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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…
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Autistic Shielding: Being authentic is a privilege
Cw: racism, violence, murder, police brutality. Autistic Shielding is not a tool or headstate that we can all obtain in our current world. A lot of us fear being our authentic Autistic selves for many reasons. We can be vulnerable people due to our trusting nature and differences in reading social interactions. Add intersecting identities…
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Support needs are human needs
The use of special and additional needs when taking about Disabled people puts the burden of support on us. Special is not only infantalising, it also softens some serious support needs that so many of us have. Epilepsy medication and procedures are not special, they are life saving. So are many other of the medications…
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Prosopagnosia – face blindness
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Trans and Autistic: Gate-keeping kills
CW: transphobia, gate-keeping, ableism, mental health crisis, police brutality, murder. Lack of support and validation for trans Autistic children and adults can culminate in fatalities, such as the case of Kayden Clarke, an Autistic trans man who was murdered by police when they responded to his suicide call. Clarke had experienced gate-keeping throughout his transition,…
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Autistic parenthood: I wasn’t ready for this!
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“Equality and diversity” – I am not your tick box exercise
Whilst making ammendments on one of my job descriptions, I noticed the words “equality and diversity” and it caused a reaction in me. A strong reaction. One of my main job responsibilities (and that as a human being) is centering marginalised voices. Sharing stories with other Disabled, Neurodivergent and Queer people is fundamental to my…
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My reflections on our cancer service accessibility research
Earlier this week I did my first session with a disability group for our cancer services access study (find out more about that here). Although I cannot share any of the people’s really powerful insights here I would like to share how I felt about the session. The start of the session was very ADHD…
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Spectrum 10K: potential amniocentesis study shows the ARC for who they really are
Content warnings: amniocentesis, pregnancy, abortion, ableism, eugenics. The Autism Research Centre (ARC), based at University of Cambridge, is running Spectrum 10K – a eugenics project which claims they want to “help the well-being” of Autistic people and our families. The Boycott Spectrum 10K team has spoken about the many issues of this project in various…
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Stories from across the “double rainbow”: trans and non-binary Autistic narratives [plain language summary]
![Stories from across the “double rainbow”: trans and non-binary Autistic narratives [plain language summary]](https://autisticltd.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/326971808_911532346534071_2847542650747188154_n.jpg)
In my research I spoke to 13 trans and / or non-binary Autistic people (people said to live under the double rainbow of neurodivergence and queerness). I wanted to know about their lives, what they thought about representation and their recommendations for double rainbow research. It was important for me to do this work as…