#autism in education

[dracolucius-abraxusmalfoy]

Hey would anyone be willing to talk to me about some experiences they had being autistic in schools? I’m writing a paper on linguistic discrimination for my sociolinguistics class and I need some real life examples, and to be honest, my memory of school is very blurry, and I’ve always been highly verbal, so I don’t know that I can think of any examples specific enough to write about. The unit mainly focused on variety based inequality (ie minority languages/dialects), but I want to talk about how these principles are also used to discriminate against autistic children in school.

[neuroticboyfriend]

once again thinking about how fucked up it is that special ed used me and other disabled children as unpaid, coerced labor. i worked enough to be making $100 a week. i was "paid" in fake money redeemable only at the school cafeteria, which i worked at, and was forced to do things that distressed me. they gave us $1 a week, if they remembered to give it to us at all.

this was while i would sometimes go the entire day without eating because i didn't have the money to buy food and the free food was not sensory safe. we also worked outside the community - grocery stores, warehouses, shoe stores security tagging items. all under the guise of job skill development, we did $100 of labor a week without ever getting paid. and we were demeaned while we did it. and we were just teens.

so no, i don't want to hear about how special education is good. not with the way me and my peers were treated and taken advantage of. death to institutionalization, in all forms.

[zebulontheplanet]

I think the topic of consent is very important, and I think as an intellectually disabled person, it’s even more important to talk about what I was taught, and what my mom did.

My mom, who was a single woman at the time, explicitly taught me about consent. Why? Because she knew that I, as an intellectually disabled person and autistic person, needed to know it. And it needed to be drilled into my head the importance of consent. Not only did she teach me this, but she taught me how to communicate to trusted people if something happened. She knew that if she didn’t, the chances of me not knowing, or not understanding certain aspects of consent and sex in general, would be profoundly higher than my peers.

She noticed, she did the research, she taught and did what she could. And I am forever grateful for that. Intellectually disabled people, who have a higher rate of things happening to them and being abused, NEED to be taught about sex education, consent, and how to communicate if something were to happen. We are at a much higher rate of being sexually abused than our peers. And it is so so important that these things are taught to us so we are aware and able to protect ourselves and know when it’s time to contact a trusted adult.

[spectralsnoot]

Y’all self diagnosing as low support autistic, you are valid. But let’s not pretend like high support need individuals don’t exist. Autism isn’t trendy, it isn’t “quirky”, it’s not a brag to be put on your profile to say “I think I might be autistic” for clout on the internet. Autism comes in many forms, and high support individuals probably don’t see their autism as a brag. Being nonspeaking, having a lack of control over your own motor function, needing assistance in most every aspect of your life, being stripped of your independence because otherwise you may be unsafe to yourself or others, being looked down upon by a society who views you as “retarded”….low support autism is valid and deserving of the same supports as high support autism, but to those of you that romanticize autism, whether you are autistic or not, please stop. Autistic individuals are beautiful, amazing, and so worthy of love no matter where they fall on the spectrum. But autistic individuals will always face challenges because of their neurodivergence by a society that as a majority is uneducated and lacking empathy. If you suspect you may be autistic, please pursue your truth. Maybe you became good at masking without knowing you were doing it, maybe you are “quirky”, etc. Be true to yourself.

However…

Romanticizing autism ignores the reality of the many many high support individuals who do not have that luxury. Love yourself but do not trivialize or erase the reality of our high support brothers and sisters.

[unveilandresist]

I was a delightfully funny and kind and outgoing lovely weirdo audhd child and it's amazing how that was abused out of me from my peers and adults in my life, how I was isolated and didn't know how to make friends in a way that wasn't clumsy and direct. I could never be "cool" about things.

Now that I'm 30 and have some distance from my childhood I'm just so mad at how we treat kids who don't produce and conform in exactly the way we want them to on command. I deserved better. All the weirdo kids treated like they are 'too much' deserve better.

[lastwave]

yall love autistic kids until they're autistic. fuckin. "homeschool kids are so weird" "the neighbors kid:" "wolf girls" "horse girls" "sword boys" its all just rebranded making fun of autistic traits. "well i was autistic and wasn't like that" ok good for you. a lot of us were. there are kids that are. that see those jokes . once it became unacceptable to just outright say you were making fun of SpEd kids yall invented new ways to say the same shit.

[mxmorbidmidnight]

You know those teachers who would have posters in their classrooms like “weird is a superpower” and “in a world where you can be anything, be kind” then would proceed to scream at a neurodivergent child until they cried.

[reality-detective]

[ed-recoverry]

I love you everyone with crooked teeth!

I love you everyone with yellow teeth!

I love you everyone who has braces!

I love you everyone who wears headgear!

I love you everyone with missing teeth!

I love you everyone with fake teeth!

I love you everyone with gaps between their teeth!

Keep smiling! It’s beautiful!

[my-autism-adhd-blog]

Understanding The Spectrum (updated)

I CAN Network Ltd

[fizzyvitals]

Greetings, happy April which means happy autism awareness & acceptance month.

As we state every year, Autism Speaks isn’t the “autism advocacy” support group you think it is. Autism Speaks is full of ableism (and 🧩). Autism Speaks is primarily focused on autistic CHILDREN, they refuse to acknowledge that autistic children turn into autistic adults. So please, don’t go buying that AS (BS) merch at Walmart.

What’s wrong with 🧩?

Puzzle pieces say that there is something wrong with autistic people, therefore “there is a missing piece” or that we need a cure for our autism.

What can I use instead of 🧩?

The infinity symbol. ♾️ After all, the infinity symbol signifies unity.

What organizations can I support instead of Autism Speaks?

There’s organizations like Autistic Women & Non-binary Network (AWN) and Yellow Ladybugs who both support autistic women & gender diverse individuals.

And as always, we need acceptance AND awareness, not one or the other. Let’s also acknowledge the whole spectrum of autism, not just bits and pieces.

This is just a short piece I wanted to write up. Let’s also acknowledge that April is also for sexual assault awareness and deaf history.

Ciao,

Azhtynn E. Myllo 🏳️‍🌈

[zebulontheplanet]

I want people to understand this.

Nonverbal and nonspeaking people are capable of going into higher education, and many have.

Does this mean every nonspeaking and nonverbal person will go into higher education? No. Lots of nonspeaking and nonverbal people are not able to go into higher education for various of reasons. This however does not mean that every nonspeaking and nonverbal person is unable to go into higher education.

College is something that a lot of people want, including nonspeaking/nonverbal people. If you’re able to, then go for it! If you want to, then go for it!

Nonspeaking/nonverbal people have been kept out of higher education for a very long time, and to see blog posts and articles about nonspeaking/nonverbal people going into higher education, it just makes my heart happy, because I’m not alone. Stop underestimating nonverbal/nonspeaking people. Stop saying we can’t do things. Some of us can’t, and that’s completely ok, but we need to start making it more possible for nonspeaking/nonverbal people to achieve their goals and dreams.

[chronicsymptomsyndrome]

Clinical studies be like

1 billion random boys were tested. results show that 0% of girls are autistic* 👍

1 billion autistic males were tested. results show that 0% of autistics are female* 👍

1 billion minors were tested. results show ADHD stops at age 18, often to be replaced by plain laziness* 👍

*certified😎 totally credible source✨ we are pros🤓 with coats🥼

[vivianseda]

Thank you @neurodivergent_lou

[certifiedsexed]

What's the point of using AGAB language if not for genitals then?

I've seen it used and used it myself for discussions of gender on mental health (I could also talk about sexism but I never do so I can't use for this example), like "symptoms of autism in AFAB people" rather than "symptoms of autism in women", because I know they're talking about how women are raised that makes their symptoms different than in men; I'm supposed to be included in the "women" because I was raised like a girl, but I'm not currently a woman, so it doesn't apply to me, hence why I say that I'm AFAB instead, because that's what would affect my symptoms if it's about how I was raised for this case (I hope it makes sense)

It seems pointless to say that I'm AFAB to refer to my body instead of just saying what matters for the conversation. Like I'm not judging if anyone feels better that way, but it's like saying you were short as a kid: it doesn't say what you are now.

I just want to know if the use I give it is also intersexist and if so then what's the actual use AGAB lanaguge is meant to have

It's to discuss how everyone is assigned (with no consent) a certain sex/gender at birth, sometimes regardless of their genitals and how that affects the rest of our lives.

For example, saying: "I was AFAB but I'm a man and haven't managed to get that assignment removed from documents, which means I have to deal with a lot of transphobia when my records come up!" or: "I was AMAB but I'm intersex and transfem which made going through puberty really rough with the mix of intersexism and transmisogyny from everyone."

What you're describing are both intersexist and transmisogynistic ways to be using AGAB language!

Yes, there are differences between how women and people assumed to be women are commonly treated in society but there is no explicit way that changes the actual symptoms of things like autism. Studies and discussions like that are talking about different ways symptoms more frequently show up in women and people they assumed to be women that they studied.

That doesn't just include people "AFAB" and specifying that they're talking about women and then explicitly excluding trans women is definitely not what you want to be doing.

You can say you were AFAB but altering discussions of mental health to exclude intersex people and trans women/fems is fucked and actually exactly the type of thing I was talking about before, unfortunately.

You don't need to say you were AFAB. You're correct, just say what matters in the discussion, that's fine.

In discussions like you're talking about, what's important is that they're speaking about women and people they assume to be women-Unless the research behind the discussion explicitly says, "We only accepted people AFAB", don't say that!

[If it does say that...Maybe ask yourself why they're explicitly excluding lots of intersex people and trans women/fems from that research!]

For example: "These specific symptoms of autism are more commonly recognized in women and people assumed to be women."

I hope this makes things a little clearer! If not, let me know and I can try to break it down some more. <33