#ActuallyAutistic

[defectivegembrain]

"I don't know where the stereotype that autistic people can't lie came from" it came from an overgeneralisation of the reality that a lot of autistic people struggle to lie

"I don't know where the stereotype that autistic people can't understand humour came from" it came from an overgeneralisation of the reality that a lot of autistic people struggle with understanding many forms of humour

"I don't know where the stereotype that autistic people can't date/have sex came from" do we have to keep doing this? The generalisation is wrong but it's also wrong to deny it has anything to do with the realities of how autism works for many people.

[angelshizuka]

I generally try to be vague when I talk about hate posts, but this one pissed me off so much I can't even be bothered, so this one's gonna be a direct quote. It's extra bad when you consider how much Stolas hate comes down to people hating him when he's presenting traits that could be read as autistic.

"How is Stolas Autistic coded. How. Where are you people getting that from. When does he display a single Autistic trait literally ever. When does he stim. When does he hyperfixate. When does he meltdown/shutdown. When does he struggle at reading faces/intent. When does he struggle with change. When does he have sensory issues. As someone who is Actually autistic, stop."

And because I LOVE autistic Stolas, I'm gonna show two examples for every one of these (there are definitely more examples, but I don't want this post to get too long). I'm gonna stick to just screencaps, because I can't be bothered to make this many gifs/look up the right gifs just to prove haters wrong.

When does he stim? Bouncing and hand clapping are two great examples (autistic stimming isn't just hand flapping, it can present itself in many ways).

When does he hyperfixate? He's literally obsessed with books/words and plants, and infodumps about them, what more proof do you need?!

When does he meltdown/shutdown? Boy, for people who love hating Stolas for being an "overreacting crybaby" they sure love ignoring all the meltdowns/shutdowns he's had... (shutdowns are more common for Stolas, which makes sense, not all autistic people experience both equally).

When does he struggle reading faces/intent? Again, for people who love hating Stolas for episodes like Loo Loo Land, they sure love ignoring how much of Stolas' behaviour comes from not being able to understand situations through social cues.

When does he struggle with change? I could easily just drop the entirety of post-banishment here, but you get the point.

When does he have sensory issues? I do have to admit I can't think of any examples for this one from the top of my head, BUT it's extremely insulting to claim all autistic people experience literally all autistic traits on the same level, it's a spectrum for God's sake.

Edit: Courtesy of @caldella here are two examples that can be read as sensory issues, sleeping in the nude and not wearing shoes.

These people just refuse to see Stolas as autistic, because it means admitting so much of their hatred for him comes from hating his possible autistic traits.

Sincerely someone who's also actually autistic (and has an autistic sister) and knows not all autistic people are exact copies of each other, so understands "it's not a perfect copy of my autism so that makes it bad/not real" isn't a valid argument.

[five-thousand-loaves-of-bread]

be told “you don’t look autistic” not universal autistic experience, not synonymous with autism, stop pretend it is.

visibly autistic people exist n no, we not treated nicely for it.

[pigeon-cave]

Spectrum of overwhelm, now in triangle form due to popular demand

[Image description: A triangle chart titled, ‘Spectrum of Overwhelm.’ The three points are ‘404 Error,’ showing a person with an empty thought bubble; ‘wet beast,’ showing a person sweating and sobbing; and ‘rage beast’ showing a person clenching their fists in an outline of orange fire. The peak is the ‘404 error’ vertex, and the inside of the triangle here is coloured beige and labelled, ‘shutdown.’ The lower half is labelled ‘meltdown’ and is red on the rage beast side and blue on the wet beast side. \End description]

[theconcealedweapon]

Things that society considers autism an excuse for

Nazi salutes

sexual assault

Things that society considers autism not an excuse for and things that people think children who do should be met with violence

using the wrong tone

showing too much or too little emotion

asking questions and having an authority figure take it as "arguing"

[autie-j]

Accommodation I should have: someone to follow me around and whisper in my ear, medieval court advisor style, how to correctly respond when presented with different social situations

"My liege, that was a rhetorical question you just heard. Do not answer it."

[aw-tysm]

"All autistics have low empathy" - This statement is wrong.

"Autistics having low empathy is a MYTH, we actually have HIGH empathy!" - This statement is ALSO wrong.

Autistics can have low empathy, they can have high empathy, they can have learned empathy. The myth would be that all autistics only experience one end of the empathy spectrum.

In spreading around misinformation that autistics actually have high empathy, you are disregarding the autistics who do have low empathy. And vice versa.

[ka3l]

[defectivegembrain]

Sometimes noise sensitivity does not fit your favourite rhetoric about modern times or technology or the youths sometimes it's the busker you find so whimsical making me shove my earplugs as far in as possible and think violent thoughts until I'm exhausted and guess what? That's just as real a problem and an access issue as if it was a kid playing a loud tiktok video. Sensory overload isn't a rhetorical device or a value judgement on the quality of the sensation.

[angelshizuka]

Since the topic has come back up I want to make it very clear I headcanon Stolas as autistic and Blitz as AuDHD, and there's literally nothing anyone can tell me that will convince me otherwise.

I seriously do not care if haters of these headcanons (like actual haters, I understand we don't all have to agree on the same headcanons) are autistic or neurodivergent themselves, they have literally zero right to act like their autistic experience is "more valid" and like that somehow invalidates people's autistic headcanons.

Also, friendly reminder that Viv fully supports neurodivergent headcanons of her characters, even when it wasn't her intention to write them like that, and that she acknowledges how many traits can unintentionally shine through in her writing from being neurodivergent herself (she said it at a panel/interview, but I can't remember which one, because there are so many and I can't keep track of them...)

[chaoticneurodivergent]

Extra love today to Autistic people who:

Can't drive

Struggle with shopping

Struggle with cleaning

Need help with simple tasks sometimes (or frequently)

Cannot follow directions that are simple for others

Noticeably lack motor skills

Have interests or hobbies associated with children

Stim in noticeably out of the ordinary ways and can't mask it

Have learning disabilities.

[pigeon-cave]

Diagrams are helpful to me

[maxillo]

shoutout to autistic people who have memory issues and can't remember many things about your special interests. you don't need to be able to remember things for the interests to be valid or important to you! if you enjoy them that's what matters

[theconcealedweapon]

"How am I supposed to tell the difference between an autistic child asking for clarification and a defiant child challenging my authority?"

You're not.

Wanting to be treated like an authority is inherently harmful to autistic people. And that's true no matter how many autism textbooks you read.

When you expect someone to obey you, you're naturally going to look for ways to interpret everything as disobedience.

And when you misinterpret something, no one is going to correct you. Your autistic child will not know how to explain things to you because their autism makes explaining things difficult, because they're a child who never had the chance to figure out how to do that, and because they'll be punished for arguing if they phrase something wrong. Other adults will most likely also be authoritarian and will agree with you. Other children will most likely be afraid they'll get in trouble too if they don't stay out of it. And when no one corrects you, you'll naturally use that as evidence that you're right.

[vulturesawake]

This is what it feels like when someone infodumps to me. By the way

Edit to add caption:

[desc begin: a six panel comic featuring an everyman character sitting on a couch with an autism creature loafing on the back of the couch. The creature jumps down to the seat and lies their head on the person's leg, much to their delight. Desc end.]