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What I Would Like to Say – at the APPGC
To say my experience yesterday was phenomenal may be an understatement. Myself and colleagues from Help and Care, Macmillan Cancer Support , and the NHS went to the Houses of Parliament. We spoke at the All Party Parliamentary Group on Cancer about the findings from our What I Would Like to Say project. We talked…
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Handling ‘the truth’
“Some people can’t handle the truth… this is just scientific FACT” I see this online all the time. It centres the person who is talking and is problematic for other reasons besides: Fundamentally, statements like these don’t factor who gets to decide what is fact and what is fiction. They’re not based in fact or…
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I won’t be unbiased in the face of violence
It’s not the job of the oppressed to meet our oppressors ‘half way’. There is no half way. There is no half violence, half stigma, or half isolation. I don’t need to engage with people who are harmful to me and the people I love, and that absolutely goes for ABA practitioners. I don’t want…
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Advocacy: small steps, big impact
There’s an idea that online advocacy has to be that you reach X amount of people that you have to be on all the platforms, and you have to continually make content. I see too many Autistic advocates online apologise for going quiet for periods of time. You don’t need to apologise. What you’re giving…
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Stop the shock: An update before the next protest
Due to the organisation of Stop the Shock Protest and Hill Day, on May 22nd (12-5 PM) on Boston Commons, adjacent Park Street Station. I thought I would reshare the hideous atrocities within the Judge Rotenberg Center. Content warning: abuse, neglect, ableism, death, and systemic rascism. The Judge Rotenberg Center (JRC), in Canton, Massachusetts, is…
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Pushing the boulder up the hill
Academia is being dragged up by autistic people not just within academia but also within social media. There are a growing number of Autistic led organisations which are involved in policy and educating Autistic and non-Autistic people, including Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN), NeuroClastic and Aucademy. Blog and article writing, activism and advocacy is just…
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A short Q&A for Autism Acceptance Month
I was asked these questions as part of a bigger project and thought I would share here too. How has being diagnosed as autistic impacted on your life? Being formally diagnosed has allowed me to understand myself and to put into place things which help me. It has given me the validation and permission I…
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My thoughts on Christine McGuinness: Unmasking My Autism
Content warning: eating disorder, mental health, sexual abuse, rape, self harm, suicide ideation, institutionalisation and ableism. Christine McGuinness shares an intimate look at her journey to Autistic realisation and the wider implications for Autistic women and girls who are going under the radar. She said she: “was really nervous about doing a documentary that was…
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When living authentically isn’t safe: Autistic, trans and OCD
This is the transcript from my OCD Family Podcast: When living authentically isn’t safe. Listen to S1E30 Part IV here. Nicole: Whoa, welcome back to the OCD family podcast and I am just so excited to introduce our guest today Katie Munday, they are late diagnosed autistic person with OCD and ADHD. You can catch…
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Fighting for the right to exist
Advocating for yourself and others – in whatever way you do it – is one of the hardest jobs a person will ever do. We go about our everyday lives overly aware that we live within systems and societies which hate, fear and ignore us in equal measure. We fight against microaggressions and violence every…