#National Autistic Society

[my-autism-adhd-blog]

Hi everyone,

I got an inbox asking to share some tips for financing when you’re autistic. I found a helpful guid from the National Autistic Society:

Budgeting

The first step to managing your money is to work out a budget and stick to it. Budgeting will help you:

* keep track of what you are spending

* help you to avoid going overdrawn on your bank account by spending money that you don't have

* decide whether you can afford to buy something that you would like

* deal with debt by planning repayments that you can manage

* work out how much money you may have to save. 

Bank, building society or post office accounts

Most people now have one of these types of account. The benefits of these are: 

* it will keep your money safe

* you can pay bills more simply by direct debits or standing orders

* internet banking is now widely available. This reduces the need to visit banks and other services that autistic people may find difficult

* benefit payments can only be paid into an account

* you can have a debit card, making it easier to pay for purchases and you can shop online 

* you may be able to earn interest on the money you have

* you can pay bills by direct debit or standing order, which are sometimes rewarded by a reduction in what you pay for services

* you can use your cashpoint card to access money easily from cash machines in the UK and sometimes abroad

* your bank or building society may be able to give you an overdraft or loan.

Debit, credit and store cards

There are a number of different cards that you can use to make a payment. These include:

* cashpoint and debit cards

* credit cards

* store cards.

Borrowing money, making payments and debt

It's easy to think of a loan or overdraft as free money, but it’s actually expensive as you have to pay back the original amount plus interest. Try to only borrow money when you need to and repay it as soon as you can. There are many ways of borrowing money, including:

* borrowing money from family or friends

* having an overdraft

* taking out a personal loan or secured loan

* applying for a credit card.

The full article will be below, as it goes into more detail. I hope this helps many of you.

National Autistic Society

[alwaysahiccupandastrid]

I did this yesterday but I’ve been ill with a bad throat so I went straight to bed after and didn’t post about it…

I DID MY 5K WALK FOR THE NATIONAL AUTISTIC SOCIETY! ♾️

I have only raised £100, which is the bare minimum the NAS accepts, but I’m counting it as a win anyway. As an autistic person, I feel very proud of myself for doing this, regardless of how little I raised, and I’m even more proud of the fact I did it while battling illness and exhaustion this weekend 🙈

I’m not expecting any more donations at this point but I’m including the link anyway, just in case anyone does want to donate and help make the world a better place for autistic people like myself - as little as £5 is amazing!

Happy Autism Acceptance Month, everyone! 🫶🏻♾️

[queerestqueertoeverqueer]

i came across this article randomly, and !!! "Jodie Whittaker, as narrator in previously announced show Ready, Eddie, Go! (3+), based on books Eddie’s Stories, written by award winning-author, Nikki Saunders. The series sees loveable character Eddie who is autistic taken step-by-step through new experiences and situations such as a trip to the barbers, so when he encounters this in real life, he’s ready to go." AUTISM SHOW NARRATED BY JODIE ??????? 🥺🥺

[peridotthesoft]

In October I'm completing the world's highest static abseil to raise money for the National Autistic Society! Please share my JustGiving page and if you are able to, donate! Every little bit helps!

JustGiving Link!!

[insidecroydon]

Autism Alert Cards available to help police and the public

The Metropolitan Police is promoting its Autism Alert Card, to help autistic people better interact with officers across the capital. The card can be used by all autistic people and includes basic information such as the person’s name and contact details for an appropriate adult. The card also details information about autism and provides practical advice for officers. There is also an A5-sized…

[utter-queer-nightmare]

Hi guys! In honour of Autism Awareness Day today, I'd just like to let everyone know about my fundraiser for the National Autistic Society! They do such important work and it means so much to be able to give back. I'll even be doing a skydive on the 6th of June as my main fundraising activity!!

For more info on the incredible work the NAS does: https://www.autism.org.uk/what-we-do

To contribute to my fundraiser: https://www.justgiving.com/page/ella-clarke-skydive-fundraiser

[ianchisnall]

Only two of our (Sussex) MPs debated King's Speech

(This article was published in the Brighton Argus today – 13th November 2023) Today is the first full week for Parliament following the very significant opening of Parliament with King Charles III first event last Tuesday. Last week only two Sussex MPs, Caroline Lucas and Peter Bottomly, contributed to the discussions taking place after the Kings Charles speech. Caroline also took part in the…

[is-the-autism-platform-ethical]

National Autistic Society (NAS)

My rating- bad. In fact, I am extremely close to giving them the evil label.

My reasons;

Their history is horrifying. Not only were they the origin of the ableist puzzle piece, which originally included a crying child to push the incorrect message that children suffer because of autism, they have an extremely long and seemingly continuing history of taking part in research into the cause of autism. There was also a huge scandal about some very, very troubling abuse happening at their schools. The fact that none of this is acknowledged at all on their website is very concerning

Their present activities are horrifying. TEACCH, as far as I can tell, is basically ABA with a cute new name (not that the NAS website has any information on TEACCH.) In three hours of scouring the profiles of every TEACCH therapist I could find, I could not find a single one that didn't follow pro-ABA accounts or dangerous sources. All information provided by NAS puts a lot of effort into avoiding saying what actually happens in a TEACCH session, what practices are used and the goals of the therapy. To this day, NAS refuses to condemn ABA for the harm that it has done. Why am I talking about TEACCH when they apparently don't endorse it anymore? Because last time I went onto their site to find out more about them, around one month ago, that was the therapy they used. Now they use PBS, and guess how much information they give about that?

They are not giving out any information that would either back them up or discredit them. On the few pages that have a sources tab, that tab cannot be viewed. They are vague about everything they do.

There are no autistic board members, at least that I can see. If a board member has an autistic family member it is mentioned, but if someone on that board is autistic, that is not mentioned.

I know I keep coming back to this but there is practically no real information on their website. They are dancing around every point and are refusing to say anything helpful. There is no information on their website to make a solid conclusion out of. I cannot stress to you how much of a red flag this is. If this was for non-autistic people, people would think the schools and employment a human trafficking front. In order to get any actual information on their interests and practices you have to really dig and that is extremely shady.

The fact that they're followed by every single bad autism platform is worrying to me

The fact that they sent an ABA therapist to force an autistic child to speak for the first time on Supernanny is extremely worrying to me.

[noxious-fennec]

Marwa Bziwech & Charles Monet; a pair of law students who gave up stuffy suits to be paranormal investigators together in the neboulous pre war era of French protectorate-Beylik Tunisia. They hate each other.

[orcelito]

Oh ykno what bothers me. So like it's great that tumblr has become largely much more accepting of autistic ppl in recent years, but there's still such a massive streak of infantalization going on. Ykno the types of posts, talking about autistic ppl like we're some Cute uwu-sy kinds of people. Posts from ppl who would never even CONSIDER that an autistic person could ever want to have sex (much less actually manage to).

And it pisses me off bc I'm certainly not your soft cutesy autistic person. I'm aggressive and abrasive and I bitch all the time about things that annoy me (for example: this post). I don't fit into the mold of the Ideal Autistic Person, & it makes me wonder how accepting these so called "allies" would be of me lol.

Sure you think it's cute when an autistic person info dumps about their hyperfixation, but do you think it's cute if they're so intensely hyperfixated on something that they forego sleep and have no motivation to clean or shower or Whatever? Bc that's a part of it for some people. That's sometimes a part of it for me!

All this is to say: we're not all cutesy. Autistic people are highly varied just like any demographic of people. & if your "autism acceptance" is just you enjoying the idea of people who are a Little Odd in a "cute" way, then I want you to stay Well away from me.

[todayontumblr]

Tuesday April 11.

Autism Acceptance Month.

Today is Tuesday, April 11, which means we are eleven days into the 30 blessed days of #autism acceptance month, 2023 (previously known as #autism awareness month). April is the month and April 2nd is the day—World Autism Day, to be precise—and these first weeks of spring are a time for uplifting autistic voices of all identities, advocating for acceptance, progress, and sharing in the community's joy. It began back in 1972, as National Autistic Children’s Week, and was founded by The Autism Society to raise awareness and campaign for change in communities, schools, medical facilities, and businesses. And this same vital, wonderful work continues today, and not just for the month of April, of course—but every day of every year. The lived reality is that every day of every month is Autism Acceptance Month, and it is on all of us to do better.

Progress has been made, but there is still so much to be done in the struggle for equality and justice for all those living under the broad church of autism. And if these words sound hollow, then simply read the moving story of Debra Vines, of The Answer Inc., and of her autistic son Jason. She articulates everyday struggles that families can face, and the many joys they experience, too. Her message is simple, but powerful: don't give up on milestones.  

Want to know more, get involved, or donate? Here is just some of an impressive selection of charities sourced by the fine people at the Applied Behavior Analysis Programs Guide, where you can find the complete list of 20 charities and organizations:

The Asperger/Autism Network

The Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network

Autism Research Institute

The Autistic Self Advocacy Network

The Autism National Committee

Happy Tuesday, folks, and here's to better.

[alwaysahiccupandastrid]

Hello, all!

Two years ago, I received my autism diagnosis after a long and arduous 3 year process; I was 24, and so I know I was diagnosed later than the usual, in part because of how little is understood about autism in girls and women. In the last two years, I have experienced ableism both online and in person, from being called the R slur to being treated differently at work to having to bite my tongue when people speak about autism in a well meaning but ignorant way. Not many people seem to understand or care about the autistic community, or about helping us flourish - instead we are told to hide our neurodiverse behaviour and “be normal” so as to not make those around us uncomfortable. Through work, I have witnessed children not getting the support they need in mainstream schools and their parents wishing aloud that they could change their child to be “easier to manage” instead of taking the time to understand them.

I want to show that being autistic is something to celebrate, I want to make the world a better place for people like me, and so I am fundraising for the National Autistic Society by taking part in a Spectrum Colour Walk during World Autism Acceptance Week 2 - 8 April 2024.

💜 I am walking for autistic children to have a happy and fulfilled time at school. 

💙 I am walking to ensure autistic people are given proper opportunities to work.  

💚 I am walking for shorter diagnosis wait times.

💛 I am walking for autism acceptance.

🩵 Most importantly, I am walking for me ☺️

I only set the page up yesterday and there’s been no donations yet, although my family have promise to donate some money before April when the walk takes place. I don’t like asking for money but this is for a charitable cause, and anything anyone can donate is greatly appreciated and will be going towards creating a better society for autistic people and our families 🫶🏻

[peridotthesoft]

So!! I've been working out, training, yelling ADRIAAAAN. For a reason mind you. In October I'm going to do the world's tallest indoor abseil. 418 foot of abseiling. I get wobbly when I stand on a chair!!!! Now, I'm not doing this just to prove how very cool and sporty and handsome and cool I am. I'm doing it for charity!! I'm raising money for the National Autistic Society, a fabulous charity that puts loads of hard work in for people like me! Cool people. Cool people who also happen to be Autistic. Follow the link on this post to a JustGiving page, all the money goes straight to NAS. Even if you can only spare a quid, or can only share this post on your page or at work or show it to your fave cute barrister, it all helps! In conclusion, I am cool. Cool people raise money for charity. Please donate to NAS and I will reward you with pics and/or footage of me abseiling and probably looking real suave and handsome and deffo not looking like a terrified strawberry marshmallow.

[auckie]

I think the things that offend me most nowadays in like, smaller interpersonal interactions rather than grand, sweeping trends in culture, are when people chose to not partake in a wide set of things. Like musical close mindedness, or refusal to try different foods from different cultures. Not watching an entire subset of films bc they’re ‘french’. Avoiding reading bc you say you have adhd and it’s too hard. Like dude I get it, I’m busy. I can be picky. Everyone can. But the willful ignorance of closing yourself off to those VAST portions of the human experience, and not having curiosity and a lust to learn and explore art that was made by someone worlds apart from you either in terms of their culture, era, whatever. I dunno man it just pisses me off so bad. I think it’s arrogant. Like oh you’re comfortable in your safe little bubble huh? And you’re enforcing its barriers with the excuse that you’re autistic and have sensory issues. With music made by black people?? lol okay. It is pretty presumptuous for me to assume malicious intent but I think those prejudices are borne from either the comfort of being someone who’s wealthy and probably white not feeling the need to learn past what they think is enough, or it’s a reflection of a society that’s taught you to prioritize what it shills— popular, current (white, depending where you live ig) artists who are making streamlined, easy to digest content. Often when I meet people with these issues they’ll have one particular ‘niche’, and it tends to be like. 70s music. Victorian literature. Anime and Japanese games. But they’re still not really investing beyond the media presented. Like there’s so much more to Japanese culture than liking some cartoons put out between 2010-2020. You don’t gotta become some sorta Einstein who learns the background of every little freak in FGO yeah. But don’t you wanna aim higher? Aren’t you interested in any of the historical figures? And nothings wrong with hopping onto a trend. You read Dracula bc of that Dracula daily thing. Cool! Read more. Some people will say they’re chronically ill or disabled and can’t get outside. That’s okay. The internet is full of things you can read other than fanfiction, YouTube has a shit ton of free music. There’s Wikipedia and free articles online if you have questions about things. Yeah nobody is spending four hours a day looking at the national archives website and studying art history but it’s imbued in the things around you, and youll absorb it ambiently as you go along. you dont have to be a jack of all trades and cover every major genre of every major medium, but it never hurts to try! I really love seeing ppl ask too. Bc it can be kind of humiliating to admit to what seems like some jackass hipster that you’ve never delved into, idk, Serbian films (lol not that one). And hopefully if whoever you’re asking will give you honest good recommendations and not berate you. I’m kind of berate a straw man rn I guess. The hostile tone def doesn’t lend to an atmosphere of sharing but I cannot tell you how many times I’ve rbed anything involving specifically jazz only to see someone rb and add the stupidest comment on the post, or in the tags, or go into my inbox to be like waaah I don’t like jazz bc it’s boring and old and for pretentious hypocrites who hate neurodivergent people! Like what are you TALKING about. Fine if you don’t like it but don’t try and rationalize that as a moral standing you shit lark. And just as they’re allowed to dislike jazz I’m allowed to not really enjoy people who don’t like jazz. Or country. Nautical knots. Knit wear. Watching urbex YouTubers get their shit rocked by squatters. Korean food. Pachuco fashion and stupid ugly low riders. Bollywood films. and they don’t want to try any of those things either yknow? The next thing I’m getting into is circuit bending.

[sheepwavehdg]

HDG recs: Popular ones

Gonna list some of my favorite stories (In no particular order), even if they're popular enough you probably don't need me to tell you about them. I do what the fuck I want.

Abscission by fluxom: the story that truly kickstarted the HDG fandom as the expansive world it became. this sharp romance story follows a terran with severe paranoia and a severely depressed affini as they find love and comfort in each other. also in doing drugs. mind the content warnings!

Through the Looking Glass by Pyxxiestyx and Mothcourt: the quintisential corruption fic, framed around an alice in wonderland allegory. one of the raunchiest fics in the entire setting, and probably one of the better first stories for a new reader.

Courtship by Teagan_the_doll: romance with an affini can be more insidious than you think. a pot of water whose heat gets turned up so subtley that youll be right there with the protag when you realize it was a noncon story the whole time.

Dog of War by Mindcrank: currently the most popular fic in the entire setting, and for damn good reason. a story about a hardened mercenary being turned into a happy princess by a very young and very overconfident youngbloom.

Soar Higher, Fall Farther by sapphicsounds: a story about the inherent sapphic eroticism of two predators hunting each other, while some floret watches from the side. has some of the most vivid, poetic language in the entire setting, and it is absolutely caprivating to read the sheer romance of the fight/sex that these two idiots get up to.

Human Domestication Guide by GlitchyRobo: you almost certainly do not need me to tell you about this one, but why not. While the tone of ogHDG is noticably divergent from later works, it is still an absolutely fantastic abduction and breaking story, that hit me exactly where I needed to be hit at a very particular time in my life. the contract chapter in this story is the most memorable bit of noncon I have ever read.

No Gods, No Masters by kanagen: a small nation state of communists who managed to overthrow the accord locally are discovered by the Affini, and the affini demonstrate that you dont need to be fascististic for them to beleive you belong in thier vines.

Five Lives by PyxxieStyxx: Trusting is hard. very, very hard, especially to those who have been hurt and betrayed the most. the saga of 25, going from tortured government experiment to actualized person, no matter how hard it is for them to be vulnerable.

Good Sensory by sheepwave(me): A fluffy romance that follows both sides of the courtship from a human and affini perspective. celebrates autistic romance and being loved as the person you actually are, rather than the one society tells you you're supposed to be. they're my lists and you cant stop me from including my own stories or putting my girlfreind on twice 😎

Honorable mentions: I havent gotten around to reading more than a few chapters of either of them yet, but ive heard nothing but incredible things about One Analyst's Opinion by stuck_in_pi and The Grand Folia Hotel by keysmasht and have loved the small bit ive had a chance to sink my teeth into!

[nozunhinged]

I finally managed to put my overall thoughts about Playboyy into words and hoooooo boy do I have a lot to say.

I watched the mdl ratings go down, the blatant hate towards the plot, the actors, the scenes, the sex. There was nothing that wasn't torn apart about this series and yet I wasn't phased for a second and I kept wondering why because usually get very passionate about defending the things I love.

And then I realized that this series is the cinematic embodiment of a very lonely path that I've been walking for decades and I am already very, very used to the shame around it.

Sex is not just my special interest, I also had the privilege to grow up with excellent sex education (thanks parents) and on top of that I never struggled with my (pan)sexual identity. Sex plays a significant role in my life. But I learned VERY quickly that I should keep this to myself if I don't want to be ostracized or bullied.

"You're autistic AND you like sex? You like porn? What the fuck is wrong with you??? That's impossible."

And all the comments I read about playboyy are exactly the same just in different fonts. Ew sex. Ew kink. Ew porn. Ew sex work. Sex can't have storytelling, plot, it's just for shock value. We all read it.

And sadly it's a very accurate representation of the role sex plays in our society. Which - ironically - playboyy exactly is about.

Playboyy is a visual collection of all the experiences of lives and people in which sex plays a significant role - even the lack thereof (looking at you zouey and all you lovely aces).

It's a collection of very important social commentary, with all the characters, sets, plots and visuals as a medium. Because this way, the points they make come across even stronger and draw out all the emotions they want us to feel - which is in the rarest cases, pure arousal. Because this is, in fact, storytelling. Even if many don't want to hear it.

Telling stories about sex is so stigmatized and shunned, it only has the tiniest place to exist freely. Just like sex itself. Every sex worker, sex educator, sex therapist, everyone who has a profession that deals with sex will tell you about it. The shame. The misunderstanding. Look at the state of sex work and porn in the world. It tells you everything you need to know.

And it's happening in the middle of the "modern" western society - Yes I'm talking about you, UK and I can't not plug this here:

*btw I am not a sex worker I'm just very passionate about letting people not just live their lives but giving them a CHOICE to do what they want or don't want to do

I existed in this tiny place for decades now and I got really comfortable in my tiny lil corner, but to see a show like this go "mainstream" talking about all the topics that tickle all the knowledge I collected over the years feels so amazing. And I can tell you, all you lil smartass purists, everyone involved in this show doesn't care an inch what you think, just like me. We're used to it, believe me.

I could go on for ages about how carefully all these topics of the show are treated but what I actually want to say is that I find it incredibly ironic that a show that depicts the struggles and stigmas about sex, exactly draws out the reactions and treatments it criticises.

If you don't want to join in on the fun, that's totally fine. I get that it's not for everyone (just like sex, he). But treating it as a piece of trash just because it's a thing you personally find icky is exactly the reason the issues Playboyy talks about exist in the first place. Hence you can thank your stuck-up ass yourself that debauched individuals like me get a gem like this to enjoy.

And the fact that it didn't just find a crew, but also the funding and the mainstream distribution proves that I'm not alone in this.

It's not my lonely little corner anymore and I'm absolutely thriving on that. Cry about it.