, potentially unproductive tasks which one feels pressurd to make “productive”.)


• On ending a story when transitions are hard


• On reclaiming hyperfocus (I… need to think about this one some more. Oof.)


• On writing a story in multiple sessions

Politics and government:

• Betsy DeVos, the U.S. Secretary of Education, rescinded 72 documents outlining disabled students’ rights. 


• In Canada, it’s becoming more difficult for mentally disabled people to access disability tax credits and other financial help.  (CN: “sufferers of autism” and other unfortunate word choices.)


• Terrence McCoy on the agony of waiting for a disability hearing in the US (CN: There’s… um… I want to warn for a thing that’s in this article, but I don’t know what to call it. Really depressing situations happen and people are depressed by them. I don’t know. Also, slurs.)

Sexuality and relationships:

• Chrysanthe Tan on why it’s hard for queer autistic people to access most queer spaces – and what the queer community could do to fix it. 


• Dani Alexis Ryskamp on weird flirting

Pan-disability posts:

• More than half of disabled Black Americans have been arrested by the age of 28


• Frances Ryan reports on the everyday lives of disabled people in the UK


• Annalee Flower Horne on disability representation in the X-Men and how to make it better

Posts about safety and crisis situations:

• ASAN releases an Autism and Safety toolkit addressing bullying, abuse, and many other issues that affect autistic people’s safety.


• Maxfield Sparrow on dealing with a crisis when you don’t have reliable oral speech

Misc:

• Chavisory addresses autistic people who want to be cured


• Alyssa Hillary on pain tolerance


• Shannon des Roches Rosa on valuing intense interests


• Reese Piper on autistic women and executive dysfunction