Just Keep Stimming

without disability pride there is disability shame and disability denial. people ashamed or in denial of being disabled often wind up injured or dead from something that would have been prevented had they accepted themselves and used a wheelchair.

without disability pride there is disability shame and disability denial. people ashamed or in denial of being disabled often wind up injured or dead from something that would have been prevented had they accepted themselves and used a wheelchair.

Let’s talk about the astounding similarities between cats and autistic people, and how we should make them the official autism mascot instead of that godawful puzzle piece

Oh man, now you’ve got me going!

Firstly, cats stim. They purr, swish their tails and knead their paws against pillows, blankets, and other soft things. Many cats actively seek out sensory experiences, like listening to birds singing, lying in a sunbeam, rolling against the grass, etc.

Cats have sensory sensitivities— many of them dislike walking on certain flooring, touching certain textures, and certain smells or sounds may make them anxious. Their fur is very sensitive, they can sense the lightest touch, or speck of lint, or dust and their skin will quiver until they can lick or rub it off. When they become overstimulated cats retreat into a small, dark place to recover.

Cats love routine. Many cats know the exact time that their owners wake up in the morning and will wake them. A cat with a routine is a happy cat— they love to have their meals or soft food on a schedule and will learn their owner’s schedule. Cats will become anxious when the schedule is disrupted or if their owner doesn’t follow their usual routine.

In the same vein cats are very wary and/or anxious when it comes to the introduction of new things or people into their environment. Cats require time and patience to get used to anything or anyone newly introduced. Cats also feel anxious when existing furniture is rearranged or when a new smell (like an air freshener) is introduced into the home.

Cats often have “special interests”, a particular activity or thing that they love and can spend hours enjoying. It could be playing with a particular toy, chewing on something, listening to the radio, or watching the clothes in the washing machine. My cat Kitty has a certain ball that she fixates on and will happily enjoy and obsess over for hours.

Finally, cats have a very distinct and subtle body language. The difference is particularly evident when compared with the exuberant, unsubtle dog. The slightest twitch of a tail or turn of the ears, the frequency and timing of blinks, and the positioning of the tail in relation to the body are all little movements that can express much. To the untrained eye it may appear as if a cat is bored, aloof, or unaware of its surroundings. But once you learn to recognize cat body language and understand cat communication, you’ll be amazed at the depth of emotion and how expressive your cat really is.

Yes, I think that cats have a lot in common with autistic people. And that’s wonderful!

also can I add to this:

cats like to show their affection just by sharing the same space. a cat will generally want to be in the same space as you, even if you’re not really interacting and are half way across the room. still hanging out! 

they don’t always want to be touched, and can be easily overstimulated by physical affection.

they don’t like to make eye contact.

their body language is often misinterpreted- and then they are blamed for it, or have negative motivations ascribed to it. a cat following you around is stalking you instead of wanting to hang out. a cat that doesn’t want to make eye contact with you is ignoring you instead of being polite. a cat that lashes out because it’s over stimulated, or you ignored their body language telling you to leave them alone is suddenly an asshole who hurt you for no reason.

I had this book as a child and I’m glad to see the comparison is so widely recognized too

I KEEP SAYING ALL CATS ARE AUTISTIC IM SO HAPPY THIS POST EXISTS PLEASE SOMEONE ARTISTIC MAKE A CAT WITH THE NEURODIVERGENT SYMBOL ON IT FOR AUTISM MASCOT :D

The book above has been updated to better align with the current understanding of autism as well!!

Heads up: If you consistently CANNOT do tasks unless they are at the “Must Happen Right Now” stage, then you have a disability. 

Most people CHOOSE to put stuff off sometimes, but abled people do not consistently feel UNABLE to complete tasks without threat of consequence.

Maybe it’s an executive dysfunction issue, maybe it’s fatigue, maybe it’s chronic pain– doesn’t matter why, what matters is acknowledging it so that you can move forward. Reach out to resources that are there to help disabled people! Ask for accommodations! They’re there FOR YOU, BECAUSE YOU NEED THEM! Understanding and accepting that you have the limitations you have, and learning what can be done about them, will lead to a much more fulfilling life which you absolutely deserve. 

new rule! if you put ‘sounds HAS to be on’ or ‘sound is vital omg’ or ‘you have to listen to the video!!’ or anything else stressing the importance of the audio in a video you have to include a sound description. if you are going to insist the audio is of importance then you need to make it accessible to everyone

Happy Disability Pride Month! This goes to the visibly disabled people, the invisible disabled people, the chronically ill, the mentally ill, the chronic pain patients, the chronic fatigue patients, any spoonie out there. You deserve love and care. You're worth it. You have value.

Can folks do me a favor and circulate this post widely to people with POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome)? I've got a question.

Bonus info: About a year ago, I lost my appetite completely and have been dealing with chronic, debilitating nausea (but rarely ever puking) for about a year and a half. I got diagnosed with POTS 3 years ago and take ivabradine daily for my tachycardia. All standard GI exams (colonscopy, endoscopy, gastric emptying study, full body CT with contrast) have come up perfectly normal and my IBS-C medication does not impact my nausea at all; it's equally bad when I take those meds as when I do not take those meds (constipation does not seem to be the cause of the nausea).

At my last electrocardio appointment, my doc said that colloquially this is a problem for POTS people. He said we don't know anything else. He said "sorry. Hang in there." This is ruining my life, so please throw some data at me. I want to have NUMBERS for my GI doctor at my next visit.

@alanaisalive @thebibliosphere

maybe you have input for this`?

revamped design with all of my disabled keith haring style dancin' guys all together, updated to include the yellow power chair user ~

ID in alt text

[ID copied from alt: digital illustration in the style of keith haring's dancers, there's two sets of three dancers, one on top of the other, on the top is an orange manual wheelchair user, a pink dancer with a blue service dog, and a green rollator user. on the bottom is a purple dancer using forearm crutches, a yellow electric wheelchair user, and a red cane user.  End ID]

"not all autistic people are low/no empathy" and "autistic people with no/low empathy still deserve respect" are ideas that can coexist

The truth is most people think being disabled is a death sentence but instead of advocating for disabled people they r convinced that they’ll never become disabled as if being disabled is some biblical punishment. Guess what? Accidents happen. You will get old and your body will stop working like it used to. Imagine if we live in a world where disability is seen as normal. Where we actually take care of each other.

Also I don’t think we have as many abled body people in the world as we think. I think many people are so terrified of being disabled that they r willing overwork themselves to prove they can do it. Many people deal with chronic pain and physical health issues in silence. Because they don’t want to be burden. I think we should be burden to each other and i think labor should be shared.

This shit this shit right here is so true. I know I’m still young and what not but it’s taken me YEARS of dealing with chronic pain and fatigue and what not to be able to admit even to myself that I need help and that I can’t do everything that truly able bodied people can do because I am not able bodied

is tired of people say, "terms severe autism/low functioning autism/etc bad, don't use them." because often they not understand what severe autism is or why someone would want use that term for self.

and they don't listen when people with severe autism say, "i prefer use severe autism for self." they double down and ignore it completely.

you dont get a say in terms we use if youre going to ignore us. is prefer low functioning autism, is what was diagnosed with, is cant process any other type of language. low/high support need autism greatly confuses me, would not want use language im struggle to understand for self.

made this because saw someone under autism tag say "severe autism is bad term" and then ignore someone with severe autism who was explain why they use that term for self. is make me feel like furious. tired of people who not understand try to decide our terms for us.

"you just got a wheelchair for attention!"

what attention??? people walk into me constantly and treat me like I'm not even there!! I don't even get enough attention that people recognize my presence!! I'm certainly not gaining anything except for a constant feeling of invisibility from this!!!

Don’t forget an inability to access all sorts of places and the extra time it takes to get in and out of the car! You gained those too!

An old work-in-progress is finally done! This is a custom design I patched together based on flowers from a free pattern and a letter design generator.

I can't wait to hang it up somewhere!!

This study is about how autistic people who have been through ABA feel about it. If you’ve been through ABA, consider taking this anonymous survey. If you’d prefer to do it over the phone or by mail, let us know and we can connect you with the researchers. 

[[ Transcription of image ]]

A series of pictures depicting issues for those who rely on wheelchairs.

A person with glasses sitting on a wheelchair stares at a door entrance located on a set of stairs.

A crowd gathers in front of a bus, with a person on a wheelchair on the back, trying to get other people’s attention.

A woman with a hijab and glasses sits at a receptionist desk. A person on a wheelchair wearing a kippah is unable to reach the top to get her attention.

A person on a wheelchair wearing a baseball hat backwards is unable to close the door to the restrooms. Despite this, the sign outside is marked as wheelchair accessible.

A person on a wheelchair is frightened as their wheelchair goes down too fast down a ramp.

A man wearing a kippah is about to enter a temple, but covers his wheelchair wheels with a cover to keep the inside of the temple as clean as possible.

A picture of a parking lot Two cars are parked, one with most space to allow a disabled person to get on and off. A woman holding crutches is angered at a motorcycle parked in front of her car, which isn’t supposed to be there. A person on a wheelchair nearby notices her anger.

Two people stand in front of an automatic door. One is a child attempting to wave their hands to get it to open, and the other is a person on a wheelchair.

A bus is waiting at a stop. A person on a wheelchair is unable to get to the stop due to a steep ledge in front of them.

A person on a wheelchair is using an ATM machine, which is placed at a lower position so they’re able to reach and use the machine comfortably.

[[ End of transcription ]]

Friendly reminder that:

Do not mistake composure for ease.

No one should need to have - or be on the verge of - a breakdown for you to take them and their needs seriously.

Non-autistics living with autistics:

They keep eating the same freaking food and it frustrates me so much! We can't have the "big scary light" on just lamps everywhere! Even when I try to find peace by doing stuff with them they just ignore me and do whatever they want. They can't even do the simplest of things like go with me to the grocery store every week! How do people expect them to survive in society??

Autistics living together:

So as long as we get my 10 packets of this really specific food, and some snacks, I'll be okay. Also is it cool if you go to the grocery store? I can clean the bathroom since thats bad sensory for you and the store is bad sensory for me. Can you turn on the lamp instead of the big light? It gives me a headache. Thanks man. Yea I'll unplug the TV for you since you can hear the high pitched noise. Do you want to do two separate things in the same room as bonding again this evening? Thats my favorite part of the day too.

I think its funny how much the replies are about The Big Light and how we autistics feel about it

holy shit, guys. you can learn autism now.

as if they could ever replicate natural talent

me: “so people with intellectual disability—“

some of you all: BUT WHAT ABOUT PEOPLE WITH HIGH IQ WE FACE DISCRIMINATION TOOO CAN WE JUST ACCEPT EVERYONE

@forest-goblin-king well-researched self-diagnosis what you need to aim for! Most self-diagnosed autistics have been researching it all for years. And the AQ is used in clinical settings, but as @autisticmabel said, it's based off of old data.

Also, many things can look like autism. Co-occuring traits can be at play, and misdiagnosing yourself is always at risk.

That said, if you gain benefits from being treated autistic and treating yourself autistic, you're welcome here. 💖